Jeff Beck - "Tallyman" b/w "Rock My Plimsoul" 45prm single, yellow vinyl, 1967/2015 (Epic/Sundazed)

Jeff Beck always appealed to me due to his clothes sense, physical looks, and of course, his guitar playing.  There is something no-nonsense concerning his approach to music-making.  I admire that and being a fan of The Yardbirds, I feel a devotion to his time in that band.  Still, in 1968, when I purchased his album "Truth" I was disappointed in its conservative approach to rock.  I loved the craziness and wildness of The Yardbirds singles and their manic quality.  Beck, on his own, was a tad tasteful.   He had a great band, with such talent as Rod Stewart, Ron Wood as the bassist, and Mick Weller as a drummer - plus the presence of the great Nicky Hopkins.  Still, there was something missing in the mix, and I think that was due that Beck is not a songwriter.  Also, he's not a great arranger like Jimmy Page, who by the way, I don't think he's a songwriter as well.  But he knows a great tune if you get my drift. 

"Tally Man" is an interesting record/song by Beck. Written by the great Graham Gouldman, who wrote hits for The Yardbirds as well as Herman's Hermits, and produced by Mickie Most.  I believe it's Beck on lead vocals, and it's a wonderful pop song done in that Beck manner to make it heavy.  A one-off single before the album, or before he got the band together.  

Brian Eno - "My Squelchy Life" 2 x Vinyl, Limited Edition, Album, 2015 (Opal Records)

Keeping up with Brian Eno stopped around "Discreet Music" and "Before and After Science."  At the time I figured I got all the Eno I need.   And when he went on the route to U2 and Coldplay, I pretty much played his older recordings as a memory of his greatness.   And over the years, after those two solo albums, I have found traces of his music that I like a lot, but not essential to my budget or grand interest.  Recently I re-discovered Eno through his recent album "The Ship."  That album seemed to be the brother or sister to Gavin Bryars' fantastic "Sinking of the Titanic" album, which was released through Eno's label at the time, Obscure Records.  "My Squelchy Life" was supposed to be released in the early 1990s, but he pulled the album before its official release date.  In 2015, for Record Store Day, the vinyl edition of 4,000 copies was released.  It's a great Eno album.

In theory what happened is that Eno wanted his album to release the September of that year, but the record label insisted that they wanted to put "My Squelchy Life" early next year.  Eno's thought is that he would want to put something different out at that time, so in the artistic sense, it's very logical.  On the business level, the record label was also being logical.  So logically this album disappeared and showed up as a bootleg once in a while.  Now, it's officially released.   "My Squelchy Life" is the last great pop orientated Eno album.  Beautiful songs, great recordings & performances, and touches of genius throughout the album.  

"Not To Fail in the Harness" is the song with the killer riff, which is either guitar or a keyboard.  Like the other Eno recordings, all instruments are treated through his magic tricks in the recording studio.  A lot of the songs are dreamy, but some are funk workouts that are not far from the Miles Davis electric era.  The strong bass playing, and with traces of African beats, also reminds one of the David Byrne match-ups or traces of The Talking Heads.   Still, I like this album much more than "Before and After Science."   Robert Fripp appears here and there, as well as the underrated fantastic guitarist Robert Quine. 

When Eno does pop, he's a great melodist.  His wishful vocals bring sunshine to his material.  "Little Apricot" is Eno playing piano and it's a sweet piece.  "My Squelchy Life (especially on vinyl) is a sonic delight full of little surprises.  It's an excellent way to be re-introduced into Eno's world.  

Egisto Macchi - "Bioritmi" Vinyl, LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue (The Omni Recording Corporation)

I know little to nothing about Egisto Macchi, except that he's an Italian composer who worked on music for film and Television, and is a close associate of Ennio Morricone and is a member of Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.  I have two albums by him, including "Bioritmi," and he's exceptional.  

Originally released in 1971, and reissued/remastered by the great label The Omni Recording Corporation, "Bioritmi" is a record of great feeling and beauty.  It's noted in its informative sleeve notes that there are traces or a hint of Moondog's music within its grooves.   The music here is very much a quartet of strings and distant percussion and it does move in a circular fashion just like Moondog. It's very machine-like but done by humans.  The music builds and then slowly releases its intensity.   Listening to this I think of insects working in a hive.  It's almost a musical portrait of a society working, but not necessarily a human's approach to society unless they're watching insects building a nest and obtaining food.   A quiet album or work, but with great feeling and the clockwork of giving and releasing makes "Bioritmi" a give and take the pull as one listens.  An amazing album and the composer is a genius.  

Liquid Liquid - "Successive Reflexes" 12" 45 rpm, Vinyl, EP, Reissue, 2015/1981 (Superior Viaduct)

Liquid Liquid is a remarkable band from New York City, and they made noise in 1981.  "Successive Reflexes" is an EP of five tracks.  They're really not songs, but more of a groove with tons of percussion instruments. There's a tiny essence of a piano, but mostly it's bass and drums.  In a sense, they remind me of ESG, another band from the New York area of that same time/era.  Clearly, LCD Soundsystem is very much influenced by Liquid Liquid, which is a hybrid of post-punk, dance music and disco - yet, more geared in the dub era of Public Image Ltd.   They also remind me a bit of the Factory Records band A Certain Ratio.   

They made live recordings, but I prefer this EP of studio work, due to the experimentation of the sounds they are making.  There is something clinical but raw sounding about their approach, but it is clearly music to make you hop, twist, and shake your body parts.   

Jacques Lejeune - "Early Works 1969 - 1970" Vinyl, LP, Compilation, 2015 (Robot Records)

I picked this album up because the artist is French and due to the oversized bird sculpture or the puppet on the album cover. It reminded me of either Jean Cocteau or Franju film.   So, in the world of chances, this album must be good.   Jacques Lejeune is a composer who I gather is focused on musiques concréte or tape manipulations.  

The piece on side one is "D'une Multitude En Fête," and there is something ceremonial about its presentation.  It's a series of sonic snapshots of an event.  There's a focus on crowd noise, mechanical sounds, and music coming from another recording or radio.  In that sense, it's very much like the David Tudor/John Cage recordings/happenings that took place in the late 1950s, where everything is going on including the kitchen sink, and the hot stove.  Lejeune's piece is humorous.  There is a sense of fun in its process and of course, the listening part of the relationship as well.  My emotional state in listening to this cut is one waiting for the main artist or piece of music to be played.  There is lots of anticipation as the music gets quiet, and one feels something big will happen around the corner. 

Side two starts with "Géodes" is music for tape.  The overall sound is what seems like objects that come with an audio aspect to it but filtered through a process where the noise comes in waves like an ocean.  Lejeune's music is very naturalistic in that it conveys the world as one experiences it.  Of course, it's subjective, but there is something "every day" about what is confronting us on this album.  He's very much of a composer of that moment. 

"Petite Suite" is five pieces of music.  This is an impressive work due that it is based on a traditional musical form, the orchestra.   I'm not sure if this is total work on tape or real instruments filtered through a tape.  There are "voices" that sound like seals or dolphins singing, with the backing of a real drummer and electric guitarist.   Then comes the sound of the audience, laughing or at the very least being amused in what they are hearing. 

With my understanding, this is Lejeune's early works, and here it seems he's fascinated with the idea of transforming everyday performance noise into something compositional or with a foundation attached to the presentation.  I sense that this is not an album to listen to at home, but actually to be in a particular location to get the full flavor of the music by Jacques Lejeune. Impressive work. 

Sparks - "The Rest of Sparks" (Sparks The Island Years) LP, Vinyl, Album, 2015 (Island Records)

For the first fifteen minutes or so at the record store I thought I was carrying around "The Best of Sparks" - but alas, I was wrong.  It's the same cover as "The Best Of..."  but it's actually "The Rest of Sparks."   This album is part of the vinyl box set "Sparks The Island Years."    Someone at the store separated the albums within the box, and here I'm with this new purchase of an essential Sparks' vinyl album.   "The Rest of Sparks"  is a collection of all the b-sides during their years at Island Records.  Like the A-Sides and albums, they never put out a bad recording.   So, for the first time, you have Sparks classics like "Barbecutie," "Lost and Found," and the totally absurd "The Wedding of Jacqueline Kennedy to Russell Mael."   From 1974 to 1976, Sparks couldn't fail.  Well, to this day, they never failed.  But for many, the Island Records era for this band was like catching lightning in a glass jar. 

I have always had a fond taste for b-sides. My favorite habit (of many) is when I get a 45 rpm single, to play the B-side first.   For many, it's usually a throw-away song to make one focus on the A-side, but alas, I would argue that the masterpieces are usually on the flip side.   "The Rest of Sparks" is one of my favorite Sparks' albums.  If there is a weak cut, it's probably "I Want To Hold Your Hand," which is oddly enough my least favorite Beatles song.  Still, "Lost and Found,"England," and others here are essential Sparks' recordings.  To have these songs on one piece of vinyl is something that makes me extremely happy.   

One of the rare cuts here is "Tearing The Place Apart," which is brilliant songcraft writing.  One would think that Cole Porter or Noel Coward wrote the song, but alas, Ron Mael is one of the great songwriters of not only his generation but in the history of the American Song Book.   Which I know from me sounds like over-loving a songwriter's work, but he's clearly on the same genius mode as Porter.  

A1	Lost And Found
A2	Barbecutie
A3	Alambamy Right
A4	Marry Me
A5	Profile
A6	The Wedding of Jacqueline Kennedy to Russell Mael
B1	I Want To Hold Your Hand
B2	England
B3	Gone With The Wind
B4	Intrusion/Confusion
B5	Looks Aren't Everything
B6	Tearing The Place Apart

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.