Log #86 - The Incredible Incredible String Band

Got a real "marmite" record in the player this week. The incredible Incredible String Band record is frankly amazing. It's just very different. It's fairly indescribable. The closest description would be a sort of folk, sometimes termed psychedelic folk:

In their amateurish mish-mash of world music styles, epic poetic traditions and copious psychedelics they stumbled upon a style of music all their own.

DJ Snufkin

However you like to describe it, it polarises listeners - many love it, many hate it. It has enjoyed much reverence from musicians and critics. Paul McCartney, Dylan and John Peel were fans. McCartney selected the album as his favourite of 1968. Led Zeppelin were apparently heavily influenced by it, particularly around the time of producing their III album. It frequently features in "greatest albums of all time" lists. 

Yet many find it unlistenable:

"Plas man" on amazon describes it as "amateurs playing various instruments, and different tunes, all at the same time." Another amazon customer was even less charitable describing it as "by far the worst album I ever bought. What the hell were they thinking or indeed smoking. Utter and complete garbage."

In her amusing review Alt Rock Chick writes: "What I find incredible about this group is that they were ever allowed in the studio in the first place. They have all the talent of third-rate buskers, the kind of street performers whose sound makes you dash to the opposite side of the street as you approach the spot from which their horrible noise emanates." She goes on to damn the music as "the most repulsive music I have ever heard."

To many western ears it sounds out of tune and Alt Rock Chick describes the singing as beyond any notes found on any scale known to humankind! Fantastic stuff. I don't know about you but anything that elicits such extreme views has got to be worth a listen.

The ISB at their infamous Woodstock appearance, songwriters Mike Heron and Robin Williamson, backed by girlfriends

In the style of a good court room drama I'm pleased to take the role of the defending barrister putting the case for the defence of this album. I will present three pieces of evidence which I will show prove beyond reasonable doubt that The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter is in fact an amazing record. In fact I can do this by an examination of the first three tracks only.

Exhibit A

I first present the opening song Koeeoaddi There as Exhibit A. There are enough ideas in this 5 minute piece for a whole career let alone a single album or song. The structure of the song, like a lot of Incredible String Band songs is all over the place but in my opinion it holds together and works. It's actually a masterpiece!

The lyrics present a description of childhood to which many of us can relate, particularly the "shadowy fingers on the curtains at night":

Born in a house where the doors shut tight
Shadowy fingers on the curtains at night
Cherry tree blossom head high snow
A busy main road where I wasn't to go
I used to sit on the garden wall
Say hello to people going by so tall
Hallo to the postman's stubbly skin
Hallo to the baker's stubbly grin

There is also a mention of Mike Heron's enigmatic girlfriend* Licorice in a Dr. Seuss inspired verse:

But me and Licorice saw the last of them one misty twisty day
Across the mournful morning, moor motoring away
Singing ladybird, ladybird what is your wish
Your wish is not granted unless it’s a fish
Your wish is not granted unless it’s a dish
A fish on a dish is that what you wish

There is even a sort of chorus which is the catchiest part of the song:

Earth water fire and air

Met together in a garden fair

Put in a basket bound with skin

If you answer this riddle

If you answer this riddle, you’ll never begin

The girls in the band are an interesting case. They were Christina "Licorice" McKechnie and Rose Simpson. I'm not sure whether they were more important as musicians or girlfriends - certainly it appears they were the latter before the former. Licorice was partnered with Robin Williamson and left the band in 1972 after their romantic relationship ended. Rose was Mike Heron's partner and allegedly was invited to join the band only because Licorice had been invited too. By all accounts there was a fair bit of rivalry between Williamson and Heron personally and professionally. The girls didn't get on either!

[*Hang on a minute - you said Licorice was Mike's girlfriend, but then was with Robin. Which was it? Ed.
Actually it was probably both - you know, the swinging sixties, and just look at that cover! Or was that Rose?..

In the middle of the night she (Rose) left Robin's sleeping bag, crawled in with Mike, and stayed with him for the next three years.

Joe Boyd 

... actually my error, Koeeoaddi There was written by Robin so it was him, apologies. Glad we've cleared that up.]

Mike Heron, Rose Simpson, Licorice and Robin Williamson

Exhibit B

Exhibit B is The Minotaur Song which is an enjoyable call and response marching song. It features Richard Thompson and Judy Dyble from Fairport Convention. Roll up your sleeves and sing-a-long:

Straight from the shoulder
I think like a soldier
I know what's right and what's wrong
He knows what's right and what's wrong!

I'm the original discriminating buffalo man
And I'll do what's wrong as long as I can
He'll do what's wrong as long as he can!

I live in a labyrinth under the sea
Down in the dark as dark as can be
I like the dark as dark as can be
He likes the dark as dark as can be!

Heron and Williamson - never great friends

Exhibit C

Exhibit C is the thirteen minute epic A Very Cellular Song, a kind of circular suite that opens with a wavering organ riff and harpsichord refrain which ebbs and flows, and leaves and returns throughout.

The lyrics are out of this world, literally:

Nebulous nearnesses cry to me
At this timeless moment someone dear to me
Wants me near, makes me high
I can hear vibrations fly

Through mangoes, pomegranates and planes
All the same
When it reaches me and teaches me
To sigh

Who would mouse and who would lion
Or who would be the tamer?
And who would hear directions clear
From the unnameable namer?

Who would skip and who would plot
Or who would lie quite stilly?
And who would ride backwards on a giraffe?
Stopping every so often to laugh

Amoebas are very small
Oh ah ee oo
There's absolutely no strife
Living the timeless life, I don't need a wife
Living the timeless life

If I need a friend I just give a wriggle
Split right down the middle
And when I look there's two of me
Both as handsome as can be

Oh, here we go slithering, here we go
Slithering and squelching on
Oh, here we go slithering, here we go
Slithering and squelching on

Oh ah ee oo
There's absolutely no strife
Living the timeless life

Black hair, brown hair feather and scale
Seed and stamen and all unnamed lives that live
Turn your quivering nerves in my direction
Turn your quivering nerves in my direction

Feel the energy projection of my cells wishes you well

May the long time sun shine upon you
All love surround you
And the pure light within you
Guide you all the way on

I have heard the last verse before as a yoga mantra. I had assumed this was a traditional mantra but apparently the mantra was lifted from this original ISB song.

Apparently the spiritual leader of Kundalini Yoga, Yogi Bhajan, once came into a room where a group of yoga students were singing the ISB song. Yogi asked them to keep it up, and from then on requested them to sing it after his classes. It quickly became a tradition that continues today at the end of every Kundalini Yoga class taught throughout the world.

When the Incredible String Band toured the States in the late 60s May the Long Time Sun was always the closing song at their gigs.

They were invited to play Woodstock but didn't make the edit for the original film. Originally scheduled to play the more acoustic Friday evening as one of the headliners they were bumped to the heavy rock Saturday due to the famous rain and didn't go down so well. An opportunity lost.

The Woodstock setlist:
Invocation
The Letter
Gather Round
This Moment
Come With Me
When You Find Out Who You Are

Oddly no songs from "Hangman".

Closing Remarks

It is time to rest my case, your honour. I hope I have made a case strong enough for listeners to investigate, or reappraise, this most unusual and fascinating album.

After Hangman the band fell within the clutches of Scientology and despite some decent later albums and continuing good sales (much of the proceeds they invested in the Church) they gradually lost their edge:

Soon the new compositions began to lose their wild melodic beauty. In the studio, there were fewer moments of surprise and inspiration.

Joe Boyd 

The band broke up in 1974, both leading members going on to take up solo careers with the occasional short lived reunion. The enigmatic Licorice, like one of her front teeth, sadly went missing in the late 80s, presumed dead.


The full log this week:

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1. Neil Young - On The Beach

2. Deep Purple - Machine Head

3. Cocteau Twins - Four Calendar Cafe

4. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun

5. Susumu Yokota - Sakura

6. The Incredible String Band -  The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

~

To read more about the Incredible String Band, along with all the other artists Joe Boyd managed and produced in the late 60s - Fairport Convention, John Martyn, Nick Drake, early Pink Floyd etc. I highly recommend his brilliant and very readable White Bicycles memoir.

Since you’re here…

… I have a small favour to ask. More people are reading my blog than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, I haven’t put up a paywall – I want to keep my journalism as open as I can. So you can see why I need to ask for your help. My independent, investigative journalism doesn't takes a lot of time, nor money and not much hard work to be honest. But I do it because it's fun and I learn a lot and I believe my perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.

If everyone who reads my reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure. For as little as no money at all, you can support 6 Album Sunday – and it only takes a second. Please sign up to my email alerts here. Thank you.

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Log #85 - Is This Neil Young's Greatest Ever Album?

Is On The Beach Neil Young's greatest ever album? The middle of the so called "ditch" trilogy, On the Beach came out in 1974 between 1973's Time Fades Away and 1975's Tonight's The Night.

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1. Neil Young - On The Beach

2. Deep Purple - Machine Head

3. Cocteau Twins - Four Calendar Cafe

4. Cocteau Twins - Treasure

5. Susuma Yokota - Sakura

6. Ludovico Einaudi -  In a Time Lapse

~

Heart of Gold put me in the middle of the road. Travelling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there.

Neil Young's off quoted statement explains his deliberate "sabotage" of a career that had reached commercial success with his Harvest album - the single Heart of Gold reached No. 1 in the US in April 1972.

As it happens this "sabotage" actually secured a long term reputation for unpredictable brilliance as he followed the (relatively) soft acoustic Harvest with these three albums of raw angry rock that many fans now consider collectively his greatest work.

The catalyst for the change was the death of his backing guitarist Danny Whitten from a heroin overdose in late 1972. Young had fired him from his band Crazy Horse and for many years afterwards blamed himself for Whitten's death.

Recorded live on tour without Whitten Time Fades Away is a raucous scattered selection of previously unreleased songs. Still unavailable on CD the album has unaccountably been dismissed by Young himself but remains a firm favourite of fans.

The tracks that went on to form Tonight's The Night were recorded in sessions following the Time Fades Away tour. By then Young had lost another colleague to heroin, roadie Bruce Berry who became the subject of the album's title track. Not originally intended for release the harrowing Tonight's The Night album eventually came out in 1975. 

With it's mix of rock, ballads and blues On The Beach is like a darker After The Goldrush showcasing Young's instrumental and lyric writing prowess. Rarely has he reached such heights since. 

On The Beach Tracklisting:

1. "Walk On"
2. "See the Sky About to Rain"
3. "Revolution Blues"
4. "For the Turnstiles"
5. "Vampire Blues"
6. "On the Beach"
7. "Motion Pictures"
8. "Ambulance Blues"

The album begins with a straight forward rocker Walk On. Next follows the beautiful See The Sky About To Rain which Young often performed solo on piano in concert. Here he is backed by Graham Nash on electric Wurlitzer keyboard with some echo effect. 

Revolution Blues is the heaviest track on the album. Recalling the horror that was Charles Manson (a subject Young would return to again in the future) Young barks: 

Remember your guard dog?

Well, I'm afraid that he's gone

It was such a drag to hear him whining all night long.

Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars, 

but I hate them worse than lepers and I'll kill them in their cars.

For The Turnstiles features Young playing banjo in the same unique percussive style with which he plays acoustic guitar.

The band go all down and bluesy with the slow walking Vampire Blues. Young plays one of his most intriguing guitar solos since Southern Man and is backed by humming Hammond organ which recalls some of CSNY's best live work. Young sings cynically:

Good times are coming, I hear it everywhere I go.
Good times are coming, but they sure are coming slow.

The title track is a gorgeous slow blues which precedes the expansive guitar of the Zuma album:

All my pictures are falling
From the wall
Where I placed them yesterday

Motion Pictures is another very laid back acoustic based number with some gentle slide guitar and harmonica backing. The song was an ode to Neil Young's then wife Carrie Snodgress:

Well, all those people,
they think they got it made
But I wouldn't buy, sell, borrow or trade
Anything I have to be like one of them.

The final song is the sprawling 9 minute stream of consciousness acoustic masterpiece Ambulance Blues - up there with Thrasher, Last Trip to Tulsa and The Old Homestead as one of Young's greatest lyrical achievements. The guitar riff is unintentionally influenced by Bert Jansch's Needle of Death song (Young was a great fan of Jansch). 

That guy was so good. And years later, on On the Beach, I wrote the melody of "Ambulance Blues" by styling the guitar part completely on "Needle of Death". I wasn't even aware of it, and someone else drew my attention to it.

Young reminisces about the good old days:

Back in the old folky days
The air was magic when we played.

Digs at the critics:

So all you critics sit alone
You're no better than me
for what you've shown.
With your stomach pump and
your hook and ladder dreams
We could get together
for some scenes.

... and Richard Nixon again:

I never knew a man
could tell so many lies
He had a different story
for every set of eyes.
How can he remember
who he's talkin' to?
'Cause I know it ain't me,
and I hope it isn't you.

And takes a snipe at his CSNY colleagues not for the last time:

You're all just pissin'
in the wind
You don't know it but you are.
And there ain't nothin'
like a friend
Who can tell you
you're just pissin'
in the wind.

In 2008 Young treated fans by resurrecting this song during his epic World Tour:

So is it Young's best album? It's a close run thing. Young was on a very rich run of form at the time and produced a streak of classic albums between 1970 and 1975. You probably need to get them all:

1970 After The Goldrush
1972 Harvest
1973 Time Fades Away
1974 On The Beach
1975 Tonight's The Night
1975 Zuma

... but if I was forced to save one from the waves on my Desert Island I'd probably grab Zuma. Standby for a forthcoming album ranking listing.

~

Ed. What about the Journey Through The Past album?
Journey Through The Past is a rare and oft overlooked soundtrack album that strictly came between Harvest and the Ditch Trilogy. Released at the end of 1972 the double album comes from Young's random film of the same name and features various gig footage and studio outtakes including Buffalo Springfield and CSNY. Only one original track was included - a piano solo entitled Soldier.

Since you’re here… 

… I have a small favour to ask. No more people are reading the blog than ever and advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. But unlike many news organisations, I haven’t put up a paywall – I want to keep my journalism as open as I can. So you can see why I need to ask for your help. My independent, investigative journalism doesn't take much time, nor money, and little work to produce. I do it because its fun and I learn a lot and  believe my perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too. If everyone who reads my reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, we could have more great music in our futures. For no money at all you can support 6 Album Sunday and it only takes a second. Please sign up for email alerts here>>. 

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Log #69 - From Raising Hell to Raising Sand

I pick up a lot of CDs from Charity Shops - often for a £1 or less! For example this week I came across Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's Raising Sand album which I'd heard a lot about but had never listened to (it's a cracker).

Of course there's always a lot of junk in the charity bins too - the same old rubbish gets recycled before eventually ending up in landfill presumably. It is rare to find a good album - logically the good stuff is usually kept so rarely recycled. Think about it - you don't see much Neil Young or Bob Dylan do you?

On the other hand there are a lot of artists that repeatedly show up in charity shops. It occurred to me that the most common album I see in charity shops is this one from Texas. I've never heard it but it must be a complete duffer. I imagine an anaemic middle of the road pop/rock band with a crap name fronted by an attractive singer. Ubiquitous in the CD collections of middle England. "Tick standard" as Keith Lemon would say. I could be wrong. I really should hear at least one track before my condemnation. I'll try one. Hang on... I tried Say What You Want. Don't know if this is representative but it's the first one that came up on Youtube. Predictably the video just centres on the singer who is all breathy and sultry with the occasional breaking croaky (sexy) voice in an X-factor style. The music was less expected. More disco and easy listening than I imagined.

Maybe it deserves an award? What other consistent showers in charity bins would give this one a run for it's money?

Perhaps as more and more people go digital old collectors like me may have further chances to pick up gems amongst the rubbish as people give away their whole collections.

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1. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand

2. Neil Young - Hitchhiker

3. Beck - Colors

4. Genesis - Turn it on Again, The Hits

5. Can - Ege Bamyasi

6. Can - Sacrilege CD1

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The 2009 Grammy Award winning Raising Sand album was a very pleasant surprise. There are moments with these sorts of records where it's a case of "you go", "no your turn", "no after you" with the key players taking it in turns to lead. So we get some Alison Krauss songs and some Robert Plant songs and not all that many that feel like genuine duets. There's also some country and some rock, but mostly it's old time rock with production by T-Bone Burnett giving the sound a nice live band feel. Actually the songs are nearly all old covers mostly from the 60s written by the likes of Gene Clark, The Everly Brothers and Allen Touissant. There's also a song by Tom Waits and Waits' long time guitar collaborator Marc Ribot features in the band. Plant's voice has matured well beyond his 70s screaming heyday and now exudes a much more laid back and effortless confidence.

Lots of good songs including current favourite Please Read The Letter featured below:

I think I'll be checking out Plant's latest album Carry Fire soon too having heard some impressive samples somewhere recently - probably on Jools Holland.

A quick word on the Can albums this week (there will be more in a Can retrospective review currently in production). Ege Bamyasi is just about the perfect Can record covering all their best bases in barely 40 minutes, which is quite remarkable when some of their extended jams usually take up half of this time alone. The Sacrilege album is a set of remixes circa 1997 (when drum 'n' bass was the flavour of the month) by artists like Brian Eno, The Orb, Sonic Youth and U.N.K.L.E. The results are mixed and most successful where the remix artists have moved the furthest from the original. Where the originals are already very drum and bass heavy it is not sufficient to just augment the drum and bass which seems to me to often be the case with remixes. 

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Log #68 - Lovely Cardboard Covers (albeit not necessarily legible!)

Good evening pop pickers. What do we have here this week?  Not a large degree of change since last week - but brand new entries from The Goat Roper Rodeo Band and DJ Vadim, and slightly new entries from Genesis and Can with fellow old timers Beck and Neil Young leading the way.

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1. Beck - Colors

2. Neil Young - Hitchhiker

3. The Goat Roper Rodeo Band - Cosmic Country Blue

4. Genesis - Turn it on Again, The Hits

5. Can - Anthology 25 Years CD 1

6. DJ Vadim - The Sound Catcher

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First the slightly new. The Can Anthology is a double CD in chronological (mostly) order. So CD1 contains the earlier tunes taking us from Monster Movie through Tago Mago to Ege Bamyasi. CD2 concentrates on Future Days and later plus some really early tunes from the Monster Movie sessions that surfaced on the Limited/Unlimited compilations. As I think I noted last time CD2 in particular is a useful way to hear a sample of latter day Can without the need to buy all the post Future Days albums which are not as strong as the earlier ones. CD1 therefore by definition has the stronger tracks but is less essential, certainly to any regular Can fan who will have the original albums (which contain the full length recordings of important tracks like Mother Sky and Hallelujah). That's a long winded way of saying I tend to play CD2 of this Anthology the most. Anyway, not a substitute for the original albums but nevertheless 29 tracks of Can which is never bad!

Last week I was playing something called Genesis's Turn It On Again, The Hits as well. But this is a different CD (or 2 CDs actually). It's called the Deluxe Tour Edition. I don't really see the point. It's not even live. It's got a silver cover and the other one was white. This one has white writing on silver which is infuriating as you can't read it (why do bands do this?)(more on Beck later). There is loads of overlap between the two releases - both heavily weighted towards the late period Genesis. Interestingly I put it out on Twitter last week that there wasn't anyone out there who liked both prog Genesis and pop Genesis. Actually there is and I discovered quite a lot of love for the Phil Collins version of the band even from fans who were familiar with their prog era too. I must say I'm growing to like the pop side of the band more too. Some of it is annoying tripe of course, but there are some good tracks too and I was wrong to write off all Genesis post 1976. There's certainly nothing wrong with title track Turn It On Again.

Pop brings me nicely to Beck's Colors. I suggested this was a bit light weight last week but I've grown to like it. It's short and sweet and very catchy. It really reminds me of something other than Beck but I can't put my finger on what at the moment. Plenty of single material including Up All Night which my son tells me is being used on playstation FIFA. The CD comes in a nice cardboard cover - I do like cardboard covers and I'm pleased to see many more manufacturers are producing them now (as an illustration 67% of the albums above are presented thus). They give the product that old LP feel in miniature. They don't make a horrible noise when you drop them like plastic CD covers which always end up chipped and cracked. So nice outer sleeve Beck but... as for the inner booklet - its ridiculous. The bizarre layout of the lyrics, the mismatched colour schemes, and the tiny typeface make it all illegible and thus pointless (why do bands do this? - lyrics can still be printed large enough to be seen on a CD - I used to love reading all the blurb on an album but this is rarely possible with CDs). Am I labouring the point too much? Surely the music is the important thing. Yes, of course, but the tangible feel is all part of the experience - if you aren't convinced have another read of my essay on the subject.

DJ Vadim is a new entry this week but not his first appearance in this blog. Born in Russia and raised in London DJ Vadim's mixes languorous down tempo beats of reggae and hip hop. Another beautifully presented CD in a nicely designed cardboard sleeve which nearly made it as my cover piece this week.

The other new entry belongs to young Welsh hipsters The Great Roper Rodeo Band. I came across these lads by accident at a festival and loved their confident energetic acoustic roots country (cosmic?) blues. In fact they were the highlight of the weekend. I was surprised to hear they came from Wales looking and sounding so authentically "americana" with their cowboy shirts and strong accented vocals (I reckon they'd go down a storm on tour in the US). 

I'm not yet sure this recording fully captures the live experience but nevertheless it does give a flavour of their gigs and setlist including my current favourite the very emotional Don't Believe in You. In the quite crowded bluegrass market this very talented trio standout and should go far. Great (cardboard!) cover too.

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Log #67 - From Prog To Pop

Many bands of course change direction during their careers. Sometimes this is a natural progression or development. Sometimes it's an unavoidable result of changing personnel or a result of burnout leaving bands bereft of new ideas (how many bands shoot their loads completely with a tremendous first album which has in essence been many years in the making, but then understandably fail to follow up with a decent sophomore six months later?).

With the advent of punk and new wave in the mid to late 70s, many existing bands such as prog rock giants Genesis became "dinosaurs" and had to adapt to survive (or did they? Ed.). The Genesis transformation appeared dramatic and sudden with the release of Duke in 1980 but in actual fact had really begun a few years and albums earlier with the departures of key personnel setting in train subtle changes well before that transformative album.

German Krautrock trendsetters Can were already ahead of their time when they launched in the late 60s - their change in the mid-70s was a little more gradual as rather than punk and new wave, which they were already close to in the beginning and arguably influenced, they began to introduce elements of reggae and world music into their sound (being ahead of their time again).

The results were less than impressive though and like Genesis their core fans deserted. Genesis carried on obtaining unbridled commercial success with a new set of fans who had never heard Supper's Ready and didn't care. Meanwhile Can disbanded in 1979 leaving their original legacy largely intact notwithstanding a disappointing and short lived reunion album at the end of the 80s.

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1. Beck - Colors

2. Neil Young - Hitchhiker

3. Bruck - Violin Concerto No. 1

4. Genesis - Turn it on Again, The Hits

5. Can - Anthology 25 Years CD 2

6. Handsome Family - Honey Moon

~

I have two greatest hits/compilations/anthology CDs in the player this week from these two important bands.  As regular readers know this is not normally something I advocate. But sometimes these catch all releases serve a purpose - for example you may not like the band enough to buy all the albums so just want a sample, or you just want to sample as a beginner before venturing deeper. 

In the case of Can, I do love the band (I was even named after them!), but this Anthology seemed a good choice in order to cover a lot of ground economically (having bought many of the albums before on vinyl which I no longer hold, I don't always replace all like for like with the CD formats). In particular this anthology has a good selection of their latter day material (post 1975) that doesn't really warrant purchase in its entirety (the key music from Can can be found on their first half a dozen albums or so starting with Monster Movie and ending with Landed in 1975) (but do check out their solo albums too Ed.).  Subsequent albums had their moments as the band dabbled with world, disco and reggae music, but the core Can sound which had made them so exciting and influential had gone.

Where a band is famous for extended improvisations a compilation album will also run the risk of inappropriate edits. How exactly can Hallelujah or Mother Sky for example be cut down to 5 minute samples? Having said that this compilation does it pretty well and the shortened tracks are not too grating - of course you've got to make sure you do hear the full versions of Hallelujah and Mother Sky on their original albums (Tago Mago and Soundtracks respectively), but note this CD does at least have the bonus of the unedited 20 minute You Doo Right from Can's debut album.

Similarly, yet more marked and (un)celebrated, was the change in Genesis around the same time. There can't be many bands who became so different as music fashions (and personnel) changed. This hits compilation is very heavily weighted to the latter day Genesis beginning particularly with the 1980 Duke album (although the change set in with the departure of Peter Gabriel and then Steve Hackett in quick succession following their Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974), and Wind and Wuthering (1976) albums respectively) - there are only two Gabriel era tracks on this 18 track album!

Unlikely Rock Trivia: Genesis were discovered by now disgraced record producer and radio presenter Jonathan King.

In fact being far from a fan of Phil Collins I have never had any desire to hear any post Gabriel Genesis. However this CD was a gift. Also my interest was piqued somewhat by an excellent ranking rundown I read here > http://www.prog-sphere.com/specials/genesis-albums-ranked/ which encouraged me to reassess (notice how the album covers deteriorated with the music too!).

What do I think now? Well, much the same really although I would say the chasm between the two incarnations is possibly slightly narrower than I had realised. They are still completely different bands and Collins is no Gabriel (keener prog era Genesis fans will also not underplay the influence of Hackett too). The prog era band produced some amazing original music with a charismatic front man. The pop music version went soft and became a vehicle for Phil Collins' constipated singing, thumping snare and syrupy love songs, covered in Tony Banks' synthesized cheese.

Are there any fans out there who like both the prog-Genesis and pop-Genesis?

From this to this - two very different beasts

And from this to this... nuff said

However it's not so bad and without the comparison of the original band Genesis Mark II may have been a perfectly reasonable pop band. Duke which was an affront to the existing fans was not such a bad album in itself (similarly time has been kind to King Crimson's 1980 comeback album Discipline for example which was a shocking release for their prog fans at the time but now seems quite revolutionary). To be fair, and in hindsight, Genesis Mark I.V did enjoy a prog swansong of sorts with three good post Gabriel albums that have each aged well - A Trick of the Tail, Wind and Wuthering (both 1976) and And Then There Were Three (1978), while downsizing from a five piece to an eventual trio (remarkably neither Gabriel or Hackett being replaced).

A few other new entries this week which may warrant more words at a later date. We have Beck's latest Colors which is very poppy and dare I say quite shallow compared to his usual work. I do love Stay Up All Night though.  Neil Young's Hitchhiker is a solo acoustic album from the mid-70s featuring slightly altered versions of songs from Rust Never Sleeps and various other previously unreleased tracks.  The title track is excellent and I love the version of Powderfinger which gives the song a completely different atmosphere. Best of all is Campaigner though with its famous refrain - "even Richard Nixon's got soul".

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Log #53 - Tangerine Dream were no Satsuma Nightmare

Firstly I offer a thank you to all my readers as my blog enters it's second year. I hope some of you have stumbled across something of interest and discovered some new music. In listening to my music and writing these pieces I have both discovered new things and rediscovered old too! The list below is an example of that - I had never heard any Kanye West before last week (apart from a car crash live appearance on some awards show a couple of years ago) and I only recently bought Bob Marley's classic Catch a Fire album although I was very familiar with the famous joint touting cover (the music was not what I had assumed it would be). Yet at the opposite end of the scale I've been a fan of Neil Young and Tangerine Dream for over 30 years.

1. Tangerine Dream - The Essential
2. Kanye West - Late Registration
3. James Morrison - Songs for You, Truths for Me
4. Eilen Jewell - Sea of Tears
5. Bob Marley - Catch a Fire
6. Neil Young - On the Beach

I've just got to admit it. I do really like Tangerine Dream. It's probably not that cool nowadays but they are really good at what they do. And they are original. Their music is instantly recognisable even amongst the plethora (that's a Tan Dream song title if I've ever heard one) of electronic experimental instrumental music out there. They don't sound like Kraftwerk, nor Brian Eno, nor Boards of Canada. Possibly their closest contemporary may have been Jean-Michel Jarre or possibly Philip Glass in places or Aphex Twin, but their mostly drumless yet pulsed and rhythmic sequencer music is ultimately unique.

Don't think of it as music, just put this album on, turn it up loud, and let the experience wash over you and take your brain to far off places!

Actually I feel a gnod music map coming on - let's see if my hunches are right?

Other maps are available from the brilliant gnod.com

This album is yet another collection. There are loads out there and I generally avoid non original albums. But I knew enough from the regular albums to spot that this was a particularly good selection from their peak Virgin label days of the mid to late 70s and contains at least 60% of music I have not got on CD elsewhere. Crucially the tracks are full length - to maintain that hypnotic atmosphere so characteristic of Tan Dream's music this is essential.

The original knob twiddlers, Froese, Franke, Baumann

Quoting from the sleeve notes - "With a mere six tracks from six different albums, but more than seventy minutes long, this compilation serves as a perfect portrait of the sheer vastness of Tangerine Dream's music. Enormously epic and otherworldly tracks were the artistic trademark of the most important and internationally most successful German instrumental band ever. If Kraftwerk were the pioneers of electronic beats, Tangerine Dream were most definitely the pioneers of electronic atmosphere, the forerunners of Ambient."

For the aficionados the track listing is -

1. Movements Of A Visionary 7:55 taken from the album Phaedra 1974
2. Rubycon (Part One) 17.18 taken from the album Rubycon 1975
3. Stratosfear 10:35 taken from the album Stratosfear 1976
4. Cloudburst Flight 7:26 taken from the album Force Majeure 1979
5. Tangram (Part One) 19:47 taken from the album Tangram 1980
6. Hyperborea 8:38 taken from the album Hyperborea 1983

This collection is an excellent Tan Dream sampler for the beginner. For those who want to delve deeper into this weird and wonderful world I would recommend the original albums Force Majeure and Phaedra. The former is more conventional prog rock fayre with real guitars and drums as on the brilliant Cloudburst Flight (also present in the above collection). The latter is an ambient classic which forms a bridge between their early ambient soundscape drones like Zeit and their more commercial rhythmic albums. I'm also very fond of Cyclone which splits the fans being the only album with vocals. [Personally recorded cassettes of mine with old school friend and Tangerine Dream authority Electric Ape under the name Satsuma Nightmare are of old curiosity interest only!]

Three great Tangerine Dream albums from the 70s, always great covers too, many painted by Edgar Froese

So once again thank you for listening and reading, and I look forward to another 52 weeks and another 312 albums in 2017/18!

A new day, a new dawn, and new beginnings - where will we go, what will we discover?

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Log #52 - So This Is, or Was, Kanye!

If you had told me I'd have a Kanye West album in my logs this year I wouldn't have believed you. But here I am at week #52 and courtesy of a bargain bucket charity purchase (along with the James Morrison one listed below) I find myself the proud owner of Late Registration. My daughter tells me it's an early one and consequently probably quite good, and she is right, it's quite good in a rappy, hip hoppy, and even an early grimey way (I've heard a bit of grime through Earl Sweatshirt, Wiley and Stormzy).

It's littered with samples and these do seem to be a bit crow-barred in in a less than subtle way, but the underlying beats are addictive. I'm not going to go out and buy any other of West's albums nor listen to this one that often once it leaves the magazine, but it's had a fair few plays and has maintained my interest - not least on an anthropological level if you know what I mean! No? Well I mean even if the music is of little interest I have heard so much about Mr West that I am interested to investigate. It's my duty as a music investigator!

1. Ryan Adams - Gold
2. Kanye West - Late Registration
3. James Morrison - Songs for You, Truths for Me
4. Eilen Jewell - Sea of Tears
5. Bob Marley - Catch a Fire
6. Neil Young - On the Beach

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Log #51 - Golden American Boy

What of Ryan Adams? This album is lengthy! In old money it's definitely a double. 17 tracks clocking up a total of 75 minutes. Is it a great double album, or filler? It's hard to tell. And that's part of the problem. It's almost too much to take in. I think perhaps two albums would have been better. It's like he's tried to cram everything in all in one go, from mournful ballads to full on rockers. Having said that some of this stuff is great (from the rockers like Tina Toledo's Street Walkin' Blues, to the epics like Nobody's Girl, via the ballads like Sylvia Plath) and if, just if, it had been released in 1971 we might be talking about another Exile on Main Street. But in 2001, that year forever now associated with the terrible events of 9/11, is it just more american country rock fodder? By the way, is there still anyone left who confuses Ryan with Bryan, or isn't aware yet that they are two different people?

1. Ryan Adams - Gold
2. St Germain - Tourist
3. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
4. Jethro Tull - Songs from The Wood
5. Josh T Pearson - Last of the Country Gentlemen
6. Neil Young - On the Beach

St Germain sound like computer jazz. Are they real musicians? Probably. The music's fun and good but the fact I can't tell if this is a DJ production or a band leaves something to be desired in the authenticity and soul stakes.

The first track on the Wilco makes you want to slit your wrists. This literally effortless vocal delivery makes me want to shout: "For god's sake just cheer up man!" To be fair to singer and leader Jeff Tweedy things do pick up a bit after the opener but it's fairly pedestrian strumming over gentle brushed back beats for quite a while before you hear the first electric guitar riff.

The Songs from the Wood sounds quite dated and a bit twee now. Jethro Tull were obviously great musicians and wrote some clever stuff but found themselves adrift in a wilderness of their own making between rock and prog. Great cover though. This and Heavy Horses makes me think of all the good things about being a country gent (or urban hipster) - tweeds, waistcoats, caps, tractors, woods, heavy horses and English countryside... oh and beards of course, of the 70s variety. I wonder how contrived it was. Actually with Ian Anderson I think it was genuine - I know he liked to retreat to his salmon farm in Scotland from time to time.

Jethro Tull's country gent period

Talking of The Last of the Country Gentlemen what the hell is this Josh T. Pearson? I can't decide if it's genius or terrible. It sounds like he can barely play guitar - is it even tuned? But not to worry, Josh seems to have such style and charm that he somehow manages to pull it off despite this apparent shortcoming. It's certainly unusual and strangely addictive. Let's face it, no one needs another "normal" acoustic strumming busker. I saw him live somewhere at a festival and have to say he was mesmerising standing stationery centre stage under one overhead light with his messiah like look (and act?). It was a memorable appearance and I was telling everyone about it for weeks afterwards. Must be a genius then after all. Nice bloke too, stayed behind for hours signing autographs and spending time with each fan.

Josh T Pearson

On The Beach is just a classic. Superb. Brilliant. One of Young's best. End of.

The middle one from Young's so called "Ditch" Trilogy

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Neil Young's Concept Album Falls Flat

The initial warning signs are on a sticker on the front of the CD:

One of the most ambitious works of his career. Young has rarely sounded so fresh and inspired. 

Yes folks, once more as in the 80s, Neil's record company are a little nervous and feel the need to sell him to us. Why? Well, since 1996's wonderful soundtrack for Deadman old Neil's been giving us nothing but lacklustre albums, and the wait for a great Young album has reached similar proportions to Dylan's dry spell during the 90s. Greendale has already split critics and fans. But, when faced with a concept album about the Green Family living in the little Californian coastal town of Greendale, which is knee-deep in clumsy metaphor and half-baked truisms, the only message can be caveat emptor...

Young is an unreformed hippy, but one whose individualism borders on Republicanism (he claimed to be a Reagan supporter in the 80s). This story seems to revolve around ecological issues, the rights of smalltown Americans and the fact that California is full of Woodstock-era folks who are now grandparents. Something we can all relate to, then. Touring it in Europe he gave audiences the whole thing in one dour acoustic chunk. Fans back home get a full-blown theatrical presentation. Lucky them.

Barroom rock that should have stayed in the bar.

This opus comes with a wealth of supporting ephemera (DVD; unfeasibly large CD booklet with drawings by hokey Zuma-era artist James Mazzeo; labyrinthine website with maps, lyrics, narration and even falsified photos for goodness' sake). Unfortunately it's a smokescreen. When you strip away all the merchandising you're faced with a series of desultory, lengthy two-chord strums with nary a tune between them. Crazy Horse, shorn of rhythm guitarist Frank Sampedro, do what they always do: Solidly plod through the material. Yet, where once this served as a bedrock for Neil's stellar guitar wrangling and impassioned voice, it now merely highlights his inability to set fire to the fuse. Despite the bullhorns and grungy harp it's barroom rock that should have stayed in the bar.

Ok, so it's not as bad as last year's Are You Passionate? There's a fire in Young's delivery that speaks of some kind of bitter railing against a world that's forgotten simpler joys; but this sure isn't the way to make us care. By the last track, the interminable Be The Rain, you detest the saccharine backing vocals of the 'Mountainettes' (wife Pegi and others), have stopped caring about any of the loosely-sketched characters and you've realised that all the hard work in trying to discover what he's on about is never going to help. Only the lonely acoustic Bandit with its rattling bottom string, whispered delivery and lovely chorus really stirs the listener.

Perhaps Young, with Dylan, should have taken a sabbatical for a decade.

An ability to disregard the weight of the past and restlessly seek new ground is to be applauded. This is a brave move, but then so was Trans, and that was pretty terrible too. What really rankles with Young is his contradictory stoner's logic to such projects. While taunting his fans with his cornucopia-like Archive box set of rarities (now in its fifteenth year of postponement, folks) he feels the need to rant to us about vague issues, like a plaid-wearing Dennis Hopper. Along with Dylan his genius and importance are assured; at least to his fans. Yet one can't help wondering why, like Dylan, he couldn't have simply shut up for a decade while he found something interesting to say.


Shared via the BBC under Creative Commons. Original review at http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/5h9x/

[Editor's note: Did you know Postman Pat also lives in Greendale?]

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Log #50 - Some of Neil Young's Greatest Acoustic Numbers Together at Last

1. Afro Celts Sound System- I
2. Quantic - The 5th Exotic
3. Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps
4. Lambchop - Nixon
5. Steely Dan - Aja
6. Cat Stevens - Icon

News of two musical deaths have reached 6 Album Sunday HQ this week: Walter Becker from Steely Dan and Holger Czukay of Can. Surviving founder member Donald Fagen of Steely Dan has committed to continuing and has just announced a tour. Their classic album Aja makes a reappearance here. Czukay's passing barely registered in the press. Three Can members have now gone - Czukay joining Liebezeit and Karoli at the Great Gig in the Sky. Can formed in the 60s and were not young then - both Czukay and Liebezeit were in their late 70s.

Becker and Czukay 

Still going strong is Neil Young. I heard he was releasing a new album and gave it a spin on youtube (before it was taken down). Hitchhiker isn't actually a new album in so much as it is a release of a recording made in 1976. Some of the songs have been released elsewhere either in part, or in their entirety, or in different versions. For example there is a beautiful acoustic version of Powderfinger which is mournful and sad, revealing lyrics I've not picked up before in the electric version on my featured album Rust Never Sleeps.

Fascinatingly there are also parts of these songs that have gone on to form different songs and it is fun to try to remember where. It's like meeting a very familiar face but not being able to put a time, name or place to it. For instance parts of the autobiographical title track Hitchhiker resurfaced some years later and in the most unlikely of places - on Young's ill advised electronic album Trans as Like an Inca. An electric version of Hitchhiker also appeared on Young's Le Noise album which I've tried many times to like but frankly is pretty lame. Actually up until about Sleeps with Angels time I bought every Neil Young album. Hitchhiker sounds wonderful and will probably be my first Neil Young purchase in quite a few years.

It is odd (although not surprising knowing Young's unpredictability) that such a well rounded acoustic album was overlooked in preference for some below par or less than consistent releases around the mid to late 70s such as American Stars 'n' Bars, Comes a Time, Hawks and Doves, and Long May You Run. It's also odd that a classic track like Campaigner, with its famous "even Richard Nixon has got soul" line, has not before been released on any official album other than in edited form in the Decade boxset.

Hitchhiker sounds wonderful and will probably be my first Neil Young purchase in quite a few years.

In a bid to recreate the vibe at home, from my existing collection, and to check differences in Pocahontas, I popped Rust Never Sleeps in the player with an emphasis on side one. This album contains some of Young's greatest songwriting presented in contrasting acoustic and electric settings. Check out the lengthy Thrasher with Young's thinly veiled criticism of his CSNY colleagues (and a couple of understandable memory stumbles!).

Below is a handy tracklisting for Hitchhiker courtesy Wikipedia. Some fans have said this collection is unjustified on account of the paucity of new tracks but as an albums man I disagree - this again demonstrates an album summing to a greatness beyond its individual parts.

Search for Neil Young's Hitchhiker

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Log #28 - Lost and Found, the Unusual Career Trajectory of The Sugarman

Like many I discovered Rodriguez through the superb Searching for Sugarman film. My partner wanted to go to the cinema and I'd read rave reviews about the film Argo which was also showing (also a brilliant film incidentally). I wasn't fussed about seeing the Sugarman film but I was wrong and it was fascinating. I knew nothing about him apart from through the track Sugarman which appeared on a David Holmes DJ mix album in 2002 entitled Come Get It I Got It.  And as I knew nothing and indeed had no idea if he was still alive the suspense in the film during "the search" was tangible. I'm sure the story of a poor manual labourer from Detroit achieving overdue fame and fortune in South Africa unbeknownst to himself was somewhat romanticised but still a great one.

*spoiler alert* I don't think there are many music fans left with an interest in his music who would not know the outcome of the film so it is ok for me to say that a still living Rodriguez was tracked down and by coincidence he appeared at Brighton Dome just two weeks after I saw the film in November 2012.

It was a superb concert where a fragile but strong voiced Rodriguez played most of the tracks from his only two albums Cold Fact and Coming From Reality plus a storming encore of Blowin' in the Wind (Rodriguez was yet another artist originally hailed as the new Dylan or could have been as good as...). The former album is the more famous and includes the Sugarman track but I actually think the Coming From Reality album is stronger. This edition includes a couple of new outtakes and B sides.

As a tragic aside the Oscar winning director of the Searching for Sugarman film shockingly took his own life in 2014: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/searching-sugarman-director-dead-thr-710882

1. Rodriguez - Coming From Reality
2. Bob Dylan - Desire
3. Iron and Wine - Around the Well CD 1
4. Neil Young - After the Goldrush
5. Calexico - Garden Ruin
6. Van Morrison - Moondance/St. Dominic's Preview*

A bit of a cheat on the whole selection this week as I was on holiday and away from the CD magazine. These are the CDs I had with me and was able to play in a hire car. Amazingly I really was on the way to some Aztec ruins in Mexico when I heard Bob Dylan sing: "Past the Aztec ruins and the ghosts of our people" from Romance in Durango off of my favourite Dylan album Desire. #evocative

Durango is a real place in Northern Mexico

*The last CD in the list is a home made compilation of two of Van Morrison's greatest albums (sometimes fun to do this when you can fit two on the same CD) - a combination not officially available.

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Album Cover Friday Fun Challenge! (Difficult) - ANSWERS REVEALED

Here again are the pictures for my earlier Album Cover location challenge. The initial collage below shows the locations as they are today where the original famous (or not so famous in some cases) album photos were shot.

A hover over will reveal the actual album covers.

Admittedly some of these pictures were obscure or just plain difficult unless you happened to have had the particular albums. Some of the albums are not even that famous and may not even be recognisable from the hover over! For example how many people had the Blue Oyster Cult live double album On Your Feet or On Your Knees with it's very spooky gothic church cover (2,2) actually located in up town New York? I was a great fan of their brand of sci-fi rock and in particular Buck Dharma's excellent guitar evident in extended glory on this album, but I don't think many of my contemporaries, even my rock fan friends, ever shared my enthusiasm, which is a shame as some of their early albums in particular are quite unique.

Speaking of gothic churches the San Franciscan turquoise church door was the backdrop for Van Morrison's split trouser shot for his St. Dominic's Preview album (1,3), an album that I personally think is right up there with his magnificent Astral Weeks.

The location for Black Sabbath's debut album cover shoot was not a gothic church but actually a water mill on the Thames in Oxfordshire (4,3). Of course the mysterious black figure adds some sabbath menace to this otherwise idealic country setting. Urban myths abound that the figure was an apparition that only appeared when the film was developed! Bassist Geezer Butler said such a dressed figure attended a gig many years later claiming to be the girl on the cover.

Who but the most avid and observant Mike Oldfield fans would get the aerial shot of the Welsh/English border especially without the glider (1,2)? Oldfield had retreated to the Hertfordshire region, known as Hergest Ridge, to live and record an album of the same name following the success of Tubular Bells.

Famous music locations, hover over to reveal the albums

Some of the remaining pictures are more famous and I was surprised no one got Pink Floyd's Hollywood studios Wish You Were Here shot (4,2), or Led Zeppelin's New York apartment block featured on Physical Graffitti (with actual cut out windows in the sleeve)(1,4).The other Led Zeppelin shot at (3,2) is a bit of a cheat as it is actually the back portion of the Led Zep IV cover which was shot across a park in Birmingham - quite a drab location relative to the Lord of the Rings flavoured delights inside.

The Who's obelisk from Who's Next (2,3) was taken at Easington Colliery, a former mine in County Durham in the North of England, and both the Oasis cover for What’s The Story (Morning Glory)? (1,4) and David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust cover (1,3) come from London's Soho. The famous K.West sign in the latter belonged to a long gone fur clothing company and is absolutely nothing to do with a premonition Bowie had about Kanye West. Another London shop long gone is Axfords Clothing in Vauxhall, South East London, as pictured on the Ian Dury album New Boots and Panties!! (3,4). If you look closely at the album cover you can also see the reflection of the Woolworths shop front across the street, another British institution no longer with us. Moving north of the river again you can find the less than exotic tower block in Islington which provided the night shot for The Streets' Original Pirate Material album.

Across the pond we have three New York street scenes used respectively for Bob Dylan's Freewheelin' (1,1), Neil Young's After the Goldrush (2,4) and the Doors' Strange Days (4,4), and finally Eric Clapton's 461 Ocean Boulevard (3,3) which is literally a shot of his home of that very address, Miami, in 1974.

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