Category Archives: Prog

Learning about David Bowie via his opinion on 25 diverse albums in his record collection. Really, a must read!

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

http://scallemang.ca/bowie25albums/

Let me count the reasons that I love this:

  1. The diversity of the picks and unimpeachability of the selection.
  2. His recall for when and where he bought a record. Absolutely a sign of a true obsessive.
  3. He remembers the people who ran his local department store record section, from his childhood, by name.
  4. This statement about the above mentioned store and his relationship with a certain clerk: “Jane Greene, their counter assistant, took a liking to me, and whenever I would pop in, which was most afternoons after school, she would let me play records in the “sound booth” to my heart’s content till the store closed at 5:30 P.M. Jane would often join me, and we would smooch big-time to the sounds of Ray Charles or Eddie Cochran. This was very exciting, as I was around 13 or 14 and she would be a womanly 17 at that time. My first older woman.” Smooch big time!
  5. That he remembers the Psychedelic Art collective, The Fool.
  6. 6. He credits Daevid Allen’s Bananamoon with being Proto-Glam
  7. He gave his vinyl copy of Linton Kwesi Johnson’s, Forces of Nature, to Mos Def, incorrectly thinking he had CD copy, and was looking for a replacement copy.
  8. He discusses the awkward introduction of Scott Walker’s influence.
  9. He refers to Glenn Branca’s music as having “an effect akin to the drone of Tibetan Buddhist monks but much, much, much louder.”, and knows that David Rosenbloom and Lee Ranaldo were members of the ensemble.
  10. He knows that Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, former Fugs, had currently rejoined forces for a new album, and says that the CIA had them on watch as The Fags.
  11. His acknowledgement of his own trendsetter status as the first to record a Velvet Underground cover, pre-VU and Nico release (though the Downliners Sect covered a pre-VU Reed and Cale song, Why Don’t You Smile Now, in 1966)
  12. Anyone who gives it up for Harry Partch gets points.

My only complaint is that he uses the plural, with “s”, when referring to vinyl, an admittedly petty pet peeve of mine, which I will attribute to his being British. But it’s Bowie, so you know it was charming as hell when he said it.

From Vanity Fair, November 2013.

Dungen’s 2004 Psych masterpiece, Ta Det Lugnt, gets deluxe 3LP, plus EP, box set reissue treatment

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

Possibly my favorite Psychedelic record of the 2000’s. A classic well worth the $70 price tag.
http://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/dungen-ta-det-lugnt-3lp-box/SUBL.083LP.html

Song of The Day: Billy Thorpe – Children Of The Sun

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

So psyched to hear this in the season opener of Fargo! Despite the fact that Thorpe was a star in his native Australia since the sixties (guitar god Lobby Loyde was a member of Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, between his tenure in Purple Heats, Wild Cherries, and later Coloured Balls) this was his only hit in America. Funny thing is, this song always reminds me of a more straight forward Rush.

Happy birthday, Daryl Hall: The Daryl Hall and Robert Fripp recordings.

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

In 1977, Daryl Hall, feeling the constraints of the commercial pressures surrounding Hall & Oates, decided to hit the studio with former King Crimson commander, Robert Fripp, and record an album unfettered by the need for pop hits. With Fripp as both guitarist and producer, the album was indeed well removed from the blue eyed radio Pop/Soul of Hall’s hitmaking duo.
Unfortunately for Hall, his label RCA found the recordings too experimental, and the album, Sacred Songs, would not see release for three years.

Oddly, in those intervening years, Fripp was to release his own solo LP, Exposure, featuring two vocal appearances from Hall. In fact the sessions began as a continuation of the work on Sacred Songs, and was seen as part of a Fripp trilogy of sorts, with the third act being Peter Gabriel’s, eponymous sophomore LP. Originally Hall sang six tracks slated for the album, but in a confusing battle of record company logic, RCA intervened fearing that the association with Fripp would be damaging to Hall’s career, yet they still wanted Hall to receive co-credit for the record. Mind you, Sacred Songs was still languishing unreleased during all of this. Well, as with many lost gems, these diamonds were finally mined and received release on the 2006 deluxe issue of Exposure, and now we can fully appreciate the Hall & Fripp, Fripp & Hall combination.

NYCNY, as it was called on Sacred Songs, would be re-recorded with different lyrics and vocals on Fripp’s Exposure as, I May Not Have Had Enough Of Me But I’ve Had Enough Of You.






Songs of The Day: Jean Yves Labat – Orbit, and Matrix 16

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

Though lesser known than his debut (recorded under the moniker M. Frog), Jean-Yves Labat’s follow up LP, Underwater Electronic Orchestra, is a far more rewarding effort to these ears. Some Prog, some Psych and a whole lotta synth. Would have perfectly on the collectable Pôle Records roster.

Prepare for the Halloween season, with Factmag’s list of the 100 greatest Horror soundtracks

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

If capitalism and it’s necessary corollary, consumerism (or maybe, vice versa), can keep pushing the Xmas season further out, I say we do the same for Halloween. Halloween: it’s not just a night anymore. Star the holiday season off right and check out Factmag for a diverse list of scary scores to get you in the mood. While, as with any such list, you can gripe about omissions, inclusions (actually, I have no complaint with any inclusion here), placement, etc, it’s still a great list that covers a wide berth. As someone who watches alotta Horror, and has a particular fondness for the soundtracks, the Factmag list kept surprising me with some truly obscure. and fantastic, selections, and has prompted me to check out some more modern sounds in the field (not that I haven’t been enjoying many of the new composers/bands that have been arising, already).

Horror soundtracks are currently enjoying an unprecedented level of interest, with numerous labels (Waxwork, Death Waltz, One Way Static, and others) currently releasing these soundtracks, some reissued, but many legitimately pressed for the first time. Not only that, you have a whole new crew of musicians and composers/producers dedicated to playing these vintage sounds. Artists and bands like Umberto, Brian Reitzell, Zombi, Nightcrawler and Crypt Vapor are introducing this genre to a whole new legion of fans. It’s also tremendously gratifying to see that originators like Goblin, Fabio Frizzi and now John Carpenter (his first live performance EVER is at ATP in Iceland, 2016!!!) performing for excited fans of a wide age range.

Without further ado, here’s Factmag’s list

The 100 greatest horror soundtracks


And interviews with the heads of the three labels mentioned above
http://www.horrornewsnetwork.net/articles/62-horror-movies/8076-the-revenge-of-the-vinyl-horror-soundtrack
A favorite, from a composer who I absolutely love, that I was pleasantly surprised to see included, proving the broad scope of sounds that fall into this category.