The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "Electric Ladyland" Vinyl, LP, Album, 1968 (Track Records)

I was 15 years old when "Electric Ladyland" came out.  The original British cover spoke to the teenage heterosexual in a manner that was very direct, and perhaps more so than any other album cover of its time.  And the music wasn't bad!   I originally had the American version with Hendrix on the cover.  No way or in fashion would the British cover be allowed in the American market at its time.   If it was one naked lady, then that may have passed, but to have a dozen or so, on the front and back (fold out) cover, that is clearly a no-no.   Reportedly Hendrix hated the British cover.  In my teenage mind, I thought this was very much the lifestyle of Hendrix.  Perhaps the cover was taken in his home or bedroom.   It wasn't, but to a 15-year old, the fantasy outlives the reality. 

The music on this album is superb.   The Jimi Hendrix Experience was progressing from the first to the last album, which to me, is "Electric Ladyland."  I never bought any albums after his death, because I felt the unfinished work was not meant to be heard because Hendrix couldn't give its proper blessing due to his untimely death.    "Electric Ladyland" is both looking back, but very much a forward album.  Here, he works with other musicians and the music is more of a bigger canvas than the first two Hendrix Experience albums.    

Hendrix without a doubt is a genius guitar player, but he is also a fantastic arranger, lyricist, and record producer.  Technically an Experience album, but apparently Hendrix is thinking like a solo artist here.  The dreamy side of him such as "And the Gods Made Love" (goes with the British cover in my opinion), "Rainy Day Dream Away," "1983.." are all impressionistic paintings set to music.  One cannot separate the visual aspect of Hendrix, not only in his dandyism but also the colors that reflect in his music.  My favorite Hendrix song "The Burning of the Midnight Lamp" is perfection.  Psychedelic but holding on to the melody if life was about to be stamped out.  A great record, a great single.   Or was it ever a single?  

"Electric Ladyland" is a very sophisticated album.  When I first initially heard the album back in 1968, I felt it was opening up to new avenues, and I was excited to follow that Hendrix road.  His death was a major disappointment to me because I felt he would have gone on to make very interesting sounds.   And I have to add the importance of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell in the band.   In fact, Mitchell as a drummer is simply amazing.  More jazz-like than rock n' roll.   Mitchell's professional life as a musician sounds incredible.  From having a rifle pointed at his head by Joe Meek to working with Jimi.  How perfect is that?

Michael Nyman - "A Zed & Two Noughts" CD, Album, Original Soundtrack Recording, 1988 (That's Entertainment Records)

In the late 1980s, I became devoted to the films made by Peter Greenaway.  I loved his approach to his subject matters which were always questioning the process of nature and science, which leads to human sexuality as well as the structure of culture and politics.  That's a mouthful I know, but Greenaway is nothing else but a Maximalist.  His films are total overkill of images, sound, and thought.  The fun of seeing his films in a public movie theater were the people who walked out during the screening.  I have never been in an audience where so many hated what they were watching.  Even in the lobby after the film, strangers have come up to me to express their displeasure of viewing his works. I imagine being an artist, this is highly complementary to his films.  It's obvious that Greenaway is not for everyone, and nor is the music by Michael Nyman.   One of the great director/composer relationships ever.  Similar to Fellini/Nino Rota or David Lynch with Angelo Badalamenti.  When Nyman left Greenaway, I stopped watching his films. 

I discovered the soundtrack to "A Zed & Two Noughts" at "The Wave" record store (non-existent now) in Roppongi Tokyo.  For whatever reason, Nyman's entire catalog at the time was available at this store.   My first reaction when I heard this soundtrack album as well as seeing the film was that the music was speeded up to a ridiculous level.  After a few minutes in, I grew to love it.  Nyman is one of my favorite contemporary composers.  This particular soundtrack is stunning.   I never heard Harpiscord keyboard played as a speed metal piece or I should say, speed chamber music work.  At the same time his melodies are humingable.   He is also excellent in buildng up tension and then adding a sense of sweetness on top of it that floats in and out of the pace or beat.  Beautifully orchestrated, with layers of textures, and its music that looks back to Baroque chamber music but clearly contemporary in its scope. 

New York Dolls - "A Hard Night's Day" CD, Album, 2000 (Norton Records)

Perfection.  Paul Nelson when he signed the New York Dolls to Mercury he brought the band to a studio, and in one night recorded 21 songs as demos, to be picked upon by producer Todd Rundgren, at a later date.  These recordings are the best representation of the Dolls.  The band is sloppy in parts, but it is also part of their genius in that they had amazing songs, and their covers they did at the time, represented their trashy aesthetic and love for vintage rock n' roll.  It's interesting to note that the Dolls must have liked British Invasion bands like early Who or The Kinks, yet all their covers are American, based on the blues, or Atlantic Records-era rock recordings, or Chuck Berry.  So in a nutshell, the ultimate American rock band.

When I first heard the Dolls, which was their first Mercury album, I thought to myself, 'yes.'  At the time, The Stones were creatively spent, and there was a need for a younger band with great songs.  The Dolls were it.  On the other hand, the commercial music world disagreed with me.  Still, history will show that The Dolls were very much part of their decade, and the songs they wrote "Trash," "Personality Crisis," "Frankenstein" and others, were rooted in their social lives at the time.  It's a great snapshot of New York City subculture at work.  And "A Hard Night's Day" is very much that photograph or series of photos conveying the energy, sound, and genius of that time.

The Dolls wrote songs that were observational.  In that sense, they resemble Ray Davies of The Kinks.  Or even early Bowie.  David Johansen is a brilliant lyricist and through his solo career one can see that he is also a great music historian, but the same can be said for Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain as well.   And the rhythm section of Jerry Nolan (great drummer) and Arthur Kane were extremely important to their overall sound.  So to me, a perfectly balanced band.  

Paul Nelson captured the excitement much better than the official two studio Mercury albums.  This album is an important document but beyond that journalistic/studying approach, this is music to celebrate an independence that was greatly needed at the time.  

Ennio Morricone "Danger: Diabolik" CD, Album, Unofficial Release, 2001 (Sycodelic)

The legendary and lost soundtrack album from Ennio Morricone.  "Danger: Diabolik" is the ultimate late 1960s (or is it the 70s) hero/villain film made in Europe.  A combination of The Phantom meets James Bond mixed with Fantomas, Diabolik is the ultimate of the ultimate masked heroes, who embraced the sexual revolution with great passion.  Actually, he has a true love that is more Eros than keeping a home together.   The soundtrack is equal to the film, and the story is that the master tapes were destroyed in a fire.   So the soundtrack has never been released officially, only in the shadow world of bootlegs.  

The album is great. It does have a classic Morricone song "Deep Down," which I believe is known to all those who love Retro Lounge Culture.   The album is a mixture of electronics, sound effects, and sharp bursts of melody that runs through the entire soundtrack.  This particular package also has a lot of dialogue, which I suspect that they just recorded everything from a film print or VHS tape.  So, entirely listenable, the sound quality is not the best in the world.  Still, it's a fantastic album, and important for those like me who collect Morricone. 

Mick Harvey "Intoxicated Man" CD, album, 1995 (Mute)

In 1995, Mick Harvey put out his first album of Serge Gainsbourg songs.   This is not an easy process to do because Gainsbourg's lyrics are very tricky to do in English.  There are many layers of puns, jokes, and something meanings in his songs.  Very textural work, and it takes a master to translate the lyrics from French to English.   Harvey does the job swell, as well as my translator for the Gainsbourg biography I published (TamTam Books) by Gilles Verlant.  Paul Knobloch catches the layers as well.  But here we concentrate on Harvey's album of Gainsbourg tunes.

Gainsbourg as a songwriter, singer, arranger is a vast canvas.  Harvey doesn't just focus on the hits here on 'Intoxicated Man," but also the 'deep cuts' of this songwriter.   Also Harvey, perhaps due to his lifetime association with the world of Nick Cave, he automatically has a sense of sophistication.  So Harvey matching up with Gainsbourg is a great fit.   A wonderful introduction to the world of Serge's songs, but also the French Jazz/Pop culture as well.  

Harvey has done five Gainsbourg albums, and "Intoxicated Man" is his first of the series.  The hits are here as well as some of the more obscure songs - but the Bardot/Gainsbourg combination is well represented with "Ford Mustang," "Bonnie & Clyde," and "Harley Davidson."  Harvey stays close to the song's purpose and melody, but he adds his own unique arrangements to the works here.  This is very much of an album by a musician who is quite talented, perhaps brilliant as an arranger.  I have always imagined that Harvey was Cave's music director in The Bad Seeds, and here he uses his talent in that sense by the selection of the songs, but their production/arrangement as well.  Exceptional work.  I can't imagine any Gainsbourg fan would find fault in these recordings.   There's not a bad cut here because Harvey is an excellent editor and a man of great taste. 

György Ligeti - Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez -"Chamber Concerto"/"Ramifications"/"Aventures"/"Nouvelles Aventures" LP, Vinyl, 1983 (Deutsche Grammophon )

Side one is beautiful orchestration that slowly and seductively leads to tension that is released little by little.  Pierre Boulez's conducting the orchestra and György Ligeti's intense score is an amazing listening experience.   His music seems to hold energy into a small space, and once it dispels into the ears or listening room, it's a release that is almost sexual.  The harpsichord comes in and out of the orchestration or mixes in a very efficient manner.   Great music.

Side two is "Nouvelles Aventures," and it's mostly vocal work with a touch of instrumentation here and there.  Again it's a tightly held piece of intensity which keeps the listener on their toes.  DADA or Letterist like in performance, I have a feeling that there is a visual side to "Nouvelles Aventures."  

Fred Astaire - "The Astaire Story, With The Stars of Jazz at the Philharmonic" 3xVinyl, LP, Reissue, 1953 (DRG Records)

A superb box set of three discs plus booklet.  A recording made in Los Angeles, December 1952, with Jazz musicians Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel, Charlie Shavers, Flip Phillips, Ray Brown, and Alvin Stoller.   And our Fred Astaire as lead vocalist and tap dancer (or percussion for this album).  Astaire is an iconic dancer of films made from the Depression 1950s to the atomic age 1950s.  He is also an incredible vocalist, and in fact, Cole Porter has commented that Fred is his favorite singer of his songs.   This album exposes that sentiment as well as his role in modern Jazz.   

Astaire sings the classics that he's known for through his various film work, but for the first time, the setting is him being surrounded by Jazz players.  "The Astaire Story" is very much a jazz vocalist album with the additional highlights of him tap dancing as a percussionist of sorts.  What one would think this would have been an alien landscape for Astaire is actually a natural playground for him.  He sings like a great jazz vocalist, who due to his sense of rhythm, totally makes him one with the arrangements on this album.   The gentleman in hand is a sophisticated figure, and this album reeks of sophistication and style.  Brilliant package with an excellent booklet of photos and drawings done at the time of the session.