Robert Wyatt - "Comicopera" Vinyl, LP, Album, 2 x Vinyl, one etched with poem, 2007 (Domino)

Robert Wyatt is one of those artists that you either love obsessively, or you don't know him or his music.  I think it is impossible for someone to hear him, and go 'not interested.'  His melodies are seductive, and the voice is hairy, yet romantic when he's crooning, and he mostly sings as if he is Chet Baker, and there are a thousand women in the waiting room, just waiting for him.   "Comicopera" although there are other releases where he collaborated with another artist, or compilation/re-issue came out, and I believe this was his last solo album.  He reportedly retired, and if that's true, this 2007 album is a brilliant goodbye.  Or perhaps just a pause before something else happens.  Still, a remarkable record that is very open.  His masterpiece "Rock Bottom" I find very close off to the world.  This is Wyatt getting involved with lots of musicians such as Paul Weller, Phil Manzanera, Eno, and others.  There are traces of late Beach Boys in the mix as well as Charlie Haden's Freedom Orchestra.  Just a beautiful mixture that does its job.  A haunted cocktail of a drink that sticks to your system.  

Haruomi Hosono & Tadanori Yokoo - "Cochin Moon" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 1978/2018 (Light in the Attic)

In the same manner, as the importance of someone like Brian Eno, Van Dyke Parks, and Martin Denny are to the English speaking world, concerning exposing various 'foreign cultures,' the same can be said for Japan's Haruomi Hosono. He's like a combination of all three above.   Also a pioneer in the electronic music pop world as well. Once was (or is?) a member of The Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), who are considered to be in a certain sense The Kraftwerk of Japan. Nevertheless, Hosono is a unique figure in Japanese contemporary music. He is very much a music historian, as well as an artist who can blend various styles that become a Hosono stance.

"Cochin Moon" is an album he made with artist/illustrator Tadanori Yokoo, and it's an exotica electro-impressionistic tour of India. It's like Kraftwerk's "Autobahn," but on a culture that is foreign to both Hosono and Yokoo. The thing with Hosono he is also knowledgeable about Japanese music and its culture. It lurks around whenever he makes music, and there is a cultural 'pun' at work when he approaches music from the West, knowing quite well it's 'exotica' to him. That's one of the beautiful things about his entire catalog that it's an artist's approach at looking at the world around him - in images, imagination, in other words, an illusion.

Yokoo is the executive producer, and I suspect that it was his idea to do this album based on a trip to India that they took in the mid-1970s. Still, beyond that, it's all Hosono. Both got physically ill in India, which influences this album. The last track is "Madam Consul General of Madras," which, as legend has it, served Hosono and Yokoo some Japanese food, and therefore they were healed from what was illing them.  There are touches of Indian music on the album, but it's electronic that flows consistently — an iconic electro album.

John White / Gavin Bryars - "Machine Music" Vinyl, LP, Album, UK, 1978/1976 (Obscure Records)

Although no one will mistake Brian Eno as precisely as a pop star, yet, he is in a sense, but of course with that something extra, which is his interest in Experimental or new music.  In the mid-70s Eno started a record label, Obscure Records, to focus on modern music composers, most of them are British, and very much in Eno's social and music world.   One interesting album (of many fascinating titles) is  the John White and Gavin Bryars album "Machine Music."  

White is by design a minimalist composer, but I find labels too limiting and not very accurate in the sounds one hears.   On side one he has four pieces.  The opening cut is "Autumn Countdown Machine" which is a playful series of notes between a Bassoon, Double Bass, and Tuba that has a sound of various percussion instruments and a metronome underlining the main instrumentation.  To me, I can tell it's British because of its character.  It's a funny piece, but beautiful as well.  Perhaps it's that dynamics that gives this work such character.  "Son of Gothic Cord" is a piano piece played by White and Christopher Hobbs.  It reminds me of a bit of a Steve Reich piano work, but usually, his music is based on another culture, this I think is more numeral orientated or with a strict system in place.  It has an echo that fills the room. One thought but with four hands.  "Jew's Harp Machine" is sort of a super session with White, Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, and Christopher Hobbs (the Obscure house band!) all playing Jew's Harp, in a rhythmic fashion that has echo and delay (at least to my ears).  "Drinking and Hooting Machine" is a bottle blowing composition and it's eerie, and I can imagine this being heard over a rural countryside, with nothing but owls looking down on the musicians.  

On side two we have one composition by Gavin Bryars which is all guitars.  Played by Bryars, the great Derek Bailey, the amazing Fred Frith, and professional beginner Brian Eno, called "The Squirrel and the Ricketty Racketty Bridge."  A riff that reminds me a bit of White's first composition on the other side "Autumn Countdown Machine."   Four types of guitars that have separate and distinctive sounds that has a beautiful layered aural presence.  Not The Ventures or The Shadows mind you, but still a fresh piece of music.   

Obscure Records had only eight or nine releases but all of them are real gems, and it's excellent to re-hear them in 2019.   Eno should be applauded for presenting new music in such a fashion that's enticing and thrilling at the same time. 

Magazine - "Real Life" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Spain, 2013/1978 (ViNiLiSSSiMO)

Out of the brilliance of the Buzzcocks came Howard Devoto and his band Magazine.  In the same nature as Eno leaving Roxy Music, all of a sudden as a fan one is spending more money on record releases by these two artists.  The same goes for Buzzcocks and Magazine.  Eno needed to move on from the Roxy Music /Bryan Ferry format, and do Devoto had to remove himself from The Buzzcocks world to make new music that is more orchestrational and borderline, theme music for various spy films that are never made.   Like Ferry, Devoto surrounded himself with incredible musicians/songwriters John McGeoch (the guitar hero of post-punk Scotland), Barry Adamson (who knows the importance of theme song to an imaginary film), Dave Formula, and Martin Jackson. 

"Real Life" is one of those albums that came into my life at the perfect time and place.  I heard its first record/single "Shot By Both Sides," and to me, it was more powerful than the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K."   The feeling that Devoto couldn't trust either side and the fact that he's surrounded gave the listener the sense of the dread of such cinematic works as "The Third Man."  Where all the sides are being played, and one is just part of the system that offers supply and consumes.  Still, a powerful song and performance that is one of the great 45 rpm single that uses that format as both restrictive and contained within its 7 inches. 

Magazine is very much the perfect vehicle for Devoto's creepy Kafka-like character within the noise made by the band.  Majestic, riff-orientated, with overtures to the Brecht/Weill world as well.  It's music that is a well-designed puzzle, which again reminds me of Roxy Music.   At the height of Punk, Devoto and company offered structure and somewhat an operatic approach to their songs.  Not big budget theater mind you, but opera for the gutter, where one is laying there and looking up at the stars, or at the very least, looking at the theater's (venue) ceiling.   "Real Life" suggests that listeners were perhaps living in a dream of their own, or someone else's reality.  Devoto like a surgeon, or at the very least, a gourmet chef, cut into the bone of the song, and delivers a meal that's perfect, but also full of after-taste approaches that linger on one's mouth, ears and eyes. 

There are classics on this album such as the above-mentioned song as well as "The Light Pours Out of Me" (too bad Sinatra never covered this song), but my other favorite besides "Shot By Both Sides" is "The Great Beautician in the Sky," which has a drunk Brecht quality that appeals to my sensibility. Indeed a remarkable album from a great band. 

Holger Czukay - "Movies" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 1982/1979 (EMI)

My first introduction to the world of Can is Holger Czukay's first solo album "Movies."  It took me a decade before I heard my first proper Can album, but that is another tale.  I purchased "Movies," which came out in 1979, and I immediately compared it to the more well-known album by David Byrne and Brian Eno, "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts."  Both albums used found sound, such as the Byrne/Eno recordings all used vocals from other recorded sources.  It's a nifty slightly experimental album, but hearing "Movies" seems to me to be the real deal.   Recorded around the same time, I feel Czukay's approach was more light-hearted, with great swaps of humor, compared to the Byrne/Eno, which had a sinister quality.   Both were natural groove orientated music, but I find beauty in such pieces by Czukay such as "Persian Love" that I don't find in "Bush of Ghosts."

The Czukay narrative is that he records all the jams from Can recordings, and never turns off the tape machine.  He then cuts, slices, and like a film, edits the aural aspect of the work.  Here he adds outside sounds/voices to the overall mix.  It must be time-consuming work, because the music doesn't sound disjointed or crazed, but structured in a manner that is, of course, listenable, but also catchy.  It was pop music with strong melodies but filtered through Czukay's knowledge of 20th century contemporary classical music.  Stockhausen is a significant influence on Czukay, and he even studied under the great composer.  A remarkable album that never sounds dated.  A joy from the first cut to the last.

Joe Meek and The Blue Men - "I Hear A New World" LP, Album, Reissue, Italy, 1991/1960 (RPM Vinyl)

"I Hear A New World" is a masterpiece.  When I first heard the album, around 1989, I was living in Japan, which at the time, was indeed living in a world that seemed so familiar to me through films and books, yet a new world.  Not saying that Japan is another version of outer space, but to my sensibility and aesthetic, it indeed was an out-of-space and mental landscape.   Joe Meek's half-exotica (or the space-age) and Musique Concrete, with a touch of pop melodies, is a strange hybrid of science and the imagination.

Meek made this album after his odd career as an engineer for a large recording company, which mentally and aesthetically he didn't fit in.  He wrote and recorded "I Hear A New World" in a London apartment (Flat) in 1960.  Mostly made of tape reels and experimentation with speed, both slowing and speeding up the tape, as well as recording odd effects such as the toilet being flushed and so forth.   The Blue Men were a Rhythm and Blues outfit that had strange instrumentation when they added a Hawaiian steel guitar to their mix.  A weird mixture of Western and R n B and Meek had the genius even to advance that sound to another galaxy.   The leader of the band, Rod Freeman, helped Meek with his compositions by transforming it into 'songs.'  The Meek method was him humming the melody either in person or on a tape.  The fact that Meek was tone-deaf added more work for Freeman as the music arranger.  After that, it's Joe Meek 100%.

When I first heard these recordings in 1989, I thought it was music made by a madman.  Re-listening to the album very recently, I conclude that it's a remarkable piece of work.  Composition wise as well as how he brilliantly uses sound and shapes the aural like a magnificent sculpture in front of clay or steel.  The thing with Meek, since he did work independently by choice, away from the mainstream recording industry, he truly wanted to have hits and be commercial. He succeeds it at times, but he lived the life of an outside artist, due to his homosexuality (illegal in the UK during his lifetime) and temperament, which was on the violent side.  He eventually had no separation of home life and studio work, since he lived and worked in the same space.   The Meek world is one of a small apartment in Northern London.   The compressed sound he makes is not really of a world that is open, but in actuality very closed and almost locked up in a mixture of security concerns and paranoia.  "I Hear A New World" is although about outer-space, it is more in tune with Meek's life in London at the time.  Closed off from the mainstream culture, he invented a workspace where he can fully expose his demons, dreams, and sensuality.

"I Hear A New Year" if you were not aware that Meek did it, one would easily think it was a Pierre Henry piece of music in parts.  Total "Musique Concrete" that is both experimental and expressing a mood of otherness.  It is only when the melodies kick in that you realize it's a work by Meek, but still, the album is more avant-garde than a pop release. Especially for the year of its partly release in 1960.   Meek only released vol 1 on a 7" 45 rpm disc during his lifetime.

The one album that comes to mind while listening to this Meek album is Brian Eno's "Another Green World."  Both artists use the studio as a recording instrument, and both, I think could visualize another world through their sounds.  Eno's album was made in 1975, and although he never credits Joe Meek, I find it difficult to believe that he wasn't aware of "I Hear A New World."  Listening to both albums - side-by-side, "Another Green World" is the brother or sister (nephew or Niece) to "I Hear A New World."   Eno's world is more inner, and Meek's sounds are approaching the sky above and beyond, but still, both are a very contained and cut-off world of sorts. "Another Green World," I think is Eno's best album of 'pop' songs, and Meek's album is another masterpiece of its time and place.  For me, "I Hear A New World" due to the optimism of the space age, it's a painful work to look back on, considering Meek's suicide and murdering (or shooting accident) his landlady in his studio/living space.  

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.  

Heinz -"The Singles" Vinyl, LP, Compilation (Triumph)

No one sounds like Heinz, because Joe Meek produced Heinz.  And the closest record maker to Meek is maybe Brian Eno, during his early solo album/song career.  Meek started off as a recording engineer for EMI during the 1950s and eventually left the corporate music world to start his own label, Triumph Records, for the sole purpose of producing and even writing hits.  His one accepted masterpiece is "Telstar," which he wrote and produced for The Tornados.  In that instrumental band, the platinum blond bassist, Heinz, caught Meek's eye (and ears).  If Phil Spector had Ronnie, then Heinz was Meek's obsession.  

The 16 songs on this compilation album are recorded in what sounds like from another planet.  Each country has their own take on rock n' roll, and these recordings sound like they came from Mars.  To describe the music, it's basic rock or pop but filtered through Meek's aesthetic it becomes a weird hybrid of bedroom recordings (he worked mostly in his home studio in North London) and musique concrete practices.  It's pop music, but clearly has avant-garde leanings that I don't think Meek was aware of. In that sense, he's an outside artist who thought himself as a commercial hit-maker.  And he was, at certain moments in his brief and tragic life. 

For the last 25 years or so, I have been obsessed with Joe Meek.  I'm slowly collecting his works on CD and on vinyl, which at times can be difficult to obtain.  "The Singles" I found the other day at Rockaway Records in Silver Lake, and I believe that it was once owned by Ronald Kane, who had a record collection that was out-of-mind-out-of-body great.   Nevertheless, Heinz belongs in an eccentric world of sound and vision.   The compression of the sounds and the muted drums are surely the foundation for not only Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets," but also the pop side (side 1) of Bowie's "Low."   Without a doubt, the strangest recordings to come out of 1960.   Therefore a work of genius.  

King Crimson - "Red" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 1974/2013 (Discipline Global Mobile)

I've avoided King Crimson ever since their first album. I admired and loved the Eno/Fripp albums as well as Robert Fripp's contributions to David Bowie's "Heroes" album, yet when it came to King Crimson, I felt like that was the Jets hangout, when I was clearly a member of The Sharks.  It wasn't until a few hours ago that under either a condition of boredom or being adventurism (or both) that I went to Amoeba and purchased "Red."

I played the album once so far, and I love it.  What surprised me, and it shouldn't have, is the connection between Roxy Music and King Crimson.   I know that Bryan Ferry was once going to audition to be their lead singer, and of course the Eno/Fripp connection as well.  But listening to "Red" reminds me of some of the longer instrumental passages of the first two Roxy albums.  It's more in that line than say garden-variety prog rock.  Fripp is exceptional of course, but John Wetton's bass playing is incredible.  A very aggressive heavy sound from that instrument that reminds me a bit of John Entwhistle or traces of a punk aesthetic concerning the noise of the bass.  Michael Nyman in his orchestra had a heavy electric bass player as well, that also stands out in such a manner. 

"Red" is a classic album, in that there are no wasted moments and all five songs are equally placed in a position that makes the album seem more like a novella than a big novel.  The beauty or strength of King Crimson and on this album is the textural playing by all musicians.  There is a riff orientation that goes through here, but also a gentle melody here and there that gives the material tension.  Fripp broke up the band right after recording "Red," I think due to the issues of the band being tied down to its prog-rock image, as well as Fripp being curious to explore the world of New York City's punk/post-punk/ no wave scene.  He didn't need to break up this band. It would have been at home in lower Manhattan. 

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.   

Gavin Bryars ‎– "The Sinking Of The Titanic" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1978 (Obscure)

Probably the most 'reflective' album in my collection.  'The Sinking of the Titanic" is an aural documentary composed by the British composer Gavin Bryars.  The Titanic is such an iconic incident, that it has no meaning for me until I heard this album.   Extremely sad, and very moving, and basically one is living through the experience of a ship sinking, where one can hear traces of the ship's band playing as it disappears into the sea.   Also, there is a faint voice in the mix, that is a person who survived the Titanic's sinking. Which gives the whole record a sense of hope and beauty, even though it's heading toward the entrance of death. 

Side two is another composition by Bryars "Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet" that starts off with a recording a loop of a man singing a hymn with additional instrumentation added on as the piece progresses to a large orchestration.   For me, the work has an educational value that it seems to be a textbook study on arranging and how important that craft is to a music piece.  It's a pretty melody, but "The Sinking of the Titanic" is such a 'wow' piece of work, that makes it hard for me to turn the record over right away to hear "Jesus Blood.."   As a package, it's two albums in one disc.  

Speaking which, I can't overemphasize how important the label Obscure was when one purchased them in the 1970s.   Started by Brian Eno, it was a label devoted to experimental British composers, but of all sorts.   One can think of it as a school, but it covered a lot of musical ground within its limited releases at the time.  For me, in the late 1970s, it was a great introduction to new music being made in England, and it's one of the great projects that Eno brought to this world. 

Dan Melchior - "Melpomene" Vinyl, LP, Album, U.S., 2017 (IDEA Records)

"Melpomene" is an album that is hard for me to forget or get off my turntable.  It's a combination of Musique Concrete with beautiful melodies running in-between the cracks of sound and mayhem.  But there are samples (I think) of piano or orchestration that is heard that gives it a moody scary vibe.  What's interesting is that one doesn't know what is going to happen around the corner.  I know nothing of Dan Melchior, but this is not an experimental album of compositions.  I think he knows exactly what he's going for.  The construction of the pieces on "Melpomene" is constructed like a fine building. The only other album that I can think of that one can 'maybe' compare this album to is Brian Eno's "Another Green World."  Melchior does not sound like Eno, but only in the sense that they share a great love of melody within what we think is an experimental music context.  Perhaps Melchior is more of a Morricone than an Eno.  I also admire the cover painting he did for the album cover.  I suspect that there is a visual element in his work, or he works things sonically that can convey a visual to a listener. 

Quiet Sun - "Mainstream" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, 1975/2011 (Expression Records)

The world of Roxy Music is rich in many good stuff and recordings.  It's almost like Roxy Music is a virus and whoever becomes in contact, eventually will make their own album with either group or solo.  So being a Roxy fan is expensive over time, yet, I have not regretted the expenses being spent on their art.   Quiet Sun is Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera's band before he joined Bryan Ferry, Eno, and company.   Oddly enough I never purchased this album due to my fear of prog rock.  If one can even call Quiet Sun a prog rock band.  Mostly a group of misfits who border on the eccentricities of the time as well as being in the avant-garde angle in rock n' roll.   Beside the Roxy guitarist, the band consists of Bill MacCormick on bass, Charles Hayward on drums and some keyboards, and on the keys the noted Mathematician Dave Jarrett.   Eno helps on the noise part and legendary music writer Ian (McDonald) MacCormick, the brother of Bill on backup vocals.  

While Manzanera was doing his first proper solo album "Diamond Head" he also recorded this Quiet Sun album as well.  The band did split up when Phil joined Roxy, but they never made an album, and either due to the preservation aspect of Manzanera's music making, or just wanted to do a crazed album, is what is upon us for the last 40 or so years.   While I loved "Diamond Head" I was hesitant to purchase or listen to Quiet Sun, because of its aggressive fusion sound.   It took me many years (like yesterday afternoon) to finally get the album, as a reissue (on Manzanera's record label) and give this "Mainstream" a serious listen.  

The music is fusion, but these guys are creative at what they do. Manzanera is one of the great underrated guitarists.   His Hendrix accented echoey guitar sound (perhaps helped by Eno's treatment of the instrument) has always been a standout on all the Roxy recordings, and he doesn't let up on his own albums.   If Quiet Sun has a sister or big brother band, it would be Soft Machine.   One can imagine Robert Wyatt coming in doing the vocals.  So the mindset is on that part of the world and its aesthetics.   Riffs come and go, but what I find appealing as well is Charles Hayward's percussion.  A very imaginative drummer, and with MacCormick on bass a great rhythm section.  The one classic song off this album is "Rongwrong" which the title is based on and the same as artist Marcel Duchamp's art journal in the early 20th century.  It's a beauty of a song, and although written by Hayward, it reminds me of Wyatt's solo work.   A song diary of sorts, but a beautiful wistful melody, even as the long instrumental passages play on, it's an incredible song.  

Quiet Sun is not my favorite of the Roxy Music off-projects, but an essential part of the puzzle that is Phil Manzanera. 

Holger Czukay - "Movies" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 1982 (EMI)

It seems silly but I discovered the actual music by Can only in 2017!   On the other hand, I know Holger Czukay's solo album "Movies" since the early 1980s.   I also know his music and name due that he worked with David Sylvian around the same time that era.  "Movies" is a perfect snapshot when I lived in Hollywood, and listening to this album it brings back memories of my little studio apartment on Martel Avenue.   It's an easy record to get into, due that there is an endless groove among its experimental cut-ups and sound wise one never knows what is going to appear inside your stereo speakers. 

I don't know the history of this album, but I suspect that it was recorded during Can (the band he was in) recording sessions, due that all of the musicians are on "Movies."  It's very much a happy album, and it doesn't have the tension of sadness, but more of a beautiful exploration of the world through sound and rhythm.  There's a purity in its purpose, and my favorite cut is "Persian World," which features vocals from a radio station somewhere in that part of that world.  Czukay would do cut-ups of different cultures sound wise, and yet, both feet are on Western grounds.  The album is almost exotica territory in that it relays a sense of community and pleasure.  "Movies" is the inspiration for musicians like Brian Eno and David Byrne.   A great album.  

Brian Eno - "Rarities" Vinyl, LP, Compilation, 1983 (Editions EG)

I'm such a total record/vinyl geek these days.  I often wake up ashamed of my passion, but then I think of the enjoyment I get from hunting, looking and of course, listening to these damn types of vinyl.  We live in such a horror landscape that even for a few minutes (which I turn to lasting for days) I love being lost in a world that is both exotic and obsessive.  For one, I  have been looking for a vinyl release of Brian Eno's single "Seven Deadly Finns"(1974) and one he did around "Another Green World" "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which was originally a folk song.  I did find copies of the 45 rpm singles but were way too expensive for me to buy.  Then, suddenly I came upon the "Rarities" disc that was part of a large package "Working Backwards: 1983-1973, which at the time of this boxset release was the entire discography of solo Eno.  Since I have all the albums in this box set, all I wanted was the "Rarities" disc.  It took years, but someone on the Internet was willing to sell just the "Rarities" EP.   Moving like a Seal Navy soldier of fortune, I snapped the record from the other collector.  

"Seven Deadly Finns" is very much the aesthetic of the first two Eno solo albums.  It's a sonic rush of pure mayhem.  I don't know who plays on the recording, but it's such a perfect blend of action - it reminds me of Jackson Pollack doing a painting in front of a movie camera.  If one wants to put the recording in a category I would call it 'hyper-glam.'   "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is minimal in a sense, but somehow sounds maximum.   Eno overdubs his vocals which is a tribute to a 20-century take on folk, which became a hit pop song with the group The Tokens in the 1960s.  Eno loves vocal music and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is the perfect piece of canvas for him to do his painting on.  

The other side is three instrumentals, and all sound like it was recorded during his time working with David Byrne and Talking Heads.  Electro-funk and I haven't the foggiest idea who is on the recordings besides Eno.   The songs are "Strong Flashes of Light," "More Volts," and "Mist/Rhythm."  All three are excellent works. 

Roxy Music - "Pyjamarama b/w "The Pride And The Pain" 45 rpm vinyl, 1973 (Island)

The b-side to "Pyjamarama" the great song by Roxy Music, is"The Pride And The Pain" which sounds like if Bryan Ferry left the band and was replaced by Ennio Morricone.  It took me awhile to find this recording because once I heard it, I loved it.  There is a CD version that is on one of their Roxy Music box sets put out some years ago, but finally, I have the single.  

"The Pride and The Pain" is written by Andy Mackay.  It features his distinctive oboe playing but mixed in with the minimal piano, Phil Manzanera's Italian sounding electric guitar, Eno's (I presume) sound of the wind and off-mike vocals or talking, and like the title, it does bring Morricone's great spaghetti western soundtracks from the 1960s.  This recording is too great to be lost in the heaps of b-sides that never made it onto albums. 

"Pyjamarama" is essential early Roxy.  The great guitar cords in the beginning, but before the melody and Ferry's voice kicks in - it's a natural music high at this point.  One wonders why this song is not on the "For Your Pleasure" album, but at the same time, it does exist quite well as a stand-alone single.  It's a classic Roxy piece, but again, the b-side "The Pride And The Pain" is really amazing.

Phil Manzanera - "Diamond Head" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1975 (Atco Records)

Roxy Music is not only a band, but also a foundation where some lived, and eventually explored the outer-world through various solo albums.   To be a Roxy fan was an expensive ride, because of not only the Roxy Music albums, but also purchasing the various Eno albums, the solo Bryan Ferry recordings, and then, of course, the Andy Mackay album, and then Phil Manzanera's solo album.  And even that, there are the Fripp & Eno albums, which means one should purchase a Robert Fripp album, and on and on it goes.  One thing I miss from the 1970s are the solo albums that came out of one band.   The only band I can think of in contemporary times is Radiohead because Thom York has various side projects as well as the other musicians in that group.  On the other hand, that is not a financial problem for me, because I don't really like Radiohead.  Roxy Music, on the other hand, is great, and therefore one needs to jump into the various solo recording of the current members of Roxy, as well as those who left the fold (Eno).    Which comes to "Diamond Head" by Manzanera.  

The role of Phil Manzanera in Roxy Music cannot be underestimated.   His guitar work is intelligent, masterful, and a perfect ingredient that's in the Roxy Music soup.  The same for Andy Mackay as well.  Here, Phil steps out of the Bryan Ferry world and makes his own statement with everyone from the Roxy world, except their lead singer.   It's a heady mixture of great talent:  Robert Wyatt, Eno, Andy Mackay, Paul Thompson, John Wetton, Eddie Jobson, Charles Hayward and Manzanera as the ring leader in this temporary circus.  

The beauty of "Diamond Head" is although there are many voices on this album, it is very much orchestrated by Manzanera, and he doesn't lose himself in the mix.  There are classic pieces here, like the title cut, his work with Eno, "Miss Shapiro," "Big Day," and the great opening song with Robert Wyatt "Frontera."  These are voices that are very distinct, and Wyatt/Eno don't hold back, but Manzanera can place himself in these guys without himself losing his identity.   The Manzanera guitar sound is a combination of classic Jimi Hendrix touches, mixed with his South American roots and one foot in prog.  It's a heady sonic experience.  It's hard to believe that this album is 42 years old.  As a solo artist, this is Manzanera's best album, as a guitarist who worked on many albums, he is still a fantastic talent.  When one sees his name in the credits, you're getting yourself into a classy world. 

Roxy Music - "Roxy Music" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Limited Edition, 1972/2008 (Virgin)

There are only a handful of albums that had such a powerful effect on me on the first listening of such a record.  I can still remember when I played "Roxy Music" for the first time.  It was in the evening at our home in Topanga, and on the first cut "Re-make, Re-model," I thought to myself that this is the sound of 1972.  By the time of the second song "Ladytron," it was like if someone brought a brand new language into my life.  I never heard anything like Roxy Music. 

"Roxy Music" is a combination of camp, serious noise in the avant-garde world, futuristic sounds, and a glance to the past.  Years later I can pick up on the influences of the album - vintage Hollywood cinema, Joe Meek recordings, 1950s kitsch aesthetics, a touch of prog-rock,  and an appreciation of artists like Marcel Duchamp.   It's a heady brew of images and sound, that to this day still gives me the kick that never tires.     The first thing one notices is Bryan Ferry's voice - a croon that seemed manufactured but with incredible lyrics that painted a picture in one's head.   Borderline outrageous, but with a firm footing on a foundation that is art, cinema and music history.  One can hear the traces of David Bowie's presence, but it's like Roxy Music was hearing Bowie, not at the present time (1972) but in a sometime way in the future.   

There is not a bad cut on this album.  One of the great strengths that are Roxy Music is that it is truly a band.  Bryan Ferry wrote all the songs/lyrics, but it takes someone like Andy Mackay, Phil Manzanera, Paul Thompson, Graham Simpson (one of many bass players in this band), and of course, Eno.  The electronics are all over "Roxy Music."  Through the sound of vintage synths, to the layered electronic sounds of treated guitars, vocals, and god knows what else on this album.   I can't say that this album changed my life, but for sure made me appreciate the layers of textures that make a sound, and that is what I heard on "Roxy Music."  

John Cale - "Fear" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2015/1974 (Wax Cathedral)

When John Cale left Velvet Underground, I lost track of him. It wasn't until  1974 when he released his first album "Fear" on Island Records that I became aware of him again.  I did notice that Cale made solo albums before "Fear," but never paid much attention to them.  It may be that I was totally focused on Lou Reed, thinking that he was the Velvets in all name and practice.  That of course, is wrong, and due to my young teen years, almost forgivable.  "Fear" is great.  

In the years 1973/1974, for me, it was the glory time of Roxy Music and all of its outshoots.  Eno was making incredible albums, and I like all the solo work by Phil Manzanera and Andy MacKay as well. And of course, there were both Roxy and Bryan Ferry albums as well.  Fun times at the record shop.  Someone at Island had the grand idea to promote a Roxy world by adding Kevin Ayers, Nico, and of course, John Cale to their label.  Eno and Manzanera are listed as executive producers, which means to me that they pushed the label into signing Cale, but also a big part of the sound that is on this album.

"Fear" is a very stark album, with the mix high on Cale's voice and minimal backing, in a sense it is never busy.  The right sounds at the right places.   When I listen to this album, I think of Procol Harum's great albums on A&M around the same time.  I can't say if they were an influence on Cale, or he admired them or not, but I hear Gary Brooker (the lead honcho in Harum) presence on "Fear."  The thing about Cale he comes with the baggage of the noisy aspect of the Velvets, or experimental/orchestration, but he is also a very much disciplined and well-crafted songwriter. "You Know More Than I Know," "Buffalo Ballet," and "Emily" are excellent songwriter type of songs. "Fear" and "Gun" is more of the sonic "kaboom" of Cale.  "Gun" especially, which I have to presume it's Eno making the guitar sounds through his various methods of genius tools at the time.   An inspiring album made in an exciting place with exciting musicians.  A highlight for Cale and the Eno/Manzanera world. 

Portsmouth Sinfonia - "Plays the Popular Classics" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1974 (Columbia)

I pity the poor vinyl seeker who picks up this album in the hopes that it's a typical collection of classical music pieces by some obscure Symphony.  On the other hand, it is a wonderful re-discovery of the classical pop hits, done by an orchestra that is not entirely sufficient in their instrumentation. Nevertheless part of the enjoyment of the journey I think is the motif of the Portsmouth Sinfonia.  It's not entirely off-kilter because one can recognize the works here.  

British composer Gavin Bryars started the orchestra, and not sure if it was done so for the purpose of going back to his roots, but I suspect to explore the music in a different light.  There is a Fluxus flavor to the concept of having an orchestra who can't play their instruments (properly) and performing classics by composers like Beethoven, Bach, Bizet, Holst, and others.   At first hearing, I took it as a joke, but I don't think that's the purpose here.  The selection of pieces they do on the album is very popular.  The average listener who may not know classical music, I would have imagined heard the compositions in their home or on the TV or some other medium.  The arrangements are close to the music sheet (as far as I know), but it's the skills of each musician that makes this album unique. 

In ways, an orchestra is a study of civilization at work where everyone has a role to play for the betterment of the composed work as well as the overall orchestrational sound.  The Portsmouth Sinfonia is chaos working as a group. It's a society that is struggling to make sounds that are actual music.  This is not an eccentric's work, but more of a statement on politics and culture and how one sees their role in the "orchestra."   Brian Eno produced this album and is one of the musicians in the orchestra.  He plays Clarinet, and Byars play the cello.  His original instrument I think is stand-up bass.