John Entwistle - "Smash Your Head Against The Wall" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1971 (Decca)

The first cut, "My Size" yells out 1971 classic rock.   The chunk-chunk guitar cords and Entwistle's voice sounds like it is recorded in another room, is classic riff-rock.  My favorite parts of a Who album are always the John Entwistle songs.  When Pete gets spiritual, John is more interested in rock n' roll issues like revenge, violence, and in a spiritual mode, how to recover a night of drinking.  "Smash Your Head Against the Wall" is the ultimate solo bass player's solo album who belongs to a major band.   And remember John wrote "Boris the Spider" the best Who song ever. 

"What Are We Doing Here?" is the song for musicians who are on an endless tour.  I imagine John wrote this between groupie and drinking sessions where one gets on a reflective thinking 'woe me" state of mind.  The truth is I'm making light of his lifestyle, but under the humor and rock n' roll behavior is a great songwriter.  To call him and Keith Moon the rhythm section is slight, due that both lead players on their instruments.  As Noel of Oasis fame had commented, if not in exact wording, that The Who is a band that has a lead singer, and a lead guitarist, but also a lead Bass player as well as the lead drummer.  That is an accurate description of The Who. 

Entwistle's first solo album is him playing everything except guitar and drums.  His arrangements are excellent, especially what he does with the horn section.  Not exactly like a soul horn section, but more of a British toot-toot horns, and it's very useful on these set of songs.  "Heaven and Hell" is a magnificent piece of work, and "Ted End" is one of Entwistle's great underrated songs.  Worth the price of this album. 

Magazine "The Correct Use of Soap" CD, Album, U.S., 1991 (Original release 1980) (Caroline Records)

One of my favorite (and there are many, to be honest)  post-punk bands is Magazine.  Howard Devoto backed by a super band of sorts, with Barry Adamson, Dave Formula, John Doyle, and guitar god John McGeoch.  Their sound is orchestrational in the same line as Roxy Music, in fact, they remind me of that band, due to not an image, but the way the music is put together.  Every player in the group contributes to the group, and Devoto turns on his magic to make it work fantastically.  

Without a doubt, this is their most commercial album, with solid songwriting, but the album moves from one track to another without a weak link.  The one other influence I pick up on is Motown.  I suspect the whole band is into the classic Motown sound.  That, and a touch of funk mixed with the post-punk aesthetic and that vision to look out to the world makes Magazine a very unique musical force of its time. 

Devoto is a superb lyricist.  No one writes lyrics like him.  Full of literary references, such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky runs through the songs, especially their incredible "A Song From Under the Floorboards."  One of the great classics to come out of that era.  Sinister, disturbing, and yet magnificent.   Their cover of Sly Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" shows that they truly admire genius in other worlds. 

The Human League - "Reproduction" Vinyl, LP, UK, 1979 (Virgin)

If J.G. Ballard had a soundtrack to his novels, it would more likely be the early edition of The Human League.   If Kraftwerk represented a "Germany" that is both realistic and what we think as German, then surely the League is British in that same fashion.  Very electronic and minimal with respect to their arrangements, it is basically synths, and Philip Oakey's always distant, yet heartfelt singing.  It's music that is very much part of the Industrial English cities landscape, but with insight into the future or a sense of dread that things are not that hot.  It does have a relationship with glam rock, but almost a scholarly view of that music from the recent past.   Its roots are Gary Glitter, but as listened to by someone in the future who is looking back to a much more cynical point than their present time.  Which is shit.  But when you have nothing, great things can happen upon you.

"Circus of Death" makes reference to "Hawaii 5-0" and its exotic culture via an American TV show is redefined by Oakey and company.   There is no fear of technology of what the future will bring, because The Human League looks back at old culture junk, and somehow make it all new again.  This is the sound of four guys in a group, or collective, that are commenting and reshaping their world.  Listening to their music you can feel the English damp weather, and their electro-glam sound is hypnotic with catchy beats and sublime melodies.  "Empire State Human" is a masterpiece.  And their version of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" feels just right in their hands.  Ian Marsh, Martyn Ware (future Heaven 17), Philip Adrian Wright (responsible for their slides & film, and yet, a full-time member of The Human League) and of course, Oakey served a bleak, cold world, but I could live there.

Glenn Gould - Bach/ "The Art of the Fugue, Volume 1 (First Half)" Vinyl, LP, Remastered 2015 (Vinyl Passion Classical)

Originally recorded in 1962, this album by Glenn Gould performing and recording Bach's "The Art of the Fugue" on the organ is a sound that pretty much have been in my life for the past 50 or so years.  My parents used to play this album at a very high volume.  As far as I know this is the only recording with Gould playing the organ.    These compositional pieces of music were Bach's exploration in monothematic instrumental works.  Never written for any particular instrument, it is many ways Bach's thinking out a problem from a notebook.  Gould I suspect was a musician who tackled music as an ongoing concern than a finished work of art.  The process or the journey is very much of great importance to Gould, and it is intelligence as well as his skills on the keyboard that makes him such a fantastic artist. 

The description above sounds cold, but the truth is, I often hum this melody in the bathtub.  The ultimate riff builds on other riffs.   It's like building a sand castle, and there is a wave coming in any second to tear down your structure.  Trying to find the original mono Columbia Masterworks version is tough for me.   I want one because that was the version that we had as a child, and I'm trying to recapture my childhood through the medium of vinyl.  To recapture the past is a foolish activity because the memory is always the winner.  Even over physical objects such as a vinyl from one's past.  A European label, Vinyl Passion Classical, put this out in 2015 on vinyl.   Not sure if it's a high-end bootleg label or an official release.   The sound is great.  And there is something magnificent about this music on vinyl.   Gould has done so many superb recordings, but due to emotional reasons, this is my favorite Glenn Gould album. 

Ennio Morricone - "Escalation (Colonna Sonora Originale) Vinyl, LP, Reissue, Yellow Vinyl (Dagored)

Originally recorded in 1968, and a soundtrack to Roberto Faenza's film "Escalation," this is Ennio Morricone serving the boss.  Very 1968 in parts especially with the sitar orientated cuts on side one.  Being Morricone, there are choruses mixed with flute, an electric guitar that sometimes resembles a John Zorn game composition.   The genius of Morricone is how he can even think of mixing genres and instruments on one piece of music.  His imagination is as extensive and endless as a highway in the Texas desert.  The music borders on the avant-garde, but the melodies kick in, and it becomes an odd hybrid of both worlds.  Once again, Bruno Nicolai did the orchestration. The album is on yellow vinyl, for those who like their vinyl pretty, and in a limited edition of 500 copies. 

Perfume Genius - "No Shape" 2 X Vinyl, LP, 2017 (Matador)

It's rare that I comment on a brand new album and artist here, but Perfume Genius' "No Shape" is pure ear candy.  Mike Hadreas simply has that "it" quality.   The way pop music works is that it is always reminding you of the past, and there are traces of Bowie's "Hunky Dory" but now I'm picking up a touch of Prince, especially in the Prince-like title "Die 4 You."  Soulful, smokey, and of course seductive, Hadreas has the ability to convey a world of pain that turns into pleasure. 

There is a minimal sensibility in Hadreas' music, but this album opens up to other textures.  The strings (not sure if they are real instrumentation are not) lurks like a creature from the deepest ocean, and about to nab the swimmer above.  The aural landscape is dense.   I have listened to this album on a streaming device, and that medium really doesn't capture the tone that one hears on vinyl.  Producer Blake Mills and Hadreas made a thick soup in this mix, and one can take a spoon and choose whatever taste they wish.   It's there in the deep textures of the mix.  

Hadreas is a throwback to the image of the glam gay orientated 1970s.  Not in a retro sense, but as a reminder of another world besides the overtures to the straight or conservative world that the gay community has orientated itself towards in recent times.   A beautiful man making haunting ballads and noise at the same time.  I'm a fan. 

Japan - "Tin Drum" CD Album, Reissue, 1994 original release 1981 (Virgin)

This was my first introduction to the band Japan, and the voice of David Sylvian.  My first hearing experience was "a Roxy Music rip-off."  And on top of that, what a horrible name for a band.  It's common knowledge that any band that names itself after a city, a state, a country or continent, sucks.  But I do have to admit, it's a great album cover.   The second listening experience brought me pleasures that are still with me.   Japan was a very original band.  

Sylvian's voice is very mannered in the Bryan Ferry mode, but he uses it in a different method with respect to his music.  As for the band, the strongest presence on "Tin Drum is Mick Karn's fretless bass playing.  A remarkable musician.  To me, he's the Brian Jones of the band.  The rest of the instrumentation the drums or percussion is sparse (by Sylvian's brother Steve Jansen) but in a very jazzy complexed manner.  The keyboards (Richard Barbieri) add electronic effects that are mood more than melody.  Sylvian carries the melody in his vocals.  The band and recording (by the great Steve Nye) are tight.  Almost if the air has been sucked out of the room.  

On the surface, it's Asian sounding, but why?  It's almost like a Wittgenstein response in that you know what's in front of you, but one can't define the experience.  There are song titles that bring the image for instance "Cantonese Boy," "Visions of China," and "Canton."  But it's a very romantic, yet at the same time, dry look at a culture or country.  This is not negative criticism.  I think Japan is exploring worlds that are known, but to them at the time, perhaps not that well known.  

The band is eye-candy as well.  You can't go wrong with a group of young guys in make-up.  But their style at this time was sort of like Asian minimal chic, with a touch of Brooks Brothers button collar shirts, but of course, with make-up.   Fans take them seriously, but I think if there was no Japan there would be no Radiohead.