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
Patti Smith Easter(Vinyl and CD, Arista, 1978) ***** Patti Smith Easter Rising(CD, Leftfield Media, 2011) ** Genre: American pop/rock Places I remember:Marbeck's Records Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Babelogue/Rock n Roll Nigger (the link below gives you access to this visceral slab of brilliance) Gear costume:25th Floor; Privilege (Set Me Free)
Active compensatory factors: I've written about Rock and Roll Niggerbefore. Babelogue seguing into the song is one of the best moments in music. Full. Stop! Unlike a lot of music from the late seventies, none of this feels dated. Commitment + passion + intelligence = Patti Smith. Always. Side Two in particular is a rush. Perfect songs, perfect playing (Lenny Kaye is terrific) behind Patti's perfect lyrics. Easter Rising is a 1978 broadcast from a concert in Oregon. The quality is okay, the performance is rough and ready. One of those - you had to be there moments.
John MayallThe Turning Point (Vinyl, Polydor, 1969) ***** Genre: Blues Places I remember: Marbeck's Records (Queen's Arcade, Auckland) Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Room To Move
Gear costume:The Laws Must Change Active compensatory factors: Everything is cool about this record: the cover (designed by Mayall), the live venue (the Fillmore East), the year it came out, the songs, the quiet-is-the-new-loud style, and the musicians. Everything reeks of cool. John Mayall is caught live, being the gigantic blues mentor figure that he will always be remembered as being. Highlights are everywhere. And it's a single album. That means a maximum hit rate.
Where do they all belong? The album is unique in the huge Mayall discography.
Michael MurpheyBlue Sky - Night Thunder(Vinyl, Epic, 1975) **** Genre: Country rock Places I remember:Real Groovy Records, Auckland Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Wildfire
Gear costume:Carolina In The Pines Active compensatory factors: Regular readers will remember that I mentioned finally tracking down a copy of this album when I last mentioned Michael Murphey in this blog. Since then I have tragically lost the copy in our recent house move - so I'm on the hunt again*. Deep sigh. In the meantime, I'll be listening to YouTube's copy of Wildfire. This is just a great great song. Many years ago, Roger Marbeck gave me a cassette version of the album and I instantly loved it. I've bought (and lost) other Murphey albums but none compare to the grandeur of this one: his classic album. Where do they all belong? In my collection. *Among other things I lost all the albums in my country genre. So - quite a few to catch up on.
Barclay James HarvestTime Honoured Ghosts(Vinyl, Polydor, 1975) *** Genre: Prog rock Places I remember:Real Groovy (Auckland) Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Titles
Gear costume:Moongirl Active compensatory factors: This is one of my favourite BJH albums. Mainly because it includes Titles - a song made up largely of Beatle song titles. Some people find it a bit of a simplistic joke, but I love this sincere homage which clearly shows how the band is indebted to the Fabs for its harmony and song structure. The rest of the album does not live up to the heights of Titles, but it still includes that signature easy going BJH sound of the mid seventies. I love to just put this on and let the melodies drift over me. Lovely. Where do they all belong? Gone To Earth is next.
Elephant's MemoryElephant's Memory(LP, 1972) **** Genre: Apple/ Dark Horse/ Ring O'Records Places I remember: George Courts (K Rd) Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Power Boogie
Gear costume:Chuck 'n Bo, Liberation Special Active compensatory factors: John was obviously drawn to the gritty Nu Yawk power boogie essentials of Elephant's Memory. For a time there (March to November 1972) they were his go to backing band for his and Yoko's albums. They are competent on Lennon's stuff, fantastic on Yoko's and (at times) awesome on this 'solo' album. Maybe John as sideman (guitar, vocals, percussion, piano) and producer freed him up to have a good time! Whatever, the songs are infectious, the delivery is spot on with in-yer-face production from John and Yoko. Not sure what they were thinking with the cover though! Where do they all belong? John and Yoko would use them again for Yoko's Approximately Infinite Universe, released in 1973, and that was it - didn't use them again.
The BeatlesRubber Soul(Vinyl copies on Apple - stereo, and Blue Parlophone - Mono + CD on Apple and Parlophone, 1965) ***** Genre: Beatles Places I remember:Marbeck's Records, King's Recording (Abu Dhabi), The Warehouse, friends' copies Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: In My life
Gear costume:Girl, Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood Active compensatory factors: This entry marks a return to my previous method of choosing albums to feature on Goo Goo. That is: working through the genres in my record collection, followed by working through the CD collection one genre at a time, ad infinitum (actually, more like, until I hit Zed, ZZ Top, or something). The first genre in each format is, of course, where music begins for me (and ends): with The Beatles albums. It is its own genre for me. The Greatest of all. A recap: during this old methodology, I'd been working through the collection and after a couple of hundred albums, I was up to Rubber Soul. Initially, I wrote about it here (I include the link so you can compare the two entries if you have a mind to do so). As I'm starting the countdown again I thought I'd pivot off this album. Seemed right. For some of my (older) friends, like Alison Ivey, it was the first album of the Beatles they actually bought, back in '65. They in turn have donated their (well worn) copy to me and I've slotted them in alongside my pristine copy (mine's the one that's bizarrely on Apple Records). Me? I came to the album later, in the early seventies, after Hey Jude, The Beatles (white album), Abbey Road, Let it Be, Revolver. Even though it's clearly a classic, I am partial more to its successors. But, hey, as Macca would say, "It's the bloody Beatles, mate!"
Where do they all belong? Revolver is next up in this progress through The Fabs catalogue
