Bob Dylan - "Blood on the Tracks" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1975 (Columbia)

The great thing about Bob Dylan is that it's almost impossible to write or discuss him without losing the iconic stance he has on pop culture.  From day one it seems Dylan was made to be great, especially when he changed his name from Zimmerman to Dylan.  In my world, Dylan is very much the pop entertainer and more in tune to someone like David Bowie than the 1960s Folk Music scene. He used the landscape, like Bowie using whatever he read or saw, but the truth is, both characters made themselves up to be what they are - not only great songwriters but a theatrical presentation as well. 

"Blood on the Tracks" is often seen as a personal work by Dylan.  Perhaps due to his divorce or the after-effects of the separation that took place at the time of the recordings.  One can fish into the words of these songs for a clue, but I suspect that Dylan doesn't think in that manner.  A bad incident or day for him is a springboard of imagination and various narrations, and at the end of the day, Dylan wants to tell a tale that will be enjoyed, and therefore he's more of a music hall performer than a raw rock n' roll soul.  Dylan is not a journalist, but more of a short story writer, with an incredible amount of details in his narratives.  "Blood on the Tracks" as an album, can probably be made into a film, or a narrative novel. 

Oddly enough, it was only a week ago that I heard this album as a whole piece.  Before that, it is just what I heard on the radio, and there are favorite songs here: "Tangled Up in Blue," Simple Twist of Fate," and of course, "Idiot Wind." Listening to side one of "Blood on the Tracks" is similar to listening to a greatest hits album.  It's interesting to hear this work as an album, instead of separate songs.  All stand by themselves, but the mood that runs through the collection is consistent, and there is no 'loose' cannon here, it all fits like a well-designed puzzle. 

"Idiot Wind" stands out because it is so angry, or I should say the character in the song is angry, yet, the humor is very tongue-in-cheek.  One can think it's a song from a psycho killer.   On the other hand, it may be my favorite Dylan vocal.  The way Dylan sings he reminds me of Lotte Lenya, in a very Bertolt Brecht method of separating the listener from the emotion, and one hears the intelligence behind the words. The character is angry, but the song itself is not furious.  There is a distance between the character in the song and what he's singing about.  His technique makes the words sting, because of its setting.  Dylan looks at his songs like a scientist looking at an object in a test tube.  There is a strong sense of objectivity, and for the listener, it's a subjective experience, as well as presuming that the character in the song is causally commenting on the 'facts.'

A very melodic record, and oddly enough it reminds me of the softer material on the  Rolling Stones' "Aftermath."  Only in texture, not in the style of songwriting, but one could imagine the Stones doing a version of "Idiot Wind."  There's real beauty between Dylan's voice and the strumming of the guitar, and the minimalist organ.   It's beautifully recorded by engineer veteran Phil Ramone, which brings to mind Sinatra's great ballad albums he made for Capitol Records in the 1950s.   Dylan takes from the past, and he manages to twist it in the fashion of a Teddy Boy using Edwardian design to say something new.   A great album. 

Philip Glass - "Solo Music" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1975 (Shandar)

There are two different periods in Philip Glass's work or recordings.  The early works were truly minimal, and the later operas, orchestrations, are very much driven by melody.  Both periods have driven rhythms, but there is something special about the early works that I like a lot.  There is a zen quality to the work, that I don't want to say puts me in a spiritual place, but more aware of my mind going to other worlds.  Steve Reich hits me differently, because I'm aware of a system taking place, but Glass strikes me as being more emotional and riff-driven in that making a fist and hitting the air stance. 

"Contrary Motion" on side one is just Glass and his electric organ.  It's not a peaceful existence, but it is one that makes me sit down and listen to the work.  I never want to read the liner notes of a Glass album while I'm playing the record, on the other hand, I tend to read Reich's album notes, because of the structure of that piece being put together.   Reich is conceptual that focuses on the practice as well as the sound and Glass I think is just music.   Both do have a strong visual sensibility, but looking at the back cover of "Solo Music" it does truly look like a Brice Marden work of art.  A great album. 

John Cale - "Helen of Troy" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2015/1975 (Wax Cathedral)

My favorite John Cale album from the Island Records era.  What I find appealing about his work, is more of his arrangement skills than his compositions.   For instance, I think Lou Reed is a better songwriter than Cale, but it's the talent of Cale to bring out the best in Lou Reed's songs.  That's the beauty of the early Velvet Underground recordings.  The same goes for his work with Tony Conrad as well.   This is not saying that Cale does not come up with wonderful songs, but for me, it's the way he puts the music together that I find his greatness.  

"Helen of Troy" is the third of the three Cale solo albums that were released on Island records, and it's the one where I feel he's working on a huge canvas for the first time on that label.  "Helen of Troy" is very a Cale sampler, and I mean that in a very good way.  You have the orchestrational Cale ("I Keep A Close Watch") and the gritty/electro "Engine" and the title song, but again, it is how the layers all the textures together that only a superb arranger can accomplish.  His version of The Modern Lovers (he produced their first and only album) of "Pablo Picasso" is pretty great.  That, and Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me To Do" are the perfect bar band sound that only can be placed in a saloon run by David Lynch.   

Cale is an artist of great taste and skill. The fact that he produced The Stooges, Nico, Squeeze, Patti Smith and The Modern Lovers shows that he was either in the right place at the right time, but more likely he had the brilliant touch to know what's important.  A very sophisticated taste, and "Helen of Troy" is nothing but, an album of great style, grace, anger, and brilliant arrangements.  "My Maria" is a perfect example of all of his skills placed in one song.  Here on this album, you have the grit to latter-day Beach Boys harmonies.  This is the best!

Morrissey - "Southpaw Grammar" CD, Album, 1995 (Reprise Records)

The opening 10-minute track "The Teachers Are Afraid of the Pupils" is Morrissey's (at least music-wise) a tribute to Roxy Music's great "In Every Dream Home a Heartache."  It builds similarly, and even the orchestration of all the instruments sound familiar.  This also clearly states that "Southpaw Grammar" is a much different album by Morrissey than his other solo works at the time. I like it because it's a big introduction and very much of a different type of work from Morrissey.  On the other hand, I think the song could have been edited down by a minute or so less.   But things are back to Morrissey-land by the next track "Reader Meet Author," about the delicate relationship between one who confronts a work of art, and how it can or can't add something to one's life. "Boy Racer" is the classic Morrissey portrait but done through the singer's eyes, as an object of desire and wonder.

"The Operation" starts off with a very long drum solo, which seems to be the most un-Morrissey like presence ever on an album.   The solo is cool; it reminds me of Gene Krupa.  It's a song of sadness, which is a put-down, but on the other hand, it may be a person who has naturally changed and causing stress on the community around the subject matter.   Morrissey is a very tricky writer to me, because one, you can never be sure if he is the narrator, or he's going through another character.  The intimate manner of his singing expresses a feeling that you're getting the singer's character, and there's truth in that, but at the same time it may be a technique of his as a writer to get into someone else's head.

"Dagenham Dave" is a song that I like very much, and I can see it as a weakness.  Compared to "Reader Meet Author" it sounds like a wonderful b-side of a single. It's a song about a figure who has a swagger, a ladies man, which is interesting coming from Morrissey's perspective.  It's Morrissey's appreciation for a ruffian that again, he puts up on a statue stand, to admire greatly.

"Do Your Best and Don't Worry" is regarding a fellow who looks high to the skies, but tends to fail. Morrissey's way of tribute to those who fall greatly due to their high inspirations.  "Best Friend on the Payroll" is his version of Joseph Losey/Harold Pinter's "The Servant."   Not a very good song.  The idea is there, but it's not fully realized.  "Southpaw" is another 10-minute song, and again, it's the narrator that is fascinating due to his commentary on someone else's life.   Morrissey to me is not about truth or reporting, but always a reflection of his personality or character.  Never a good journalist, but an artist whose thoughts are still in his head and his ability to express doubts about the person he's singing about, but alas, it may be more of his concerns for his ability to connect with this person.

The unusual "Southpaw Grammar" is the textures put into the songs.  As mentioned, there are references to Roxy Music's "For Your Pleasure" album.  There are Phil Manzanera moments and in parts, sounds very Roxy like especially when the song is stretched out.  Steve Lillywhite, the producer, is very much part of the package.  I think he was encouraged to add textures here and there, and it works well.  It's interesting that years later Morrissey releases another version of "Southpaw Grammar."   Perhaps taking advantage of the CD technology of adding songs, but he didn't only do that, but he also re-arrange the song order as well.   I heard both, and I prefer the original edition of "Southpaw Grammar."  By no means is it one of Morrissey better releases, but an interesting route to a side-street musically speaking.

George Crumb - "Music For A Summer Evening (Makrokosmos III)" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1975 (Nonesuch)

I know his name well, but not his music whatsoever till I purchased this piece of vinyl of George Crumb's "Music For A Summer Evening."   I was intrigued by reading that the music on this album consists of two amplified pianos and percussion.  How can that possibly be a bad thing?  

The music here is a combination of great peace, and then dramatic mood change with the percussion and the sound from the two pianos.   There are also vocals in the mix as well.  That reminds me of Japanese Kabuki music, and that is another added twist to this work that's very American, yet looks beyond its border.  At parts, when the pianos are playing a melody, it sounds like something from the 18th-century European court music.  It's only traces of the melody here and there that comes through the textures, especially in "Myth" on side two.  

The percussion on this piece is a lot of instruments: vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, tubular bells, bell tree, claves, maracas, sleigh bells, wood blocks and other such instruments. "Music For a Summer Evening" is a solid piece of mood, which I'm fond of, or at the very least a visitor in those woods. 

Ian Hunter - "Ian Hunter" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1975 (CBS)

The great team that should have done more music:  Ian Hunter with Mick Ronson.  On the other hand, this is my favorite Mott the Hoople without the Hoople.  I think "Ian Hunter" is Ian Hunter's best album.   The first side of the album is like a mini-opera.  I don't believe there is a narrative here, but the way the songs flow on side one is remarkable. "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" is just classic almost minimal glam rock that goes for the throat.  Mick Ronson's arrangements are never show-off practices but always serves the song.  That's the beauty and talent of Ronson.  His work with David Bowie is very known, but whenever he adds his presence on other recordings, for instance, Lou Reed's "Transformer," it is always fantastic, and he doesn't upstage the star.   In other words, the perfect Captain to the General (Ian Hunter, Bowie, Lou Reed, etc.look at the song in an objective manner).

Ian Hunter is a great meat and potato songwriter.  There is nothing fancy, but what makes him interesting is that he rocks hard, but has a strong pop mentality.  "I Get So Excited" is very much the framework of a classic Ian song.  The chorus is almost ABBA like, but within a rock n' roll frame.  Ronson, I suspect looks at the material like a surgeon or architect.  He knows how to get the parts to work together.  Ronson can write good songs, but his strength is to objectively look at the song.   

Side two of the album is not as dynamic as the first - and it's interesting that on the back cover, they list the sides as Part one and Part two.  Not side one or side two.  And the album feels that way in a sense.  Very much a work that fits into the medium of the vinyl record.  Side one ends with "Boy" which is over 8 minutes long, and it's a tour de force for Hunter's writing (with Mick), but also Ronson's brilliant orchestration.   A song one can presume is about Bowie, but...  

LEWIS FUREY - "Lewis Furey" (A&M Records) Vinyl, 1975

I picked up on this album when shopping at Moby Disc on Ventura Blvd, and it stood out in the cut-out bin.  I was kind of surprised to see something worthwhile in that section of the store - although, now we have sort of the romantic memory of finding gems for 99 cents to $3 in this section, mostly it was a horrible drudge.  Nevertheless, Lewis Furey's eyes spoke to me.  When I flipped over to see the back cover, I was impressed that there was a song on it called "Hustler's Tango."

I sense a glam Velvet Underground vibe, so what the hell, worth the $1.99 or so.  When I got home and played the album, that very instant, it became one of my all-time favorite albums.  The cover and the song title didn't lie.   Here was a guy who has the John Cale genius for arrangements, and seemed to have one foot in the music of the theater world, and the other is .... kind of gay-oriented pop, but with dark overtures to the night world.  There's accordion, piano, banjo - which gives it Brecht/Weil orientation, yet very American sounding.  Which is strange from a musician/songwriter from Quebec Canada, and now lives in France.

The album is co-produced and arranged by John Lissauer who also served the same duties on Leonard Cohen's "New Skin for the Old Ceremony" and "Various Positions" as well as the classic Cohen song "Hallelujah."   There is a strong connection between Furey and Cohen -not only sound wise, but both write songs that are very poetic, yet direct.   For those who love albums or artists who are beautifully orchestrated and arranged, will love this album.  Why, Lewis Furey fell between the cracks here in the U.S. (he's known in France, but also in Japan) is beyond me.  This album needs to be re-released.  Beautiful melodies, stark lyrics, street wise, and witty.

Many years later, after losing most of my vinyl collection due to past economic situations, I was deeply surprised to see his first two albums on CD, displayed in a music store in Tokyo.  Truly one of my happiest moments when I discovered the album again, and just waiting for my hands.   You must Locate, and buy it!