Blood On The Moon

 

Sometimes I really got surprised about a collaboration I never thought. Yesterday the news arrived that a new song is out by Alan Vega, who died seven years ago. Blood On The Moon is a collaboration between him and Bobby Gillespie and Roxy's Andy Mackay. I have no further information about this but assume that it was a contribution to a compilation for his 70th birthday almost 20 years ago. Anyway, it shows that Vega's song can work in different kind of styles. This one lifts the song to a techno/house level and Andy Mackey serves some saxophone parts to work in a different direction. A very nice song and worth to be featured at this place.

Monday's Long Song

 

Let's have a trip today back into 1967 to San Francisco. The streets are filled with hippies and flower-power and psychedelic rock music reached it's peak. Of course I was too young to join these music and scene in these days but older friends introduced me to this in the early 70's. In these days I moved from glam rock and made first experiences in hard rock. Deep Purple was one of the most popular in these days and Child In Time was played all over. Years later I recognized, that the intro was stolen from Bombay Calling, a song from the debut album by It's A Beautiful Day. IABD were from San Francisco and more or less successful with their folky psychedelic sound. They were named as poor men's Jefferson Airplane was ihrer Musik in keinster Weise gerecht wurde. Während Jefferson Airplane which in no way did justice to their music. While Jefferson Airplane lived mainly from the voice of Grace Slick and the lead guitar of Jorma Kaukonen, IABD went the way of using the violin of David LaFlamme as lead instrument. The result was their biggest success White Bird, a trademark of their sound and an early blueprint of the upcoming prog-rock.

It's A Beautiful Day - White Bird

New Song On Sunday

 

Leeds has always been a melting pot for rock groups of all kinds and is unique in its own way. Gang of Four, The Mekons, Wedding Present and Soft Cell have made history with their music. Whether English Teacher will succeed in doing the same is not certain, but given their talent, not unlikely. The band is fronted by Lily Fontaine, a magnetic vocalist who infuses her guitar music with influences ranging from post-punk to 80's indie pop and beyond. She doesn't sing her songs, but it's a kind of chanting that also suits her ambitious lyrics. Sometimes it seems like Dry Cleaning have extended their material. The centrepiece is Mastermind Specialism, a dreamy piece of folk with mumbled indie-pop that, once heard, never lets go.

But the fact remains that English Teacher revitalize post-punk, indie-rock/pop with strong guitars and bass lines. An album that is sure to appear on a year-end list.

Levitation Dub

 

Another obscure record by Höga Nord Records, Gothenburg's fine record label. Cosmic Music For Higher And Lower Awareness by The Idealist is one of those albums that you can't believe on first listen. Right from the start, it sounds like many other albums that offer their variations on a reduced acid house beat. What makes this work different is that The Idealist develop a hypnotic groove that slowly ingratiates itself and doesn't want to leave your head. I can't tell whose behind this band but suppose that it will be some folks from Sweden. Not only because Goran Kajfe plays an extraordinary trumpet on Levitation Dub a song that could be played by any voodoo ceremony. Deep, dark and mysterious and surly one of the strangest good songs from this year.

Antiseptic

 

Over the last few days I have found time to tidy up my computer, delete unnecessary stuff and back up my data. In the process, I came across a file that I had bought some time ago and had almost forgotten about. This is the debut album from Ultramarine, Folk. Ultramarine are Ian Cooper and Paul Hammond, together an electronic duo from Essex. Formed in 1990 and heavily influenced by the factory sound, they added elements of techno, house and ambient and complemented these with jazzy horns to create a unique sound. In their best moments, you think Happy Mondays have taken the wrong pills and are testing out funk-jazz.

Ultramarine - Antiseptic

Live Music On German Television

 

From time to time it is necessary to revive an old series. For several years I have been posting film material from the seventies, mainly from the Beat Club, which was the most important medium for popular music at the time. While the bands still performed with playback at the beginning of the 60s, the bands were later required to present their songs live. It was remarkable that the producers of the format had very good taste in music and were far removed from the mass taste of the time in their choice of artists.

So it is not surprising that they gave the American band Fanny the opportunity to play two gigs in the early seventies. Fanny were one of the first bands to consist exclusively of women - long before the Bangles and GoGo's were formed. Consisting of two sisters, June and Jane Millington, both of Filipino origin, they played a form of melodic rock based on straightforward guitar/bass with great keyboard parts from Nickey Barcley. The vocals are reminiscent of Janis Joplin at his best and they had no problem covering Smokey Robinson's Ain't That Peculiar. All in all, a band that has unfortunately been forgotten, but is rediscovered from time to time. It also does justice to their class that David Bowie was a big fan.

Famous Covers And The Original

 

Tim Hardin was an American folk and blues songwriter and mostly known as the composer of hits other people had. His first albums from 1966 to 1969 contained so many classic songs like no other songwriter released in these days. His records were critically acclaimed and he reached his climate when he played at Woodstock festival. Like many others of this era he turned into drugs, got rid of them and fall back again and died in December 1980 on an overdose Heroin in Los Angeles. His legacy were a lot of songs about love and hope with intensive lyrics and melodies other would kill for. I played his record The Homecoming Concert the other days again and thought I should give him a place at this little place in the internet.

You can listen to his last album in full length and see that he was in a good condition for singing his songs live for the last time.