Robert Wyatt - "Different Every Time Volume 2: Benign Dictatorships" 2 x Vinyl, Compilation, 2014 (Domino)

Curated by Robert Wyatt, this is his second compilation of what he feels is his best work on the disc. The first volume was recordings under his own name, but here it is totally devoted to his collaborations with other artists.  Basically, he served on their recordings as a vocalist or even just a backup singer.  The thing is when Wyatt opens his mouth and he sings, he pretty much owns that tune.  It's not that he has the greatest voice on this planet, but as a vocalist, he's a unique presence, and in a manner, he reminds me of Chet Baker. Not that their voices are similar, but both are musicians who also sing.   

Of the seventeen songs here, I only know three songs.  They are Phil Manzanera's "Frontera," Nick Mason's "Siam," and one song under his name, but written by Elvis Costello and Clive Langer,  "Shipbuilding."  Beyond that, all the artists are basically unknown (except for Bjork, Hot Chip, and Epic Soundtracks - artists that I have heard of, but really don't know their music.)   Wyatt I think is moving out of his comfort zone, and that makes him an artist of importance.  He is an excellent collaborator.  I can't say I love every track, but all of them are at the very least interesting.  Special notice to his recording of John Cage's "Experiences No. 2" which was an early Obscure Records release.  

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. 

Jacno - "Jacno" Vinyl, LP, Reissue, 45 rpm, Mini-Album, 2011/1979 (Celluloid)

Bingo!  I've found the ultimate Techno-pop or Synth-pop music.   I discovered this album through YouTube as well as Apple Music, but finding the actual vinyl is either difficult or expensive.  By luck, I found the record, at a reasonable price and this is clearly a mini-album that needs to be fully reissued to the masses.  Approximately 20 minutes long, it will be the best 20 minutes in one's life.  

There are records that speak to me in a favorable manner, and then there are recordings that hit me like a gentle slap on the cheek, and Jacno's album is such a presence in my life.  I can't possibly fathom someone disliking this record.   Incredibly french whatever that means to the listener, but it conveys such a lightness, but with a tinge of sadness.  Serge Gainsbourg is always sad to me, on the other hand, someone like Jacques Dutronc is happy-go-lucky, until he reached his later years.  Jacno is somewhere between the two artists, and his solo and recordings with Ellie Medeiros (Ms. Brian De Palma) as well as with his early new-wave/punk band Stinky Toys, was a journey through French pop music culture.  

Part of the charm of these recordings is that it's very low-fi in its approach and sound.  One can picture Jacno smoking away ( he did die from cancer) and be working on these tracks by himself.  Most of the record is instrumental, with Ellie singing vocals on one song "Anne Cherchait L' Amour."  It's interesting to note that this mini-album came out at the end of an era (1979) and there is an innocence or the sense of loss.  Still, "Jacno" is a masterpiece. 

Brigitte Bardot - "Brigitte Bardot Show" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2009/1968 (Disc'AZ)

I'm 63 years old and I don't think, beside my mother, has there been such a prominent female presence in my life than Brigitte Bardot.  The fact that I'm not even French, but an American, yet still, to be under the shadow of Bardot is extraordinary.   Bardot is also the same age as my mom, and I often think of that generation of females, and what they had to put up with, with respect to sexism, politics, and pop culture.  And of course, Bardot is a sex kitten, but the truth is she's more like a lion than a little kitty. 

Bardot is also my first real memory of going to see a movie in a theater.   My dad dragged me along with him to see "And God Created Woman" by Roger Vadim, her husband at the time.  So literally seeing Bardot in that film was my first image of a female, that struck me not exactly sexual, but the feeling of the difference between the male and the female.   I also remember my dad having a book of images of Bardot from the 1950s.  So, she was very much part of my childhood, and the memory of that never leaves my consciousness.   Artistically  I knew very little of her until my fascination with Serge Gainsbourg started around the 1990s.  It was at that point that I discovered her music.

To be honest, compared to the other French singers, Bardot's work in music left a very little impression on me, but a handful of her recordings are essential to the French aesthetic.   France Gall and Françoise Hardy were and are greater music forces, but Bardot is beyond reasoning.  If I have to choose one album of Bardot's it would be the soundtrack to her French TV special that she made in 1968.  It's essential Bardot, but also an important marking of 1960s French pop culture.  Gainsbourg's great "Contact" and "Harley Davidson" is tailor-made for Bardot's icy punk attitude, and the seductive "Mister Sun" and the garage rock of Le Diable est Anglais is the ultimate and forceful presence of Bardot on vinyl.  

There are many Bardot albums or compilations, but the essence of her genius (and she is one, by hook or crook) is the "Brigitte Bardot Show."   One can see her being a puppet and being used by Vadim, Gainsbourg, and others, but I suspect that her creative will was or is quite enforceable.  The fact in her old age she has joined the Right is really a passage of an exceptional figure in not only French show-biz but 20th century.  She is the 20th Century, in identity and culture.  Whatever that's a good or bad thing will be debated on way after I leave this physical world. 

Suede - "Coming Up" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2014/1996 (Demon Records)

For two decades I had a mental block regarding the British band Suede.   I liked bits and pieces of their songs, but for some odd reason, I had a problem with their image.  All of it seemed borrowed from better sources.  Musically it had traces of Bowie/Bolan glam, but with Roxy Music imagery, due that they used the same visual people as Ferry & company, and when one is approached by this post-modern aspect of Suede, is it important?   On the plus side, I do like Brett Anderson's mannerist vocals as well as Bernard Butler's (and of course Richard Oakes') guitar sound.  Over time, I always found a song here and there, for instance, "Trash."   Again, when I hear that title I immediately think of the New York Dolls' "Trash," which of course within a few years later, Roxy Music came out with their song "Trash."  It's a good title, but surely Suede could have come up with a more original title?  Then again, I don't think Suede is really about originality.   That is actually their charm.

Suede's "Trash" is a fantastic chorus.  As I sit here writing this sentence, I want to get a lighter and wave it above my head.   It's a manifesto set to a melody, and that is something that Suede can do very well.  "Filmstar" is the ultimate glam beat, with again a glorious chorus.  In fact, their third album (and first with guitarist Oakes, as co-songwriter as well) is extremely catchy.  It took me 20 years, but I now appreciate Suede.   Anderson struck me as a writer focusing on the darker aspect of British living, and a guy who read too much JG Ballard, but that's me just being overly critical.  He's actually a very good observer type of lyricist.  An incredibly handsome man, with a good-looking band behind him, Suede is in its essence, a classic pop band that looks behind them as the past's projection, but also re-wiring the Bowie/T-Rex catalog for perhaps their generation.  

Blur and Pulp are the superior bands as album makers and songwriters, still, Suede has a strong presence between those two bands.  Both Pulp/Blur flirt with electronica and glam, but Suede brings a sense of glamour to the over-all British package.    It's like making a map and making sure all the routes are in place, and Suede very much needs to be on that map.  I'm not sure if they are a great band, but their love of the decadent imagery of the glam era, but done in their own fashion, is an important aesthetic.  There is a tad touch of The Smiths, with respect to their attention to the seedy-eyed imagery of the 1970s, but filtered through the 1990s Soho or East London world.  I'm very much interested in reading Anderson's memoir, that just came out in the U.K.  I suspect that it's a good read.  So now, Suede didn't change, but I changed.  I'm happy to be in their world. 

Philip Glass - "Songs From Liquid Days" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1986 (CBS)

There is the Philip Glass the opera composer and film track composer, but there is also Philip the songwriter.  "Songs From Liquid Days" is an album made in 1986, at the height of his fame/talents with respect to doing the perfection that is the "Mishima" soundtrack score.  Glass approached Paul Simon, David Byrne, Suzanne Vega, and Laurie Anderson to write lyrics to his set of music that are songs that stand by themselves and not part of an opera or any other project.  So essentially this is his first 'pop' album. 

"Songs From Liquid Days" is stamped inside my memory banks, and all I have to do is look at the song list that's on this album, and I immediately can hear it just by looking at the text.  Six long songs that are at times danceable,  but often hauntingly beautiful.  Glass is a great melodist, and the songs here are majestic, which is a great source of inspiration as the day turns into dark.  

It is also very New York City 1986, due that the lyricists were at their height of songwriting powers or reputation.  "Changing Opinion" is a fantastic Paul Simon lyric that is more of his observational works where he comments on the moments of the day.   I think in his own fashion, was trying to be a minimalist!   Laurie Anderson is also an observational writer, and this is one theme that seems to be running through all the songs.  The songs not surprisingly have a Broadway aesthetic.   Still, it's Glass' melodies that are the shining stars.  

Nick Mason - "Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1981 (Columbia)

Actuality, there are only two cool people in Pink Floyd.  Syd Barrett of course, and the other guy, who was their drummer, Nick Mason.  He's cool because he produced classic Robert Wyatt albums as well as The Damned's second album.   He's the kink in the well-oiled Pink Floyd machine.   Nothing against Roger Waters and Dave Gilmour.  Both good guys, but Mason I felt, investigated areas outside of the Pink Floyd world.  When you hear a Waters or Gilmour solo album, you pretty know what you're getting. On the other hand, what in the hell is a Nick Mason solo album? 

"Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports" is not really a solo album by Mason.  He co-produced, co-engineered, played the drums and I have to imagine he picked up the recording cost bill, but in its essence, it's an album by Jazz composer and pianist Carla Bley.  I'm not that familiar with Bley's music, except that her band is very much a big or enlarged jazz band. The one album I do know of is her work with Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra album which is excellent.  Haden's work has a strong left political context, but here, Bley's lyrics tend to be more on the side of absurdity, which serves the over-all humor of Nick Mason's album.  

The key reason why I bought this album is all due to Robert Wyatt.  He is the lead singer on this disc, and anything that has his magnificent voice is worth having.  Saying that, this is not really a Wyatt album, even though he has done many covers in his solo career, this still belongs to Bley.   If pushed to the corner and my back against the wall I would describe the music as big band jazz arrangements but with pop music overtures.   This is work that is very tightly arranged, and Wyatt, Mason and other great musicians that are in Bley's world, fits in like a great puzzle.   Basically, Mason lent his name and reputation to this project for Carla Bley.  Which again, makes him the coolest member of Pink Floyd. 

One also must give credit to Michael Mantler, who has done music with Bley for years, and her husband, the bassist Steve Swallow.  Dynamic horn section consisting of Gary Windo, Gary Valente, Howard Johnson and others.  Sharp guitar work by the fantastic Chris Spedding.   It's literally impossible for this group of musicians to make bad music together.  

Manfred Mann - "The Very Best of Manfred Mann 1963-1966" Vinyl, LP, Compilation, 1984 (Music For Pleasure/EMI)

As of now, one of the most underrated bands of the British Invasion is Manfred Mann.  They had hits in the United States (Do-Wah-Diddy-Diddy) but made a more significant presence in the U.K. and Europe during the years 1963 to 1966.  The original line-up of Manfred Mann was great, due to certain aspects of the band.  For one, the musicianship is top-notch, and besides being blues-based, they also had a strong jazz orientation to Manfred Mann's (the individual) skills with the keyboard, specifically the organ. Mike Hugg, their drummer, is very jazz orientated in his playing, and there is a lightness in this touch on the percussion instruments that make their sound unique at the time.  The other source of their greatness is their frontman and vocalist Paul Jones.  He's exceptional.  Jones could sing the blues (in a British manner) but also a superb pop ballad vocalist as well as a good songwriter.  The fact for a brief second he was the lead singer of The Rolling Stones, is no joke.  Still, the strength of all musicians is that they are schooled in the roots of modern blues and jazz, but was a pop band as well. 

If one takes the long approach, there are three chapters in the Manfred Mann's (the band) narrative.  The Paul Jones era then came a different singer and writer Mike D'Abo (who sort of looked like Paul Jones, but more pop orientated), and then Manfred Mann Chapter 3, which turned into Manfred Mann's Earth Band.  All bands including Mike Hugg, their drummer, and a songwriter as well. 

This album focuses on the Paul Jones era, and there are many delights on this greatest hits collection.  Of course, the fantastic "Do-Wah-Diddy-Diddy" which is so thrilling and happy sounding, that its simplicity is almost zen-like happiness wrapped in a song. "Pretty Flamingo" is the other classic pop single by the Manns, and that I believe features the talents of Jack Bruce on bass.  The other element that is part of the puzzle of this band is Mann's instrumentals, which their very first single "Why Should We Not" is very noir sounding, and there is that Manfred Mann's world perhaps in Soho London.  I can easily imagine Francis Bacon hearing this song on some jukebox in a Soho bar sometime in the early 1960s.   

Manfred Mann did a lot of covers, but one thing that they had a strong focus on is Bob Dylan. I think Manfred Mann shared the same song publisher, so he was able to hear Dylan demos or music sheets before anyone else, and therefore I think they were one of the great interpreters of Dylan's music at the time.  Paul Jones to me was the perfect singer for Dylan's early material.   And if not mistaken, Dylan was a fan of the band.  Nevertheless, this is a super enjoyable collection. 

Glenn Gould - "Glenn Gould Plays His Own Transcriptions of Wagner Orchestral Showpieces" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1973 (Columbia Masterworks)

Glenn Gould playing Richard Wagner is a strange and even an exotic cocktail.   Wagner is very much the heavy metal of the 19th-century composers, and one who doesn't shy from over-kill or over-reaching the borders of opera, stage, and ego.   Gould is a musician who I often think of as a magician who can find the most profound nuances in a composer's work.   Gould took the huge orchestration of Wagner's music and re-arranged the works for solo piano.  Here, Gould is like a surgeon dissecting a piece of music in a laboratory of his own design. 

I love Wagner for his melodies and extreme romanticism, but hate everything else that goes with his image/work - racism being one thing that bugs me.  Uri Caine is the other musician that stripped away Wagner from his culture, and fine-tuned his melodies as a cafe band.   But Gould was there first with his down-to-earth ability to strip Wagner as well, of all of his jewels and ambition, and makes a point that the composer was a great melodist. 

When I hear Gould's Wagner album, I'm not really hearing the composer, but the chef that's making the ultimate dish from the genius pianist.  Like Thelonious Monk who plays around the melody, or sketches as if he's using a fine ink brush, Gould works in a similar method in tracing out the Wagner melodies into a new work. 

Gould's version of Wagner is not to replace the epic orchestrations, but just add a footnote or an endnote to work that is often not torn apart in such a fashion, like Gould and Caine's playful approach to Wagner.   One of my favorite classical albums, that for me, is a totally new entrance into Wagner's music.