Let's get back to the days of Krautrock and Progressive Rock. Birth Control were formed in Berlin in 1968 according to the student revolution against traditions which based in the early decades of this century. Students tried to give them lifes a few more opportunities like free love or living in communes. In this era German musicians tried to figure out what' possible in music - not only to copy band from the United States or Great Britain. In this new culture the seed of progressive rock began to grow. Birth Control got real popular with this new kind of sound and played as a support act for Jimi Hendrix in Düsseldorf in 1970. One year later they were invited for several concert in England and they were the first German band played in The Marquee Club in London. Their sound was dominated by synthesizer added with a heavy guitar. Because their songs were long they had not the airplay for a hit. But their well known song Gamma Ray was remixed years later in various Techno versions.
PS: An additional information for the German readers. Forming member of the band was Hugo Egon Balder on drums. Yes exactly the one who got famous with Tutti Frutti
Another remarkable band from the pub rock era were the Kursaal Flyers formed in the early 1970s in Southend-On-Sea. They had some really good material and excellent cover versions but their records sold poorly by missing airplay. They had one hit-single with Little does she know and their member were found after their demise in bands like Eddie and the Hod Rods and The Records. It's a forgotten band but their legacy were a few good songs, always worth to hear again.
Last week I posted on Twanging Tuesday a song from Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and remembered that there exists a great cover version by The Who. So I grabbed out the record the first time after a few years. And I was astonished how clear and fresh the sound was on Live At Leeds. It's probably the best live recording ever. Unbelievable how Keith Moon beats out the drums and Pete Townshend never played a better guitar.
The Meteors are an English psychobilly band formed in the early 1980s. They were known as the ones who created this style of music which based on punk rock and rockabilly. What makes The Meteors incomparable, is that they explicitly integrated horror and Science Fiction in their lyrics. Over the years I've seen them normally in December when the came to their annual concert to Stuttgart. And on every time it was a great party. I love them short and powerful songs.
If I fancy what mountains of work is ahead this week, I could despair. However, lament doesn't get the work done. After a calm and quiet weekend I should have the power to manage it. I think I start this week with a song from Tommy Bolin. He was an American guitarist who became famous replacing other great guitarist in well known bands. So he replaced Joe Walsh at the James Gang and Ritchie Blackmoore at Deep Purple. This is the last song from his first record Teaser. He died in 1976 on an overdose heroin while he was on tour.
How in the last chapter intimated I fell in love with a girl far away from my hometown. During the week we kept contact with telephone (the technical possibilities from today were not available to us) and writing letters. On most of the weekends we tried to see each other. Sometimes she took the train, sometimes I drove to Cologne by car. We have spent our first common vacation in the Dominican Republic. We have flown on the 30th of April with the Dutch airline KLM after Puerta Plata. I am able to do myself to the date, therefore, I remember so well, because in the air all passengers had to get up and we had to drink a lot to sweeten Dutch liqueur to the ten-year-old throne jubilee of the queen Beatrix. I have never been to the Greater Antilles or the Caribbean Sea before and therefore, I was quite excited to get to know country and people. After all it was fantastic to get to this country before it got popular to travel there with all this all-inclusive tourism. We met there very less European folks but a lot of from the United States. But people tell me that this island is still beautiful yet and covered with a lot of beautiful beaches. What made us both sad, was when we crossed the border to Haiti for a short visit seeing what Papa Doc and Baby Doc did to this country.
Back in Germany we had resolved to move together. Because Kerstin is a qualified nurse, she also had no problems to get a job in South Germany a job in the ambulant care.
Not much records that was released this year, that were remarkable for me. I don't know the reasons therefore:
Happy Mondays - Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches: Hedonism pure with psychedelic grooves and borrowed hooks
Neil Young - Ragged Glory: Together with Crazy Horse again - awesome
A Tribe Called Quest - People Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm: Fantastic grooves
Blue Aeroplanes - Swagger: That's how collage rock should sound like
Urban Dance Squad - Mental Floss For The Globe: Cross-Over and Funk-Metal from the Netherlands
Just a few songs that was worth to remember in 1990:
Dances With Wolves: Great entertainment and the return of Western movies
Pretty Woman: No chance to miss this classical love movie
The Godfather III: The final of a great trilogy
Edward Scissorhands: Beautiful fairy tale with wonderful pictures and a great Johnny Depp
Misery: Kathy Bates at her best
Wild At Heart: David Lynch tells the story of Lula and Sailor of unfinished dreams
Blue Steel: One of the best cop movies ever
If I look back at this year, remains to me following in recollection:
Rowan Atkinson appears as Mr. Bean on Television // Mass demonstrations in Lithuania for independence // Thousand storm the Stasi headquarter in East Berlin in an attempt to view their government records // Apartheid in South Africa: F.W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the ANC and promises to release Nelson Mandela // Final agreement for a two-step plan to reunite Gerrmany // Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first ever President of the Soviet Union // Imelda Marcos goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement and racketeering // Massive anti-poll demonstration on Trafalgar Square turns into a riot // Food poisoning kills 450 guest at an engagement party in Uttar Pradesh // WHO removes homosexuality from the list of diseases // Bush/Gorbachev signs a treaty to end the production of chemical weapons and begin destroying their respective stocks // Germany wins the FIFA World Cup by defeating Argentine 1:0 with a penalty // Tamil Tigers kill 168 Muslims in Colombo, Sri Lanka and the start of a bloody civil war // Iraq invades Kuwait eventually leading to Gulf War I
At this time I listened a lot to bands from New York which are in narrow connection with the so-called No-Wave or Mutant disco scene to see like James Chance, Defunkt and Material. Over this connection I recognized that Don and David Was released a couple of records over the last years. The song I knew were always good stuff. Was (not Was) were famous for their collaboration with musicians from other genres. On this record they collaborated with Iggy Pop, Leonard Cohen and The Roches. They also tried to get Jade Jagger to the microphone to sing Papa was a Rolling Stone. But sadly it was only a great idea. This record is filled with a lot of great ideas and probably one of the best results combining jazz, disco, rock and cover versions to very own and special sound you could dance too.
My first intention to this series was to write about some German rock music. After the last weeks I had to recognize that there was more than rock music I should write about. I took the way across the border to feature Stefan Eicher and I did also feature Seeed, which are very close to danceable sounds. And there is no reason not to feature a German musician with deep roots in classical jazz.
Till Brönner is a jazz trompet player, singer, composer, arranger and producer. After he studied jazz trumpet he played in several Big Bands and became more and more famous. He feels well in a lot of styles in jazz. His approach is influenced by bebop and fusion jazz, but also modern pop music, movie soundtracks, country music and even German pop songs. His trumpet playing is primarily inspired be the giants of jazz like Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker and Freddie Hubbard. It's hard to pick out some songs from a great output of records but I think his collaboration with South American and Brazilian musicians are the best ones to step inside his kind of music. I love this album best because he works together with such great guest vocalist like Annie Lennox, Melody Gardot, Aimee Mann and Sergio Mendes. So give him a little chance - maybe play it later in the evening.
It's just a song I listen to on a relaxing evening after a hard day in office. It's terrible but everyone loads the weight of doing a job done at the right time on my shoulders. But I don't want to lament about - it's the job I wanted to do. But right now I found this superb song from World Party on my hard-drive and I want to invite you all to this lyrics. Don't know much more songs with lyrics that I can agree too.
Have a good end of your working week people.
Where do you begin to explain the mess,
The mess you made of it?
I was only out for half an hour,
I said "please look after it".
You had to think that you know best
And forget all the golden rules,
You ignored the difficult truth
And opened the door to fools.
Now I see the strong ones make,
I see the weak ones break,
I see you running out of time.
You got a finger in every pie,
Well what did I expect?
You made an art-form out of talking shit,
And partying 'til you're wrecked.
In the small hours it's so easy to feel
You've got some big ideas,
But in the morning you should put them away
Cos' you know they'll end in tears.
I see the strong ones fake,
While the weak can't stay awake,
You know you're always on my mind.
And football's all about training shoes
Yeah, it's added up to this.
And religion's all about bums on seats.
And if you're livin' in the West
Mum's apple pie is full of 'E's,
And Dad ain't at his best;
His new car was designed by God
But Jesus, he looks a mess.
I see the strong ones take,
I see the weak, the weak ones ache,
You know it's always on my mind.
While we're busying ourselves with mines,
The chemists are working late.
They gotta breed an indestructible gene
To wipe us all away.
They're just following their inquisitiveness,
Well that's what they like to say.
But it sounds like they're just following orders
Like the Nazis used to say.
I see the gas clouds shake,
I see the rivers ache,
You know it's always on my mind.
What kind of music are you playing there, son?
What is that old machine?
Doesn't matter I can't hear the words,
Cos' I don't care what they mean.
Yeah I believe you,
You're a real street fighter,
Gonna change the system from within.
Hey watch this guy, he's a bare faced liar
Yeah, that's, that's him in the limousine.
I hear your bullshit take,
I hear your drum-machine break,
You know it's always on my mind.
If Jesus came now
He'd say "Lord get me outta here,
Cos' I, I just can't handle this".
The Lord would say
"Hey Jesus what d'ya mean?
It was always going to be this way".
"All Mighty Father, you are full of shit,
Cos' the folks down here, don't wanna be saved.
Why have they forsaken themselves?
And used hypocritical armour-plating".
I see the strong ones take,
I see the weak ones break,
You know it's always on my mind.
If you were passing in a space vehicle,
And you came close to Planet Earth,
You wouldn't stop by for tea
Cos' of the screaming that you heard;
And the lying, and the cheating, and the gnashing of teeth,
And the straight-ahead mental deformation.
You'd head on to Venus
With its welcoming sulphuric acid precipitation.
Who'd want to stop where the strong ones reign,
But they won't ease the weak ones pain?
You know out of sight would be really out of mind.
Well I'm sittin' here watching little kids starve,
And worlds get thrown away.
I'm thinking there's just gonna be more
Before any goodness has its way.
I'm sick of feeling sick of you,
You're too smart to be like this.
But you've got no legends that will guide your soul,
Now you're really taking the piss.
I see the weak ones strong someday,
Not in any silly Communist way,
More like in the movement of Elvis' hip-sway,
When civilisation comes and stays,
When all the corporations have gone away,
When laughing gas is handed out on the Big Love Day,
When egos are driven underground cos' they get no approbation,
When boys and girls are laughing in every nation,
When the Truth is pursued for relaxation,
When living with the world is our aspiration,
When there's no mileage in hate, and no gas-stations,
And the creatures are protected from mammals to crustaceans,
One of the few artists in the so called New Wave era Ian Dury impressed me much. Handicapped with Polio he went on stage, singing his songs and had fun playing that new sounds. He managed sexual equivocal ones with in fantastic songs. You can read more about him, his life and his career on Wiki. For me he was an artist who gave all in his concerts to the audience. I saw him one in a small club in the very early 1980s and I was so impressed about his physical presence while he performed. He was one of the first acts signed to STIFF-records and was on the first tour together with Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and the underrated Wreckless Eric. His first record New Boots and Panties was very successful and his single Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll was banned because explicit lyrics. His first record is remarkable for me because his winking lyrics embedded in fantastic songs that doesn't stuck in that whole New Wave thing. He also tried to combine different influences funk, jazz, soul,R'n'R and typically British musical background to his own personal sound. In 1996 they diagnosed colorectal cancer and underwent surgery, but the tumours were later found in his liver, and he was told that his condition was terminal. Upon learning of his illness, Dury took the opportunity to marry his girlfrien, sculpture Sophy Tilson, with whom he had two children. His legacy is one of the best British albums of the 1980s which carries the spirit of New Wave and the message, that a handicapped one is also able to play and live the spirit of Rock and Roll. He died on March 27 in 2000. May you rest in peace, Ian.
CC from Charity Chic Music posted last week Rapper's Delight by Sugarhill Gang in the long version. A great song of course and I remember that there must exist a German version. It was the first rap song in German and was made by three radio DJ's. They are all different ages and tell us about their musical influence from the 50s to the 70s. The youngest one Thomas Gottschalk became famous in German when when he started to moderate entertainment shows on TV.
Today's song comes from Johnny Kidd & The Pirates maybe the best Rock 'n' Roll band from Great Britain in these days. He's the one who gave us Shaking All Over a number one worldwide. Influenced by early Elvis Presley he became the leading figure in British Rock 'n' Roll maybe because he didn't try to copy him. Please Don't Touch was his first single and sadly not his biggest hit. For me it is nearly the perfect rock song ever. It has everything a rock song should have: short and compact, a hookline, entreated lyrics and a good guitar.
Recent days I listened a few times to different remixes of this song. I thought by myself often where the hell I know this song from. Being sure that it wasn't Andrew Weatherall that gave me this song - only fantastic remixes of them. While working on my series it occurred to me suddenly. It was on the 1989 album from A.R.Kane with the short title 'I'. A.R.Kane were a British dream pop duo, hailed from East London and also a part of the recording collective MARRS. While their first record was more into the rock clichè their second turned into trip hop and acid house. I got them records on recommendation in the late 1980s and played them a few times. At this time their music was pretty disturbing - not really rock music and not pop music. But later I found out that their music was a kind of blueprint of the future dancefloor sound.
1989: A year full of changes, joy and grief. It started slowly and normal for most of the one I knew. Each one lived their regular life in business and sports partly following the politics. The first change came from Iran when ayatollah Khomeni when he put out a reward of 3 million USD for killing the writer Salman Rushdi just because he let his mind flew about Mohammed in his Satanic Verses. Year after year me and my football mates took a weekend off in the mountains. In this year we listened in the radio in what horrible way the Bejing student protest ended. After the Chines government declared martial law they send troops and tanks to the Tienanmen Square to massacre a lot of young people. This was the second time when a tragedy happened when we was on our annual vacation (the first was the Nuclear Power Plant disaster in Tschernobyl) and I decided for myself not to join these vacations any more. It might be superstition but I decided anyway.
The next big thing was the fall of the Berlin wall through the Germans. It started when over 7000 East Germans moved with a refugee train into the Germane embassy in Prague. Finally they all were allowed to move to the West. After that the Leipzig Monday protest started. Formed in church more and more people came there to demonstrate for the demand of political change (legalization of opposition groups, democratic reforms and the right to travel where ever they want). An what no one suggested - they were successful. Got a new leader of the Communist Party with Egon Krenz (not knowing that he will be the last) and being surprised what happened on November 9th. Günter Schabowski accidentally states in live broadcast press conference that new rules for traveling from East to West Germany will be put in effect 'immediately'. East Germany opens checkpoints in the Berlin Wall allowing its citizens to travel freely to West Germany for first time in decades. That it happened was a joke in history, because Schabowski had no plan from which time this declaration should be valid. I remember very well these day when we followed what happens over in Berlin on the television and felt proud that there was a peaceful revolution over in East Germany.
My personal change happened a few weeks later in December when I visited some friends in the Dortmund era. On the way back I was invited to visit a woman in Cologne that I met in my hometown as she visited a good friend of mine. As she introduced me to her closest girlfriend, I never thought that Kerstin would be my wife. More next time.
This year was another great year in music. A lot of albums was released and a few I would like to announce especially:
A.R. Kane - I: Criminally under-recognized band of these era. Mostly danceable sound with dub influences and ingredients what later wold be called acid house and trip hop. This record contains one of the best remixed songs ever - A love from outer space (yes - that one)
Neil Young - Freedom: Mr. Young is rocking in the free world and great ballads
Lou Reed - New York: Back on the block with a monument of a record
Edwyn Collins - Hope and Despair: His first record after Orange Juice - beautiful
The Cure - Disintegration: Back on the dark side with the fantastic 'Pictures of you'
Elvis Costello - Spike: Another memorable record from Mr. MacManus
Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever: Just a perfect record to drive a long road
The Stone Roses - same: Fine album from a lot of more Madchester music
John Lee Hooker - The Healer: The great Bluesman with a bunch of different artists - fantastic
Quincy Jones - Back on the Block: Perfect record from the producing legend including fantastic songs
Checked out what was in the charts and what else should be remembered as singles in this year:
Dead Poets Society: 'If you dare, appeal to me as Captain, my Captain'
My Left Foot: Great performance from Daniel Day Lewis
The Fabulous Baker Boys: Great romantic love story filled up with jazz sounds by Dave Gruisin and Michelle Pfeiffer is singing not too bad
Black Rain: Another good movie with Michael Douglas introducing the Yakuza
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover: Romantic crime drama by Peter Greenaway - superb
When Harry Met Sally ...: All ladies movie of the year
In the opening I told about political things - but there was more:
The emperor of Japan, Hirohito dies // Ted Bundy, an American serial killer, was executed in Florida // Satellite television service SKY Television plc is launched in Europe // Union Carbide agree to pay nearly 500 million USD to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster // Iranian leader Khomeni encourages Muslims to kill Salman Rushdi // Kosovo: protests continue over the alleged intimidation of the Serb minority - a bloody war is in sight // Exxon Valdez oil spill near Alaska // Hillsborough disaster: 96 Liverpool supporters die in the FA-cup semi final in Sheffield against Nottingham Forrest // Student protests at the Tiananmeng Square in Beijing started and ended in a massacre - Chines government called it a counter revolution // Nearly 7.000 East Germans which escaped to Prague are allowed to leave for the West // Protests starts in Leipzig to demand the legalization of opposition groups and democratic reforms // Erich Honecker is forced to step back as the leader of the East German Communist party an was replaced by Egon Krenz // The Berlin Wall a cold war monument was teared down // Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausecu and his wife Elena are executed by military troops after being found guilty of crimes agains humanity
I could have chosen Lou Reed or A.R. Kane as my closest record this year but I turn into the Neville Brothers and Yellow Moon. It was one of the few good records that many people could agree to this year. Even it was a very successful record it means more to me. First I love the voices of them embedded in great songs. The second is that they made me feel like I am down south close to New Orleans with gumbo food and the way they play their music. For me it is a message from New Orleans people to the world. Let's have fun and accept the pain you went through. A very optimistic record after all. Enjoy the songs I give to you.
Kraan was a German jazz-rock band and had a great influence to Krautrock. Formed in 1970 in Ulm by Helmut Hattler, Jan Fride and Peter Wolbrandt they recorded songs with a lot of different styles. The tried to combine oriental sounds with jazzy bass figures and hard beats. In this time it was a really new sound and most of the people couldn't categorize them. Them jazz purist was the music to much rock based and the Krautrock audience couldn't agree with them jazzy parts. On stage, the band was particularly impressed by their enthusiasm and musical professionalism. Other records followed and especially the third, recorded live in Berlin, received good reviews. During all the years the played with a different line-up and in the middle of the 1980 Joo Kraus a phenomenal jazz trumpeter joined the band. Kraan split and came together so often times that I didn't count them all. In the early 1990s Helmut Hattler and Joo Krauss formed a two man band called Tab Two (tab means trumoet and bass). Tab Two combined mainly acid jazz with hip-hop, trip hop, drum and bass and other styles, the result is sometimes referred to as hip jazz. I saw Kraan several times live because the were located in my greater era. Tab Two made a superb sound and I saw them also once live and it was fantastic. Helmut Hattler played the bass that well that his name should be spoken with other great bass players like Flea.
It is to be appreciated at the time a singer who seems to have long been forgotten. Frankie Miller is a Glasgow born Scottish singer-songwriter. In his younger days he played football in several youth teams and he was always addicted to football. Probaly inherited from his maternal grandfather Archie Kyle who was one of the first Catholic football players signed to Glasgow Rangers FD.
Grown up with the music of Ray Charles, Little Richard and Elvis Presley he wrote his first song at the age of 12. I can't change it was later recorded by Ray Charles. He formed his first band after he went to London with Robin Trower, the former guitar player of Procul Harum. Later in 1972 he recorded his first own album Once In A Blue Moon which is known as one of the earliest examples of pub rock. It is also a very good example of what pub rock means. A mighty voice backed up with excellent musicians playing fantastic songs. On this record he was supported from the legendary Brinsley Schwarz - also so called veterans of pub rock. Though the album received very good reviews, it was not a success. A few years later he sung together with Phil Lynott a duet on another great song from Thin Lizzy - Still In Love With You.
His second record was produced by Allen Touissaint in Atlanta. For me it was a little overproduced and his dominate voice was filled up with too much arrangements. He returned a few year later with another classical album. On The Rock to classic R & B and soul. And really, this album is a rock. A lot of great songs played relaxed. I just found these records again while I was thinking how to continue this series. Later in 1978 he had his only chartbreaker with Darlin'. Let's finish with a statement by Rod Stewart: 'He was the only white singer to have a tear to his eye'
Lot of difficult work to do these days. Used to come home after nine hours in the office and no sense of going out for a beer. Just to spent some times with my records and a glass of red wine to finish the day. Here's a song from our hero from Birkenhead, Merseyside. It is always good to hear his songs with a little sarcastic tenor. I think I go for the Neville Brothers next.
Robert Gorden is an American rockabilly musician who played in other genres like rock 'n' roll, punk rock and alternative rock as well. After playing in a local band that was influenced by Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran he joined the punk band Tuff Darts in the middle of the 1970s. You can hear them on the compilation Live at the CBGB's. In the 80s he turned to rock 'n' roll again and started a collaboration with two great guitar players: Link Wray and Chris Spedding.
Let's start this week with a little lost gem from the New Wave era. Fay Ray was another band that made good music and their record did not sell at all. The leading voice of Sheila McCartney reminds me a lot to Siouxsie Sioux's but their music had more pop influence. Their songs are arranged with accordion, saxophone and flute what makes them sound really strange for a ordinary New Wave band. Give them a chance and enjoy.
The autumn arrived with all it's wind and heavy rain. Nothing more to do than sitting at home, finishing the book I read (Jamil Ahmad - The Wandering Falcon; a great novel about peoples life and surviving in the triangle of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran) and listen to some mellow music. This songs are from one of me favorite female vocalists when I turn into the jazzy mood. Some may know her from her collaboration with The Crusaders but she had also some songs on her own name that reached the charts. I really love her warm and tender voice. Not only songs you play late at night.
As indicated in the last post it was really the last holidays Susanne and I spent together. More and more it has turned out that she had to go to life her own life. Not that we have argued much or cheated each other. The main thing was, that I was tired to keep any problems away from her and I expected her to be more independently as a own person. That's why I set her free. So the year's gone with dividing our goods, planing and fixing our both relocations. Therefore I had more time to play football with my mates. If I surely remember it was the year with our biggest results in various tournaments. We played a big football tournament in Dachau, close to Munich where we were stopped in in the final game. We were destroyed by local players 9:1. Never had a disaster like this before. And after the game the winners has comforted us with the words: 'Don't be too sad guys - you can't beat us because we are professionals, playing in the youth team of the Bundesliga association TSV 1860 Munich'. And therefor we took it as a honor have been played against them.
This year was a good year for records. Here's a small choice of the most important ones:
The Pogues - If I should fall grace with god: Their second masterpiece
Morrissey - Viva Hate: He also works very well without The Smiths
The Sugarcubes - Life's been too good: Unbelievable voice from Iceland
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back: A monument of Rap
Living Colour - Vivid: A record the Rolling Stones always wanted to make
Patti Smith - Dream Of Life: Great songs once again from her
The House Of Love - same: Fantastic songs an sounds from a forgotten band
Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden: Chamber rock at it's best
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation: Another monument released this year
My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything: Not knowing that it takes ages for their second one
Some of this song were in the charts, the others not -but all mark the year 1988:
When we went to the movie we watched films like this:
Rain Man: Dustin Hoffmann and Tom Cruise and their story of brotherhood
Die Hard: Bruce Willis first time against a bunch of criminals
The Naked Gun: Perfect comedy about the TV-series Police Squad
Beetlejuice: Tim Burtons's fantasy - beautiful
A Fish Called Wanda: The Return of Monty Python
Bird: Clint Eastwood and his tribute to Charlie Parker
The Accused: Jodi Foster gang-raped moves to the court
Dangerous Liaisons: With Stephen Frear back into the 1700s
Gorillas in the Mist: About life and work of Diane Fossey
Mississippi Burning: The best movie about rednecks and KKK
A little look into what happened in the world:
Halabja poison gas attack by Iraqi government forces kills more than 5.000 people // George H. Bush was elected to the president of the United States // The Netherlands win the European Football Cup by beating the Soviet Union 2:0 // Riots in Algeria against the leading NLF; Army killed and tortured more than 500 // The Soviet Union starts to retreat from Afghanistan //Steffi Graf wins every Grand Slam tournament
It was once more very hard to make a decision which record meant much to me this year. A monument is of course Sonic Youth and their epic album Daydream Nation that I regular listen to since then. All in all I favor Surfer Rosa from The Pixies as my personal favorite of this year (maybe I make a short series about records that missed the number one these days). I remember when I walked into my local record shop looking the novelty and I held the record in my hand looking at the cover of a topless flamenco dancer. Never heard anything before from The Pixies, only knowing the producer Steve Albini from a few records he produced. The music itself was overpowering.It unites trashy guitars, harmonies and unique lyric in a still fresh and innovative sound. Joey Santiagos's unique contact with the guitar, Black Francis psychotic loud voice, Kim Deals steady bass and lighting up song and Dave Loerings formidable contact with the percussion join to sharp punk and unique pop. "Bone Machine", "Broken Face" and "Vamos" dash and glide in a frightening tempo there without arresting, besides, the listener in much too crude kind & manner. But also the gentle, feeling-stressed side of the Pixies becomes evident on Surfer Rosa. Pieces like Kim Deals "Gigantic" and Francis "Where is My Mind" show a refreshing contrast to the ansonst glowing energy on the rest of the album. A few years later Nirvana released Nevermind - with huge references to Surfer Rosa.
Herwig Mitteregger is an Austrian musician, played in former times in the back-up band from Nina Hagen - Spliff (a synonym for a joint). They were very successful in the days of New German Wave with chartbreakers like 'Carbonara' and 'Heut Nacht'. After the split of 'Spliff' he turned into a solo career, in which he played the most of the instruments by himself. On this record he tried to explore some new ways to produce the songs he liked to do in his way. Most of them sound a little bit of morbid for listeners who are not able to understand his words. But for me he made a record that still stands the test of time. 'Kein Mut, kein Mädchen' what means 'No courage, no girl' is a record that had an tries to plump the borders of rock music and electronic. It is a perfect mixture of how new sounds could sound. Nearly 20 years ago it was a masterpiece from him and it still sounds fresh and new over a long years ago.
Another day in the office ahead and I'm sick of all the rumors from my co-workers of major changes to the pending. I can no longer hear the complaints and would not let me ruin the day. Life's full of changes and most of them we don't have any influence. Today's track is from Neil Young's second LP with Crazy Horse from 1975 Zuma. Most of you will know but I listened to it a few times in the recent days and have to admit that it is a masterpiece.
A few month ago I already posted some tracks from the New York based musical collective The Phenomenal Handclap Band. In recent days I listened a few times to their first record from 2009. Founded by the two DJs Daniel Collas and Sean Marquand the make an incredible mix of Rock, Disco, Soul, Electronic and Psychedelia. Someone reviewed the album as 65 minutes of slightly spacy live-band psych-disco, Hawkwind jamming with Isaac Hayes with percussion from the Incredible Bongo Band. If that sounds like a party, well, it is a party; you'll want to grab a drink and do your damndest to have a good time. I hear also influences from Sly and the Family Stone and Tom Tom Club.
