Roxy Music - "All I Want is You" b/w "Your Application's Failed" 45 rpm Single, UK, 1974 (Island)

"All I Want is You" is the A-side, but of course what I'm interested in is the B-side of this single, the instrumental song "Your Application's Failed."   The beauty of the 45 rpm single are the b-sides that are not on an album.  Mostly they are a mere after-thought if anything else.  For whatever reason, Roxy Music usually put out interesting 'throw-a-way' songs on the b-sides, and "Your Application's Failed" is a small classic Roxy Music piece. 

It's a song by Roxy drummer Paul Thompson, and a great vehicle in exposing the band's talent and most important, a sense of play is on hand.  Most of the songs that end up on a Roxy Music album, or on their A-side singles, it's a very tight structure and there is a sense of seriousness on it all.  They're making commercial art.  Yet, the b-side songs are sometimes experiments or to see what happens, even if they allow their drummer to compose the song.  "Your Application's Failed" is fun.  The fact that Roxy Music or Bryan Ferry can show a lighter side of their record making is wonderful. One wishes that there were more pieces like "Your Application's Failed."  The classic Roxy is always great, but it's the B-sides that add the flavor or spice to Roxy Music. 

Traffic - "Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush" b/w "Coloured Rain" 45 rpm vinyl single, 1967 (Island)

For me, Traffic was the most magnificent band, but only for the first nine or 12 months of their existence in 1967.  After that, I lost interest in them.  Never an offensive group, actually far from that category, but early Traffic was an essential listening experience.  Traffic always had a 'world' touch to their music, with traces of jazz, and folk leanings.  Still, in the early recordings, there was a sense of exploration in sound and songwriting structures.  The focus was on Steve Winwood, but it was the textural contributions from Chris Wood, their horn player, as well as Jim Capaldi (drummer).  Dave Mason was their guitarist, and he added songwriting skills, but there is something that kept him in line with the other three.  Original member, he left, then re-joined them for their second album.  A significant figure in the band, but his presence seemed to be the nail that stuck out too much, with respect to the band. 

"Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush" is the theme song to the movie with the same title.  It has all the best elements of Traffic.  Soulful, melodic, superb musicianship, and superb songwriting.  I have a hunch that this song was not well-loved by Traffic at the time.  Still, an amazing recording, beautifully produced by Jimmy Miller, that had touches of exotic sounds that were dreamy, but very solid on the earth.  The b-side, "Colored Rain" is a classic Traffic cut.  A beautiful little window is looking out onto the landscape of late 1967. 

Sparks - 'Mael Intuition: The Best of Sparks 1974-76" CD, Compilation, 1990 (Island)

I was living in Japan in 1989/1990, and I purchased a lot of CDs at the time.   I bought the Sparks compilation of their first three Island releases "Mael Intuition" because I didn't bring any Sparks' music from Los Angeles with me on this particular visit.   At the time, I didn't even know if I was going back to Los Angeles, due to visa issues and finances.  Nevertheless, due to my budget, this was one of the great buys in Japan.   Released in the UK and Europe, "Mael Intuition" focused on the albums, "Kimono My House," Propaganda," and "Indiscreet."  Interestingly enough, there are no b-side songs on this collection, which is a mystery to me, because all were excellent.  

For a lot of long-term fans of Sparks, or those of that generation,  this is probably the best introduction to their work, especially focused on when they were on Island Records.  First of all, there is no such thing as a bad Sparks' song or album.  So, with four decades of music, there is a lot to choose from, and most are in print, or not that difficult to find used or new.  Still, I would disagree with the subtitle saying this collection is the best of Sparks 1974-76, because there are essential Sparks' songs that were released as b-sides at the height of the Island years, and for all purposes, it should have been included in this compilation.  On the other hand, it's a great snapshot of what makes Sparks so fantastic.    Also, if I wasn't thousands of miles away from my Sparks' albums back in Los Angeles, I would never buy this CD.  It's the distance from home, and I wanted a memory, or at the very least, have some excellent music in my new world. 

Within two years or less, Sparks made huge jumps from "Kimono" to "Indiscreet."  A band that never gave the listener the same thing twice, yet their sound was always Sparks because that is within their DNA.  Ron Mael and Russell Mael (and their band) worked in an environment that had no outside influences, at least nothing obvious.   There are traces of music hall music, or bands like Move, that one can hear within their world, but Sparks manages to twist their songs into something that is not only unique but with incredible original melodies.  I'm sure one can find 'another song' in Ron's songwriting, but I personally can't find it.  It seems that their originality is always based somewhere inside their (Ron and Russell's) collective mind. 

Sparks to this day make perfect music, and yet, for history sake, one looks back to the Island years as of one of great importance.  It's interesting to note,  that there are no songs from "Big Beat" on this compilation because in the UK there were four Island albums, not three.  Whatever it's record business mishaps or a creative choice, the three original albums make sense in a stand-alone 'greatest hits' album.    The changes between the albums are not great, but it's the joy of its subtle differences between the three albums that make this collection a perfect joy.   For me, I run into people who don't know Sparks' music at all, which of course, is a sin.  On the other hand, I find "Mael Intuition" a very good welcome mat to the Sparks' world for these new listeners.  There are quite a few compilations of Sparks music out there in the world, but they may be too large for a new listener.  This, of course, is a subjective choice, but if one can't pass this collection, then I have no hope for them. 

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!

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. 

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.   

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.

Pulp - "Different Class" Vinyl, LP, Album, 2011/1995 (Music on Vinyl/Island)

The perfect storm.  I was standing at the Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, waiting for the walk sign where thousands are doing the same.  As I looked up, there was this video on the side of the building, and it was Pulp's "Common People."  I stood there and waited till the video was over.  At the time, and it may have been due to jet-lag, but I thought that this was the greatest video I have ever seen in my life time.  The year was 1995.  At that point (and still) whatever is happening in England, Tokyo will have all the recordings at Tower or at the local HMV music shop down the road from where I'm standing. I went to the Foreign music section, meaning English/American pop music, and found Pulp's "Different Class" at one of its many listening stations.  It was the only time in my life where I played the first to the last song, the whole album while standing up and with headphones on at a record store. 

I never heard such pop perfection!  It brought an emotional response from me, due that I pretty much gave up on contemporary pop music in the 1990s.  I was buying music, but it was the peak of the CD re-releases at that time, which means I was buying hard-to-find soundtracks or old Joe Meek recordings on CD.  And since I was in Japan, I was discovering new music to me - the charms of Jun Togawa.  But Pulp brought me back to the present with such force, that while I was in Tokyo, every day I would stop by and listen to the entire album in the listening section of the store.  Eventually, I did buy the British edition at HMV.   Looking through my collection, I have every CD single released from that album as well as a regular CD British release as well as a Japanese special release with an extra CD, full of remixes and b-sides. All excellent. 

What impressed me about Pulp was, of course, Jarvis Cocker, their lead singer, and lyricist. Jarvis at the time reminded me of a combination of Nöel Coward and Ray Davies.  Distantly, also Roxy Music.   One of the great frontmen of a band, Jarvis's take on the world was very focused on the fact that they came from Sheffield and with a strong literary bent he could sketch these incredible narratives about life around him.   In a fashion, he was very much in the tradition of John Osborne and other writers of the Kitchen Sink Realism school of literature.  Pulp although a band in 1995, very much reminded me of the aesthetics of 1966, with a foot in the world of Soho London and more likely specific locations in Sheffield.  

"Different Class" is 12 songs and not one is a loser.  Highly orchestrated in the sense that this is a real band behind Cocker.   Going back to Roxy Music, it seems to me that like Bryan Ferry, he's the architect, but he wouldn't have shit if not for the talented and visionary musicians in the band.  Mark Webber, Russell Senior, Candida Doyle, Nick Banks, and Steve Mackey play a vital role in the makeup that's Pulp.   Also having the great Chris Thomas as the producer is a super plus as well.  With that foundation in place, Jarvis Cocker can shine like the shining star.  All the songs are credited to the band, with lyrics by Cocker.  

"Common People" is the last great pop song.  One of the things why I love that song, and the album is that it doesn't represent the future, but more of the time, place (Tokyo?) and the emotional state that I was in when I first heard this album.   Re-listening to it (many times) as well as watching all the official video releases, and the b-sides, it strikes me as the perfect moment for this band.  I'm also a huge fan of the previous album as well as the two records that followed "Different Class."  So that lineage of albums kept on building till they broke up.  Perfection!

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. 

Ultravox! - "Ha! Ha! Ha!" CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, 2006/1977 (Island)

Not to be confused with the much later Ultravox with Midge Ure, this is the first version of the band that included the singer/lyricist John Foxx.  "Ha! Ha! Ha!" is their second album, and much improved from their first, in my humble opinion.  Foxx had a JG Ballard bent with regards to his lyrics or even with the visual aspect of the band.  At the time I thought of them as Roxy Music Jr.  Or a cousin of Howard Devoto's Magazine.   Like those two other bands, Ultravox! had an orchestrational touch to their music, meaning not strings (although there is violin in the mix) but the way the band was set-up with a wash of sound coming from them. 

They came on the scene at the height of the punk era, and was for awhile marketed as a 'punk' band, but clearly that is not what or who they are.  Songs "ROckWrok" and "The Man Who Dies Everyday" project an icy future of bleakness, and their classic "Hiroshima mon amour" (title based on the film, but I suspect that they didn't see the movie) is a beautiful electro-melody.  Steve Lilywhite did the production which is clean and energetic.  A great second album. 

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

Bryan Ferry - "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"/"Another Time, Another Place" (Island) 45 rpm 7" single, 1974

I bought this single in 1974, sold or lost it through the ages, and recently purchased again, in Tokyo.  1974, and especially anything dealing with Island Records, was an exciting time for a record fan or listener.   I discovered Sparks that year, and that is a gift that keeps on giving.  Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music is another cultural importance for me.  Ferry went on to have this duo-career of being the head thinker for Roxy Music while doing solo recordings.  I don't fully understand his need to do solo work, where he clearly wrote or co-wrote all the Roxy Music songs.  If he strictly just did covers, I can understand that for being a solo artist, but the fact he started to add original songs under "Bryan Ferry" is a mystery to me.   

"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" is a classic American pop tune from the early 1930s.  Depression era, and to Ferry a romantic time.   At this time, Ferry was mining the past, but he was making it into a Roxy re-make, where it seems at times he wrote the song himself.  It's love, but a love that is damaged and leaves the after-effects of smoke after the burning heart.  It's a beautiful bitter-sweet melody with lyrics that sting.  A perfect cocktail for someone like Bryan Ferry.

The b-side is a great Ferry composition "Another Time, Another Place."  Why this wasn't recorded for Roxy Music is a mystery.  It's a hypnotic piece of aural delight.  The importance of sound to take one to another place - that is basically the motif of the Bryan Ferry method of making art. 

Bryan Ferry - "Extended Play" Vinyl 7" EP

I purchased the original copy of this EP at Moby Disc record store when they were located on Ventura Bouvelard.   At the time, I loved the compactness of having an EP with four new songs.  The year being 1976, the height of the punk era, and yet, Bryan Ferry totally ignored that world for his own private-like cell of luxury and his version of recorded history.  The design and even the liner notes expresses a time gone past.  I imagine that Ferry still has all of his old original vinyl EP’s in some room in his house.  So this selection is perhaps a tribute to that era, but the music, at least on the surface, is all over the map.

We have a classic Beatle tune from “Rubber Soul,” and in theory Ferry could do a whole re-make of that album, and it would fit into his aesthetic.  It is quite straight forward with a heart on the sleeve sentiment - which ironically enough there is another track with that very title.  “Heart On My Sleeve” is totally nice but also unnecessary.  What comes off the strongest is his version of Jimmy Reed’s “Shame, Shame, Shame” and The Everly Brothers “The Pice Of Love.” That is totally superb, with an intensity that is powerful and then going right into “Shame…” is a great series of moments.  The b-side is all reflection, as I noted above.  But the real star of this package is the idea of the EP.

Bryan Ferry "Another Time, Another Place"

Bryan Ferry - Another Time, Another Place

CD, Album, Remastered

Virgin

The second Bryan Ferry album, and on the surface, it appears to follow the first, in that it is mostly all covers, except the title song “Another Time, Another Place.” The album opens with “The ‘In’ Crowd” and this mod soul classic is re-imagined by Ferry.  Here in Ferry’s hands the song becomes a manifesto.  In other words, it is pretty much what the listener imagines the world of Bryan Ferry is like.  “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” is another totally suitable piece of work, due that Ferry has a real understanding of the Great American Songbook.  He knows how to be subversive with the mixture of effortless elegance, with his much studied approach to that subject.  The beauty of this song sounds like Ferry wrote it.   The lyrics are genius.  The image of a heart in flames, which in turn causes the eyes to burn from the smoke, is a great visual ‘romantic’ image.

Sadly the rest of the album doesn’t match the two songs above.  The thing is I think he sees these songs as irony-free, but the enjoyment of a Bryan Ferry project is the projection of his pop aesthetic on a song form.  At least with his solo projects.   By no means is this a failure of an album, but compared to his initial solo, and of course Roxy Music, it is minor stuff.   Well, that’s true till  we get to the end of the album, when all of a sudden we get an original song by Ferry.  Not only an original, but a masterpiece by Ferry.  “Another Time, Another Place” is the iconic Ferry subject matter of time standing still, which is woebegone island for him.

Ferry doing covers as a solo project makes complete sense to me, but I am surprised that he put an original song on this album.   Even though it is the best thing cut, why not save this song for a Roxy project?  

Brian Eno - "Before and After Science" Vinyl LP

Brian Eno - Before and After Science

 Vinyl Album, U.S. 1977

Island Records

An album I like but never loved for some reason.  I think more in the context of what Eno was doing during this period of music activity.  At this time he had produced both Talking Heads and Devo’s first album, as well as Ultravox’s debut recording as well.   All albums he produced are very good, but the weak link in all of them is actually Eno’s production.  

I think he took his ideas to these other albums, and in one way they were wonderful, but also I got the feeling that he was more interested in what he can do with the band, then what the band can actually do.  For instance Devo, who I have seen numerous times before the first album was recorded, is much more of an intense force.  But through Eno’s assistance the sound is actually watered down, and I feel the same way about the Talking Heads albums as well.  I missed the noise out of the mix from his early recordings.  In other words his recordings became more respectable and ‘pleasant’ sounding.  The grooves on Before and After Science are funky, sound sonically great, but the genius aspect of Eno’s technique is missing.   Or perhaps it is me that lost the groove with Eno?  

The one classic song on this album is  “King’s Lead Hat” which when I first heard it in 1977, I thought it was a Devo reject.  The rest of the album flows like a flower in a glass of water, yet, I missed the tension of noise, sound, and melody of his earlier works.  

Brian Eno - "Another Green World" Vinyl LP

Brian Eno - Another Green World

Vinyl LP, Album, U.S., 1975

Island Records

The point of no return for Brian Eno and it is on this album that he discovered a new life of sorts as the glam years melt away and he took on a new identity, that to his day, he has kept up.  There is a natural progression from the first to the second and now third solo album in Eno’s career and music.  What strikes me now is how there is tension between the ambient sounds and the melody.  This is not a relaxing album to watch the seasons come and go, but more of an undercurrent of either sexual feelings or violence.  For me this is the last great Eno album. 

“Sky Saw” is one of the great opening tracks on an album ever.  John Cale’s shrieking amplified viola going against the sinister rhythms is the perfect set-piece mood for the rest of the album.  There are gentle moments through out the album, but there is always a sense of danger or intensity just on the other side of that relaxing moment.   Who would have known the great drumming on “Sky Saw” is actually Phil Collins!  This album is a combination of pure blissful beauty but overtures of changes taking place that one may not have control over.  For me a perfect album, but I don’t think Eno will be able to go beyond this.  In fact  he became more of a sound artist than anything else.  So one feels that Another Green World was a goodbye to a certain chapter in Eno’s life.

Brian Eno - "Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) Vinyl LP

Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)

Vinyl LP, Album, Gatefold, U.S., 1974

Island Records

The beauty of a classic Eno album are its textures.  Here Come The Warm Jets has great sonic touches that one can listen to it again and again, and still discover new things to hear in it.   Taking Tiger Mountain has the same quality, but it is very much a different type of album than the first Eno release.  In an odd way this album is sort of like a travel journal, where lyrically it hits areas (Asia?) of the world, but it is very much done in an abstract way, where you are not really that sure where this album is placed in the world.  Theme wise it reminds me of David Bowie’s Lodger of a foreigner going to a new land, mostly to escape from one’s own culture.  There are ambient sounds here, but instead of being in the background, it is way out front and it is like a strong beat.  I think of crickets used as a percussion instrument in “The Great Pretender.” 

I remember my friend Gary Friedlander buying this album at the same time I bought it when it was first released.  We rushed to his house to listen to it, and I think we must have played it at least four times. Right away it stuck me as a classic album.  The graphics are great, and the guitar work from Phil Manzanera is simply fantastic.  There should be a death sentence for those who don’t think Manzanera is one of the greats on that instrument.   His mixture of prog sensibilities with surf aesthetic is a unique one in the world of music.  There is not a bad or weak cut on this album.  The band Japan in their masterful Tin Drum record has taken a lot from this album and used the material in a more straight ahead fashion.  Also the Feelies first album has traces of Taking Tiger Mountain as well.  A true classic. 

Brian Eno - "Here Come The Warm Jets" Vinyl LP

Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets

Vinyl LP, Album, U.S., 1974

Island Records

I was deeply shocked when I read in Rolling Stone Magazine that Eno left Roxy Music.  The most shocking part to me was Rolling Stone even acknowledging Roxy Music and Eno.  For sure i thought that they didn’t know the band.  At the time, only in the U.K. and perhaps Europe was there media coverage on Bryan Ferry and Company.  The second shock was Eno leaving Roxy Music.  How can that be?  I wasn’t worried about Roxy Music, but I was worried about Eno.  So in 1974 it was a duty for me to purchase his first (and perhaps last at the time) Here Come The Warm Jets.   Well, odd enough, I wasn’t prepared for the sound that came off the vinyl into my ears.  Sonically, I was totally sold.   The first cut off the album “Needles In The Camel’s Eye”  sounded to me like something out of The Velvet Underground’s second album White Light White Heat.  Just a mono sound of grinding guitars with his beautiful vocal fighting against the noise.  I loved it. I still love it.  In fact I love this whole album. 

The first Roxy album prepared me for the sound, and Eno continued using that mixture of sparse electronics and bleeps with distant surf guitar and strong melody.  Also the album is so beautifully planned out - there is not a bad or weak cut on it.  Each song in a sense introduces the next, and it strikes me now that this is a record can only be made in 1974.  Glam was slowly disappearing at the time, and here Eno was introducing a new sound that was glam-like, but yet, something else.  Maybe a hybrid of John Cage with a glam leaning.  I don’t know, all I know is this album is important the way Sgt. Pepper is important to the culture.  

And the one major influence I think is John Cale era Velvets.  Even the song title has a Velvets feel to it.  “Cindy Tells Me,” “Blank Frank,” “Dead Finks Don’t Talk” and so forth.  More New York than West London.   Nevertheless the beauty of “Some Of Them Are Old” and how it gently joins in the last song “Here Come The Warm Jets” is simply a wonderful series of moments.   Oh, and the cover is great as well.

Andy Mackay - "In Search of Eddie Riff" Vinyl Album, 1974

Andy Mackay – In Search of Eddie Riff

Vinyl album, 1974

Island Records

Of all the Roxy Music side-projects this is the most eccentric, due that it sounds like the step-brother of the first Roxy album . Like that album its roots are pre-rock, exotica, and a touch of Joe Meek. It is one of my favorite albums due to its strangeness. Mackay is one of the architects of the Roxy sound, and this album is the proof in the cooking.

A mixture of camp is thrown in into this mix, but it is also very heartfelt. As I mentioned that are a lot of Meek touches through out the album. Specifically “Walking The Whippet” which sounds like a Meek b-side. It is simply lovely.

So In Search of Eddie Riff is very much a throw-back to the rock instrumental album – and doing so, it is also exposing the roots of Roxy Music, and why at that time it was the most modern sound out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDn5Tb1X2kg&feature=share&list=PL0FFE062739CA680F