Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence - ROBERT FRIPP.
Information is not knowledge;
knowledge is not wisdom;
wisdom is not truth;
truth is not beauty;
beauty is not love;
love is not music;
MUSIC IS THE BEST - FRANK ZAPPA.
I think we're a little happier when we have a little music in our lives - STEVE JOBS.
Music in the soul can be heard by the universe - LAO TZU.
Rock and Roll is fire, man. FIRE. - DAVID BRIGGS.
Music grips you, gets into your soul -
GEORGE MARTIN
The BeatlesRevolver(various copies on Vinyl and CD, Apple and Parlophone, 1966) *****
Genre: Beatles pop Places I remember: Marbecks Records, Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi), The Warehouse and elsewhere since the early seventies Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Love You To
Gear costume: Everything else! Active compensatory factors: A contender for best Beatle album, therefore often a contender for best album of all time, Revolver often fights it out with Sgt Pepper for those honours, The Beatles (a.k.a. the white album) is my all time fav from the fabs. Then there's Abbey Rd. It's all subjective isn't it, relevant to how old you are, when you chanced upon these glorious albums, what you associate with listening to them and so on. What is beyond subjectivity is how these songs STILL sound cutting edge. Chuck on Doctor Robert, or Taxman, or Love You To (sic), or I'm Only Sleeping, or Got To Get You Into My Life, and wind up the volume! See what I mean? George Martin's genius for a suitably exploratory sound landscape complements the brilliant songs, singing and playing. Note well: I didn't even mention Tomorrow Never Knows in that revelatory song list above. Or Eleanor Rigby. Or Yellow Submarine. Maybe it IS the best album of all time!
Where do they all belong? That heading comes from Eleanor Rigby btw. Capitol were still playing silly buggers in the U.S. with Beatle releases. That would finally end with their next release: Sgt Pepper.
Atlanta Rhythm SectionAre You Ready!(Vinyl, Polydor, 1979) ****
Genre: American pop/rock Places I remember: Marbecks Records Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Angel (What in the world's come over us)
Gear costume:So Into You Active compensatory factors: I was into my second year of working atMarbecks Recordsin my University holidays when Roger Marbeck played this album in the shop a few times. It's a slick amalgam of southern rock like Marshall Tucker Band were playing (I fell for the MTB big time). Rhythmic guitars, extended jams, good ole boys: fun!!
Where do they all belong? This is the only ARS album I possess but really, that's enough. The Marshall Tucker Band discography is a different thing though - I'm a completist as far as they go. Not sure why as they plough the same furrow to a large extent.When I think about it I guess it's the more romanticised version of the western hero that I like (The Long Ride was my way in).
Genre: German pop/rock Places I remember: Real Groovy Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles:Hard to go past their number one hit: 99 Luftballons
Gear costume: Nur Geträumt, Leuchtturm Active compensatory factors: I searched for years for this album, containing as it does the German language version of 99 Luftballons. The English version (99 Red Balloons) appeared on Say Cheese, an eighties compilation of one hit wonders. It pales in comparison to the German one. The rest of the album is more of the same Germanic electronic eighties pop, but nothing is as catchy as 99 Luftballons. Previous single to 99 Luftballons was Nur Geträumt and it's the next catchiest song here. Third single, Leuchtturm, is also pretty cool - it builds well. Nena, the person rather than the band, (a nickname for the lead singer - Gabriele Kerner, btw) is still performing (and still looking great incidentally).
Where do they all belong? That's it for Nena, the band - a true one hit wonder!
Genre: pop/rock Places I remember: Marbecks Records (Auckland) Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Country Mile
Gear costume:Moonchild Active compensatory factors: Roger Glover (yes, the bassist for Deep Purple) came on board for this album and added some finesse and clarity to proceedings for Rory: Moonchild and Calling Card are good examples. It's quite a varied album from Rory this time. Calling Card is a nice change of pace, Moonchild is almost a love song (as much as Rory ever does a love song), Barley and Maple Rag is folk, I'll Admit You've Gone is an accoustic beauty and there are some rock songs in the mix as well. Thanks to the band being on top form (Lou Martin plays some lovely piano on Calling Card and Rod de'Ath is also at his best) with Glover producing, Rory can excel on vocals and guitar.
Where do they all belong? The last with this line up - only Gerry McAvoy remained beyond this one.
Genre: English pop/rock Places I remember: RCA Victor Record Club (yes, it arrived in my letterbox back in 1972 with the el cheapo cover as pictured) Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles:Andy Warhol
Gear costume:Life On Mars, Queen Bitch Active compensatory factors: Apart from budget concerns, I have no idea why NZ went for this crappy cover (light brown annotated lithograph like picture and same image and writing on front and back). The copy appears to be written by Bowie (I played some guitar...) but the crossings out and the amateur lay out (left and right is cut off on each side) add up to tacky! Hunky Dory is a weird mixture of styles that somehow hang together. Queen Bitch looks forward to Ziggy, there are name checks for zowie Bowie, Dylan and Warhol (and Lennon's on sale again on Mars, sic), The Bewlay Brothers is spooky, Kooks is kooky, and so on. But it's Bowie, so it all works!
Where do they all belong? Ziggy was itching to emerge from that yonder star.
Genre: Australian pop/rock Places I remember: Marbecks Records, Auckland Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Khe Sanh
Gear costume:One Long Day, Daskarzine, Home And Broken Hearted Active compensatory factors: I started collecting Cold Chisel and backtracked from Swingshift to this album and East (which is a much superior album). At the time, I was drawn to Chisel's album rather than Midnight Oil's debut which also came out in 1978. Something about the blues shout of Chisel and the pub rocker/Aussie battler syndrome rather than the social consciousness of the Oils was the magic ingredient for me. I know the band are kind of embarrassed by this album but I like its rough and ready sound and, what the heck, it's got Khe Sanh on it so, sorry boys, it's worthy of respect!
Where do they all belong? The debut album - it was onwards for Jim Barnes (as credited on this album) and the boys.
Claudio ArrauBeethoven Piano Concerto No.2, Op.19; Piano Sonata No.1, Op. 2, No.1(Vinyl, Philips, 1964) ****
Genre: Classical Places I remember: Marbecks Records, Auckland Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Piano Concerto Rondo
Gear costume:Piano Concerto Adagio Active compensatory factors: When I was trying to flesh out my musical palette, I bought this on the recommendation of Murray Marbeck, Roger's dad. He knew what he was on about did Murray. We bonded over the fact that we were both old boys of Mt Albert Grammar School. Being a MAGS boy carries some gravitas. To be fair, you can't go too far wrong with Beethoven. My preference is for the piano concertos and sonatas rather than the symphonies and I enjoy this album whenever I hear it. But the classical deviation didn't stick, I'm afraid. Jazz and rock music is my cup of tea.
Where do they all belong? In the slim classical section along with the baroque period artists that I enjoy the most.
Peter NeroI'll Never Fall In Love Again(Vinyl, Columbia, 1970) **
Genre: Easy listening Places I remember: Another album inherited from my father's record collection. Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Something Gear costume:I 'll Never Fall In Love Again, Lay Lady Lay Active compensatory factors: Seemingly, the sort of album hip youngish executives put on the hi fi as they loosened their tie and made a gin and tonic after a day of meetings at work in Otahuhu while kids did their homework and their wife got dinner ready. In 1970, my dad would have been 42 and my mother 40. At 12 years old, I was a naive and innocent bystander. My 10 year old brother was just annoying. Yes indeed, this album is a memory bomb. Drop the needle on that first track, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, and I'm back in the bosom of the Purdy family at 18 Korma Ave., Royal Oak, Auckland, NZ, Earth, the Solar System, The Universe. At that time this kind of music washed over me. I was listening to the real thing on The Beatles Hey Jude album in 1970 - well the few weeks of 1970 after Christmas that is. Now I listen to this album with a nostalgic tear in my eye for those much simpler days when I had my family intact around me! It's tough being a grown up. And I miss my mum and dad.
Where do they all belong? At the time I completely failed to notice what a distinguished musician Peter Nero was. Such is youth! I'll never ever get rid of this album! It sits happily in the Easy Listening section of my collection along with George Shearing, Herb Alpert et al.
Tony HancockThe Blood Donor, The Radio Ham(Vinyl, Marble Arch, 1968) ***
Genre: Comedy Places I remember: Charity shop in Caterham Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Blood Donor
Gear costume:The Radio Ham Active compensatory factors: Recorded on my birthday in 1961 (I was 4) and released on Pye's budget label in 1968, this is comedy genius folks! Hancock's Half Hour was a regular radio feature along with The Goon Show, and The Clitheroe Kid when I was growing up. I loved HHH especially. Background from wikipedia: Two episodes from Hancock, made after he split from Sid James, are among his best-remembered: "The Blood Donor", in which he goes to a clinic to give blood, contains some famous lines, including "I don't mind giving a reasonable amount, but a pint! That's very nearly an armful!"; in "The Radio Ham", Hancock plays an amateur radio enthusiast who receives a mayday call from a yachtsman in distress, but his incompetence prevents him from taking his position. Both of these programmes were re-recorded a few months later for a commercial 1961 LP, produced in the same manner as the radio episodes. As a young nipper (and now for that matter), I am particularly drawn to his accent and comic timing. He can say a simple line and I'm grinning! Where do they all belong? In my youth.
Genre: Piano jazz Places I remember: Ray's Jazzbar in Foyles at Charing Cross, London Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles:The Squirrel
Gear costume:Love For Sale Active compensatory factors: Recorded in 1971 but not released until a few years later, Red shows that he still has the goods (I believe in jazz muso circles this is referred to as 'chops'). His legacy stretches back to the mid fifties, with Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Although not recording during the late sixties he returned in the seventies with a flourish. He passed away in April 1984. My copy from the second hand bin at Ray's Jazz is a promo copy that also has a faded stamp on the back cover saying RR Records, Glendale, California. So it's much travelled, at least from America to London to New Zealand! It's the perfect after school/work on a Friday afternoon sort of record. That is, it's brilliant piano jazz, played by vets who know what they are doing.
Where do they all belong? A safe pair of hands! Pity about that cover though - worse in real life!
Ted Heath and His Music Swing Is King (Vinyl, World Record Club, 1967) ****
Genre: Swing (Jazz) Places I remember: This is another one from my father's record collection. He loved Big Bands! Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Sing Sing Sing
Gear costume:Flying Home Active compensatory factors: This album pops! And swings like a billy goat! Just listen to the last track on side 2 - Sing Sing Sing* above. It's the last track coz really - how do you follow that??? The only thing you can do is flip over the album and start again with track one (Flying Home). Which is also spectacular. *You may remember Sing Sing Sing from Spielberg's 1941 movie. It's a great scene! Where do they all belong? In a very niche corner of the collection forever.
Frank SinatraSwing Easy!(Vinyl, World Record Club, 1954) **** Frank SinatraIn The Wee Small Hours(Vinyl, Capitol Records, 1955) ** Genre: Jazz Vocal Places I remember:Swing Easy! comes from my parents' record collection - mum was the Sinatra fan. Small Hours was found in a charity shop in Caterham during our recent stay in the UK. It's in excellent condition too, given it's probably been in someone's possession since 1955!!! Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Get Happy
Gear costume:I Get A Kick Out of You, A Foggy Day Active compensatory factors: These are both in weird formats. Bear with me. Swing Easy! was originally released as a 10 inch, eight song 'album'. My copy is the extended 12 inch LP version which adds the eight songs from the 10 inch 'album' Songs for Young Lovers, featuring (as above) the Swing Easy! cover but including a miniature inset of the Songs for Young Lovers cover. It's ugly but it gets the point across. Mum and dad belonged to the World Record Club and obviously bought this through the mail. The label is therefore cheesily stylised as the 'Light Music Club'.
In The Wee Small Hours was originally released as two 10 inch 'albums'. I have part 1, so side 1 and side 2. Which is fine, as the lonely early morning mood conjured up by the songs, the cover picture, and Frank's delivery doesn't move me especially. Much better is the 12 inch long player of Swing Easy! released a year earlier - Swing Easy! is a spot on title by the way. Frank sashayes his way through the material and Nelson Riddle's arrangements and orchestration are justifiably lauded.
Where do they all belong? I stretch to a Greatest Hits CD and tha tha that's all folks.
Earl KlughCrazy For You (Vinyl, EMI, 1981) *** Genre: Modern Jazz Places I remember: Marbecks Records Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: I'm Ready For Your Love
Gear costume:Soft Stuff (and other delights) Active compensatory factors: This came out when I was working at Marbecks Records (the lack of apostrophe always buggs me - surprising as Murray Marbeck was a scholar and a gentleman). Roger Marbeck would play it often, and it just perfectly sums up the cool laid back approach that was the atmosphere in the shop. Roger has great musical ears and he was spot on with this album. Side one is the stronger - maybe because I've heard it more: countless times in the shop and subsequently at home. Side two stretches things and starts to feel a little dated. That opening track though (as above). Magic times!!
Where do they all belong? Try the duets albums with Bob James for more of this brand of coolness.
Larry CoryellBarefoot Boy(Vinyl, Flying Dutchmen, 1971) **** Genre: Jazz Fusion Places I remember:Viking's Haul (Woodville) Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles/Gear costume: Gypsy Queen Active compensatory factors: Virtuoso fusion guitar playing doesn't get much better than Larry Coryell. As one critic summed up, Larry's style of fusion was: complex and virtuosic yet easily accessible, at times intense, at others fun-filled, and always with the feeling of the unknown that comes with truly spontaneous and inspired improvisation. This album has some sublime moments. Side one has two tracks (Gypsy Queen is familiar thanks to Santana's version) and then the side long Call To The Higher Consciousness is stunning (even though the drum solo middle section doesn't do much for me). Apparently a jam session, but it sounds thought out and complete to me - starting with a whirlwind of sound before getting into a looping stride with soprano sax, piano and guitar interactions which explore the time and space created between the bass and drums in a vivid lyrical conversation.
Where do they all belong? Larry was always searching, moving forward, to the next thing - in the mid seventies this was The Eleventh House band.
John ColtraneA Love Supreme(Vinyl, Impulse! Records 1965) ***** Genre: Jazz Places I remember:Marbecks Records, Auckland Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles/ Gear costume:A Love Supreme (the full album)
Active compensatory factors: At 32 minutes, A Love Supreme may be seen as a fleeting experience in one respect, but the layers of sound, the progression along a spiritual path, and the heft of the music builds as the suite continues. These elements give the album a self-contained completeness. The four tracks:Acknowledgement; Resolution; Pursuance; Psalm complete a long form hymn that recognises and praises God in a way that is unique in the world of music. Even though I have listened to it many times (I play it a lot) somehow it both floats away effortlessly, and reveals new things every time. Where do they all belong? It stands alone in the canon and remains Coltrane's masterpiece.
