Catherine Ringer - "Ring n' Roll" Vinyl, 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album, 2011 (Because Music)

These days when I think of the word France I immediately think of Catherine Ringer.   She and her late partner in crime, Fred Chichin were in Les Rita Mitsouko, not only the greatest band in France, but I think one of the great groups of the 1980s.  Chichin a great multi-instrumentalist and co-writer along with Ringer was a force of nature that couldn't fail to charm.  When I heard their album in Los Angeles at my friend's studio, I was seduced by the first song on side one.   Since the tragic passing of Chichin, I worried about what will happen to Catherine Ringer.   Worries are worries, but "Ring n' Roll" (released in 2011) is as great as any Les Rita Mitsouko album. 

Ringer has that 'it' quality that is difficult to define.  A great beauty, but the additional charm of her personality and force is breathtaking at times.   Beside Grace Jones, there is not another chic artist like Catherine.  She can walk into the room and transform it into another dimension.  So when she gets hold of a song, it's a wow moment.  On the most elementary level, I think of her as a French female Iggy Pop.   Another artist who has that 'it' quality that is hard to dispute or understand.  For one, Ringer knows how to rock.   As a singer, she can sing the most heartbreaking melody, but then in a flip of a coin, she can be hysterical.  Truly a star at its most glamorous and profound stature.  "Ring n' Roll" is 12 songs long and not a bump in the road for the entire album.  She works with RZA, Mark  Plati (one of David Bowie's great musicians), who I presume is her son, Rauol Chichin (on guitar), and a Japanese artist by the name of Coba.  Which funny enough the song, "Rendez-Vous" sounds like a Shibuya pop song from the 90s, but with Ringer bringing the music to a more textural level.  

Life cannot be a bowl of cherries for our Catherine, but when I listen to this album, I'm smiling from Side A to Side C (three-sided album).    The production (by Ringer, as well as RZA and Plati) is always a surprise, in that it follows the logic of one's imagination.   It has the Iggy "Lust for Life" zeal, but I feel Ringer takes it to the next level - a genius level.  One of the great artists of the 20th and 21st century.  

Lou Reed - "Street Hassle" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1978 (Arista)

My favorite solo Lou Reed album is "Street Hassle."   It's the one album for me where Lou portrays the 'public' Lou Reed that we know and sort of love.   I may be wrong, but I feel that this is the last solo record where Reed is portraying a character.  His albums afterward, are basically Reed looking at the world as a first-person narrative.  Almost like a journalist covering his landscape in a John Cheever mode, or at the location of the gates of hell.   For instance, when he wrote and record "Berlin" he never at that time been to that city.  So, in a sense, the solo Lou is very much of a world that he made up, and put himself in as a character. 

The Velvet Underground years are spotless.  Full-on Lou genius work.  The solo career is a hit and miss, but when he's great, he's really fantastic.  "Street Hassle" is interesting to me because he's playing with the sound of the studio or the live recording.  This is such a murky sounding record that if it is a 3D object it would be mud or a heavy dish of food.   Aurally I think of Lou digging from the bottom to the top to get air, and there is something very closed off like one is locked in the basement, and one is really trying to break a hole to get light/air.  

The songs themselves are fantastic.  "Real Good Time Together," I think is an old Velvet's era song, and if memory is serving me correctly (always doubtful) it was on a live Velvet's album.  Nevertheless here it's a minimal piece of music, that builds to a tension, that eventually breaks loose.  A lot of the songs are arranged in that fashion.  The album's set piece is "Street Hassle," which is in three parts, yet still very contained narrative and the music arrangement is very tight.  The strings arranged by Aram Schefrin is minimal minded, that has a touch of Philip Glass/Steve Reich intensity. There is also a Bruce Springsteen uncredited cameo as well. 

The other song that sticks out is "Dirt."  Very direct, angry, catchy and wonderful.   This is very much bad-ass Lou Reed in his prime.  It's interesting to note that Reed's partner-in-crime, both Iggy Pop and Bowie also released ("Low" and "Idiot") compressed sounding records around this time (1977/1978).  There is an aesthetic link between these three albums.   Not sure if they were aware, or it was something in the air at that time.  Still, "Street Hassle,' the album,  is a remarkable piece of work.  

Iggy Pop - "The Idiot" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 2009/1977 (4 Men with Beards)

At the time of its release, in 1977, this album was a mystery to me.  The cover was minimal and no musician credits, except the name "David Bowie" had appeared on its back cover.  Beyond that, I really didn't have a clue what the music would be like.  I knew of the Stooges, but I couldn't really imagine Bowie in the mix for some odd reason.  And I knew he mixed the great "Raw Power" album, but still, what would new Bowie/Iggy music be like?

Once I heard the album I came to the conclusion that this is very much an original piece of work.  Not sure if it was more Bowie than Iggy or the other way around, but the combination of the two made something new to my ears.  I got the feeling that the music was made in a small room without windows.  Very thick and dense sounding.  The lyrics, on the other hand, were total Iggy to me.  Pop has that great quality of skill to make every lyric sound like a throw-away piece of work.  Which is part of his genius and charm.   First thought is the best thought.  Or does Iggy spend a great deal of time working on the lyrics?  I don't know.  What I do know is that he's naturally brilliant.  "Nightclubbing" and "Funtime" are brilliant pieces of work.  "China Girl" is funny but also disturbing under the Iggy version, and the way he drops Marlon Brando's name in the mix was shocking to me at that time. 

My favorite song on the album is "Tiny Girl."  I love the long introduction with what I presume is Bowie's sax playing, and then Iggy drops in with this incredible lyric and resigned style of singing.  I find it brutally romantic.   Listening to it now I still think back when I first heard the album.  It still sounds fresh and demented at the same time.  "Lust for Life" is a great Iggy/Bowie album as well, but "The Idiot" is something special.  Once in a lifetime recording. It can't be done again.  As they say, it is capturing lightning in a jar.  How many times can one do that?

With respect to this reissue, it seems the sound came from Virgin Records mastering of the CD.  To me it sounds fine, but of course one would want a reissue to come from the original analog tapes.  Why that didn't happen could be economic reasons or maybe the tape doesn't exist?  Nevertheless, this album works on very medium.