INDEX
Bach "The Art Of Fugue" Emerson String Quartet DG 2002
Bartok Violin Concerto No 2 in B minor Kyung -Wha Chung/Rattle City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra EMI
The Benzedrine Monks Rhino 1994
David Bowie "The Man Who Sold The World" EMI 1971
JJ Cale "Troubadour" Mercury 1976
The Cardigans "Life" Trampoline Records 1995
Cream "Disraeli Gears" RSO 1967
Crosby Stills Nash and Young "Deja Vu" 1970
Drums: Triple CD "The Big Beat" Various Artists .... and a monkey Ellipsis Arts 1994
Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concert 1943 Jazz Anthology
Gershwin: "Toscanini + Goodman = Gershwin!" American Classics Opus 1 Vintage Jazz Classics Ltd VJC-1034 1991
Stan Getz "Jazz Samba" Verve 1962
Ghana:
Ghana Ancient Ceremonies, Songs and Dance Music recorded by Stephen Jay, Elektra Nonsuch Explorer Series, first released 1979)
Greece:
Musique De La Grece Antique Harmonia Mundi Atrium Musicae De Madrid Gregorio Paniagua 1979
Jimi Hendrix "Hendrix In The West" Reprise 1971
BB King "The Best Of BB King Volume One" Ace Records 1986
Koukouzeliz "Chant en l'honneur de l'archeveque, etc" Harmonia Mundi 1989
John Lennon Anthology
Mozart Ein Musikalischer Spass K522 Academy of St Martins In the Field Chamber Ensemble (with Eine Kleine Nachtmusik K525 and Divertimento D136)
Charlie Parker "Chasin' The Bird" Four CD live set Proper Records [info@proper.uk.com] [bought] 2006
Elvis Presley: The King's Record Collection the original versions of songs later performed by Elvis Presley, Volume Two Hip-O 1998
Hossam Ramzy "Source Of Fire"
Django Reinhardt "Jazz Ballads" Membran 1936-1949
The Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang" Virgin 2005
Alexander Scriabin "Preludes" Vol 2 Evgeny Zarafiants Piano Naxos 1892-1914
Howling Wolf "His Greatest Sides" Chess
Frank Zappa "Over-Nite Sensation" 1973
REVIEWS
Diana Ross fans will spot more than a suggestion of "The Theme To Mahogony" residing in variation number 20 (at about 1:20 seconds and the same theme varied at 4:00 minutes)!!; 5 and 7 are good jazz bass style, 8 is great and 6 would be good to play to a sports team before they go out to play. Also ear catching are numbers 17, 19 and 21. If you want to see why Bach is popular with jazz musicians (and indeed rock musicians), the Art Of Fugue is a good place to start listening.
The opening of the violin concerto is very up to date: it sounds a little like a brief touch of Brian Wilson, mood setting, a real groove. The work as a whole is of course excellent, but the beginning is a whole world of its own. It could fit at the start of virtually any popular work of quality and similar feel.
The Benzedrine Monks
This is a classic result of the mid '90s chant mania that saw a multitude of Gregorian chant records released. Rhino had the idea for a "chant" version of a medley of rock hits, and so came about the Benzedrine Monks. The CD is a sort of EP of six tracks including The Monkees' theme ("Here we come .... Hey hey we're the Monks ...."), Queen's "We Will Rock You", Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", REM's "Losing My Religion" ha ha: these monks lost it long ago), and eventually the grand finale, a great version of Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?
David Bowie "The Man Who Sold The World"
The album is a template for grunge, and other styles (Nirvana played the title track, which is essentially the sound of Nirvana, on their live "Unplugged" album). Bowie also brings in the "space rock" electric riffs .... that sound as though they were written, or played, by aliens: "Black Country Rock" introduces a new identity in music, the guitar riffs in the middle section being the progenitor of the whole Berlin "Low" experience. "She Shook Me ...." is an earlier example of the "Moonage Daydream" trip of tied up sex and tension: the lyrics tell the story ... "she sucked my dormant will .... she blew my mind .... I threw her to the ground" (on the Bronte "Wuthering Heights" wind swept hill side).
The opening track, the very classic "Width Of A Circle", plays for about eight minutes and brings in Cream era Eric Clapton-like guitar along with the Wagnerian riff that sets the scene for the whole album. You know that something is coming, from this riff, and when you think the piece is finishing Bowie introduces a new part: very classical.
The last track evolves through various Nietzschean mouthings over an ABABCB musical structure, then dissolves into a Hendrix style chaos at the end, the guitar presaging the "John I'm Only Dancing" repeated high pitched guitar "sound".
JJ Cale "Troubadour"
This an album from 1976, and contains the powdery strains of Cale's all time hit "Cocaine". The song was recorded by Eric Clapton at the same time, and Cale's original appears to have pretty much exactly the same backing. The whole album has a real groove right through it; a good example is the opener, "Hey aby".
Great album, just before their big hit album "First Band on The Moon". Has a soft jazz sound and many diminished chords, usually unusual in a rock album.
The great psychedelic electric blues rock album from Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. Has the Hendrix inspired riff-driven track "The Sunshine of our Love", which features a very colourful solo from Eric Clapton.
Crosby Stills Nash and Young "Deja Vu"
This album sounds like a greatest hits: with four brilliant songwriters there was going to be a lot of good music. There are, for example, "Helpless" from Neil Young, and the song popularised by Madness, "Our House", from Graham Nash.
[Drums] Triple CD "The Big Beat"
A stunning collection of different drumming from all over the world, from a monkey beating off on a tree trunk to Jack de Johnette's shimmering cymbles in 1975. The music is primarily "Third World", but Carl Palmer also makes an appearance (from '70s prog rockers Emerson Lake and Palmer), as does jazz supremo Elvin Jones. African drums, Indian drums, Pacific Island drums, .... I saw Jack de Johnette live in 2006, and he stills shimmers the cymbals, and more.
Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concert 1943
In 1943, Duke Ellington made it to the classical holy of holies, Carnegie Hall, New York. By this time he had developed the concert format that continued into the 1970s: the main body of the concert, then a medley section which came eventually to be introduced by his phrase "I've been very lucky as a songwriter ....". As he was at Carnegie Hall, with a white audience and in a more formal environment than usual, the Dukester is very interesting when announcing pieces, eg; "And now one of our clarinetists, Jimmy Hamilton, will improvise on the theme known as "Honeysuckle Rose". Drummer Sonny Greer highlights with his chimes on the famous concert feature "Ring Dem Bells".
The record's concert format also clearly shows how Ellington's music was "classical" eg: the huge amount of music in a three minute track such as "Ring Dem Bells": hear the original recording.
The ultimate seduction record: clothes will defy gravity no longer if this CD is put onto the player. There was a huge hit track: "Desafinado", an enormous chart success in 1962, partially because of the clear sensuality of the sound. The album fully introduced bossa nova to the world.
Gershwin: "Toscanini + Goodman = Gershwin!"
Classics indeed: The Overture to "An American In Paris" from the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini, The Piano Concerto in F (feat Oscar Levant at the piano) Rhapsody In Blue (the pianist is the free flowing Earl Wild, with the opening clarinet hook from Benny Goodman). Finally there is the ideal encore: three live tracks from Benny Goodman backed by Johnny Green and the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra: Gershwin's masterpiece "The Man I Love", the ad man's favourite "I Only Have Eyes For You" and a frantic work out called "Dizzy Fingers": 74.33 minutes of colour and interest.pianist is the free flowing Earl Wild, with the opening clarinet hook from Benny Goodman). Finally there is the ideal encore: three live tracks from Benny Goodman backed by Johnny Green and the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra: Gershwin's masterpiece "The Man I Love", the ad man's favourite "I Only Have Eyes For You" and a frantic work out called "Dizzy Fingers": 74.33 minutes of colour and interest.
Ghana: Ghana Ancient Ceremonies
This is unreal. Varied musicians and singers were recorded in Ghana in the late seventies. It is interesting to hear the similarities to some current Western (American) music. The "Gonje songs" are the blues, pure and simple: you would just replace the single string "violin" with a guitar, the language would become English (the track would therefore be slower), and there you are. The drummers have the "Western" beat: I played a country style song along to the first track, "Dogumbo Song", from Sandema. "Ahanta Chant I", from Dixcove, is a great piece, the sound and tune being in general familiar to Western listeners. One of the featured instruments, the "wiick", is a flute. There is also an accapella song by a girl recorded in central Ghana ("Marilli") that sounds like '60s oul/rock. Yet at times the singer is producing multiple notes. You gotta hear this.
Greece: Musique De La Grece Antique
This is an imaginative attempt by musicians of today to present ancient Greek music as it may have sounded, the music itself being from fragments discovered by archeologists; the occasional dramatic voice part adds to the feel, and something about this CD makes you think, at times, that you may actually be here, back more than two thousand years, in ancient Greece. Interesting tracks include "Hymn To The Muse", "Hymn To Nemesis" (a jazz sax feel, written on michigan papyrus), and "The Second Delphic Hymn To Appollo" by Limenios, son of Thoinos.
Jimi Hendrix "Hendrix In The West"
This album, which has not yet made it to CD, is a compilation of the best live Hendrix tracks. It starts with the famous "Johnny B Goode" at the Berkeley Community Centre gig on May 30 1970, continues with a lightning fast "Lover Man" (Hendrix's version of "Rock Me Baby") with Eddie van Halen-fast note flurries. Then comes an arpeggiated "Blue Suede Shoes", looping with improvised riffs. A dense "Voodoo Child" gives way to the classic opening of is appearance at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, where he began with "God Save The Queen" segueing into "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". The announcer at the start speaks the fabled phrase "A bit more volume on this one arlie: it's gonna need it .... and the man with the guitar, Jimi Hendrix". There is also the live version of "Little Wing" and the album closes with the very best ever version of "Red House", complete with slow wah wah passage.
BB King "The Best Of BB King Volume One"
That rolling, falling, walking bass and great rural lyrics: "like being hit by a falling tree, you upset me baby" ("You Upset Me Baby", a wriutten by BB King himself); there are also classics like "Every Day I HaveThe Blues". Then there are the model guitar solos like on "Mean Ole Frisco": the history of blues guitar soloing is basically that in the 1940s T Bone Walker played a single note line style that came from acoustic blues pioneer Blind Lemon Jefferson, whom he used to lead around as a teenager in Texas. BB King then took that single line (the Texas style) and added the thick note approach of the Delta (Muddy Waters, etc). He also added slurs, instead of T Bone Walker's clear notes. So BB married sophisticated note runs with the feel and colour of the Delta. He took the Texas uitar clarity and power and blended it with the Delta .... to invent lead guitar as we know it. All of this and more is featured on this twenty track best of his early records in the 1950s.
Koukouzeliz "Chant en l'honneur de l'archeveque, etc"
This is extraordinary. The actual title of the album that I discovered is "Grece: Les Grandes Epoques Du Chant Sacre Byzantin (XIV - XVIII Siecle)". It is reek chant performed by the Ensemble Theodore Vassilikos, and the highlight for me by far is the two works by fourteenth century monk Ioannis Koukouzeliz, who lived at the famous Aghia-Athos monastery. His melodic gift makes him an early George Michael!! Turn it up and rock out.
John Lennon
This is the four CD set that covers his entire solo career including the 1980 demos. The first of the discs is especially good, as it has what are effectively emos of Lennon's first two, and best, albums "Plastic Ono Band" and "Imagine". The version of "God", from the first album, is "better" than the first released version, for me: it is more straight ahead, a more bandlike format. These recordings are like listening to new albums. Also included is the (now ex) bootleg recording of Lennon's reply to Dylan's late 1970s religious songs, called "Serve Yourself".
People should hear this: Mozart deliberately writes (or tries to write) bad music!! He was always a joker, even in his usual music. The final chord is great: it sounds like some kind of modern jazz. The English translation of the title is of course "A Musical Joke".
Charlie Parker "Chasin' The Bird" set
This is worth it literally for just the first track: a version of the vehicle that Charlie used to bring bebop to the world, the popular song "Cherokee". It was recorded at Monroe's Club in 1942 in New York, and it is not even clear who the backing musicicans are, but what a piece of history. The next track is almost as good, Parker with Jay McShann's swing orchestra live also in 1942. The third track is a peek into the evolutionary stage of modern jazz: Bird and Dizzy Gillespie accompanied by Oscar Pettiford on bass recorded in a room at the Savoy Hotel in Chicago in February 1943, BEFORE they got together in Billy Eckstein's band and nailed it completely. Hear Diz play his "wrong" notes.
Following these pieces of gold dust are four cuts from LA live gigs in December 1945 and January 1946, when he played very fast (the time of his masterpiece "Koko", based on the aforementioned "Cherokee"): people say he was not as fluid after the upcoming drug induced Camarillo hospital episode later in 1946. These tracks are great, as the quality is really good and not only is Gillespie on hand but also Parker's definitive pianist Al Haig.
And as if that wasn't enough, the next five tracks are live with Miles Davis on trumpet, still in LA and still before the Camarillo blow up.
Several classic gigs are on this set, including the very famous "Summit At Birdland" concert in 1951, and a gig in Harlem that noone even seems to know he played, but which was recently turned up! Hear it or die.
[Elvis Presley] The King's Record Collection
This is a brilliant collection. These songs are classics and the original versions are revelatory, if you haven't heard them. The album opens with Hank Snow singing "Now And Then There's A Fool Such As I", and is unified in the middle by two Jimmy Reed tracks, "Big Boss Man" (performed by Eric Clapton and other early English blues rockers in the mid '60s) and "Guitar Man". "Guitar Man is a great great record, better than Elvis' version for me. It truly tells a story: it has a great feel.
The songs were all recorded after Elvis left the army, so they are perhaps a little ore subtle than the more obvious hits he recorded in the '50s. Other highlights include "Love Letters" and "The Wonder Of You". These songs were not written for Elvis: and because they are of a particular type, the album therefore has an identity all of its own. They also allow you to see what music had been, the country and the rhythm and blues, before Elvis put his stamp on it.
Hossam Ramzy is an Egyptian percussionist, and he played with Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and Jimmy Page on their "No Quarter" tour in the mid nineties. This album is very relaxing yet also rhythmic and exciting. It blends with almost anything in terms of human activity, which is one reason why it is a "must hear".
Django Reinhardt "Jazz Ballads"
Excellent ballad double CD compilation eg: "Body And Soul", "Georgia" and "Sophisticated Lady".
The Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang"
This is a really good album. Released, of course, in 2005, it contains a real Stones classic "Streets Of Love", and other hot cuts such as "Biggest Mistake" and "Oh No Not You Again", which has been performed live by the Stones this year (2006). Mick Jagger's lyrics are very good, and almost amusing with the second track "Let Me Down Slow" where he sees his partner return from a "walk" looking flushed and "so hard core", and tells her to take it easy telling him she has just been with someone else. Shouldn't that be Mick who was with someone else?
The melodic hook in this song sounds like one of their mid '60s classics, which somehow makes it even more interesting. This album is good music, and a real "Discovery".
He was the mystic modern Russian composer. See Bud Powell and even Thelonious Monk in development. Don't forget also his salute to ecstasy, the "Poeme d'Extase" (the Poem Of Ecstasy), where you can hear origins of Duke Ellington's trumpet writing.
Howling Wolf "His Greatest Sides"
The Wolf recorded very influential records in the '50s and '60s. He was one of the four main influences on the Rolling Stones (the others being Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and Jimmy Reed). His guitarist Hubert Sumlin was a model for Eric Clapton: some of the solos sound a lot like Clapton. A stand out track is "Sitting On Top Of The World", which Clapton later covered with Cream. Another classic is "Back Door Man", covered by the Doors: "... the men don't know but the little girls understand".
Frank Zappa "Over-Nite Sensation"
This is the most accessible Zappa album, the rockiest and possibly the funniest. The tracks include "Camarillo Brillo, about a Latin girl with cool castanets, the concert classic "Dirty Love" and the classic rock comedy song "Dinah-Moe-Hum": "I once met a girl called Dinah-Moe-Hum. She said, 'I've got a forty dollar bill says you can't make me come'. So I got on down to it ....". Then there's "Zomby Woof". After that you may want to be "moving to Montana". The music is straight ahead rock, with additions!