Category ACROSS THE DECADES
V (2) ASTRONOMER
SIDE ONE Most of the discography of Johannes Kepler was produced in the early sixteen hundreds. His first producer, Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg, helped him move beyond teaching to become a major player in the scientific revolution of the 17th-century. Kepler’s early genre was mathcore, though he dabbled in spiritual jazz (astrology) and progressive […]
V
The thing with progressive music is, it’s a bit more complex and structured. Which means, depending on what prejudices you bring to the argument, that it is either (a) music for wanky poseurs, or (b) something to spend a bit of time with before passing judgement. No surprises that, as a card-carrying wanky poseur, I […]
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This glorious autumn weather seems to have gone on forever. Approaching the fag-end of April and we’re still getting cool hazy mornings opening up into amber afternoons. Today offered yet another deeply varnished red-gold platter. I got home after some errands (that may or may not have facilitated the acquisition of a few records) and […]
A MENTAL FOIBLE
It’s an album that looks both forward and backwards yet is entirely of its time. Infused with a spirit of exploration, it manages to sound uncertain and confused. A new player is feeling his way while the ghost of a departed leader haunts every groove. Flashback… Pink Floyd manager Peter Jenner was convinced Syd Barrett […]
CATHEDRALS, SONGS AND NABS (CSN)
Funny how bits of music-related fluff stick in the old bonce. Something passes through the cranium and waves a vague kind of greeting to the odd neurone or two, quickly fading into obscurity like the second Kajagoogoo single. Then, when you’re having a pleasant browse through the racks of your favourite recorded music emporium, this […]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIR REG!
It’s odd to think of Elton John as a Sixties artist. But Reginald Dwight first played and recorded in that decade of innocence and transformation, most notably with Long John Baldry in Bluesology. A solo career and an enduring song-writing partnership with fellow Englishman Bernie Taupin beckoned, as did one of the most famous name-changes […]
COUSIN HOOKER
Earl Hooker was an unsung hero of electric blues guitar. Born near Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1930, Earl (middle name Zebedee) moved to Chicago with his family but left home at an early age to go play music. And play he certainly did, adding his Robert Nighthawk influenced slide playing to recordings by Sonny Boy Williamson, […]
HERE’S ONE I PREPARED EARLIER
I Find somewhere to sit, it doesn’t matter where. Imagine a musician entering the space and preparing to perform. Count to two hundred and seventy-three in beats as close to a second apart as you can manage. Applaud as the performer exits the space. You have just created a mental facsimile of the most famous […]
IDES OF MARCH
9 MARCH 1970: Black Sabbath appear at The Roundhouse in London. There’s something special about debut albums, so yesterday I got a real Birmingham blast from this lovely Rhino re-issue. 10 MARCH 1973: The US release of Dark Side Of The Moon A ‘trying to be funny’ post on Dark Side of the Moon was […]
ODES OF MARCH
On a recent visit to Goldmine Records, respected Melbourne purveyor of albums both new and recycled, in addition to a couple of interesting LPs I scored a little extra something in my carrier bag. It was a calendar produced by the good folk at Rhino Records to mark—nay, celebrate—their fortieth birthday. It’s great fun for […]
INNER RADIANCE
Edward Larry Gordon was a part-time actor and occasional zither player who supplemented his thespian income by busking in New York. In possibly one of the finest synchronicities in popular music, Brian Eno—in the Big Apple to work with avant-garde trumpeter Jon Hassell—placed a note in the busking Larry’s hat that read, ‘Would you like […]
LET IT GROW
When 461 Ocean Boulevard was released in July 1974, it is extraordinary to note that Eric Clapton, at twenty-nine years of age, was a veteran of The Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, and Derek and the Dominos. Not to mention two solo albums. Under 30 with more than fifteen album credits. Not bad, […]
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