A few good times in my life
Like the weeks before another eclectic mix of hits, failures and simply songs that should be heard again.
Enjoy
1964: The Zombies
1973: Elton John
1982: Culture Club
1966: The Byrds
1994: Weezer
50 years ago Brian Eno released Another Green World, another step away from what Roxy Music made famous. Legend has it that he had to go to hospital and his girlfriend at the time played him harp music, which combined with the raindrops on the window to create a sound that left a lasting impression on him.
With Another Green World, he also took his final step into ambient music, creating soundscapes that later artists still draw on today. These compositions were interrupted by John Cale's viola and Robert Fripp's superb guitar playing.
For me it is a record that still sounds fresh after all these years and the more I listen to it I discover new fascinating ideas in these songs.
Brian Eno - Everything Merges With The Night
Brian Eno - Sky Saw
Brian Eno - I'll Come Running
Brian Eno - In Dark Trees
Today's song is from a record I found in the back of my library a few days ago. It was 1978 and a lot of new music appeared and made my listen to them with joy. I mostly ignored the classic rock music and turned into the new bands that changed everything. One of the few exceptions was Tonio K., the band of Steven M. Krikorian, an American singer/songwriter who released his debut album at that time.
I was never a fan of Californian hard rock but I bought this record by recommendation of my local music dealer. But after listening to this outstanding record I was surprised that good music could be made by old men. Imagine Bruce Springsteen made a session with Meat Loaf, Alice Cooper, Bob Dylan, J. Geils Band and The Tubes and you know what you get. Too good to be mainstream and not enough for punk/new wave is what Tonio K. deserved. And the lyrics were somewhere between Dylan and Kafka, so they couldn't be clearly assigned to one meaning. All in all probably the last of the classic rock albums.
Tonio K. - The Ballad Of The Night The Clocks All Quit (And The Government Failed)
Florence Welsh returns with a new single from her upcoming album Everybody Scream. It is a mystical song, and Welsh plays with hints and references to witchcraft. Her distinctive voice guides us through the song, which is staged accordingly mystically and witchy, with screaming choirs and driving rhythms. It's clever that the album is set to be released on Halloween. Halloween and the Celtic holiday Samhain focus on the dead and the supernatural, with the latter marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of a “darker” season. The last words here belong to her:
The witchcraft, the medicine, the spells and the injections
The harvest, the needle protect me from evil
The magic and the misery, madness and the mystery
Oh, what has it done to me?
Everybody scream
This week saw the release of a new album by Bristol's post-punk band Glaxo Babies via Bristol Archive Records. It is the the bands first release after decades and Men Of Stone shows that they haven't forgotten anything and have gained something new. Their sound has become denser, the guitars are in the foreground and, at least on this song, they have dispensed with the punk saxophone and funk that characterized their style at the time. On I Don't Wanna Be Loved, which was also released, they impressively prove that they still have what it takes.
In their early days, the Glaxo Babies were another angry band that punk brought to the fore. Unfortunately, they did not achieve the success they deserved and have broken up several times since the 1980s. I only found a few of their early tracks on my hard drive, but I don't want to keep them from you.
Glaxo Babies - It's Irrational (Peel Session)
Glaxo Babies - Christine Keeler
This week are less songs to remember but those who appear today are still worth a listen.
1975: Bruce Springsteen
1979: The Jam
1986: Bruce Hornsby T The Range
1968: Mary Hopkin
1967: The Who
1969: Elvis Presley
1996: Sublime
1959: Buddy Holly
1975: Aerosmith (I prefer the version by Run DMC)
1964: The Supremes
1990: Cocteau Twins
1964: Roy Orbison
There are song I love but I can't listen to them everyday. One of those is Frankie Teardrop the centerpiece of Suicide's debut album from 1977. At this time Alan Vega and Martin Rev worked in New York on a new electronic proto-punk sound. Minimal synths, a Farfisa organ, a simple drum-kit and the crazy voice of Alan Vega were enough to inspire a lot of bands from the new wave era.
Their debut combines strange noises, eerie howls, erratic moans and Frankie Teardrops a song that brought together madness in absolute perfection. At the height of a seemingly endless terror of hammering rhythms and sawing monotony, the singer let out blood-curdling screams: a gunshot, a child's death, then the limbo where suicides dwell. I was impressed that a song whose lyrics I hardly understood at the time and whose musical elements I couldn't decipher could cause me so much discomfort.
Suicide - Frankie Teardrop
