Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage

The title cut on Maiden Voyage, Herbie Hancock's 1965 album, is one of my favourite jazz compositions ever. With its meditative, serene qualities and that fantastic piano groove, this composition is a memorable effort that well deserves to be among the sixties jazz classics. The line up for this album is a classic post-Davis line up, with bass, drums, sax, trumpet and piano. In fact, three fifths of the personnel (Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams) is the same as Miles Davis' Second Quintet, with Freddie Hubbard filling in on trumpet and George Coleman replacing Wayne Shorter on tenor. Even though this means the sound is pretty much in the sixties post-bop vein as far as instrumentation (and composition goes), listening to this record offers quite a few subtleties in a way. Herbie Hancock's solos are really advanced and at times you can clearly point his modern classical influences a la Stravinsky, especially during his solo on the third track, "Little One". Ironically enough, the 1978 live version of the album's title track with Chick Corea had a fairly avant-classical Stravinsky esque middle section to it. Of course it goes without saying that any sixties jazz album with the great Tony Williams on drums deserves to be heard.

John Coltrane - My Favorite Things

Soprano saxophone's history in jazz prior this release was limited to few players, the most famous example being Sidney Bechet, whose sound was rather different from the way soprano sax sounds like nowadays, his intonation being more clarinet like (Bechet was a clarinetist). After Bechet died in 1959, it seemed like soprano saxophone was forever destined to be a rarer type of instrument. That is, until John Coltrane, usually known for his tenor saxophone playing, decided to pick up the soprano. And indeed, he was inspired by Bechet. The 1960 album My Favorite Things turned out to be not only a hit record, but pretty much a catalyst for soprano sax gaining popularity in jazz. The fourteen minute title track was something of an innovation in modal jazz as well: taking a popular Rodgers & Hammerstein song and making it a modal, Eastern music influenced trance-inducing excursion took improvisation on a theme to an entirely new level. And the bold new soprano sax tone with the instrument sounding very much akin to oboe, or even shenai (an exotic reed instrument) was also embraced by jazz listeners and musicians, setting the tone for other soprano saxophonists to emerge later on. Not less captivating was the support of backing musicians, particulary McCoy Tyner's excellent piano backing with rich and shifting chord voicings and Elvin Jones' dexterous drumming. The second piece on the record, "Every Time We Say Goodbye" showcases Coltrane very well in the ballad setting, with more subtle kind of soprano sax outing as well as featuring a sublime piano solo from Tyner. For the side two, Coltrane switches to tenor sax as well as more energetic material, giving an intense solo in "Summertime", and the album closes with a more upbeat "But Not For Me", which shows that although My Favorite Things is a record notorious for soprano sax display, his tenor sax playing on this record was just as vital.


John Coltrane Quintet (incl. Eric Dolphy) playing "My Favorite Things" in 1961.

Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention - Burnt Weeny Sandwich

Released in 1970 after the Mothers of Invention had been disbanded for a while, Burnt Weeny Sandwich is an under-rated Frank Zappa masterpiece that offers us a couple very Cruising With Ruben and the Jets like arrangements on a couple of Fifties Doo-wop numbers, but that's not the main point of it. There are also instrumentals which easily rival the work on Hot Rats, composition wise, even if the Mothers weren't such great musicians as Frank's subsequent back up bands. We hear evocative childish jazz played by some out of tune instruments ("Overture to Holiday In Berlin"), prime dissonance a la Stravinsky ("Igor's Boogie", esp. Phase One), occasional guitar workouts (the title track and the expanded version of "Holiday In Berlin"), pseudo-classical quirky duet of Zappa (guitar) and Ian Underwood (piano, harpsichord) on "Aybe Sea", plus proto-prog masterpiece "Little House I used to Live in" which runs through different sections all of which showcase either solos by Zappa or violinist Sugarcane Harris or brilliantly arranged sections, like the chamber music bit at 13:35, easily one of the most evocative chunks of music from the composer. Overall, it's arguably the most ambitious composition Frank Zappa managed to spit out during the early Mothers. Burnt Weeny Sandwich is one of Frank Zappa's most beautiful albums.

Frank Zappa - Lumpy Gravy

Lumpy Gravy is one of those records which challenges a lot of preconceived notions about music and noise. Essentially, this 1968 Frank Zappa release (his first real solo album) which followed We're Only In It For The Money album, consists of two 16 minute collages of orchestral and otherwise instrumental pieces, studio chatter recorded inside the piano and tape edit sounds in the fashion of musique concrete. It's evident that Zappa is a prime melodist and a skilled arranger judging by the musical segment, but when put next to treated tape sounds and bizarre Dadaist dialogue, the result gives an entirely different meaning to the notion of composition. Originally Zappa wanted to record an all-orchestral piece for Capitol Records, as proposed by a producer for the label. However, there was a thirteen month litigation holding back the release. Meanwhile, FZ had recorded loads of dialog by having people sit under the piano with a sustain pedal depressed, giving the voices the unique ambiance. Putting it all together, we have a record which is not the most accessible Zappa release, but nonetheless features lots of innovative production techniques as well as unbelievable sounds. Not to mention, some of Zappa's best melodies, like "Duodenum", instrumental versions of "Oh No" and "Take Your Clothes Off", as well as a haunting orchestral piece "I Don't Know If I Can Go Through This Again". Lumpy Gravy presents Zappa at his most radical as a composer, arranger, record producer and conceptualist.

Soft Machine - Virtually

Before Robert Wyatt started to make atmospheric and slow song-based albums like Rock Bottom and Old Rottenhat that feature his sad voice and dreamy keyboard sounds, he (as a respected figure in British psychedelic/progressive/jazzy underground scene) was a powerhouse drummer, whose style was raw, rocking, loose and energetic. Virtually presents a Soft Machine concert from March 1971 in Germany that showcases a lot of Wyatt's intensity on the trap-kit. Most of the live material presented herein owes its unrelenting sonic force to his strong, assertive and anarchistic hooliganry, that gives the songs from Third and Fourth a lot more energy and urgency. The same applies to the embryonic takes on a few tunes from Fifth - "All White" and "Pigling Bland", the latter still featuring the short bit from the end of "10:30 Returns to Bedroom" - the first Wyatt-less Softs album. The whole set is massively energetic. When the substantially altered "Facelift"; which jettisons a lot of rigid arrangement aspects in favor of more free flowing and austere improvisational approach; breaks into intense Mike Ratledge organ solo backed up by monstrous drums, we have the most furious version of this song since the one that ended up on the Third album.

Granted, this kind of energy does not always guarantee greatness, as some of the numbers sound a bit sloppily played. "Teeth" suffers the most, as its elaborate compositional twists were too severe to handle for Hugh Hopper, who has complained about the song being extremely difficult to play. Roy Babbington's string bass from the studio version is missed, as are the massed horns. But otherwise, "Fletcher's Blemish" has, as a rare treat, Wyatt spouting some babbly nonsense to his mic sounding even madder than Damo Suzuki (think "Peking O" on Can's Tago Mago) could ever hope for! Another example of Wyatt's scatting would be (again, altered version of) "Eamonn Andrews" when echo-drenched Wyatt quotes the intro lyrics to "Hope For Happiness". This sounds truly trippy and is probably the closest resembling the eccentric psychedelic spirit of the original Soft Machine. Another interesting piece is the free-jazz jam of "Neo Caliban Grides" to which Wyatt contributes excellent driving drums and Hugh Hopper plays dissonant fuzz and wah driven bass.

Overall the band was evolving toward free-er and more minimalistic style of jazz-fusion that still had quite raw and rock-oriented crudes as the rhythm section of fuzz-bassist Hopper and hooligan drummer Wyatt indicated, but it goes without saying that after Wyatt's eventual departure the band that would record Fifth ended up sounding more polished and colder. This archival live release gives us a chance to hear Soft Machine in the more abrasive warts-n-all setting.

Soft Machine - Noisette

After the late 1969 experiment with a brass section, Soft Machine reverted back from seven members to a quintet, retaining Lyn Dobson (soprano sax, flute) and Elton Dean (alto sax, saxello). Noisette presents a set that was recorded in January 4, 1970. This was where parts of "Facelift" on the soon-to-be-materialized Third album were recorded at. The piece was left out of the set, for copyright reasons obviously.

The band opens with a stunning 12 minute rendition of "Eamonn Andrews", a piece that was never recorded in the studio, but was a mainstay in the Soft Machine setlist during the 1969-71 years. The piece's Terry Riley-like meditative organ ostinatos propelled by intense drumming, as well as thick fuzz bass improv make this one a standout composition. Twelve minutes of stellar avant-rock workout. This is followed by another piece not available on any studio album, "Mousetrap", which forms a suite with a couple of pieces integrated into "Slightly All The Time" on Third: a miniature piece that is the title-track of the album as well as "Backwards", featuring an outstanding flute solo from Lyn Dobson, very much in the vein of Roland Kirk.

Already at this stage, the band's focus was heavy on instrumental jazz-rock pieces with the reeds becoming a prominent sound among distorted organs and fuzz bass; and light on songs as the vocals are being cut back. The only piece with proper lyrics is "Hibou Anemone and Bear" and the instrumental section of it is extended with extra sax solos added before the Ratledge workout. But it's definitely nice to hear Wyatt's voice. The band takes a break and the CD cuts into (since "Facelift" is omitted) a truncated "Moon In June", a Wyatt tour-de-force cut back to the closing organ solo section and the surrounding instrumental sections which are nice of course. "12/8 Theme" is another unreleased piece, that Hugh Hopper later recorded for Monster Band, his solo album from seventies. Fifteen minute "Esther's Nose Job", a mainstay of the Softs' setlists essentially follows the late 1969 arrangement, minus the brasswinds; but with rougher sound. Barring a few Wyatt scats, this suite from the second album is strictly instrumental (one of the sections had lyrics on the studio version). And the performance of the suite always includes "Pigling Bland", a piece later recorded for the fifth album.

The encore of this set is none other than a seven-minute rendition of Kevin Ayers-penned "We Did It Again" from the first album enhanced with manic saxes from Lyn Dobson and Elton Dean as well as Wyatt's more improvised voice and a looser, jam oriented structure. Even at this stage, this incarnation of the Soft Machine could really rock out, if they wanted. Whether the Soft Machine sounded like rock or not at this stage, Hugh Hopper was right when he said that Softs were a mean live band in late 60s and early 70s. Noisette clearly shows the band grown out of their youthful Dadaist origins and paving their way for the seminal jazz-fusion sound available on Third.

Frank Zappa - Uncle Meat

The first three Mothers of Invention albums were really great and unique. However, on Uncle Meat, Frank Zappa takes the Mothers' sound to an entirely another level. The album retains the psychedelic sound of the previous records and there are still some song-based tunes that match the tuneful psych-pop gems on the earlier Mothers stuff, such as "Dog Breath, In the Year of the Plague" which sounds as catchy as "Who Needs the Peace Corps" from 1968's We're Only In it For Money, but with majesty that presages "Peaches En Regalia" that would appear on Hot Rats. Of other vocal material, "Sleeping In a Jar" is one of the earliest pieces written by Zappa (it was composed in 1958 along with "Pound for a Brown" as a string quartet) here presented as the main melodic block from a piece that was usually performed live as an instrumental. The arrangement is strikingly similar with Soft Machine's Volume Two: tuneful one minute ditty with colorful instrumentation and nonsensical, Dadaist lyrics. "The Air" and "Electric Aunt Jemina" are charming mock-doo-wop numbers and "Mr. Green Genes" is a lovely slice of dreamy low-key psychedelia which is also reminiscent of "Duke Of Prunes". "Cruising For Burgers" is probably the complex of all of these, very reminiscent of WOIIFTM album tracks, but with even more complex instrumentation. Another great one.

Then there are odd tracks that are partially musical jokes (attempt to play "Louie Louie" on Royal Albert Hall's pipe organ, hilarious version of "God Bless America"), spoken-word bits dealing with the microclimate of the Mothers ("Our Bizarre Relationships"), or live recordings mixed with band's history ("Ian Underwood whips it out" starts with Ian's story of his audition for the band and continues with furious sax-driven free-jazz jam in 5/4 time recorded in Copenhagen).

The main meat of Uncle Meat however, are instrumental tunes with either jazz leanings or chamber music instrumentation. "King Kong" is a jazzy monster with several parts that flows and swings effortlessly and has great instrumental interplay: ostinato/drone bass, swinging drums, great work on reeds and keyboards and guitars, that take leads after one another. Complex, yet mesmerizing. "Uncle Meat", "Dog Breath Variations" and "Pound For A Brown" on the other hand are classically influenced (a la Stravinsky) chamber rock pieces with unique instrumentation of clarinets, harpsichord, electric organ, guitar, vibes and sundry other things. The instrumentation is rich and the multi-instrumentation of talented cats like Bunk Gardner and Ian Underwood gives the album the kind of colorful and multi-layered feel which is unique even in Zappa's oeuvre.

The CD version of Uncle Meat tends to be marred with so-called "penalty tracks", which are audio excerpts from the "Uncle Meat" film and a cheesy hard rock song "Tengo Na Minchia Tanta" from 80s. Vinyl version is much recommended if such factors are annoying and subtracting from the album that I'd highly recommend for lovers of complex, yet totally far-out and weird music.

Tangerine Dream - Zeit

Zeit was the first album of full-blown ambient music without any recognizable rock elements from the German space music pioneers Tangerine Dream. The band's fan base is divided on this one. The most favorable reviews for this album declare that this sounds nothing like the watered-down new-age infused synthetic muzak TD apparently degenerated into at the eighties and instead is an uncompromising, trippy headphone experience. While i agree with them to an extent, the album also is a bit overblown in its 4 sidelong tracks on 2 LPs (Soft Machine pulled off a better result in this format with their third record). As such, it is clearly demanding on the listener. The detractors write Zeit off as a total snorefest. While this is short-sighted, it would've been a masterpiece if some of the cuts would've been reduced in length. This album has plenty of interesting sonorities and effects, but it is hard to listen to the 75 minutes of it in one sitting. Moreover, the album is so sinister that it sounds very frightening. The compositions are not only slow, but completely dirge-like. Listening to this one many times might induce feelings of fear in the dark or even make one have nightmares, worse still.

The most remarkable piece is "Birth of Liquid Plejades" which is a three-part epic of quintessential proto-illbient music. Here TD utilizes the A-minor key in a nightmarish way, beginning with sinister cellos droning, creating a dreary, yet intense soundscape, segueing into a calmer section where Popol Vuh's Florian Fricke (who was one of the first Krautrock musicians to own a big Moog at that time) plays his plaintive solo on Moog, and the final section consists mainly of Pink Floyd-like pulsating organ played by ex-member Steve Shroyder. Other pieces have their moments, but one gets the feeling they messed around with all sorts of weird spacious sounds mainly because they could, the title track being the most blatant example.

Whether this is psychedelic head trip gone wrong; or self-indulgent doodling, one thing is clear. TD was yet to find their unique sound. But they were half-way there. They had got rid of their rock trappings, at this point it was a matter of time and a couple of albums before the vision of TD would materialize into something more identifiable and cohesive.

Teddy Lasry - E=MC²

Teddy Lasry used to be reeds and flute player for early Magma lineups up to the classic Mekanik Destrüktiw Kommando album. He also wrote a few pieces for the first two Magma albums, his compositions being quite interesting jazz-rock affairs, even though quite different from the direction the band-leader Christian Vander was working on during those early years. So after he permanently left Magma in 1973, he begot a solo career. He concentrated on composing music for sound libraries. E=MC² is one of those library albums. Instead of jazz-rock or dominant woodwind arrangements or anything resembling his work with his former band we have a synthesizer based affair. Although Lasry throws in some woodwinds here and there, he concentrates on lush keyboard arrangements. The result is the kind of cerebral proto-ambient library music album which musically is quite close to some Kraut-rock like Ashra with its hypnotic keyboard ostinati and minimalist themes. There is also some affinity with some of the spacey ambient-like work from Soft Machine or Gong. Occasionally there is some full band instrumentation on some of the tracks too. "Quasar" builds up to a full band sound propelled by the rhythm section, resulting in what sounds like some of the spacier Gong jams from You era. While "Nonsense" is carried by ethnic/tribal drum work with a bit of clarinet thrown in and also layers of synthesizers and electric piano. This is probably the most jazz-fusion-ish track, without actually sounding too generic. Occasionally we're treated to some mallet percussion as well. From a few library albums I've heard, this is definitely one of the most interesting ones.

Miles Davis - In A Silent Way

The title of this 1969 Miles Davis album, In A Silent Way is, could not be more apt. Not only is the music silent, but also pretty close to minimalism. Everyone tends to hold back, making the music to take the more atmospheric direction, rather than show off their chops. Which lends to mesmerizing keyboard (organ and electric pianos) textures, metronomic drum grooves from Tony Williams and some of the most subdued yet beautiful guitar playing by John McLaughlin. Even the horns are pretty laid back on this one. "Shhh Peaceful" is a bona fide one chord trance-like number with that famous hi-hat pattern over which everyone lays down colorful palettes of sound. The atmospheric music bookending "In a Silent Way / It's About That Time" is as beautiful as jazz fusion ever gets, with its shimmering guitar bed and the tranquil flow of soprano sax and trumpet melodies. The middle of the track is a dark jam where the band builds tension and they burst out to the closest thing resembling a full blown jazz rock attack just for a while, before things wind down again. Perhaps not the first Fusion album ever, but still an impressive outing from Miles Davis.

Pram - The Museum Of Imaginary Animals

Pram's fifth studio album The Museum Of Imaginary Animals (2000) is one of their finest accomplishments blending varied instrumentation and unique song-craft. Pram has often been compared to Stereolab, but the comparison isn't warranted as closely as it's passed along. Yes, these two bands have their compatibilities, mainly the use of analogue instruments and obscure musical inspirations. However, while Stereolab is a more basic rock group with guitars-keyboards-bass-drums-vocals setup augmented by session string and brass (and other) musicians in the studio and also relying on more polished production, Pram is a seven piece ensemble who plays all of the instruments themselves and their sonic panoramas sound very natural, yet lush and cinematic all the same. It helps that several of the band members are multi-instrumentalists, an outstanding example being Sam Owen who handles flute, clarinet and keyboards. This group also uses trumpet, theremin and various weird toy instrumentation. Texturally the sonic palette is unique and stand-out. And the songs? While a few of the numbers come off as failed experiments (including an aimless sound effect piece "A History of Ice"), there are at least six good to great compositions on this album. The most outstanding of them is the opening trio of numbers: oddly Björk-ish "The Owl Service" with understated funk rhythms, sad melodies and mournful wind instruments; an electric piano driven upbeat "Bewitched" and "Mother of Pearl" which contrasts melancholic melodies and eerie sound textures with jovial horn charts. Seven minute album closer called "Play Of The Waves" is cinematic jazz at its finest, whereupon clarinet and trumpet form supportive melodic counterpoints, with shimmery keyboards, harps and laidback smoky grooves providing a relaxed backdrop. Recommended.

Pram - The Moving Frontier

Genre tag "post-rock" usually brings to mind groups like Tortoise, Godspeed You Black Emperor or Mogwai. Post-rock tag seems to be applied a lot to Stereolab as well. Considerably less-known is a fairly under-rated British band, a contemporary of Stereolab called Pram. With its eclecticism, colorful arrangements where the tone is set by instrumentation as diverse as theremin, toy piano, horns/woodwinds, analog synthesizers and whatever is interesting (most of the band members are multi-instrumentalists), as well as its distinctive cinematic atmosphere; Pram has created an eccentric, playful and childlike; albeit eerie and melancholic sound-world; which indeed goes well beyond rock as we know it. Pram's records are modest in their length and thus, The Moving Frontier (14 tracks) is only 45 minutes long. The main difference being, only five of the tracks feature Rosie Cuckston's fragile voice that matches Robert Wyatt in its melancholy. The rest of them are instrumentals that are not only laden with spacious and multi-layered arrangements, but also sound very musical. How many bands boost a trombonist who is also a skilled theremin (and stylophone!) player? Pram is one of the few indie groups capable of writing both songs and instrumentals well. For those who are interested, I'd recommend scooping up what I consider their best album to date, Museum Of Imaginary Animals.

Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup

Emperor Tomato Ketchup (1996) is milestone in Stereolab's career, although they have kept releasing great music after that. The record has a unique feel, which effectively fuses post-My Bloody Valentine post-indie sound with the post-modernist pop mentality of the mid-nineties on one hand and the nascent loungecore movement (mixing modern electronic genres with space age pop) on the other. "Metronomic Underground" enters with its funky hip hop beat, as the hypnotic bassline comes in and layers of instruments and vocals are accumulating on top of the groove, it's obvious Stereolab has reached new heights in their minimalist drone-rock leanings. But the pop songs, such as string-laden "Cybele's Reverie", Kraftwerkian "Les Yper Sound", groovy "Spark Plug", punkish "Noise of Carpet", the peppy title track and sublime, beautiful heavenly "Slow Fast Hazel"; are what make ETK the great album. The sharp pop sensibility is aided by a healthy dose of experimentation, like the jazz-rock groove of "Percolator" in 5/4 time, minimalist "Tomorrow Is Already Here" and the buzzing psych-electro-kraut jam feel of "OLV 26". Stylistically there's lots of variety, but also a necessary sense of concision as the album has 13 tracks taking up 57 minutes in t0tal. Here Stereolab delivers some of the most timeless beautiful and captivating music ever, in which brevity is the soul of wit. A must-have.

Eric Dolphy - Last Date

Last Date, being recorded only a few weeks before the premature passing of Eric Dolphy at the age of 36, sums up his legacy and his musical prowess the best. He had reached his artistic peak. This is the album where he plays his instruments on equal basis: two pieces for alto saxophone, two for flute and two for bass clarinet. He is backed by three European jazz musicians, including Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg. They start with a Thelonious Monk cover "Epistrophy", where Dolphy shines on bass clarinet. Next we move onto Dolphy's original "South Street Exit", a fast upbeat, even bluesy number with poignant flute melodies. On the two tracks he plays alto sax, he proves that back in the day he was one of the most exciting alto saxophone players around, influenced by Charlie Parker, but matching his legacy very well.

However, it's the second song with flute on the album, "You Don't Know What Love is". It's also the longest cut on the album with 11 minutes and thus, there is enough time given for the master to explore the sonorities of the woodwind. Dolphy turns in the most moving and the most jaw dropping solo on that instrument my ears have ever witnessed. This totally transformed my opinion of Eric Dolphy as a fascinating jazz figure to a totally outstanding legendary musician. His greatness can be summed up by stating that Charles Mingus never had a single bad word to say about Eric Dolphy.

Eric Dolphy - Out To Lunch

The main virtues of the music found on Out To Lunch, a landmark Eric Dolphy album (1964) are the outstanding and unconventional musicianship; as well as often interesting musical ideas. The record is filled with musicians that can be considered the cream of the crop in sixties avant garde jazz scene. Tony Williams' playing transcends the usual trappings regarding drums, often forsaking rigid sense of time, but still swinging like a motherfucker, in a twisted way. Richard Davis is a truly talented bassist whose playing complements Williams' drumming very well. Bobby Hutcherson's vibes are creepy and spacious and as a chordal instrument it is a viable alternative for piano; Freddie Hubbard delivers insanely blaring trumpet lines, making the instrument sound as if armageddon was at hand. As for Eric Dolphy: he is all over the place whenever he will take a solo on bass clarinet, flute or alto sax (in that order).

As for the compositions and overall music, the use of tricky time signatures and the stew of free rhythms as well as angular melodic developments stand out. At times this isn't very palatable, the title track seems tobe the toughest nut to crack of all the five compositions. If you're curious about Eric Dolphy, you might want to start with Far Cry or Last Date. Otherwise, this is a landmark in sixties free-jazz.

Frank Zappa - Studio Tan

How many albums released only to fill contractual obligation sound as solid as this one? This contains music originally intended to be included on quadruple LP set Läther, but disagreements with Warner Bros led to a host of single albums, which were just spat out, so to say. Cover art is questionable, the hired a hack artist to design its cover. Disregarding its cover, the music on Studio Tan is nothing short of great. The album consists of a side long epic composition "The Adventures of Greggary Peccary" and three shorter pieces. Most of the music is recorded within the 1974-1975 time frame, when Zappa's Roxy and Elsewhere period (which began in 1973) was drawing to close. It contains much of the same personnel (George Duke, Fowler brothers, Chester Thompson and Ruth Underwood), and more. There's even bits of the 1975 Orchestral Favorites sessions integrated into the mix. And not surprisingly, most of the album presents Zappa's classicist direction, although mixed with jazz-rock fusion elements. The sole exception to all of the above parameters is "Lemme Take You To The Beach", a multi-year track that has seventies synth sounds mixed with high pitched vocals alluding to Zoot Allures and Sheik Yerbouti, but has a decidedly sixties sensibility and groove. Basic track was done in 1969 with guitars, bass, drums; vocals, synth and bongos were added in 1976. The result is a quirky surf-rock parody with doo wop sensibility reminiscent of Ruben & The Jets album.

Zappa also revises his "Music For Low Budget Orchestra" composition, that was originally composed in late sixties and was recorded for a Jean Luc Ponty album of Zappa interpretations. The original version was a nineteen minute showcase for electric violin integrated with an 11-piece band conducted by Ian Underwood; with inserts from Zappa themes such as "Duke of Prunes" and "Pound For A Brown". The original version was very interesting, but often quite sprawling. Zappa tightened the piece here with a line up that may not be as low budget as the band on the 1969 recording, as it sounds fuller and more involved. Zappa adds great guitar playing into the mix and there are new sections on this piece which make this revised version totally dissimilar to the original version from about 4:30 mark onwards. "Revised Music For Guitar and Low Budget Orchestra" showcases Zappa's integration of classical, jazz and rock influences at its most mature and polished. "RDNZL" does something similar for a stripped down lineup featuring just bass, drums, keyboards, mallet percussion and guitar. It was a live staple for the 1973-74 band and that piece too was originally very different. What used to be a four minute piece with lots of solos and sectional changes crammed into it, is now an expansive, polished multi-part epic starting with virtuoso synth and marimba display, leading to an electrifying Zappa guitar solo which leads way to a couple of pompous melodic blocks, a nice jazz waltz section, a piano solo and some more deliberately bombastic sounding themes which close the composition. A great display for the virtuoso musicianship of Duke and Ruth Underwood as well as Zappa's stinging guitar solo, everything held together well by the tight rhythm section.

"The Adventures of Greggary Peccary" is an expansion of the ideas represented in the above-mentioned instrumentals into a 20 minute epic, that also adds satire in the mix. This is a surreal satirical tale of a peccary (a species of pig) working as a copywriter specializing in inventing trends, who invents the calendar. The combination of music that amounts for 20 minutes and the tale mixing surreal fiction and social satire alludes to "Billy The Mountain" (that is quoted in the piece actually), but is more complex and orchestral. Whereas "Billy The Mountain" was performed live and recorded as such by the 1971 Mothers, "Greggary Peccary" is a studio-centric piece. Which is confirmed by the fact that Zappa himself does virtually all the voices, voicing the peccary character by the tape speed alteration technique he already used in late sixties. Musically it's all over the place with loads of instruments and instrumental sections which could form a basis for compositions worth a double album. As a result, it often feels sprawling, but the piece is still involving overall. Zappa's sped up peccary voice is hilarious and the overall effect is cartoonish and surreal. By the way, the 1972 Grand Wazoo orchestra played an early, instrumental version of it live. The proto-version is now released on the archival album Wazoo.

Studio Tan is a record for Zappa fans more into his orchestral and jazzy works, such as 200 Motels, Uncle Meat, The Grand Wazoo and Roxy & Elsewhere. This under-rated record is every bit as worthwhile, as any of the above-mentioned records, but more polished and even more sophisticated. The pieces work great both as a single album, and as part of the vast and eclectic Läther set that was eventually unleashed as a triple CD in 1996.

Holger Czukay - Movies

German Kraut-rock legend Holger Czukay's first solo album after leaving Can, Movies, does sound a bit in the post-Damo Suzuki Can vein, especially in that all of the core Can members play on this album, the main contributor being the drummer Jaki Liebezeit with his ever-reliable hypnotic grooves. While the compositions on this record occasionally drift towards incoherence (the fifteen minute "Hollywood Symphony" does seem a tad overlong), this is overall quite a bizarre and enjoyable record which manages to successfully avoid most of embarrassing pitfalls that late period Can fell into, even if it does sound just as polished in terms of production as, say Saw Delight and stylistically the music sounds proggier than the classic Can. This album does match the classic Can albums in terms of inventiveness, as the solid musicianship is combined with the employment of proto-sampling techniques, by integrating various sound bits from shortwave radio and television into the compositions. These techniques show a clear Karlheinz Stockhausen (who passed away very recently, may he rest in peace) influence, as Stockhausen was Czukay's mentor. We get everything from film dialogue to brass melodies to Middle-Eastern singing (the latter being heard on the beautiful piece called "Persian Love"). An outstanding "Cool In The Pool" combines fine pop sensibility with experimentalist tactics to an great, infectious effect. Movies is a truly unique work from the Kraut-rock master.

Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat

Love it or hate it, but the experimental noisy nature of this 1968 Velvet Underground album was definitely very unique back in late sixties. The noise experimentation on White Light/White Heat is decidedly insane and evil, the psychedelia presented here is not kind or easy, and not even quirky the same way one would expect from Mothers of Invention, early Soft Machine or Pink Floyd, although none of these were any less experimental. Velvets' approach is different. We have raw, visceral droning sheets of white noise coming from Ornette Coleman like free-jazz infused guitar from Lou Reed, while multi-instrumentalist John Cale's noise textures originate from mean fuzz-bass (like the ending of the title track), scratchy sawing viola ("Lady Godiva Operation") and insanely distorted and painfully alienating Vox organs. Moe Tucker is basically buried under the amplified sheets of sounds, but it's obvious she gave most tunes their consistent pulse. Aforementioned John Cale, the most erudite member of the band, contributes a lot to this album's insanity, also providing the spoken word recitation on "Gift", which is one example of Lou Reed's sheerly skewed poetic talents. Much of the album sounds improvised, but not noodly, it's all about the garage band gone to hell lunacy that makes this album. Occasional sense of pure melody pops up ("Here She Comes Now") but Velvet Underground wasn't easy listening, although they became considerably more melodic when John Cale left in 1968. But they were never as noisy after that.

Michael Nyman live at Charles' Church in Tallinn, Estonia on 29th November 2007

British minimalist composer Michael Nyman and his twelve member band gave a concert at Charles' Church (Kaarli kirik) in Tallinn, Estonia on 29th of November 2007. The concert was billed as the opening event of the annual Dark Nights Film Festival (Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival) in Estonia. For the night, Michael Nyman Band performed a set containing the well known compositions from Nyman's movie soundtracks. They opened with two numbers from The Draughtsman's Contract, "Chasing Sheep is Best Left To Shepherds" as well as "An Eye for Optical Theory", both with significantly more orchestral sound than on the original recordings. Pieces from Wonderland and Prospero's Books followed and these were among Nyman's most interesting pieces, each of them showcasing the composer's hypnotic, repetitive, rhythmically sustained and multi-layered scoring at its finest. Nyman also performed solo pieces from The Piano, including one of his most well known themes called "The Heart Asks Pleasure First". Finally the group rendered selections from Drowning By Numbers.

The sound quality was fair, but it left a bit desired in terms of clarity. The quieter songs sounded fine, but the more orchestrated pieces sounded a bit unclear. Although all the instruments were heard to some extent, some of these didn't cut through enough to display their tonal character in their whole. Given how Nyman's band with its twelve members can sound very orchestral for a group that one would expect to sound more chamber like, they certainly deserve better acoustics and sound balancing in order to make their sound more appreciated. Nonetheless, the public's reception to the performance was so enthusiastic that the band couldn't help it but play not only an encore, but three of them. First they played some more band pieces, and the final encore was yet another Nyman solo piano composition. All in all, a pretty good live concert.

Neu - Neu 2

Neu with lots of quirks and weirdness, that's how to describe the second album by this legendary krautrock duo from 1973 in a nutshell. The story on how the guys ran out of money and manipulated some of their material in a manner predating the remix practice in electronica, is well known. Aside that, the "normal" first half of the album already indicates the more intense and deranged dimensions in the band's music. "Für Immer" may sound like a rework of "Hallogallo", but it sounds more muscular and louder. In "Spitzenqualität" Klaus Dinger bangs his Apache beat with vengeance and lets his robotic drum loop gradually fall apart, which is very weird and easily beats "Sonderangebot"'s ambient noise at its own game. "Lila Engel" is the first time Neu! plays a concise rock song, albeit with mad energy and loopy voice from Dinger. This one is definitely one of the harshest and most nightmarish moments in Neu! canon, even rivaling "Negativland".

Then Neu manipulates with their songs, using speed alterations, broken tape recorders and the needle dropping technique to create quirky versions of their tunes which sound either insanely manic (when "Neuschnee" and "Super" are sped up) or apocalyptically gloomy (slowed down "Super" and "Hallo Excentrico"). The untreated "Neuschnee" and "Super" themselves formed an excellent, despite flopping at the time, single. "Neuschnee" is a driving dreamy upbeat tune with Rother´s trademark dreamlike guitars on the fore, whereas "Super" is almost punk, and even for punk rock, sounds rather deranged. One might argue that if Neu had enough money to complete the album in the usual manner, then this record may have not sounded as weird altogether. Judging by the non-"remix" material, it's apparent that there was already loads of madness lurking in their creative ways.

Frank Zappa - The Grand Wazoo

The legendary musician and composer Frank Zappa (1940-93) was many things to many people. Commonly known for his controversial antics, his crude sense of humor and his biting guitar work, he was also a serious composer with advanced sense of rhythm and melody and a knack for arrangements to reach quintessence. The Grand Wazoo, conceived in 1972 while he was recovering from the serious stage attack at Rainbow Theatre in London, showcases the composer and arranger side of Frank Zappa. Vocals are kept at bare minimum and guitar work remains mostly subtle. Horns and woodwinds are dominant instruments giving the album an impeccable big band jazz-rock sound. Even if this isn't the most accessible Zappa album, it's close to the sort of music he preferred to perform as the man had been dreaming of assembling a large electric big-band for several years. Zappa later returned to big ensemble ambitions in 1975 for the sessions that spawned Orchestral Favorites and close to his death while working with Ensemble Modern.

The title track is quintessential instrumental Zappa, blending anthemic exuberant melodicism with impeccable improvisational prowess. "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitchhikers)" features vocals, however it is uncompromisingly angular, leaning heavily on the avant garde side of the fence. Take the theme of "Penis Dimension" and multiply the result with "Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbeque" and you'll get some idea. "Cleetus Awreetus Awrightus" is deranged fun with wordless vocals, bombastic horns and rollicking piano arpeggios. "Eat That Question" begins with groovy electric piano from George Duke, going into a blistering guitar solo and ending with a bombastic finale with brass and martial rhythms . Album closer "Blessed Relief" is one of Zappa's most gorgeous instrumentals ever, sounding very romantic, in a very blissful way. Organic guitar tones, breezy horns and tinkling electric pianos give it an ambiance I don't think Zappa ever recaptured subsequently. The work of musicians is great throughout the whole album and carries out Zappa's unique vision very well.

Neu - Neu '75

Neu's last album (1975) sounds as if it had been recorded by two different bands. Guitarist Michael Rother dominates the first side with his ambient leanings and the side 2 is a vehicle for drummer Klaus Dinger's punkish sensibilities. On his songs Dinger plays guitars and has his brother Thomas Dinger as well as Hans Lampe taking over drum duties. Neu '75 is also one of their most accessible albums. Gone are the beatless noise excursions of the first album and the variable speed experimentation of their second. The opener "Isi" sounds like a Kraftwerk single except with drums and real piano, but definitely more synth-oriented than earlier Motorik mantras a la "Für Immer", with less of the Velvet Underground influence than before. "Seeland" is an evocative Pink Floyd-ish tune with trademark Rother's milky guitar playing and "Leb Wohl" is almost like a secular version of Popol Vuh tunes with its repetitive tranquil piano chords creating a dreamlike mood for 9 minutes with some odd subdued vocals.

Then the mood changes completely in favor for some raw and gritty proto-punk, as "Hero" kicks in with loud and assertive guitar chords and Dinger's snarling voice. The formula is pretty much repeated in "After Eight". In between these two numbers is "E-Musik" which is the closest to recapture the feel of "Hallogallo" and "Für Immer", but the coda of this includes backwards sounds taken from "Seeland" and "Leb Wohl".

It was obvious, from this listen, that Neu was falling apart and the band didn't function as a real band anymore. Sides one and two indicate a serious compositional schism, as well as personal(ity) differences between Dinger and Rother, who could barely tolerate each other. Somehow they did manage to pull off yet another krautrock classic before dissolving.



"Hero" live clip:

Neu - Neu

The debut album by influential kraut-rock duo Neu sounds a lot like an introverted rock album. The faster songs with Klaus Dinger's driving motorik beat have the drive, but they are also restraint, almost subtle with the minimal keyboard drones and sweet phased guitar lines. And only a half of the songs have drums, the rest of the material ranges from proto-industrial noise of "Sonderangebot" (basically a lot of cymbal noise sounds, until the ugly feedback at the end) to the harmonic drone in D major of "Im Glück" and a lethargic attempt at a vocal track (tentatively sung by Dinger) on "Lieber Honig" which mid-way becomes another ambient drone number, almost sounding like Neu's own "Moonchild", but inferior. As for the rest of the tracks, "Negativland" which takes cues from the first Kraftwerk album and predates Joy Division, is the sole track filled with gloomy and unrelenting brutality, featuring a lot of white noise, atonal guitar scrapings and hard-hitting rhythms. "Hallogallo" is essentially based on rock&roll pulse and drive that is stripped from all its extroverted excesses and instead is something that in a much more refined form. This would be the path for Kraftwerk (Dinger and Rother were members of that band before they formed Neu on their own) to explore on the albums like Autobahn, mechanical, timeless, driving and futuristic. "Weissensee" is a lot slower track in the pastoral psychedelic vein of Pink Floyd, but more mesmerizing.

It has been said about this album that the music on it might as well have been recorded even yesterday, as opposed to at the end of 1971, and that describes the quality of this music well. This was recorded in just four days which makes it remarkable how this album sounds so magical, even more than any other album which takes months to record! Some ambient moments might have benefited from more sense of direction though; otherwise this is essential release for those interested in German kraut-rock.

Blonde Redhead - 23

Blonde Redhead's seventh album, and their second for 4AD record label, 23 presents kindler and gentler version of the former noise-rock veterans who started out in early nineties with apparent Sonic Youth and no-wave influences. Such transformation already begun on 2000' "Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons" and as the band's album titles have got shorter, so has the Redhead's sound got more stream-lined and accessible. Heck, even more polished as far as production goes. The production of Alan Moulder who has worked with bands such as Depeche Mode and My Bloody Valentine, definitely hints at a sort of a high-gloss, dream pop influenced alterna-rock sound. Former fans of the band might view this direction as commercializing or selling out, but that's a limiting way to judge it. Whether or not this is pop-oriented or not, is not a good way to judge if this record has merit. There are only two types of music: good music and bad. Everything else is just a matter of stylistic variation. Even though this album doesn't surpass the 2004 masterpiece Misery Is A Butterfly, this one has enough strengths to consider it as good music.

The title track may throw off diehard BR fans as a more polished and commercial sound with its drastically compressed piano, a hint at eighties pop. However, if one thinks about it, this composition actually reverses a mainstream tactic that I've always considered rather frustrating. Have you ever heard some mainstream pop song that kicks off with something like an awesome guitar riff, only to descend into a bunch of overproduced slick drivel in a matter of seconds? BR does it backwards, it puts the cheesy sound (compressed piano chords) first and then adds layers of psychedelic guitars and loud, booming drums, making it an exciting rocker and an outstanding dream pop song with heavenly vocals from Kazu Makino. In fact, the first three songs that open the album are all outstanding pieces of polished dream pop, with solid guitar playing, sensual female vocals, swirling spacious sounds along, a great attention to detail and good progressions.

Blonde Redhead has always had a dichotomy between the songs: the ones sung by Kazu (guitar, keyboards), and the others by her partner Amedeo Pace (guitars). Kazu has an ethereal and a sensual voice, brimming with erotic tension and subdued passion. Amedeo's tenor voice however is somewhat bland and at its worst sounds unassertive. He sings three songs on the album. "Spring And By Summer Fall" is his attempt at a rock-out song, but it sounds a bit tacky, as his voice weakens this song somewhat. "Publisher" however is a drab attempt at electronic pop. These two are listenable, but nothing more. Only "SW"(track four on the record) is worthwhile: a more complex and grandiose sounding version of something like "Falling Man" on the previous album, replete with a regal sounding French horn interlude. Other seven songs are all sung by Kazu. Including track six "Silently". This is obviously the most blatantly pop oriented number, a bouncy 80s synth pop/new wave influenced song, and probably one of the first instances where the purveyors of transcendent melancholy (which they perfected on Misery) are playing the kind of song that sounds...happy? It's not bad, just way lightweight compared to the previous fare. The last three songs are again worthwhile, "Heroine" having some vocoderized singing and a melancholic progression, "Top Ranking" sounds a bit like "Melody" from Misery with an electro-samba sort of beat and a happy-go-luckier atmosphere and "My Impure Hair" is a swirling, folky ballad with heart-wrenching Kazu vocals.

This album showcases the band's talent at writing accessible, memorable tunes with layered arrangements. It also has lots of nice guitar work on it. Occasional blandness and lighter fare aside, this is quite solid as polished dream pop goes.

Eric Dolphy - Conversations

Conversations by Eric Dolphy contains four tracks. The album's two halves couldn't be any different from each other. First two tracks are very accessible ensemble pieces where Dolphy plays with his sidekicks like Prince Lasha, Bobby Hutcherson and Richard Davis. Hearing Dolphy and others tackling those upbeat and vibrant melodic compositions, is truly indicative of Eric Dolphy's versatility as a musician. As such, this album would serve as a fine introduction for those who might be scared off by sheer statistical density of stuff like Out To Lunch. Not sure what they would think of what is about to follow, as the last two tracks are more explorative fare. "Love Me"on alto sax is yet another one of those unaccompanied reed pieces Dolphy frequently recorded. The last thirteen minutes, "Alone Together" have Dolphy on bass clarinet having a duet with string bassist Richard Davis. The interplay between two instruments and their low registers is spacious and the mood is as intimate as the title suggests.

Soft Machine - Live At The Proms 1970

Soft Machine was the first rock band to perform the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall. The gig took place on August 13, 1970. Listening to this record, it sounds a pretty decent performance, though its primary importance seems to be that being a historical document. The Softs played three compositions. The version of "Out Bloody Rageous" here is probably the only one that featured the pre-recorded tape loops that were integral to the studio variant, but usually not there in the live context, as the piece was integrated into the continuous medley-like set with other pieces. Here, the number's opener status means that they use the pre-recorded keyboard loops tracks as an intro. The piece itself is played quite nicely, even if a little hurried compared to the other versions. Elton Dean was yet to incorporate the second electric piano thus there's no back-up comping behind Ratledge's organ solo yet. There's an interesting demonic noise section that separates "OBL" from "Facelift", which gets an energetic reading, even if there's some overplaying in that one, such as Elton Dean's occasional aggressive sax spots. Finally they do "Esther's Nose-job". Performed pretty much as usual, the most remarkable spot being Wyatt's psychedelic echo laden scat during the avant-garde section of the piece. Though primarily a historical document, it's still interesting enough to warrant attention. It's fitting that this was re-released as a bonus CD to the remastered Third in 2007.

Frank Zappa - Imaginary Diseases

Imaginary Diseases, an archival release including various live tracks dating from October to December in 1972 presents Frank Zappa at his artistic peak. This is the Petit Wazoo tour documentation. Ten piece group with 6 horn men. Entirely instrumental tracks with truly inspired performances. Impeccable drumming, fantastic horn work, ripping guitar solos and tasteful bass playing is what makes up performances on this, arguably the best Frank Zappa archival release.

The first track "Oddients" is, as the title suggests, an odd piece of improv with some audience participation. Which leads to "Rollo". The only flaw this album has is that the version included here is in edited form, without the vocals section like it used to have during the Petit Wazoo tour, and thus we only get the infamous finale that was later added to "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" suite for the late 1970s performances. Nonetheless, this instrumental coda is a striking piece of music, with some sad and heart-wrenching oboe used to good effect and also mixed in well with the brass, that tackle the atonal, yet oddly beautiful melodies. "Been To Kansas City In A-Minor" follows as a 10 minute blues jam that logically follows the blues rock orientation of the earlier Mothers line ups, but far more sophisticated thanks to the horn section.

The highlight, though, is the fourth piece. "Farther O'Blivion" suite has been previously unreleased, yet it's an amalgam of several distinct Zappa themes that later became compositions on their own. First part is the "Steno Pool" section from "The Adventures of Greggary Peccary", including a nice tuba solo, followed by the proto-version of "Be Bop Tango". While Bruce Fowler's trombone solo is as magnificent as it was on the Roxy and Elsewhere album (that man can really blow the horn!), it is drummer Jim Gordon who is the most surprising instrumentalist there. He proves to be a proficient jazz drummer and his solo is surprisingly listenable too. Usually I don't care for drum solos but his at least doesn't sound like a bunch of arrhythmic doodling, as could be said about most drum solos. Finally the band rounds it off with an instrumental version of "Cucamonga", much more involving than the later vocal rework on Bongo Fury. Overall, great sixteen minutes.

Fifth track "DC Boogie" starts out as hypnotic fuzz toned psychedelic jam with a heavy guitar solo, but during the middle, after Zappa's interaction with the audience, this improvised tune turns into...yup you guessed it, boogie! "Imaginary Diseases" is another composed tune, with the exuberant brass playing a theme reminiscent of a 70s cop movie on top of funky rhythm section. Frank again turns the tune into guitar fiesta until the head is restated again. "Montreal" is more inspired psyche/blues jamming from the group and is a fine ending to this 63 minute album.

Overall, a fine posthumous, archival release from Zappa. With none of the juvenile sophomoric humor so present in many FZ's work as it is entirely instrumental, and as this is the first release to document the 1972 live band; this is essential and highly recommended.

Michael Nyman - The Draughtsman's Contract

British minimalist composer Michael Nyman's score for Peter Greenaway film from 1982, The Draughtsman's Contract is based on the repetitive bass motifs from 17th century composer Henry Purcell. The soundtrack album features one of Nyman's most well known pieces called "Chasing Sheep Is Best Left To Shepherds", which is the opening number. This short piece has a memorable melody in C major scale rendered on strings and soprano sax carried by a bouncy bass rhythm. Aside the repetition of the bass lines and inventive use of counterpoint, Michael Nyman Band's instrumentation is also worth mentioning: they use saxophones combined with string quartet, brass instruments, electric bass and Nyman himself on piano, who also doubles on harpsichord. "Watery Death" starts with low brass tones and a soprano sax melody that seems to hint at the "Chasing Sheep" theme, and then turns into a sinister amalgam of clanging harpsichord, staccato strings and bubbly brass that indeed lives up to the track's title. "Queen of the Night", another classic Nyman tune is the most bass heavy track: the electric bass really has a rather rock-oriented drive to it. "An Eye For Optical Theory" focuses on the unique saxophone arrangements, whereas the closing "Bravura In The Face of Grief" has a funeral atmosphere, with sad progression ongoing for several minutes, before the harpsichord eventually enters for the final minutes, giving the ending section a very vivid edge. Recommended for minimalist/contemporary classical fans.

John Cale & Terry Riley - The Church of Anthrax

One of the most influential avant-rock ensembles, Velvet Underground, was very much influenced by classical minimalism, particularly by the work of La Monte Young. Terry Riley was also one of the early practitioners of repetitive avant-garde music. So it's logical that John Cale, the most gifted of the Velvets (who was sacked in 1968) would team up with Riley to make a record. When an avant-garde minimalist composer and an experimental rock musician meet to collaborate, you'd expect the results to be as drone-heavy as possible. Unlike Tony Conrad's meeting with Faust in 1972, this album is surprisingly jazz-influenced, but definitely not the kind of jazz-fusion you'd expect from Miles Davis, Weather Report or Soft Machine, although Church of Anthrax at times allows comparisons with the latter band's third album. A heavy street-smart feel carries the nine-minute title track with its rumbling bass-line and skittering drums setting a heavy basis for a melange of colorful keyboards and mesmerizing snake-charmer like soprano sax from Riley, culminating with tortured, yet subdued droning atonal guitars. "The Hall Of Mirrors In The Palace Of Versailles" follows and it appears to be a sedater affair, more in line with Terry Riley's work, the interplay between Cale's piano and Riley's sax is blissful. "The Soul of Patrick Lee" is pure John Cale track which, if Cale hadn't left the Velvets in 1968, wouldn't have sounded out of place on Velvet Underground's third, or even fourth album, the only track with vocals too. "March Ides" is possibly the most jazz-oriented piece, and quite idiosyncratic at that: pounding semi-ragtime piano sets the basis for the song and mingles with more skittering drum work, creating thus a quirky 11-minute improvisation. "The Protégé" is among the shortest tracks on this album, but it also seems the most repetitive, until the false sense of security is chased away by a burst of violent feedback that concludes Church Of Anthrax.

Marc Moulin - Placebo Sessions 71-74

Belgian keyboardist and synthesizer pioneer Marc Moulin initially started out playing jazz in the sixties, then, inspired by Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock on one hand and british prog-rock such as The Soft Machine on the other, moved on to fusion. He founded the band called Placebo (certainly not to be mixed up with the brit-rock group from 1990s) and the group recorded and released three albums. During his tenure with Placebo, Moulin got his hands on an early Minimoog and thus began his pursuit of electronic idiom. As could be expected, the music is heavy on layered keyboards like electric piano, clavinet and analog synthesizers. Not only that, but there are great horn arrangements as well. They use trumpets, saxophones, but also bass clarinet and flutes. Sometimes they even add electronic effects on the horns as well, as possibly inspired by electric Miles Davis bands, but also referring to the experimentation of Frank Zappa and Soft Machine. Even if Marc Moulin himself doesn't look back on the band too fondly, being dissatisfied with sound and perhaps even performance on the band as well as considering Placebo's music a bit too derivative of other well known prog-jazz outfits; there's one thing that can't be denied about this band: they really grooved! Backing the layered arrangements and instrumentation was a solid, funky rhythm section. At the very least, Placebo pulled off a convincing amalgam of progressive jazz-rock orchestrations and funk's rhythmic drive. Pieces like "Aria", "Planes", "Showbiz Suite" and "Only Nineteen" are mind blowing compositions showcasing their musicianship quite well, whereas pieces like "Balek" point to futuristic side of the band with its gurgly synth sounds. This album sounds so ahead of the time you'd think Jaga Jazzist has taken a few cues from Placebo and Marc Moulin. Curious factoid: Francis Weyer, later to be known as easy listening acoustic guitarist Francis Goya played with Placebo as well. If that's him doing the guitar parts on pieces like "N.W", "SUS" and "Bosso" (that one's got a really solid guitar solo), then it's surprising to learn that one of the biggest muzak hacks once had considerable credibility. The music is mostly instrumental, save for one vocal cut "Inner City Blues", which one can take or leave, depending on his opinion of the voice singing (which is apparently uncredited). At the very least it has a nice laid back feel with piano, bass, hi-hat percussion and ethereal flutes. While not all tracks are equally memorable, this underrated gem is an excellent addition to seventies electric jazz/fusion or even funk music collections.

Frank Zappa - Everything is Healing Nicely

Everything Is Healing Nicely is a collection of sessions and rehearsals with the Ensemble Modern (the chamber orchestra playing on The Yellow Shark) from 1991-2 that contains some of Frank Zappa's more accessible classical stuff. Even aside the more melodic pieces, some of his more atonal stuff is spiced up with humorous monologues and improvisation. You can tell the players were having fun when they were performing those compositions. Therefore, if The Yellow Shark album was too heavy to take, one might as well go with this album to get some idea about Zappa's work during his final years. Highlights include "This Is A Test", which harks back to some of Zappa's chamber music work from Burnt Weeny Sandwich era, "T'Mershi Duween" in its orchestral glory and two standout compositions which manage to be both experimental and accessible. "Roland's Big Event/Strat Vindaloo" is an improvisation over a brooding slow groove beginning with a rapid fire clarinet solo followed by a low key duet between FZ and the guest violinist Shankar. As the guitarist was already seriously ill, it was obvious that the glory days of fast'n'furious guitar solos was over once and for all for Zappa, so he wisely opts to play minimal notes and dialogue with the violinist. "9/8 Objects" however is one hell of a number: a four-meter reggae-ish drum pattern supports variety of contrapuntal lines played on cello, marimba, brass and woodwinds, several of them in 9/8 time signature which are played against the overall straight tempo. Mind-blowing! Very reminiscent of some hypnotic Eastern music. Shankar again improvises on violin in this number. Even some of the less accessible pieces feature interesting elements in them. "Nap Time" can well work as a mellow ambient composition. "Master Ringo" and "Wonderful Tattoo" have hilarious monologues on them. Recommended if you want to get the idea of Zappa's avant garde classical work.

Soft Machine - Grides

Grides is a CD/DVD set released by Cuneiform featuring a Soft Machine concert on CD and a German TV broadcast on DVD. Since this is the first time The Softs can be seen on an officially released DVD, this release is essential.

What about the CD itself? The gig was recorded in Netherlands, 25th of October, 1970. This is a decent performance, though at places really interesting. They preview a couple of epic pieces from the Fourth album the sessions for which were undertaken at the time. "Virtually" follows Elton Dean's sax solo on "Facelift" and is 14 minutes long, a bit looser than the studio take. "Teeth" is still a work-in-progress as the composition's different and provisional structure indicates. Even Elton Dean's "Neo Caliban Grides" which was in the Softs' setlist but recorded on Elton's first solo album in 1971, was different in its early version. It has a composed theme after the opening riff, which is quite straight, given Elton's free jazz propensity. Mike Ratledge gets a distorted organ solo before the piece dissolves into atonal group improv. This is one of the last times where they play "Esther's Nose Job" and even that piece is on the verge of falling apart. Not only does the group feel kind of tired when they play this piece for umpteenth time, but there are several elements different: first, the melodic part in "Pig" section is dropped, then Robert Wyatt's voice being totally absent from this gig means that his scat vocal is replaced by the instrumental bass melody during "A Door Opens and Closes" section. Last, but not least, "Pigling Bland" is played exactly as played from 1971 onwards. Only "Pigling Bland" part survived it in the band's setlist the next year. The encore is quite a nice rendition of the mid-section of "Slightly All The Time" as heard on Third album, with more fuzz bass from Hopper and it ends with an aggressive rendition of Hopper's "Noisette" theme.

DVD was filmed at German TV show Beat Club on 23th March, 1971. They play "Neo Caliban Grides", which had reached its full atonal, group improv oriented form; followed by "Out Bloody Rageous" with great solos from Mike Ratledge (backed by Elton on electric piano) and Elton on alto sax. "Eamonn Andrews" features a mind-blowing scat vocal improv from Wyatt and they round it off with a proto-version of "All White". The CD part has an ok concert, but the DVD is why this album is recommended.

Soft Machine - British Tour 1975

I used to think that post-Wyatt Soft Machine was nowhere near as good as the Wyatt era band. I also held that the closer it drew to the loss of even the final original member from the line-up, the worse it became. The evolution of the band could've been summed up with a quote from a Kevin Ayers' song that went like: "Making life easy by making it worse" as the music of SM was being simplified to generic Fusion music which was nowhere near as radical and interesting as the late sixties and early seventies stuff. I thought the studio albums like Bundles and Softs had their moments, but seemed rather underwhelming in some respects. That's studio alright, but what about live?

Well, this live album is thankfully showing an entirely another side to the latter-day Machine. And it is this release thanks to which it is evident that when the Jenkins era band really wanted to, they could display enough power in their performance. Both Bundles and Softs are represented here. This 78 minute set opens with the pairing of "Bundles" and "Land of the Bag Snake" and it already shows that live, these songs could sound more intense than their studio counterparts. While Allan Holdsworth gets most of the respect, I think John Etheridge is as good of a guitarist, if not even more interesting one. Aside his lightning speed solos, his rhythm guitar playing is equally impressive. So, in guitar department, it's all well. "Out of Season" from the upcoming Softs album follows and it's also a bit more energetic than the studio version, even though a bit too long and repetitive. Then comes the early highlight of the album, which is the rendition of keyboardist Mike Ratledge's "The Man Who Waved At Trains" composition. The rendition here sounds a little less jazzy than the studio counterpart, played again with more verve and intensity, with the inspired rhythm guitar playing. It is already apparent that Karl Jenkins has given up on most of his reeds. Not only is his soprano sax on the main melody poorly miked to the point of being nearly inaudible, but also during the solo section, where there used to be an oboe solo; the one who gets the spotlight is...Ratledge instead. He steps up and cranks up a fiery solo for the next four minutes on his fuzzed Lowrey organ. I've always thought Jenkins' oboe solos were too mild and unassertive, so the decision to relegate the solo to the powerful Ratledge organ was fitting. After his solo, Ratledge messes around on his synthesizer, unaccompanied. At this point, he was still cranking up some wild and deranged keyboard sounds, now on synthesizer instead of treated organ or tape loops like earlier. After a minute long "Floating World", another Softs preview, "Ban Ban Caliban" arrives. It's a great one too. Did I mention that on this concert, Ratledge plays more organ than during the earlier Fusion years? Not just solos, but backing as well. On "Ban Ban Caliban", the minimalist and ethereal head is played by soprano sax and wah-ed organ, the textures of these two combined instruments is mind-blowing. Then comes a transitional riff not present on the studio version, which introduces the solo section. On the studio version, there was a sax solo from Alan Wakeman. In his place, Mike Ratledge whips out another fine solo. It really shows that on this concert album, he's nowhere near as invisible as he was on the final studio sessions with the Machine. The comparative lack of reeds and the dual keyboard textures with more prominent Lowrey organ really contribute to tasteful sound picture, which is another reason why this is archival release is so worthwhile. After Ratledge we have a nice guitar solo from Etheridge as well.

Ok, so far so good. Then come the most dispensable ten minutes of the set and that is...you guessed it, the drum solo. Apparently John Marshall had some interesting percussion solo concepts, but 10 minutes is way too long. After that, becomes the powerhouse "Hazard Profile" suite from the Bundles. It's again somewhat different from the studio version. The biggest change is the part five, where the soprano sax melody is dropped and a solo vamp in a different key (C-minor instead of G) is introduced for Ratledge. He starts with synth, then drops it and whips out more fast and furious organ. Another goodie. For what was apparently an encore, "Song of Aeolus" is played, and it's yet another song that would wind up on Softs album. Again this version plods less and in place of cheesy synth strings on the studio version we have some wonderful Ratledge organ comping. Nice one. There is even an earlier version from 1975 with Ratledge taking a fuzz organ solo while Jenkins comped on acoustic piano, which is available on The Floating World 1975. It's also great. "Sign of Five" is a 15 minute guitar led jam that ends the show quite nicely.

And that was it: a show in Nottingham University in October 11, 1975 where it was evident that the Soft Machine could still play it great. It is albums like these which necessitate revisionism of Jenkins era Soft Machine. The warts-and-all energetic performance certainly has stood the test of time better than the comparatively bland and dated studio stuff from mid-seventies Machine. It also might be among the best archival Machine albums not released by Cuneiform.

Frank Zappa - Orchestral Favorites

Orchestral Favorites features several Frank Zappa's instrumental melodies rendered by a very large big band bordering on classical orchestra combining electric combo (bass, drums, electric keyboards) with the vast array of woodwinds, brass, strings and percussion. The 37 piece lineup is known as Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Orchestra (a tag FZ also used for the entire line up on Lumpy Gravy album). This is a fairly inventive fusion of orchestral music and electric sonorities of rock. Not only does the listener get electric organs and synthesizer along with electric bass and a guitar solo during one of the numbers, there are also touches like wah pedal on viola and creative stereo-panning. This is one of the outstanding examples of Zappa's skills regarding musical synthesis.

The drummer here is none other than Terry Bozzio, having already appeared on the Bongo Fury tour in Spring 1975. Apparently this was where he proved to be the true monster drummer for the first time. A critic, blown away by his drumming during the orchestral shows in September 1975, called him the drummer with a future. And it shows. Not only is Bozzio providing strong and loaded backbeat to the majestically arranged "Duke of Prunes" (which also features a feedback heavy guitar solo in the middle), but he also fights himself through the advanced rhythmical labyrynths on the denser numbers such as the ultra-dissonant "Pedro's Dowry" or the multi-sectioned "Bogus Pomp". This 13 minute piece blends several items from the 200 Motels album (off which a fine instrumental version of "Strictly Genteel" is also included) and is made up from several sections ranging from dissonance and atonalism to accessible and memorable melodies. It's also said to be a parody of movie music clichès. Actually the entire album suggests how Zappa might have scored a soundtrack for films, given not only the cinematic qualities of orchestration, but also the inclusion of material Zappa had used in movies (200 Motels material, plus "Duke of Prunes" was originally featured in "Run Home Slow" film). The dissonant pieces could also work well in a soundtrack for a horror movie or a motion picture about some ecological disaster or something (years later FZ wrote a piece called "Outrage At Valdez" which indeed was used in a documentary regarding pollution). The music on this album is very vivid and are played accordingly by musicians. Essential orchestral Zappa.