Paul Jones - "Sings Songs From The Film 'Privilege'" Vinyl, 45 rpm, 7", EP, UK, 1967 (His Master's Voice)

One of my favorite music that came out of 1967 for new pop was "Paul Jones Sings Songs From the Film 'Privilege.'"  My dad took me to see this film I have to presume sometime in 1968, and it played in a small 'art' movie theater in a building on the Sunset Strip.  One had to know about this theater because there was no advertisement or even acknowledgment that this place existed outside of the theater space.  Overall the film is not that hot, but I was glued to the screen due to Paul Jones performance, both acting and singing, and of course the beauty of Jean Shrimpton.  The story takes place in England when the church decided to match-up with the pop world, circa Paul Jones.  A new form of Fascism takes place where the teenager is influenced by the combination of the Church and pop music.   The film opens up with a great performance by Paul Jones, doing "Free Me," which has a haunted organ and strings arrangement.   A few years later, Alice Cooper would use theatrics that is very similar to the performance in "Privilege." 

Beyond that this EP has four songs, including my beloved "Free Me" as well as the theme "Privilege" and 'I've Been a Bad, Bad Boy, and I think the other song "(My Poor Heart is Surely) Breaking" is not in the film, but alas, memory plays tricks.  Nevertheless, one can get the full original soundtrack album with no problem, and I see it often online or sold in used record stores around Los Angeles and Tokyo.  Still, I prefer the format of the 7" 45 rpm EP, because of the focus on the four songs, which overall is pretty magnificent.  

Paul Jones is known to be the lead vocalist for Manfred Mann in the early and mid-1960s, but he took a strange solo career that was equally pop and his natural love for rhythm n' blues.  A great voice, and presence, I feel Jones is overlooked these days, and he is a great vocalist.   The solo career is spotty, but his work with the band Manfred Mann is brilliant.  And his other highlight is "Privilege." 

Talk Talk - "Laughing Stock" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2016/1991 (Polydor)

Friends of mine who have taste always recommended Talk Talk to me.  For years I have avoided hearing their music, not due to being put-off by the band, but just totally absorb into the music of my choice at the time.  It wasn't until Mark Hollis passed away this past month that I decided to make the leap and I purchased "Laughing Stock," which is I think was the last Talk Talk album.  

I was first introduced to Talk Talk in Reseda California when I worked at Licorice Pizza.  We got free tickets to see Talk Talk at a nightclub in the San Fernando Valley.  At the time, they had a hit song "Talk Talk" which I thought was strange that it was the name of the band as well.  At the time, it bothered me that they both had a song and a band name that was the same.  In my psyche, I felt that this wasn't right.  I have a faint memory of seeing them, and I think it was Holley singing lead, and then there was a bass player, keyboard, and drums.  Very minimal in that fashion.  They didn't leave a strong impression on me at the time.  What impressed me later is that they abandoned the new wave world into the moody jazz planet. Or I was told that by numerous acquaintances.

I like "Laughing Stock." I like it a lot.  My first impression is always to make a comparison of what you hear, and try to match it with another artist. In this case, it reminds me of a bit of  Steve Winwood / Traffic meeting David Sylvian solo recordings.  Talk Talk is more abstract than those two. It's hard to define their sound, which is dreamy and also free of electronics but use the recording studio in a manner that is like an additional musician in the band.  Which sounds like Eno, but Talk Talk work on a different type of canvas than Brian Eno.   

Six songs but it are easy to drift from one track to the next.  The appearance of the songs seems laid back, but there is actually bits of noise or extreme electric guitar sounds which for sure, does not make this music ambient by any means.  There's an electric Miles Davis vibe attached to the aural landscape as well.  The beauty of the music is that it's not easy to put into words, but as music, as one listens to it, the album makes excellent sense. 

The Kinks - "The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono, 2014/1968 (Sanctuary Records)

It took me a while, but I finally purchased a new or mint copy of the Mono edition of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society." The sound of the record is brilliant, but what's more important is the music itself.  Clearly a masterpiece, and I think it is at that status due to its powerful images of a world that is a combination of William Makepeace Thackeray, Henry James, and a touch of Oscar Wilde. In other words, it's British, but not the lad England of Oasis but the world of English gentlemen, quiet pubs, and great inner depression.  Perhaps there is a touch of the Angry Young Men movement as well.  It's a shame that this album was never turned into a musical in London's West End.  There is no narrative, but one can quickly write the 'book' and make this an instant classic, just due to the excellence of the songs.  

I originally bought this album in the time of its original release in 1968.  I have been a somewhat consistent Kinks fan, but life in Los Angeles didn't always allow an easy route to purchase a Kinks album, even though they were on Reprise Records in America.   For one, they dropped out of the press or TV appearances, and for about six months, I totally forgot that they even existed.  I came upon this album when I lived in Topanga Canyon, and I felt like a prisoner in that area of the world.  "Village Green" unknown to me at the point of purchase, exposed me to another prison, but one in Merryland England.   My sense of alienation perfectly fitted the mood of this Kinks' album.  When I got home with the record and put it on my turntable, I think I felt tears from my eyes.  I never had a record that encouraged such an emotional response before.  It wasn't sadness exactly, but more of the fact that I too felt I lived in a village, and there is something rotten in that neighborhood.  

Also, this is very much music made by and for Dandies.  I like the cover, but I feel that it should have been a painting portrait of The Kinks, perhaps in oil, or even an image of Francis Bacon at the very least.  Still, over the years I have purchased this album in every format possible, and it was until very recently I bought the Mono mix of "Village Green."   For my ears, it sounds more punchy and forceful, and therefore I prefer the Mono to the stereo mix.  Not one wrong musical moment on this record, it's perfection as an art form, with the band performing this delicate music as an oil painting or perhaps building the village as a sculpture.  One of the remarkable albums from the 20th-century.

The Lemon Pipers - "Green Tambourine" b/w "No Help From Me" 45 rpm single, 1967 (Pye International)

Is it even possible to loathe "Green Tambourine?" Which by the way, is a superb song/recording released in the latter half of 1967.  Sometimes considered to be 'bubble-gum rock' record, but to me, it's 2 minutes and 23 seconds of magic.  The group is The Lemon Pipers from Ohio, and the songwriters of the song are hardcore Brill Building culture.  Paul Leka wrote the song with Shelley Pinz but based on Pinz observing a musician playing and asking for money in front of the Brill Building.  It seems his main instrumentation was a tambourine.  With the help of Leka, he came up with the song, and it's a record that is very much tattooed on my soul.  I'm also fond of Leka's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye recorded by a fake band called Steam, but that's another tale. 

The beauty of 'Green Tambourine is the psychedelic touches that are totally commercial, due to the echo delay of some of the lyrics, as well as the use of the electric sitar.  The narrative of sorts is a musician who wants to play his 'green tambourine' which has a Piped Piper, almost gypsy touch to its melody.  It's sad, but the production and arrangement (by Leka) convey pathos as a concept.  A projection of inner-misery, which naturally is organic in the process of pop music.  I also recommend The Associates version as well, if one can find it.  

Shirley Bassey - "The Fabulous Shirley Bassey" Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono, UK, 1959 (Columbia)

Shirley Bassey, famous in the United States for her recording of "Goldfinger" is an exceptional British singer.  Born in Wales, "The Fabulous Shirley Bassey, released in 1959, was her second album.  Always a big voice, she strikes me as a powerful wind machine, and even the orchestration around her has to go from 8 to 10 in volume control.  Which sounds a bit much, but the fact is her voice has a lot of warmth, and on the "Fabulous" album there are classic songs.   "The Man Who Got Away," "Cry Me A River,"  "I've Got You Under My Skin," and others on this disc are superb pieces of contemporary music. 

As part of my obsession with British pop music before the Fab Four, Bassey is a key showbiz figure that expressed the grit and soiled nature of pop music at the time.  Hearing the recordings of that period it sounds light and fluffy, but I suspect it's aural candy to disguise the roughness of the post-war U.K. years.   Bassey is not a light singer, but a performer of great attitude and brings magnificence to the main meal.  When one digs up the beautiful landscape of a part of the world that suffered greatly, one can find great art.  Shirley Bassey is such a fine, and the "Fabulous Shirley Bassey" is an album full of polished gems, but there is a lot of grit within its textures. 

Roxy Music - "All I Want is You" b/w "Your Application's Failed" 45 rpm Single, UK, 1974 (Island)

"All I Want is You" is the A-side, but of course what I'm interested in is the B-side of this single, the instrumental song "Your Application's Failed."   The beauty of the 45 rpm single are the b-sides that are not on an album.  Mostly they are a mere after-thought if anything else.  For whatever reason, Roxy Music usually put out interesting 'throw-a-way' songs on the b-sides, and "Your Application's Failed" is a small classic Roxy Music piece. 

It's a song by Roxy drummer Paul Thompson, and a great vehicle in exposing the band's talent and most important, a sense of play is on hand.  Most of the songs that end up on a Roxy Music album, or on their A-side singles, it's a very tight structure and there is a sense of seriousness on it all.  They're making commercial art.  Yet, the b-side songs are sometimes experiments or to see what happens, even if they allow their drummer to compose the song.  "Your Application's Failed" is fun.  The fact that Roxy Music or Bryan Ferry can show a lighter side of their record making is wonderful. One wishes that there were more pieces like "Your Application's Failed."  The classic Roxy is always great, but it's the B-sides that add the flavor or spice to Roxy Music. 

John White / Gavin Bryars - "Machine Music" Vinyl, LP, Album, UK, 1978/1976 (Obscure Records)

Although no one will mistake Brian Eno as precisely as a pop star, yet, he is in a sense, but of course with that something extra, which is his interest in Experimental or new music.  In the mid-70s Eno started a record label, Obscure Records, to focus on modern music composers, most of them are British, and very much in Eno's social and music world.   One interesting album (of many fascinating titles) is  the John White and Gavin Bryars album "Machine Music."  

White is by design a minimalist composer, but I find labels too limiting and not very accurate in the sounds one hears.   On side one he has four pieces.  The opening cut is "Autumn Countdown Machine" which is a playful series of notes between a Bassoon, Double Bass, and Tuba that has a sound of various percussion instruments and a metronome underlining the main instrumentation.  To me, I can tell it's British because of its character.  It's a funny piece, but beautiful as well.  Perhaps it's that dynamics that gives this work such character.  "Son of Gothic Cord" is a piano piece played by White and Christopher Hobbs.  It reminds me of a bit of a Steve Reich piano work, but usually, his music is based on another culture, this I think is more numeral orientated or with a strict system in place.  It has an echo that fills the room. One thought but with four hands.  "Jew's Harp Machine" is sort of a super session with White, Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, and Christopher Hobbs (the Obscure house band!) all playing Jew's Harp, in a rhythmic fashion that has echo and delay (at least to my ears).  "Drinking and Hooting Machine" is a bottle blowing composition and it's eerie, and I can imagine this being heard over a rural countryside, with nothing but owls looking down on the musicians.  

On side two we have one composition by Gavin Bryars which is all guitars.  Played by Bryars, the great Derek Bailey, the amazing Fred Frith, and professional beginner Brian Eno, called "The Squirrel and the Ricketty Racketty Bridge."  A riff that reminds me a bit of White's first composition on the other side "Autumn Countdown Machine."   Four types of guitars that have separate and distinctive sounds that has a beautiful layered aural presence.  Not The Ventures or The Shadows mind you, but still a fresh piece of music.   

Obscure Records had only eight or nine releases but all of them are real gems, and it's excellent to re-hear them in 2019.   Eno should be applauded for presenting new music in such a fashion that's enticing and thrilling at the same time. 

Philip Corner - "Satie Slowly" CD, Album, 2014 (Unseen Worlds)

Erik Satie is very much in my DNA.  I was raised with his music due that my parents played the Aldo Ciccolini recordings of Satie's music, especially volume one, that was released by Angel Records, with the Picasso portrait of Satie on its cover.   There are many other versions by different pianists making Satie's piano music, but I was devoted to only the Ciccolini recordings.  Due that they are the best?  Or just out of brand loyalty?  For whatever reason, I could never get fully behind other's interpretations of his piano music, I think at the time 'why bother?'  Recently I got Philip Corner's collection of Satie piano music called "Satie Slowly," and it enchanted me from the very first note to the last in this double CD set.

"Satie Slowly" can mean Corner is playing the notes and melody in a steady slow pace, or it can expect to enjoy the music on one's own natural slow pace.  Nevertheless, there is something organic about Corner's approach to Satie's music, that is never fussy, and the melodies ring out slowly like peeling a juicy orange and making sure not to have any moisture from the fruit land on your white pants.  Each cord he plays on the piano has a slight echo that rings to the next note, and it's a subtlety that is small in comparison of playing something significant, but the spacing allows the essence and beauty to come out of its music. 

A mixture of nightclub cabaret and reflection, this is where Satie lives, and Corner plays his music in the sense of grace, humor, and the essence of everyday life coming and going.   It makes sense that Corner is also a visual artist as well as a member of Fluxus, an art movement that is hysterical and serious at the same time.   These piano recordings, at this moment, are my favorite Satie performances.  I want to thank Alejandro Cohen of The Dublab Creative Cultivation for turning me on to this double-CD set.  It's marvelous. 

The Ron Grainer Orchestra - "The Prisoner: Original Soundtrack Music From The TV Series" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1986 (Bam-Caruso)

I never heard of Ron Grainer before, but clearly, I know his music due to my obsession with the TV series "The Prisoner."  I can spend hours just watching the opening credits to the show, where secret agent No. 6 (Patrick McGoohan) resigns in anger and is seen being kidnapped and taken to the island, which resembles a retirement home for lunatics.  Within two minutes one has the flavor as well as the narrative of the show.  Equally exciting is the soundtrack theme to "The Prisoner."

Ron Grainer wrote the central theme, and the rest of the music that was on the show is a combination of his work, and various British composers who worked in the Film Library world.  At times, playful, sinister, and classic Spy theme music all rolled in one package.  British sounding to the core, and not that different from the aesthetics of various English shows of the time:  "The Avengers," "Saint," and even McGoohan's old show "Secret Agent Man" (or in the UK "Danger Man").  Still, this is a spy TV show that hints of the avant-garde, or the theater of the absurd.  A limited run show that had a beginning, a middle, and an end.   In that format, it is like a structured version of "Twin Peaks," but with the intensity of McGoohan's participation.  It's odd that I have at least three albums that are based on Parick McGoohan's film/TV works.  Perhaps it's not the music itself, but the presence of this great actor/producer/director. 

Philip Glass - "Music in Similar Motion / Music in Fifths" LP, Album, 1973 (Chatham Square Productions)

The early music of Philip Glass is interesting to me because they are genuinely sculptures made of sound. I feel the music is prepared to take physical space.   His later work is very melodic, but the early works are like classical garage rock.  Made in lofts for people who live in lofts.   "Music in Similar Motion" is three electric organs and two soprano saxophones, plus flute played by Robert Prado, who it seems passed away soon after this recording in 1971.  The music Glass wrote was from another culture, and not necessarily from the New York world.  In fact, the music is transported into that culture.  Still, I think both pieces (the other being "Music in Fifths") are sculptures more than music.

The repetition of the notes played together are a series of riffs, that combined with the other musicians is hypnotic, yet organic in that it has a hefty weight to it all.  The music doesn't roll, but clearly, it rocks.   Best to be played loud.  

Mort Shuman - "My Death" Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, 1969 (Reprise Records)

I have met people who liked a Mort Shuman song or two but never met a hardcore fan of his overall work.   He had a remarkable career.  Wrote classic Brill Building songs with partner-in-crime Doc Pomus such as "Save The Last Dance For Me," and Elvis' "Surrender," "Little Sister" and "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame," among other iconic pop tunes.  Shuman then moved to France, where he became a songwriter there during the height of the Yé-Yé decade, but more importantly, he discovered the songs of Jacques Brel.   One can make a strong argument without Shuman's translations of Brel songs into English, there would be no Scott Walker recordings of Brel songs, nor obtaining the interest from David Bowie, regarding the world of Brel.  Along with Eric Blau, Shuman wrote the book for the musical "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" which is greatly responsible for the Brel presence in the English speaking world.  And on top of that, he co-wrote one of my all-time favorite songs - "Little Children" recorded by Billy  J. Kramer. 

In 1969, Shuman recorded a very odd solo album "My Death," which is a combination of old school pop songwriting, but with strong traces of Bertolt Brecht, Charles Baudelaire, and of course, Jacques Brel.   Perhaps a concept album about birth to death, but nevertheless, a very eccentric pop album, which of course makes it a masterpiece in my ears and brain. 

My favorite songs on the album are the title cut, which is a Brel classic, and was recorded by Bowie, Scott, and even Rod McKuen.  Shuman gives it a pop flair due to its arrangements, but it's a fantastic version of "My Death."  The other fave on the album is "She's Gonna Give Me a Baby" which is a six-minute epic that ends tragically, but a beautiful melody does remain in the listeners' consciousness.