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
Everything But The GirlTemperamental(ipod/CD - Atlantic-Virgin, 1999) *** Genre: British pop/ dance/ electronica Places I remember: A charity shop purchase in Caterham (no one apart from me wants to buy CDs anymore) Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles/ Gear costume:Temperamental
Active compensatory factors: All my CDs are in a mess - having moved they are in a jumble of boxes. Temperamental isn't among them as it's still coming via sea with our stuff from England. So, as I was pootling school-ward today along State Highway 50 (riding the 50), and crested a ridge with the splendour of the Hawke's Bay coastline bathed in vivid red sunrise colours before me, this song came on and got me a-bopping and a-grooving. Who needs a dancefloor? Where do they all belong? More Ben Watt influenced than our Trace (beats, dance flavoured electronica) but as soon as the sublime vocals come in, she owns it!
John Cougar MellencampScarecrow(Vinyl - Mercury, 1985) **** Genre: American pop/rock Places I remember: $12.99 at JB HiFi (Palmerston North) - 30th Anniversary edition 2015 Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles:Rain On The Scarecrow
Gear costume: Small Town; You've Got To Stand For Somethin' Active compensatory factors: This was the transitional album between the wanna-be-teen-heart-throb of the early Johnny Cougar years and the wanna-be-Bruce-social-conscience John Mellencamp years to come. It starts here! Tellingly, the album cover says John Cougar Mellencamp but the lyrics are attributed to JM. I guess he wasn't quite sure yet. Similarly, the album has a smattering of both styles with R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. leading the charge for the former, and the title track for the latter. All up, along with my fab and gear choices, it's the announcement of a new direction that is the most interesting aspect to this album. Where do they all belong? The classic Lonesome Jubilee was next.
Small FacesTheAutumn Stone(Vinyl - Immediate, 1969) **** Small FacesBiggest Small Faces(Vinyl - Immediate, 1972) **** Genre: English pop Places I remember:Vinyl Countdown, New Plymouth Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles:Tin Soldier
Gear costume:Itchycoo Park Active compensatory factors: This one is an oddity in a crazy discography that is really... odd. Small Faces (the definite article is pesky with this band - there isn't one) were largely a singles band (Ogden's is the exception) whose first two albums were both called 'Small Faces'. Odd! Compilations quickly became the order of the day after they split in 1968. With Decca and Immediate both having claims to various songs. The Autumn Stone was a double album mop up of singles, rare live recordings and material for their last album that was never released.
To add to the oddity, Biggest Small Faces was a single album culled from The Autumn Stone released three years earlier!! ODD!! As you can see, the cover is similar and it was cheap! Which is where I come in, having bought this truncated version in 1972. It's a highly schizophrenic document, with a studio side and a live side (The Autumn Stone mixes them all up! Course it does). Of course I knew nothing of all this history at the time: I was seduced by the few hits I recognised and the low budget price (hey - I was a teenager in 1972 with a very limited source of parental income). I've grown fonder of it over time, having sold it many years ago and bought it again recently.
Where do they all belong? The best place to start is this recent Ultimate Collection CD package that finally unites the different labels and provides a great overview of this dynamic, but doomed band. Remember them this way!
Dream TheaterDistance Over Time(CD - Inside Out, 2019) **** Genre: Progressive Metal Places I remember:Fopp (Covent Garden, London) Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles/Gear costume:S2N Active compensatory factors: I nearly lost faith and gave up after the bloated The Astonishing album but the pre-release reviews for Distance Over Time were encouraging. The album is a massive return to the best things about Dream Theater for my money - and that mainly centres on the guitar players in the band. John Myung's S2N showcases that - his bass and John Petrucci drive this song and it becomes an express train! I listened to it in the car recently on a road trip and I could hardly stay in my seat. The rest of the album speeds by too. Where do they all belong? I senseit will rapidly become one of my favourite DT albums, along with Octavarium, Black Clouds and Silver Linings and Systematic Chaos.
Laurie AndersonBig Science(Youtube, 1982) ** Genre: American pop/rock; prog rock; avant-garde music Places I remember: This was a Monday Night Album Club selectionfor last week Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles:O Superman (For Massenet)
Gear costume: Let x=x/It Tango Active compensatory factors: I can distinctly remember watching Radio With Pictures (a music show on NZ TV) back in the early eighties and Karen Hay introduced O Superman. Given I was at University at the time, and loving the poetry of Americans like Robert Bly and John Giorno, it (the song and video) certainly left an impression but not enough of one for me to actually buy the parent album. Listening to the whole thing now hasn't made me regret that decision. The often repetitious ambient electronica approach is fine as a mantra over the spoken poetic style delivery of Anderson and her delivery is pleasing to listen to but ultimately I'm with George Harrison (who also made an electronic album - Electronic Sound) who quipped that avant-garde was short for avant garde a clue. It's all okay as an interesting intellectual exercise and so becomes more of a cerebral experience than a rock 'n' roll heart one. So, not one I'll be thinking I need to listen to again. Where do they all belong? She would go on to become Mrs Lou Reed and deliver some other albums that also never found their ways into my collection.
