After initiating planning and sorting for 73 FROM ’73 in the middle of 2022, somehow the project got delayed; again and again. A number of the schedule blowouts arose from life intruding on music activities, annoying incursions I hoped had been redirected towards more gainfully employed bloggers as I mooched towards retirement; but in fact […]
For many years I had an ambivalent relationship with Tom Waits. Beat Generation revivalist or Carny huckster? Jazzbo pretender or theatrical joker? The moment of revelation—conversion, even—came from an unlikely source. In 1988 A&M Records released a fascinating compilation entitled Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films. Amongst left-field gems from Sun […]
Sitting down with a music book and a pile of albums to accompany the content is analogue heaven. And when the musician has a career as rich and varied as British guitarist John McLaughlin, you can be confident the soundtrack will be both demanding and deeply rewarding. As for the book, that needs to be […]
Sixto Rodriguez has appeared in these pages twice. Once as part of the 70 FROM 1970 series (where the album featured today placed at a very creditable #22) and once earlier this year when he made an untimely appearance on the Departures board. This post expands on the 70 FROM 70 paragraph and first appeared […]
Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale (“A Dream Without Special Consequences”) is the fourth album by Heldon. Released in 1976 on the French Cobra record label, it is atmospheric in a dystopian, unsettling way. Francois Auger (Drums, synthesised percussion) Patrick Gautier (synthesiser, tapes) Richard Pinhas (Guitar, Synthesizers [Moog B, Moog III, EMS], Tapes) All but one […]
A blogging comrade recently mentioned a Beatles podcast where the presenters led off their series with a negative review of Help! In my response, I observed that I tended not to write negative reviews, especially of beloved albums. Overnight, several things have caused me to reflect on that pronouncement. I detected the cloying scent of […]
For many music fans around the globe, the death of David Bowie in January 2016 left a gaping chasm in the rock world. No more new studio albums from one of popular music’s most restless creative spirits; no more tours, no more shifts of direction, no more jump-cut personas. David—and all his identities—were gone, leaving […]
Acknowledgement and celebration of those who have left the stage 🖤 Tony Bennett 3 Aug 1926— 21 July 2023 🖤 Sinéad O’Connor 8 Dec 1966—26 July 2023 🖤 Randy Meisner Poco—Eagles 8 March 1946—26 July 2023 🖤 Robbie Robertson 5 July 1943—9 August 2023 The Band—solo 🖤 Sixto Rodriguez 10 July 1942—8 August 2023 🖤 […]
Vienna, the 1980 LP by UK synth-pop art rockers Ultravox, kicked off the second phase of their career. Original frontman John Foxx had departed in 1979 after three albums and an unsuccessful foray into the American market. But keyboard player Billie Currie—who had worked with Midge Ure in Visage—convinced Midge to join Ultravox and revitalise […]
It’s a striking opening line to the first song on your first album: “I’ve been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand”. Searching, yearning for direction, for counsel. The song is called “Disorder”, a one-word summary of the singer’s internal state. A plea for human contact: take my hand. Please. […]
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