The Modern Lovers - "The Modern Lovers Vinyl, Album, Reissue, 2019/1976 (Music on Vinyl)

The first time I heard the words "Modern Lovers" was in Interview magazine, and there was an interview with Jonathan Richman, the lead lover in this band. It was before I heard any music by them, and they were a band that mostly played in the Boston/NYC area. I was equally intrigued and amazed about Richman's stance on rock n' roll as a highly poetic/romantic platform but through his unique eyes. Not precisely innocence, but one who ruled out anything negative by taking ugly and making it beautiful. If rock n' roll is deformed in the sense of its decadence, then Jonathan only sees enlightenment that is borderline spiritual. Still, there are emotional feelings in every song. The way he portrays "Pablo Picasso" as a stud-in-the-make, in it's Velvet Underground minimalism. The juxtaposition of Picasso's image as an artist, human being, and Richman is treating him like a Velvet's subject matter. His observation strength is through, and his guitar playing is glued to the Lou Reed/Sterling Morrison aesthetic. If Reed is cynical, Richman is hopefully in the most profound manner. "Roadrunner," of course, is the ultimate car and get on the highway song.  An essential album because it's a unique voice, which artists like Morrissey and others used as a springboard for their angst and work. John Cale's production is never fussy, just reporting the fact.  With Jarry Harrison (Talking Heads), David Robinson (The Cars), and Ernie Brooks supply the foundation for Jonathan's flight into the genius level. 

Gérard Manset - "Rien À Raconter" Vinyl, LP, Album, France, 1976 (EMI)

There is a thrill of discovering an artist that no one in the English language talks or knows about, and I suspect that Gérard Manset is such a songwriter/arranger/singer.   I can find very little information on Manset in English, and according to Discogs, he has at least 23 albums under his name.  From 1968 to this year, 2018.  I have heard his music I think through a drunk period on the Internet, and going through YouTube for music discoveries.   In my collection, I have two albums by Manset, including "Rein À Raconter" (Nothing to Tell).  

Generally speaking, and what I have heard, Manset's songs are all in French (duh!) and feature massive orchestrations, but usually with a loud electric guitar in the mix.  There's nothing pastoral about his sound, both his voice and instrumentation is forceful and not knowing what the songs are about, makes me (or the listener) get an emotional reaction.  I sense anger, and a typical album by him is at the very least eight songs.   So, there's room for the music to build up to tension or a release of some sort. In other words, his music is sexy.  

What impressed me the most is his melody writing, but also his arrangements which is masterful, and more intuned to classical than somewhat a 'wall of sound.'   Manset shares an intensity with Jack Nitzsche, but he doesn't work on a big canvas like Nitzsche.  The music or album sounds like a man alone dealing with a demon or two.  Manset does the production as well as the writing and arrangements, so he's very much a solo artist in that sense.   The sounds that stand out is his vocal delivery which reminds me a bit of Jacques Brel in its intensity, and the sound of his electric guitar against the grain of the lush strings.   A remarkable artist, who I gather is popular in France, due that his releases are on large record labels, and for sure needs to get more attention from the English speaking world.  

Lewis Furey - "The Humours Of" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1976 (A&M)

Lewis Furey is one of those incredibly talented individuals that oddly enough fell through the cracks of acknowledgment and fame.  Although I believe he's known in France, where he lives, and made recordings in Paris, as well as directing and writing films.   "The Humours Of" is Furey's second album for A&M.  His first album "Lewis Furey" sounds like an off-Broadway collection of songs attached to a small theatre somewhere in the Village.   This album is not cinematic, but more of an expansive Broadway production, with an expensive production by Roy Thomas Baker. 

The early to mid-70s belong to Bowie, Eno, Roxy Music, and Lou/John Cale solo albums.  Furey quickly falls into the world of the Velvets, but only if Lou/Cale were writing songs for a huge Broadway show.   I bring these other artists up because Furey dwells into the urban landscape of decadence or street life.   His first two albums are interesting bookends at the time.  Just due that one had an intimate (the first album) approach, and the second is to wow the listener over.  "Rubber Gun Show" is a great opening song and leads to a very sexualized existence throughout the album.  And there is even a fantastic run-on groove on the end of side two.  The record will never end. 

Sparks - "Big Beat" CD, Album, 1994/1976 (Island Masters)

A really good album that could have been great, if say, someone like Mick Ronson produced "Big Beat."   It's an unusual (well, they all are in a sense) Sparks album because it's very 'rawk' with a great pinch of glam in its mixture.   The driving force of the sound is Russell's vocals, the drums, and snarly guitar.  The album, recorded in 1976, has one eye looking at that time, the current CBGB's 'punk' aesthetic, and yet, still keeping the songwriting to that perfect pitch, which is consistently brilliant and unique. 

"Big Beat" as mentioned, I think Mick Ronson was planning to take over the production or at the very least be part of the band at the time.  Instead, the album is produced by Rupert Holmes with assistance from Jeffrey Lesser.  If it was another Sparks project, I could see Holmes being involved, because of his work, although Holmes has strong middle-of-the-road songs, lyrically there is something else going on in his world.  Holmes reminds me of 10cc, in that the humor can go over a lot of listeners' heads and ears, due to the pop perfection of the production/sound.   What doesn't fit with the Holmes aesthetic, is that this album is very much of a rock album, with the genius songwriting/lyrics of Ron Mael.    Ronson, in theory, can give the songs on this album a great meeting ground between glam and rock 'n roll.   Holmes I think is more comfortable in the AM radio world of easy pop. 

Beyond the weak production, this is a wonderful collection of songs, that are satirical, witty, and comes off to me as a Voltaire/Johnathan Swift sensibility in political/social humor.   One can be offended by some of the songs here, for instance, "Throw Her Away (And Get A New One)," but again it's a work of satire, and commenting on a landscape that's pretty disgusting.  On this CD release, there are two fantastic bonus cuts:  "Tearing the Place Apart" and "Gone With The Wind." It's worth to find this specific CD for those two songs.   

Lewis Furey - "The Humours of :" CD, Album, Reissue, Japan, 1976/1990 (A&M)

This French Canadian (now living in Paris) is an amazing talent and songwriter.  I had the vinyl back in 1976 but lost it through the ages.  This is his second album and although the material is basically the same, the production by Roy Thomas Baker is huge.  Huge as in over-production, and treating the songs here as Broadway tunes.  The first album by Lewis Furey is quieter, yet theatrical, but in an off-Broadway manner or in a small theater.   

Furey reminds me a bit of John Cale's solo recordings with a mixture of early Lou Reed.  Furey's songs tend to have street life tattooed on his aesthetic, but with a Bertolt Brecht distance and one gets the feeling he's writing a narrative than saying something out of his personal life.  It's interesting that I found the first and second album in Tokyo in the 1990s  At the time it seems that A&M released all their 1970s titles into the CD format for the first time.  It was like going to Tower Records in the 70s.  

I love Furey's music.  Although I do have a problem with the production, it still is a fantastic album.   The way "Cop's Ballet" emerges into   "Rubber Gun Show" is a great opening for an album/CD.  The songs are all catchy, and again, I suspect Furey is writing a musical, although I don't feel there is a running narration, it still feels like a Broadway or big budget show.   CD is very difficult to find, but the vinyl comes up once in every little while.  Get it. 

Marcel Duchamp - "The Entire Musical Work of Marcel Duchamp" Vinyl, LP, UK (Song Cycle Records)

To call Marcel Duchamp the most important or greatest artist of the 20th century seems too small of a credit.  Perhaps one of the great philosophers?  Nevertheless, his stamp on culture and thinking is a remarkable aspect of Duchamp's genius.  For sure, he thought conceptually, where work is important as a visual, but also the thinking of such artwork.  Duchamp approached music the way he approached his art - he thought it out like it was a game.  Everyone knows that chess was just as important (if not more than) as art.  The music he "wrote" are based on the individual who follows his score.  Of course, Duchamp was Fluxus before there was Fluxus.  But those artists basically took the Duchamp method and used it for their own works.  And that's a good thing that happened!

Side one is (hold on to your breath) "LA MARIEE MISE A NU PAR SES ELIBATAIRES, MEME. ERRATUM MUSICAL" (1913) is 25 minutes long and very ambient.  To me, it's a dialogue between the alto flute, trombone, celeste, and glockenspiel.  The intensity of the piece is each instrument either acknowledges the other one, or it sounds like a gentle chase among them.  A chase where the results don't happen in an obvious way.  There is another version of this music piece that is done by a player piano realized by Duchamp.  Not surprisingly the work reminds me of Erik Satie's "Vexations." The Satie piece is made for the background of a room, literally furniture music, but Duchamp's piece is more urgent and demanding.  

"Erratum Musical" (1913) is a vocal piece where each note is picked out of a hat.  The voices are Duchamp and his two sisters. Not on this record mind you, but in the original conception.  "Musical Sculpture" is mysterious.  The liner notes state that this is an "undated, unspecified piece." The sounds here are a toy music box, a horn, and a hum, but that maybe caused by my stereo system.  It's a sweet ending to a very wonderful album. 

The music on this album is played by Petr Kotik and S.E.M. Ensemble in 1976.  Limited edition of 500 copies.  

John Cage - "Cheap Imitation" (Cramps Records/nova musicha n. 17) Vinyl LP, Reissue

"Cheap Imitation" is a very beautiful listening experience, but it also has a witty or amusing side story attached to the work.  It's a solo piano piece composed, and here on this recording, played by John Cage.  It's based on Erik Satie's "Socrate."  Cage arranged a piano version of Satie's symphonic drama, for Merce Cunningham's dance company.   Satie's publisher refused permission for Cage and Cunningham to use the music, so Cage composed music that draws on Satie's "Socrate," and in a sense it's a knock-off.   Nevertheless, hearing the Cage music, one is immediately reminded of Satie's piano music.  Cage made use of I Ching to compose "Cheap Imitation" yet like Satie's work there is both something haunting and ambient at the same time.  Compared to Cage's other works, this one is very much a composed piece of music for piano.    It's rare to hear Cage on the piano, due to how his music changed in the coming years, but also he suffered from arthritis, and that made it more difficult for him to play the piano. 

The album, according to the liner notes, was recorded on a rainy day on March 7, 1976, in Oakland.  It does have that contemplative effect while listening.  On the other hand, it also shows Cage's obsession and interest in Erik Satie's music.  "Cheap Imitation" is a work of originality but very much a loving tribute to the source: Erik Satie.