Michael Nyman - "The Kiss and Other Movements" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1985 (Editions EG)

I discovered Michael Nyman when he made a recording of his composition "Decay Music" for Brian Eno's Obscure Records.  A few years later I really got into his music due to his soundtrack work for British filmmaker Peter Greenaway.   Before I purchased those recordings, "The Kiss and Other Movements" was the first album of his that wasn't part of someone else's series (Eno) or film (Greenaway).  Although I do believe some of the music here was used for Greenaway's short films.  Still, I have heard of speed metal, but Nyman struck me as speed classical.   Which is a stupid observation but without a doubt, his music was so different from anyone else's at the time.  Also to my ears, it was very British sounding.   Eccentric comes to mind, but then there is Nyman's great talent for melodies.  He writes melodies that I can sort of hum in the shower or bath. 

His work is majestic and builds up like one adding one block on top of another, and then there is the fear that the whole structure will topple down.   That's the thrill of hearing his tightly controlled, and performed musical pieces.  "The Kiss" is an album that is a great entrance to the Nyman aesthetic, and the mixture of strings, horns, and a very aggressive electric bass almost gives it a Who type of intensity.   Nyman is a brilliant composer, and over the years, I have purchased many of his albums on CD, mostly in Japan.  For some odd reason or another, at the time, it was easy to find Nyman's work in a big music store in Tokyo.   For those who are fans of "Music of Penguin Cafe" (another Eno Obscure Records release) will find Nyman as a suitable companion.   

Rain Tree Crow (Japan) - "Blackwater" b/w "Red Earth" & "I Drink to Forget" Vinyl 12" 45 rpm, Limited Edition, 1991 (Virgin)

For whatever reasons, the band Japan decided to regroup to make an album under the name of Rain Tree Crow.   David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Steven Jansen, and Richard Barbieri co-wrote all the music, but Sylvian dominated the lyrics.   I have the album on CD, but I just recently found a copy of a limited edition 12" of one of the songs that are on the album, "Blackwater." 

Without a doubt, it is one of the most beautiful recordings from Sylvian and company with an elegant melody played with great sensitivity by all above, including guest guitarist Bill Nelson.  It's ironic that this song is hidden in the Rain Tree Crow project, even though it is on a Sylvian compilation, it really needs full attention from Japan fans and elsewhere.  Whatever it is tensioned between Sylvian and Karn that caused the unit to break up, they clearly work well together, with respect to the results of their recordings.   Both have an interest in Eastern music or melodies, and it's borderline tragic that they didn't stick it out to make further albums.  The Sylvian and Karn solo recordings are good, but I often listen to a Sylvian solo release and think "where's Karn's fretless bass?"  Still, perhaps it wasn't meant to be.  At least Japan has made three excellent albums and Rain Tree Crow is very good as well.  Although it's a mystery to me why they didn't go under the name of Japan. Legal reasons?   It's a stupid name for a band, and maybe they wanted a fresh start.  Nevertheless, "Blackwater" is a great record.  

Koji Ueno - "Music for Silent Movies" Vinyl, LP, Album, Japan, 1985 (Yen Records)

Koji Ueno was in Guernica, the duo/band with Jun Togawa that brought the 1930 aesthetics of Japan to the late 1980s.   Here on his solo album, from 1985, he makes music to go with early Surrealist/DADA silent films from the 1920s.   The pieces are "Retour a Raison," "Le Etoile Mer," and "Emak Bakia" by Man Ray, "Anémic Cinema" by Marcel Duchamp, "Ballet Mécanique" by painter Fernand Léger & Dudley Murphy and Rene Clair's "Entr'acte."  So, in a sense we have an album of Modernism, but 1920's modernism written and recorded in 1985. 

All six music pieces do match well with the original silent films.  I know, because I have seen these short movies many times.   "Ballet Mécanique" is very electronic and reminds me a bit of the French Musique Concrete pieces from the 1950s, but most of the album is done on real instruments, and the talent of Ueno's scoring, arranging, and composing becomes in focus.   "Entr'acte" has traces of Erik Satie's original score for the film, and Ueno is very respectful of each film's aesthetic and purpose.  Perhaps a man born in the wrong time, still, he makes up with his obsession for the pre-war era of Japan, and it's acceptance or at the very least, a curiosity of the avant-garde world of Europe at that time. 

The Byrds - "Turn! Turn! Turn!" b/w "Eight Miles High" 45 rpm Single, Vinyl, Reissue (Columbia)

Without a doubt, the Los Angeles band The Byrds are probably the most respected band in my small world of record fiends.  We had the first Byrds album when it first came out, and I have to presume that my dad bought it.  He didn't play it that much, but I listened to it a lot.   One couldn't avoid the presence of The Byrds in Los Angeles during 1965 and 1966.  For one, the connection they had with Bob Dylan was a serious relationship between those who followed Dylan's career at the time, and also radio stations like KRLA and KHJ played Byrds music a lot.   To this day I have told people I admired The Byrds, and one has to because of their ability to do certain types of musical styles throughout the years.  From folk to psychedelic to country, they seemed to adopt musical landscapes like one changing their kaftan in the morning to work clothes for the ranch by the afternoon.   It's strange for me to write this, but they are probably my most unfavorite Los Angeles band. 

I have admired their recordings, and I have purchased their albums to the point (in its original releases) up to "Younger Than Yesterday."  The truth is I never really cared for these albums.  Perfectly crafted pop songs and some are even beyond that, for instance, the great "Eight Miles High."  A brilliant melody, with incredible guitar work from McGuinn, it's a beautiful piece of music.  I have always taken the song at heart that it is about flying above the ground, and not drugs.  If it was about drugs, I feel that imagery would have cheapened the song.  I prefer the thought of someone reflecting on a flight, or about landing on the ground.  "Turn! Turn! Turn!" an older song by The Byrds, and adopted by Pete Seeger from the Book of Ecclesiastes, is lush and the perfect vocalization is a sound to admire.  My aesthetic is to crush that sort of beauty, and I preferred the sound of the rave-up of The Yardbirds.  To me, that was sound that I could identify with, due to my young angst at the time.  

For decades I have always had a problem with David Crosby.  I don't know him, but he still struck me as an annoying presence in the pop music world.  I never liked his clothing style or hair, nor do I like his voice that much.  The only thing I do like about him (artistically) is that he once made music with Les Baxter, during his exotica days.   Nor do I care for his solo recordings, or the songs he wrote for CSN&Y.   The songs he wrote for The Byrds were horrible.  Saying that I know there are at least three or four generations of music lovers who disagree with me.  I respect that and them as fans and music lovers.  Still, "Eight Miles High" is a work of perfection.  And for that reason alone, I hesitantly admire The Byrds for that single recording. 

Robert Wyatt - "Different Every Time Volume 1 - Ex Machina" 2 x Vinyl, Compilation, 2014 (Domino)

There are artists who one can follow, and it opens up to other artists and worlds.  It's similar to eating an artichoke, and as you strip each leaf, you can put different flavorings on it, which alters the taste significantly.  Then you reach the artichoke heart, and that itself is a different taste, but if you marinated it with a sauce, another element for the taste buds.  Robert Wyatt is like that as well.  "Different Every Time" is a two-volume set of double vinyl albums, where one is focusing on Wyatt as a contributor or collaborator, and the other is a selected greatest hits package, both curated by Wyatt.  Now, we focus on "Ex-Machina" which is his 'hits' package. 

 If you are a long time fan of Wyatt, there is never a perfect compilation.  Wyatt is not all over the map, but his landscape where he makes his music is physically small, but branches out in Left politics, jazz and pop standards, and his original compositions.  Some written by himself and other times with his wife and graphic artist, Alfreda Benge.   Wyatt made choices here that are superb, but there will always be that obvious song left out.  For me, it's his version of Neil Diamond's (The Monkees) "I'm a Believer."  On the other hand, we do have his version of "Yesterday Man," which is an exceptional composition by Chris Andrews, who wrote hit material for Sandie Shaw.   I do recommend a listener to track down Andrews version, which is very much a ska-pop arrangement.  Wyatt's version is soulful and a feeling of regret.  A beautiful melody and in the voice of Wyatt it becomes an emotional reflection on a lost romance.   Only Wyatt can sing a song with political overtures and make it sound like a lost soul reflecting on a grand disappointment.   His voice is unique, and there is nothing out there like a Wyatt vocal.

The album covers a great deal of Wyatt's solo work but also touches on his first two well-known bands, Soft Machine and Matching Mole.   Side one is taken up with Soft Machine's "Moon in June" which is 20 minutes long, and not a boring second is allowed.  The Wyatt humor takes place. Still, there is an English attitude of expressing oneself that's very restrained and in order.   Wyatt also made his incredible masterpiece album "Rock Bottom," but there is only one song to represent that record, and it's a live recording of the song "A Last Straw."   There is a focus at least material wise, on recordings made in the 80s, 90s and up to a few years ago.  More of exposure to Wyatt's brain working which is not nostalgic, but expressing his desires for current work.   If one has all the Wyatt recordings, including the 45 rpm single "Yesterday Man" (which to me if you don't have the song, it's worth buying the double-album set), then you don't need it. Still, if you are new in the Wyatt world, this is an excellent introduction and entrance way to a magnificent artist. 

Cream - "Wheels of Fire - In the Studio" Vinyl, LP, Album, UK, 1968 (Polydor)

I recently purchased this copy of Cream's "Wheels of Fire" because it's my dream version of the album.  No live album came with it, this edition is just the studio recordings.   I loathe Cream live.  On the other hand, I adore their adventuresome studio sides.  For one, the magnificent "White Room" which is one of the great songs to come out of 1968.   I'm a huge fan of Jack Bruce's voice and songwriting talents at this time of his career, and his work with lyricist Pete Brown, as well as the tension between him and Ginger Baker, made Cream a fascinating band.  The only weak link is Eric Clapton, who greatly contribute his guitar work in the mix, but I never felt he was up there with Ginger and Jack.  

Of the three main Cream albums, Clapton is almost an invisible presence on the studio side of the double package.  He didn't write any of the songs, and if memory serves me correctly, nor did he sing lead on any of these songs.  Guitar yes, but what comes to mind when listening to the record is Baker's drum patterns, which to me is always like the waves hitting the coastline, but there is a natural rhythm, but always with a twist.   He also contributes three songs as a songwriter, co-written with Mike Taylor, who was a Soho London Jazzier, who tragically drowned in the River Thames in 1969.  The rest is Jack Bruce/Pete Brown, with two covers. 

The original songs on "Wheels of Fire" are superb. Bruce and Brown couldn't go wrong with respect to their material.  They are almost chamber pieces with Bruce doing a lot of overdubs or with the assistance of the producer Felix Pappalardi, who added Violas, for instance on "White Room."  The surprising aspect is the strength of the Baker/Taylor material, which is a tragedy that they didn't produce more songs.  Cream only lasted for two years.  They were the first super-groups, to become even more super, with the formation of Blind Faith.  Still, I marvel at their sense of adventure, mostly due to the Bruce/Baker team-up. 

Charles Libove & Nina Lugovoy/Maurice Ravel - "Ravel For Violin (Two Sonatatas/Tziane/Berceuse)" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1980 (Finnadar)

I can't speak for everyone, but in my inner and exterior life, there are artists or composers that just show up on one's doorstep.   For instance, one thinks of Maurice Ravel first thing in the morning, and then his name pops up in a book that you are reading, and then the wife brings the composer up during dinner conversation.  Which is not a total surprise because my wife has been working on a project for the past two years involving with Ravel's music.  Still, on Record Store Day, instead of locating that Serge Gainsbourg soundtrack limited edition, I purchased Charles Libove and Nina Lugovoy's performing Ravel's work for violin and piano on vinyl and very much out-of-print.  

Speaking which, "Ravel for Violin" is a recording made in 1980 and in that time, these series of Ravel works were undiscovered.  One is an early piece written in 1897, and the others were composed in the early 1920s.   Ravel is very much a riff-master.  When I think of Ravel, I also think of Led Zeppelin's "Kasmir" because it's a riff, but with textures and layers to serve as a foundation for that 'riff.' 

On all the pieces on "Ravel for Violin" there is a strong Hungarian and Spanish melodies, but with touches of the Jazz Era of that time as well.  The violin leads, but the piano follows.  Libove (the violinist) and Lugovoy (the pianist) work as a duo, and one can tell the time spent together that they had a groove and the ability to convey are Ravel's music in its complexities as well as in its rhythmic possibilities.   A fun album full of Ravel's unique approach to composition, as well as aspects of making a fist and punching it in the air.