Category ACROSS THE DECADES
A GAS NEW BAG
It is utterly impossible to view Led Zeppelin without filters. Their image as quintessential ‘rock gods’ of the seventies, the bombast of the music, an incredible popularity that endures to the present… in some ways they have become untouchable. The curation of the Zeppelin catalogue has been restrained compared to some (hello Estate Hendrix!) and […]
STEVE REICH STILL HAS A PULSE
Minimalist composer Steve Reich turned 82 during 2018. (Interestingly, his musical peers Terry Riley, La Monte Young and Philip Glass all became octogenarians in the last couple of years too). So Reich has been pursuing his singular exploration of repetition and phase for a lifetime. Pulse/Quartet was released this year on the Nonesuch label. It […]
1969 ARCHIVE DIVE (PART 1)
As many readers know, we love anniversaries here at Vinyl Connection, especially the ones ending with a zero. One decade, two decades, three decades, four… And of course the half century! Over the past couple of years we have featured many albums from 1967 and 1968 and reckon it’s a tradition worth continuing. But because […]
EIGHT 1968 ALBUMS
…I WANTED TO TELL YOU ABOUT BUT RAN OUT OF TIME Here then, in synopsis, are a batch of brilliant LPs any twenty-first century collection should be proud to include. This post should be read in the context of the entire year of 1968 features; here we have an addendum, not a summary. The ranking […]
WHITES OF THEIR EYES
I remember the first copy vividly. Bentleigh Sewing and Records, that oddest of retail combinations, lurked down the western end of Centre Road, owned by veteran sole-trader Bill McAndrew. Those entering his domain seeking records had first to negotiate the labyrinth of sewing machines and associated paraphernalia that crammed the front of the shop. As […]
INSIDE
A while back, in response to what I perceived as heinous omissions from a well-known book, I began compiling a list of “101 More Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”. I thought this addendum could provide a focus for occasional Vinyl Connection posts. Sadly, the project stalled, largely because I couldn’t get the list […]
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO ELECTRIC LADYLAND?
The third and final Jimi Hendrix Experience album, the double Electric Ladyland, was released in October 1968. For me it is the greatest of his studio career. It would also be the last studio release in his lifetime, and see the breakup of the Experience. More: the album marked the departure of bassist Noel Redding […]
ALL THINGS MUST PASS
In Australia we did not get the impressive boxed version of All Things Must Pass. Our version was a three-panel gatefold sleeve with the lyrics printed inside. We did get the poster, though. A dark 3’ x 2’ portrait of a morose, hairy George. But our flimsy fold-out was disappointing. The box had solidity, gravitas. […]
A WEEK OF ENO INSTALLATIONS — DAY 6
DAY SIX / DISC SIX Music For Future Installations I have an LP of compositions for glass harmonica. Mozart wrote several. “Unnoticed Planet”, the first piece on disc six, has clear, ringing notes hanging suspended in space. Plenty of thin air, enough to enjoy the decay of these glass-like notes. Listening to the final disc […]
A WEEK OF ENO INSTALLATIONS — DAY 5
DAY FIVE / DISC FIVE Making Space Holy beatbox Batman! I hear clicky percussion, bass; structure, barlines, time signatures… The opening track of Making Space, “Needle click”, is nothing even remotely like most people’s understanding of ambient music. Ah, but the box isn’t called ‘Ambient’, my precious, it’s called Music for Installations. So this must […]
A WEEK OF ENO INSTALLATIONS — DAY 4
DAY FOUR / DISC FOUR After a brief intermission, we continue with the second half of the series (discs 4—6) on Brian Eno’s Music For Installations. I Dormienti / Kite Stories Delicate shimmerings evoke Eno’s Thursday Afternoon (1985). Does “I Dormienti” mean “I scintillate”? But there are little ‘Ha’ moments; sounds like a processed human voice […]
A WEEK OF ENO INSTALLATIONS — DAY 3
DAY THREE / DISC THREE Lightness – Music For The Marble Palace With this (or any other) evocative title, is Eno elucidating the purpose of the project, defining the setting or evoking a mood? Or perhaps exercising his sense of mischief. Mood and fantasy blur. I’m wandering in an immense deserted palace in a Dying […]
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