Roland Kovac New Set - The Master Said (1971 austria/swiss/germany, great prog jazz rock with experimental mood and space rock shades, 2002 remaster)

Roland Kovac New Set was the name of a Munich group of studio musicians who recorded several LPs of instrumental music on the Selected Sound label from Hamburg. The second and third of these LPs, "The master said" (Selected Sound 9028) of 1971 and "Love that" (Selected Sound 9030) of 1972, full of playful guitar riffs and complex in structure, are representative of good progressive rock of the early seventies.

The name Roland Kovac New Set might suggest the previous existence of a Roland Kovac Set, but this is not the case as the band, for unknown reasons, started right away as New Set. The line-up on "The master said" features top musicians: Roland Kovac himself (born in Vienna on November 7th, 1927), whose mother was a concert pianist in a family of well-known musicians, joined The Vienna Choir Boys in the 1930s, a sign of musical excellence considering the fact that at the time only one applicant of up to twenty highly gifted talents was selected.

In the course of time he worked with Wilhelm Furtwangler and Otto Klemperer and received a doctorate in music in 1952 with a paper on "Harmonik in der Musik des Spatbarock" (Harmonies in the music of the late barock). He was a renowned composer of numerous classical works and soundtracks for films. In the early 1970s he lived in Munich where he recorded the present LP playing keyboards. He also contributed to countless other LPs on the same label, mostly under another name.

As a good friend of owner Peter Majewski, he played an important role in establishing the Selected Sound label. By the way, his name Kovac (blacksmith) is of Slovenian origin, which means that the final "c" is pronounced as in "chatter". His very melodic speech gives evidence of how much he is rooted and living in music. Guitarist Siegfried "Sigi" Schwab, of course, is a world-famous musician, especially in the fields of jazz and new-age. As a member of The Vampires' Sound Incorporation ("Psychedelic dance party"), of Wolfgang Dauners Et Cetera and of Embryo, he was at the beginning of his career. Swiss jazz drummer Charly Antolini, on the other hand, had already released his first records in the mid-1960s.

His probably most famous work is the LP "Knock out" (D 1980: Jeton 100.3304 - as CD: D 1988: Jeton 112), the final blow to many loudspeakers. He is still a top musician today and, together with Sigi Schwab, responsible for the jazzy touch on the LP. Bass player Franz Loffler, who died in the 1970s, is probably the least known of these musicians, but he had already recorded several LPs featuring guitar music in the 1960s and was a master of his craft. It would be impossible to list all the releases of these musicians in this booklet. In 1971, these four masters recorded "The master said" in the Munich Trixi Studios, produced by Willy Schmidt.

All titles are written by master Kovac himself except for "David's dance", composed by Pietro Leguani. Although no detailed information is available today, the LP must have had a circulation of 1000 to 2000 copies, a large number of which was sent to radio stations all over the world, where the record was played frequently, mostly as background music. This was its original purpose, which is why the cover is characterised by uniform simplicity, with black writing against a copper-metallic glossy background.

The music of this LP was used in many films and also sold in the retail trade, but that was secondary. The record was pressed by RPM in Hamburg. ALCO Records, also from Hamburg, were responsible for distribution in Germany, with Brull Records, whose stickers were fixed to the label and the back cover, handling Great Britain. Publishing rights have always been with Maya Music, owned by Roland Kovac himself. Some tracks of "The master said" and "Love that" have subsequently been included in LP and CD compilations but the albums have never been released again as a unit.
M. Thurn

Tracks
1. The Master Said - 17:32
2. Birth Of A Saint - 10:37
3. Eternal Dimension - 3:03
 4. David's Dance (Pietro Leguani) - 3:29
All compositions by Roland Kovac, except where indicated.

Musicians
*Roland Kovac - Keyboards
*Siegfried "Sigi" Schwab - Guitar
*Charliy Antolini - Drums
*Franz Loffler - Bass

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Morgan - Nova Solis (1972 uk, incredible progressive rock with glam and space rock touches, 2009 remaster)

This 1972 release is very obscure, even amongst proggers, and I am not quite sure why - this stuff is amazing. The musicians on this album are incredible and include bandleader Morgan Fisher (VCS3, Hammond organ, acoustic piano, and mellotron), Bob Sapsed (fretless bass), Maurice Bacon (drums/percussion), and Tim Staffell (vocals, acoustic/electric guitars).

The performances are excellent and there is some fairly intricate ensemble work - just the type of thing that one would expect from high quality English prog. Tim Staffell has a very good and high pitched voice that is occasionally altered by running his voice through the VCS3 synthesizer. The four tracks on the album range in length from 5'17" (Tim Staffell's haunting piece Alone), to the mammoth, 20'17" suite and prog extravaganza Nova Solis. Morgan is an excellent composer and arranger, and all of the tracks flow along nicely.

Melodies and harmonies are also highly developed and dynamic contrasts are used effectively. I guess it's worth noting that sections of Jupiter from Gustav Holst's Planets were worked into the Nova Solis suite only after lengthy negotiations with Imogen Holst (his daughter). Although Morgan is an incredible keyboardist, I have to single out Bob Sapsed. He is an excellent player, thoroughly contrapuntal, and the tone and texture of his fretless bass (he uses glissandos very well) adds great depth to this music.

The album was recorded at the then "state of the art" RCA recording studios in Rome, Italy and the sound quality is excellent. There are abundant and recent commentaries from Morgan both in a general sense and in track by track comments. The lyrics have also been reproduced and there are several photos of the band taken during the recording process (with some pretty funny captions). This is an unfairly neglected prog rock album that is simply excellent and very highly recommended.
by Jeffrey J. Park

Tracks
1. Samarkhand The Golden - 8:05
2. Alone - 5:20
3. War Games - 7:05
4. Nova Solis - 20:24
Music by Morgan Fisher, lyrics by Tim Staffell.

Musicians
*Morgan Fisher - Keyboards
*Tim Staffell - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
*Bob Sapsed - Fretless Bass
*Maurice Bacon - Drums, Percussion

1973  Morgan - The Sleeper Wakes

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Frank Marino And Mahogany Rush - Live (1978 canada, fine guitar hard blues rock, 2017 xpanded and remaster)

Frank Marino was born in Canada in 1954. He began playing guitar at the age of 13 after having played drums for three years. Very soon after changing instruments, Marino had formed his band Mahogany Rush. By 1971, three years later, the group had developed quite a following. At the age of 17, his first album, MAXOOM, was released and the group quickly started generating a larger and larger following and more albums. In all, by the year 2001, Marino had released 11 albums with Mahogany Rush. He also did two solo albums, 1986's Full Circle, and From the Hip, which came out in 1991. Adding to his credits are also appearances on recordings by April Wine and Brian Lee.

by Gary Hill

Mahogany Rush wasn't as huge a name in 1970s, but the power trio commanded a loyal, good-sized following and provided its share of five-star albums. One of them is this live album, which was recorded during a U.S. tour in late 1977 and came out on vinyl the following year. Mahogany knew how to burn on stage, and this excellent LP really captures the vitality of its 1970s concerts. No one who is seriously into hard rock and metal should be deprived of hearing singer/guitarist Frank Marino let loose on live versions of "Dragonfly," "Electric Reflections of War," and "The Answer." The band is equally captivating on sweaty performances of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," and Muddy Waters' "I'm a King Bee."

Some fans were disappointed because Live is a single LP instead of a two-LP set -- many of the gems that Mahogany performed on-stage in 1977 were omitted. The band cites space limitations as the reason, although one suspects that licensing restrictions had something to do with what was and wasn't included. The 1978 "Live" of Mahogany Rush, it is consistently rewarding and is enthusiastically.

by Alex Henderson

Tracks

1. Introduction - 0:28

2. The Answer - 5:01

3. Dragonfly - 5:27

4. I'm a King Bee (Slim Harpo) - 5:58

5. Excerpt from "Back Door Man" (Willie Dixon) - 2:56

6. A New Rock 'n' Roll - 4:19

7. Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry) - 5:16

8. Talkin' 'Bout a Feelin' - 3:58

9. Excerpt from "Who Do Ya Love" (Ellas McDaniel) - 1:32

10.Electric Reflections of War - 3:04

11.The World Anthem - 3:38

12.Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix) - 4:01

Songs 2,3,6,8,10,11 written by Frank Marino

2017 Bonus Tracks ecorded live in California; 1978

13.I'm A King Bee (Slim Harpo) - 6:43

14.Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry) - 8:19

Musicians
*Jimmy Ayoub - Drums, Percussion
*Paul Harwood - Bass
*Frank Marino - Guitar, Vocals

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John Cale And Terry Riley - Church Of Anthrax (1971 uk, great avantgarde experimental art rock, Wounded Bird issue)

Leaving the Velvet Underground after being a major force on their first two seminal albums, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale forged a collaborative relationship with the band's sometime-frontwoman Nico, resulting in two of her keystone albums, The Marble Index and Desertshore. In 1970, Cale launched his own solo career on Columbia Records with a collection of art-pop songs entitled Vintage Violence. His next for Columbia would be this collaborative album, enlisting master loopist Terry Riley, who was on the roster of Columbia's parent, CBS records.

Many years ago, I once talked with Terry Riley after one of his shows. In our conversation, I mentioned "the album with John Cale," in a sly attempt to elicit some recollections or impressions. His response: "Yes! Church of Anthrax! [half-mirthful, half-exasperated laughter]" That was all.

Despite this inscrutable reaction, Church of Anthrax is a fairly straightforward meeting of the two artists' worlds. The extended instrumentals are easily the best thing about this one. The title track, my own personal favorite, starts off like a jam in the tradition of the VU, with Cale's gruff bass lines prominent in the mix. Over this base, Riley enters with some funky, psychedelic organ that after about a minute and a half, starts going into conniptions, notes jittering like marbles spilling out on a floor every which way. As the piece builds, sax enters flirting with the organ lines and everything gets looser and looser.

The drum work, by the way, adds quite a bit to this track with a jazzy energy and blending with Riley's organ spasms. Another great piece, "The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace at Versailles" places Cale behind the keys, pounding out block chords on piano. To this Riley adds spacey, trilly sax in the A Rainbow in Curved Air vein, one track in each channel, giving the impression of a ritual call between two animals.

Finally, "Ides of March" is a good though somewhat overlong jam split-channeling the duo's keyboard styles. Riley plays treated piano in the left speaker, flittering obsessively and polyrhythmically among certain note cycles. Cale again plonks out alongside this with rhythm piano in the right speaker. Each channel is backed by separate drumming. Written by Cale alone, "The Soul of Patrick Lee" interestingly features an outside vocalist, although the song has Cale's sound stamped all over it in the lyrics and melody, so that you can easily envision him singing it. It's clearly placed in that era of his songwriting, sounding like a decent holdover from Vintage Violence, and also holding the lantern up to Paris 1919.

This strikes me as a pretty interesting pairing of two fellow avant-garders with two quite different personas: Riley, the convivial cosmic explorer of Eastern music; and Cale, the moody mercenary of violence-in-sound. While probably not the best from either artist, it's good for what it is: two legends at work and fairly early in their careers, too.

by Joe McGlinchey

Tracks

1. Church Of Anthrax - 9:05

2. The Hall Of Mirrors In The Palace At Versailles - 7:59

3. The Soul Of Patrick Lee (John Cale) - 2:49

4. Ides Of March - 11:03

5. The Protege - 2:52

All tracks by John Cale and Terry Riley, except where noted.

Musicians

*John Cale - Keyboards, Bass Guitar, Harpsichord, Piano, Guitar, Viola, Organ

*Terry Riley - Piano, Organ, Soprano Saxophone

*Adam Miller - Vocals On "The Soul Of Patrick Lee"

*Bobby Colomby - Drums

*Bobby Gregg - Drums

More John Cale work here:

1972  Lou Reed, John Cale And Nico - Live At Bataclan Paris (2013 edition)

1973 Paris 1919

1974 Fear

1975 Slow Dazzle

1975 Helen Of Troy

1984 John Cale Comes Alive

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Jackie McAuley - Jackie McAuley...Plus (1971 uk, gorgeous folk rock with blues and jazz shades, 2009 Esoteric extra tracks issue)

Jackie McAuley's debut solo album Jackie McAuley first released in 1971 is a minor masterpiece, a beguiling mixture of moods with shades of folk-rock, blues and jazz. The album has been somewhat unjustly overlooked as history has continued to praise Trader Home's magical Morning Way, recorded with Judy Dyble the previous year.

The early recording career of McAuley - a gifted original singer and musician - is a confused tale of short-lived projects and missed opportunities. Jackie McAuley was born into a very musical family in County Derry, Northern Ireland surrounded by traditional Irish music. In 1964 Jackie and his elder brother Patrick moved to London and joined Them - Belfast's finest r'n'b band with Van Morrison. Them were plagued with personnel problems, Jackie's tenure as the group's organist was brief - confusions over who played on the group's influential early recordings has been the subject of hot debate for many years.

Whilst in London, Jackie made the acquaintance of one of his musical heroes - the American rock & roll legend Gene Vincent; "Gene really was the one who gave me the confidence to write my own songs". McAuley soon found himself in Dublin fronting a blues band with Paul Brady - later of the Johnstons and Planxty. Sometime in late 1966, when Pat McAuley finally exited the turbulent Them, the brothers formed a new band together with Mike Scott and Ken McLeod. In London they met the American record producer Kim Fowley, a longstanding fan of Them, who christened them the Belfast Gypsies, and signed with the hip Island label.

The Belfast Gypsies recorded a pair of singles for Island, but discographical confusion continued. Their first 45 - 'Gloria's Dream' / 'Secret Police' - appeared in October '66, the second single - 'People, Let's Freak Out' / 'Shadow Chasers' • followed two months later appearing confusingly under the name Freaks Of Nature. The 'A' side had overdubbed percussion by Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt and Island A&R executive Guy Stevens. The Belfast Gypsies went on to complete an album which finally appeared in Scandinavia under the title Them Belfast Gypsies' in 1967.

When the Gypsies foundered, McAuley began working as a Folk Rock duo with ex-Fairport Convention singer and auto-harpist Judy Dyble. Trader Home, apparently taking their name from the venerable John Peel's nanny, recorded the beautiful 'Morning Way' album - released on Dawn records in March 1970. "Good tunes, nice harmonies, played well," is Dyble's succinct summary of the record. When Dyble left to get married, McAuley briefly continued with singer Saffron Summerfield before dissolving the band.

Determined to pursue his own musical vision, McAuley then began recording a solo album with help from some of the best young jazz musicians of the time. Most of the players were recruited on the suggestion of the label's in-house producer Barry Murray. Mike McNaught, Tony Roberts and Mike Travis were all members of the Henry Lowther Band which had recorded the acclaimed 'Child Song' in 1970. Renowned jazz trumpeter Henry Lowther had played with the original Mike Westbrook Band and with John Dankworth's Big Band.

In the sixties Lowther had also worked on the rock scene with Manfred Mann and John Mayail. and appeared at the famous Woodstock festival in 1969 whilst a member of the Keef Hartley Band. Flautist Tony Roberts was an alumni of Alexis Korner's genre-defying Blues Incorporated and regularly recorded with John Renbourn and many of the most innovative innovative Londonbased jazz composers, On double bass they hired Roy Babbington, an ex-member of Delivery, currently playing with Ian Carr's Nucleus and a busy session musician - recording with Harvey Andrews, Mike D'Abo, Keith Tippett and Soft Machine among many.

The rhythm section was completed by Mike Travis from the Canterbury-based Gilgamesh and Pete Hossell, an acclaimed jug player. Hossell was well-known on the British blues scene, a founding member of the Panama Limited Jug Band, in 1969 he appeared with Ian Anderson's Country Blues Band on their 'Stereo Death Breakdown' album. The orchestral arrangements for the album were by keyboard player Mike McNaught.

He'd recently been the musical director for the London stage production of Harry Nillson's The Point' and would go on to have an eclectic career recording with B A Robertson, composing songs for children's television series like 'Rupert' and arranging songs for the Monty Python albums The Meaning of Life' and 'Monty Python Sings'. Jackie McAuley was issued by Pye Record's Dawn imprint in July 1971. All of the songs had been written by Jackie before the recording began.

The album includes one non-original, a fine cover of Leadbelly's 'Poor Howard': "Since I was a kid, I've always been a big fan of Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Woody Guthrie... all were great songsmiths" recalls McAuley, "the sessions were great. I have good memories of that recording, they were great players." 'Country Joe' is a gentle portrait of another of McAuley's heroes - Country Joe McDonald of 'and the Rsh' fame.

Dawn released two singles to promote the album - 'Turning Green1 / 'It's Alright' (DNS1011) and 'Rockin' Shoes' / 'One Fine Day' (DNS 1020). However, McAuley was reluctant to undertake live gigs at the time, like so many singer-songwriters he suffered the familiar quandary - he didn't have a band to take the album arrangements on the road, and felt that solo performances would not do the material justice.

Sadly the album failed to find the audience it deserved and quickly disappeared from the market. McAuley soon found work as a session player, recording with Jim Capaldi, Rick Wakeman, Bryn Haworth and many others, later he was musical director of the Lonnie Donegan band.

In 1982 he co-wrote with Johnny Gustafson Status Quo's Top Ten hit 'Dear John'. In the mid-1980s Jackie formed a Celtic rock band called Poor Mouth with Clive Bunker (ex- Jethro Tull), Philip Rynhart (ex-Taj Mahal) and Tommy Lundy (ex-Katmandu). He has continued to record and gig throughout the past two decades, releasing an occasional series of fine albums - Gael Force (1989), Headspin (1994), Fretwork (1996), Shadowboxing (1999) and Bad Day At Black Rock (2000).
by David Suff

Tracks
1. Turning Green - 6:08
2. Boy on the Bayou - 3:31
3. Country Joe - 4:38
4. Cameramen, Wilson & Holmes - 4:55
5. Spanish Room - 1:59
6. It's Alright - 6:04
7. Poor Howard (H. Ledbetter) - 2:01
8. Away - 3:35
9. Bangerine - 5:02
10.Ruby Farm - 3:38
11.Rocking Shoes - 3:20
12.One Fine Day - 2:02
All compositions by Jackie McAuley unless otherwise stated.

Musicians
*Jackie McAuley - Banjo, Guitar, Piano, Spoons, Stomping, Vocals
*Henry Lowther - Flugelhorn, Violin
*Mike McNaught - Harpsichord, Piano, Vibraphone
*Mike Travis - Drums, Percussion
*Roy Babington - Bass
*Tony Roberts - Flute
*Pete Hossel - Jug on "Poor Howard"

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B.F.Trike - B.F.Trike (1971 us, superb heavy garage psych)

B.F. Trike formed when three members of late 60’s psyche band Hickory Wind decamped to Nashville in 1971 and started work on an album for RCA Records. Eschewing the psychedelic style of their previous band the trio turned up the fuzz guitar and produced ten tracks of great heavy rock.

The tapes were then shelved for eighteen years until Rockadelic issued them in 1989 in a limited edition of 100 vinyl copies as well as on CD. The vinyl is now long gone and fetches astronomical sums at auction, so if you want to hear the album then you will have to go for the CD. The question is, therefore, is it worth it. Well, in this case it might well be, as the songs are catchy, well played and sung, they have great fuzz guitar solos, the rhythm section is restrained where it needs to be and upfront on the heavy rockers, and the whole album hangs together extremely well.

It opens with a re-recording of one of their Hickory Wind songs ‘Time And Changes’, done in a much heavier style and with some fine guitar-work. ‘For Sale Or Lease’ is slightly slower, but still as heavy, with a crisper guitar sound and some good riffing. ‘Lovely Lady’ is a mixture of commercial hook overlaid with stunning fuzz guitar, making it catchy and accessible while at the same time raw and powerful. ‘Sunshine’ lets you catch your breath after the onslaught of ‘Lovely Lady’, being an upbeat acoustic number, while ‘Bench Of Wood’ has a distinct Hawkwind feel to the vocals and heavy riffing.

They keep the style for ‘Six O’Clock Sleeper’ and manage to pull it off by giving it more of a groove and throwing in some nifty guitar-work. ‘Magic Makin Music Man’ is another one of their catchy heavy rockers, and the album ends with ‘Be Free’, which combines the ubiquitous fuzz guitar with some inventive percussion and a staccato chorus which lifts it above the average.

Why RCA refused to issue this at the time Heaven knows, but be thankful that we can hear it now.
PeterJolly

Tracks
1. Time And Changes - 2:44
2. For Sale Or Lease - 3:03
3. Wait And See - 2:38
4. Lovely Lady - 3:08
5. Sunshine - 4:51
6. Bench Of Wood - 3:31
7. Three Piece Music - 2:39
8. 6 O'Clock Sleeper - 4:15
9. Magic Makin' Music Man - 2:13
10. Be Free - 3:42

B.F.Trike
*Bobby Strehl - Vocals, Drums
*Mike McGuyer - Vocals, Guitar
*Alan Jones - Bass

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Trader Horne - Morning Way....Plus (1970 uk, wonderful folk rock, extra tracks edition)

Legendarily named after DJ John Peel's nickname for his nanny, the duo Trader Horne were one of those wonderful, short-lived footnotes of musical history with which the late-'60s British scene so abounds. In the name game, singer Judy Dyble edged out singer/multi-instrumentalist Jackie - -- he found fame with Them, she flitted through Fairport Convention, Giles, Giles & Fripp, and King Crimson, and guested on an Incredible String Band album.

In 1969, the two paired up, signed to the Pye label's newly launched prog imprint Dawn, and released their first and last album Morning Way. Reissuers Esoteric are touting the set as acid-jazz, presumably because the marketing department never played it. Themed around the transformation from childhood to adulthood, Morning is awash in whimsy, and gentle folk that puddles around pop and occasionally melts into blues or R&B. The entire album has a lovely, lilting quality, a child-like sweetness, innocence, and wonder, even though many of the lyrics explore teen-age angst.

It's far removed from anything else on the scene, then or now, and reminds us how cruelly Dyble's vocals were overshadowed in Fairport history by Sandy Denny. Denny, of course, overshadows everyone, but Dyble is delightful regardless.
by Dave Thompson

Tracks
1. Jenny May - 2:26
2. Children of Oare - 4:03
3. Three Rings for Eleven Kings - 2:13
4. Growing Man - 4:04
5. Down and Out Blues (Cox, McAuley, Traditional) - 4:33
6. The Mixed Up Kind - 6:26
7. Better Than Today - 3:11
8. In My Loneliness - 2:22
9. Sheena - 2:42
10. The Mutant (Goldsmith, McAuley) - 2:54
11. Morning Way (Dyble, McAuley) - 4:35
12. Velvet to Atone (Dyble, Dyke, Quittenton) - 2:26
13. Like That Never Was - 4:56
14. Goodbye Mercy Kelly - 3:18
15. Here Comes the Rain - 2:36
All songs by Jackie McAuley axcept where noted.

Musicians
*Jackie McAuley - Celeste, Conga, Flute, Guitar, Harpsichord, Keyboards, Organ, Piano, Vocals
*Judy Dyble - Electric Autoharp, Electric Harp, Harp, Keyboards, Piano, Vocals
*Ray Elliot - Arranger, Clarinet, Flute, Wind
*John Godfrey - Arranger, Bass, Guitar
*Andy White - Drums

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Giles Giles And Fripp - The Cheerful Insanity (1968 uk, inspired music, pre-King Crimson, japan SHM-CD remaster, 2010 edition with bonus tracks)

This pre-King Crimson aggregate involves the talents of Michael Giles (drums/vocals), Peter Giles (bass/vocals), and Robert Fripp (guitar/vocals) accompanied by a plethora of studio musicians -- most notably keyboardist Nicky Hopkins and backing vocalists the Breakaways. By any standards The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles & Fripp is one of the more eclectic albums to have been issued during the psychedelic rock movement of the late '60s.

The album was initially issued in September of 1968 on the Decca Records subsidiary Deram -- whose releases were aimed specifically at the alternative or progressive rock market. That said, this disc is a far cry from the type of material that other artists on the label such as the Moody Blues, Caravan, or Pacific Drift were concurrently issuing.

The original record album was divided into two sections: "The Saga of Rodney Toady" and "Just George," which were named after the respective spoken word pieces that link the musical works on the A- and B-sides. Musically, Giles, Giles & Fripp are wholly unlike anything before or since. Drawing upon folk, classical, pop, and even sacred music, each track brings a fresh listening experience. Among the highlights is the leadoff track, "North Meadow," which features some stunning fretwork from Fripp. Likewise, "Call Tomorrow" is a trippy noir tale involving an ambiguous practical joke.

The classically influenced instrumental "Suite No. 1," as well as another one of Fripp's more esoteric compositions, "Erudite Eyes," likewise bear some semblance of sounds to come from the trio. While not everyone's cup of tea, there is a tremendous amount to enjoy on The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles & Fripp for those whose expectations are not of King Crimson, but rather of lighthearted and decidedly folksy English tales.

Parties interested in this disc should likewise be advised of The Brondesbury Tapes, which is a collection of semiprofessional demos made by this trio and original Fairport Convention vocalist Judy Dyble (vocals) and soon-to-be King Crimson member Ian McDonald (flute/sax).
by Lindsay Planer

Tracks
1. The Saga Of Rodney Toady: North Meadow (P. Giles) - 2:59
2. The Saga Of Rodney Toady: Newly-Weds (P. Giles) - 2:33
3. The Saga Of Rodney Toady: One Ina Million (M. Giles) - 2:43
4. The Saga Of Rodney Toady: Call Tomorrow (P. Giles) - 2:57
5. The Saga Of Rodney Toady: Digging My Lawn (P. Giles) - 2:05
6. The Saga Of Rodney Toady: Littlechildren (R. Fripp) - 2:49
7. The Saga Of Rodney Toady: The Crukster (M. Giles) - 1:35
8. The Saga Of Rodney Toady: Thursday Morning (M. Giles) - 2:51
9. Just George: How Do They Known (M. Giles) - 2:26
10.Just George: Elephant Song (M. Giles) - 3:25
11.Just George: The Sun Is Shinging (M. Giles) - 3:19
12.Just George: Suite No. 1 (R. Fripp) - 5:46
13.Just George: Erudite Eyes (R. Fripp) - 5:06
14.She Is Loaded (P. Giles) - 3:12
15.Thursday Morning (Stereo Single Version) (M. Giles) - 2:54
16.Under The Sky (R. Fripp) - 3:59
17.One In A Million (Mono Single Version) (M. Giles) - 2:27
18.Newly-Weds (Single Version) (P. Giles) - 2:45
19.Thursday Morning (Stereo Single Version) (M. Giles) - 2:51
20.She Is Loaded (P. Giles) - 3:18
21.Just George, Pt. 2 (M. Giles) - 0:10
22.Just George, Pt. 3 (M. Giles) - 0:13
23.Just George, Pt. 4 (M. Giles) - 0:13
24.Under the Sky (R. Fripp) - 4:03
25.One in a Million (Mono Single Version) (M. Giles) - 2:30
26.Newly-Weds (Mono Single Version) (P. Giles) - 2:51
27.Thursday Morning (Mono Single Version) (M. Giles) - 3:02
28.Thursday Morning (Stereo Single Version) (M. Giles) - 2:53

Giles, Giles And Fripp
* Robert Fripp - Guitars
* Peter Giles - Bass
* Michael Giles - Drums, Percussion
Guest Musicians
* Ted Barker, Cliff Hardy - Trombone
* R. Cohen, G. Fields, K. Isaccs, B. Pecker, W. Reid, G. Salisbury - Violin
* John Coulling, Rebecca Patten - Viola
* A. Ford, Charles Tunnell - Cello
* Ivor Raymonde - String Arrangements
* The Breakaways - Backing Vocals
* Mike Hill, Nicky Hopkins - Keyboards

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Phil Ochs - All The News That's Fit To Sing (1964 us, innovative protest folk)

All the News That's Fit to Sing was a fit title for the debut album by a 1960s folk protest singer who some liked to call a "singing journalist." Recorded and released in early 1964, it was done at a time when Ochs's generation of young adults was getting more socially conscious and politicized. The Cold War had almost brought the world to the brink of nuclear war in the Cuban missile crisis, the Civil Rights Movement was heating up, and American military intervention in Vietnam was starting to rise from a grumble to a roar. Ochs addressed all these subjects and more on his first LP, which immediately established him as one of the foremost authors of topical song in American folk music.

Although this was Ochs's first album, it was not the first time he had recorded. Around late 1963, he had cut a song, "The Ballad of William Worthy" (also done for his debut album shortly afterward), for the Broadside Ballads Vol. 1 compilation, which is most famous for including tracks by Bob Dylan that were credited to the pseudonym of Blind Boy Grunt. It's also been reported that Phil sings on the Campers' rare Cameo-Parkway LP Camp Favorites, a collection of -- as if you couldn't tell from the title -- campfire folk songs, released in 1962 or 1963. A couple songs that Ochs performed at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival were recorded, although these did not appear until the following year on the Newport Broadside compilation.

There were other recordings dating roughly from the era of the first album sessions, though the exact dates haven't been pinpointed. Producer Elliot Mazer recalls doing an unreleased demo with Phil for Cameo-Parkway around 1964, and the 1980s compilation A Toast to Those Are Gone presented previously unissued early demos, most or all of which sound as if they come from Ochs's very early career. Five tracks (including an early version of one of his most famous compositions, "There But For Fortune") landed on the 1964 Vanguard compilation New Folks, a couple of outtakes from those sessions surfacing on a 2000 CD anthology.

Several dozen of his compositions had already appeared in the influential folk magazine Broadside prior to All the News That's Fit to Sing, and the singer informally taped dozens of songs for the publication in his early days in New York, a good many of these recordings finding release after the 1960s. Too, his songs were already starting to get covered by other artists, the Modern Folk Quartet interpreting Phil's adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Bells," and the Four Seasons doing an unlikely version of "New Town" (which Ochs never put out himself) on their folk album Born to Wander in early 1964.

It's probably never going to be known exactly how much Ochs had recorded before cutting All the News That's Fit to Sing for Elektra in February 1964. What the existence of all this early stuff makes clear, however, is that Ochs was already a prolific songwriter, with way too much material to fit onto a single LP. It also seems that, although he apparently at least skirted the wavelength of several different record labels, there was no serious rival for his services when he signed with Elektra around the end of 1963, after A&R man Paul Rothchild saw him playing live at the Gaslight in Greenwich Village. Rothchild would be credited as "recording director" on the album, with Elektra founder and president Jac Holzman acting as "production supervisor."

The Beatles had just invaded America around the time the album was recorded, and it was way too soon for recorded folk music to feel the effect of the British Invasion. Accordingly, All the News That's Fit to Sing was, like a great many folk albums of its times by both new and established artists, recorded with nothing but acoustic guitar as accompaniment. "He was a topical singer," explains Holzman today. "The more uncluttered you present a topical song, the better it is, I think. So [the production] was something that we discussed for about a minute and a half. We just went and recorded 'em, pretty much the way he would have performed 'em at a club."

Elektra did, however, enlist the services of a second guitarist, Danny Kalb, who'd become most known for his subsequent stint in the rock band the Blues Project. Kalb had more recording experience prior to the Blues Project than many realize, however, playing on folk recordings by Judy Collins, the New Strangers, the Folk Stringers, and the True Endeavor Jug Band, and also contributing a couple of tracks to the 1964 Elektra compilation LP The Blues Project under his own name.

Contributing in a non-musical capacity were friends and Broadside editors Agnes "Sis" Cunningham and Gordon Friesen, who wrote the liner notes (Cunningham penning the principal essay and Friesen offering detailed comments on each track). "We've printed about 30 or 40 Ochs songs," Cunningham remarked, "and probably have as many others scattered around simply because we haven't had the room for them or the manpower even to prepare them for the mimeograph machine."

Not much more than a dozen such songs could fit onto one LP, however, and likely Ochs and Elektra zeroed in on the stronger ones in his young repertoire. While very specific issue-driven compositions (particularly on "Talking Vietnam" and "Talking Cuban Crisis") were present, Ochs was already branching out into more general observations and critiques of military force ("One More Parade") and injustice ("Too Many Martyrs"), both of them written in collaboration with veteran Elektra folkie Bob Gibson. Another highlight was Phil's musical adaptation of the classic Edgar Allan Poe poem "The Bells," perhaps as an early indicator of his future explorations into poetic expression not tied to current events.

All of the other selections were penned by Ochs alone, including "Power and the Glory," which he likely considered among the more enduring of his early works, as he recorded an updated version a decade later for a 1974 single. Arguably the finest of the tunes was "Bound for Glory," a Woody Guthrie tribute that again proved that Phil's horizons were broader than what could be read in the day's newspapers.
by Richie Unterberger

Tracks
1. One More Parade (P. Ochs, B. Gibson) - 3:00
2. The Thresher - 2:50
3. Talkin' Vietnam - 3:38
4. Lou Marsh - 4:04
5. Power And The Glory - 2:15
6. Celia - 3:08
7. The Bells (E. A. Poe, With Musical Adaptation By P. Ochs) - 3:00
8. Automation Song - 2:08
9. Ballad Of William Worthy - 2:15
10.Knock On The Door - 2:47
11.Talkin' Cuban Crisis - 2:40
12.Bound For Glory - 3:15
13.Too Many Martyrs (Ochs, Gibson) - 2:46
14.What's That I Hear - 2:00
15.Bullets Of Mexico - 2:34
Words and Music by Phil Ochs except where noted.

Musicians
*Phil Ochs - First Guitar, Vocals
*Danny Kalb - Second Guitar
*John Sebastian - Harmonica On "Bound For Glory"

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Thirsty Moon - You'll Never Come Back (1973 germany, spectacular prog jazz krautrock, 2006 bonus track remaster)

Thirsty Moon uses the elements of jazz as a means of spontaneous expression and melts them together with the aggressiveness and rhythm of rock. They play only their own compositions, connecting voices with instrumental parts and utilizing all electronic possibilities. In spite of all their variety Thirsty Moon has a remarkable sound. Every member of the group knows his instrument perfectly. Everyone is a individualist who adds characteristic features to the group. The basis of the music is the precise playing together of the bass and drums and the Afro sounds of the four congas which connects the hard beat with the Latin American rhythms. The electric piano and the guitar combine to form another important element to the sound.

The saxophonist is an experienced jazz musician who gives the group the exquisite spontaneity of jazz. Unlike many German groups, Thirsty Moon’s lyrics are an essential part of their sound. They reflect the impulses of their surroundings. Thirsty Moon is not a typical German group and they do not want to be one. The texts are English. The musical influences are from various cultures in the music world.

Thirsty Moon do not follow any particular trend and they do not wish to be commercial. Thirsty Moon has a sort of ultimate versatility which does not rely on overused, accepted riffs and styles. Their versatility, on the contrary, comes from a whole array of lines which have not even been used yet! “Yellow Sunshine” has pieces that are so completely phased that the listener cannot tell what instruments are playing the phased lines. “Trash Man” has horn parts resembling The Grand Wazoo in perfection and complexity, but the horns overlay Santana-like rhythms instead of the “old-timey” jazz tones of Zappa’s recording.

This is not to say that Thirsty Moon has the traditional copied sounds of the successful groups. Nobody sounds like Thirsty Moon. No other band has so completely captured the elusive phenomena inherent in acid rock and placed it so effectively in a jazz-rock format. Thirsty Moon’s sound is a mirror ball of images surrounding the listener.
Translation: Dr. Martina Häusler (originally taken from Skylab review)

Tracks
1. I See You - 7:18
2. Trash Man - 14:27
3. Tune In - 5:00
4. You'll Never Come Back - 12:34
5. Das Fest Der Volker - 5:05
6. Music (Bonus Track) - 12:00
Words and Music by Thirsty Moon

Thirsty Moon
*Jurgen Drogies - Guitar, Percussion
*Norbert Drogies- Drums
*Michael Kobs - Keyboards
*Harald Konietzko - Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
*Erwin Noack - Percussion
*Willi Pape - Woodwinds

1972  Thirsty Moon - Thirsty Moon

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Thirsty Moon - Thirsty Moon (1972 germany, outstanding progressive jazz, krautrock)

Thirsty Moon were one of the many German jazz-rock progressive groups in the early '70s that put their own unique spin to their fusion-based music, especially on their first two records, which are rightly considered classics in the Krautrock genre. Thirsty Moon was created in Bremen, in northern Germany, in the summer of 1971 when several groups merged. One of these was the Drogies Rock Project, more commonly known as DRP, fronted by two brothers, drummer Norbert Drogies and guitarist Jurgen Drogies.

They brought with them DRP organist Hans Wener Ranwig, and joined up with Harald Konietzko from the group Tomorrow Too, and Michael Kobs, Willi Pape, and Erwin Noack from the jazz-soul band the Shakespeares, to form the seven-piece Thirsty Moon. Inspired by the brass rock of Chicago, the early fusion of Emergency, and early, jazzy Krautrock like Xhol Caravan, Kollektiv, and Organisation, Thirsty Moon threw everything from horns to congas into their blend of jazz, progressive, and psychedelic music.

At the time, the Brain label was signing progressive rock bands with a jazzy edge, and in 1972 Brain released Thirsty Moon's self-titled debut, which showcased the band's eccentric song structures and highly original sound. Ranwig left the band sometime after the record came out, and was replaced by Siegfried Pisalla, Konietzko's former bandmate in Tomorrow Too, and in July of 1973 this group went into the studio to record their second LP. You'll Never Come Back, released by Brain later that year, was as creative and dynamic as the first record. By 1975, everyone except the Norbert and Jurgen Drogies had left the group.

Their third record, Blitz, released by Brain in 1976, was an all-instrumental album, a bit more lightweight and conventional than the earlier material. Coming out the next year, the LP Real Good Time, quite frankly, was not that much of a good time, as the brothers and a bunch of new recruits churned out conventional pop music. Thirsty Moon broke up at this point, but at the beginning of the '80s, after Brain released the compilation Yellow Sunshine with tracks taken from the first four albums, the brothers re-formed the group with original member Ranwig, as well Junior Weerasingle from the Real Good Time sessions on drums.

The album Starchaser, recorded and released by the Sky label in 1981, saw the group falling flat on their faces with a synthy disco record that had both fans and critics shaking their heads with dismay. Thirsty Moon called it quits again, this time for good. It was unfortunate that Thirsty Moon's quality diminished with each release after You'll Never Come Back, and that they never recaptured the energy and sheer over-the-top creativity exhibited on those first two records.
by Rolf Semprebon

Tracks
1. Morning Sun - 5:24
2. Love Me - 3:54
3. Rooms Behind Your Mind - 3:18
4. Big City - 8:31
5. Yellow Sunshine - 21:30
6. Life Is A Joke - 5:44
Lyrics and Music by N. Drogies, E. Noack, E. Pape, H. Konietzko, H.W. Ranwig and J. Drogies

Thirsty Moon
*Jürgen Drogies - Guitar, Percussion
*Norbert Drogies - Drums, Percussion
*Michael Kobs - Electric Piano
*Harald Konietzko - Bass, 12-String-Guitar, Percussion, Vocals
*Erwin Noack - Congas, Percussion
*Willi Pape - Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute, Percussion
*Hans Werner Ranwig - Organ, Percussion, Vocals

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Eiliff - Eiliff / Girlrls! (1971-72 germany, fine progressive jazz rock, krautrock)

Eiliff were one of the so-called "progressive jazz rock bands" of the early seventies. Their two albums were recorded in Hamburg, produced by Rainer Goltermann. Their music is hard to describe accurately: a complex blend of many different styles, comparisons could be made with Colosseum, King Crimson, Nucleus and Miles Davis.

With regard to German bands, perhaps a comparison with Xhol, Cornucopia or Thirsty Moon is appropriate. Eiliff also occasionally added ethnic touches, characterised by sitars and percussion. Their first album had the standard (for such bands) 20 minute suite, along with three mid-length tracks. Some sections were good, others sound a bit dated nowadays, particularly the jazz improvisations.

In general, the album was a bit diverse, incorporating as many different styles as it did. Eiliff recorded it in the Star Studios with Konrad Plank engineering. Their second and last album Girlrls! (1972) was closer to progressive rock otherwise it was quite similar to the first. It was recorded at the other famous recording studio of Hamburg: Windrose studios - with F. Bischoff engineering.

Today Eiliff's albums are in the collector's mid-price rank of 50-100 euro, probably justied by their musical content. After Eiliff's demise, Nejadepour played for a short while in Guru Guru at the time of Dance Of The Flames (1974).
by Dag Erik Asbjornsen

Tracks
1. Bird-Night Of The Seventh Day - 5:03
2. Gammeloni - 6:41
3. Uzzek Of Rigel IV - 10:51
4. Suite - 20:38
5. Eve Of Eternity - 5:58
6. Kings Of The Frogs - 5:45
7. Journey To The Ego - 6:17
8. Girlrls - 6:41
9. Hallimasch - 8:48
All compositions by Eiliff.

Eiliff
*Rainer Brüninghaus - Organ, Electric Piano, Sounds
*Herbert J. Kalveram - Sax
*Houschäng Nejadepour - Guitars, Sitar
*Detlev Landmann - Drums
*Bill Brown - Bass

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String Driven Thing - The Machine That Cried (1973 uk, outstanding progressive folk rock, 2008 japan remastered limited edition with extra tracks)

String Driven Thing's rise ought to have been inexorable. Their latest single, "Circus," was making waves on both sides of the Atlantic, and plans were afoot for the group to join Genesis on their own latest tours of both Britain and the U.S. Unfortunately, the beginning of 1973 saw Chris Adams hospitalized with a collapsed lung, an event that was to have a serious impact on String Driven Thing's future.

That experience, and the nightmare of the next week's worth of agonizing recuperation was to form the inspiration for much of The Machine That Cried, String Driven Thing's next album. However, although the band did make it onto the British dates, the American shows never happened; instead, the band found itself shunting up and down the British highway system, playing small clubs and universities, and breaking in the new material.

The group's management at this time was being handled by Charisma's own in-house team, a less than satisfactory arrangement, but one that Stratton Smith seemed unwilling to change. Indeed, when Adams approached him to speak of the group's "total lack of confidence" in the setup, he simply "hummed and hawed and did nothing." Neither was that the end of the group's travails. In conversation with another label staffer one day, Adams mentioned that the band was considering adding a drummer to the lineup. A few days later, Stratton Smith showed up at a concert in Oxford, and instead offered them a keyboard player, Robert John Godfrey. He survived a week of rehearsals, but just one show, at the London Roundhouse, before the band declared him unsuitable and brought in a drummer (fellow Glaswegian Billy Fairley) after all. Godfrey went on to his own solo career at Charisma.

In this form, String Driven Thing returned to the studio to record The Machine That Cried, alongside what remains their best-known number, the single "It's a Game." The LP is one of the finest progressive rock albums of the entire era -- its CD reissue was widely heralded as among the most intelligent re-releases of recent years, and the excitement that greeted the re-formed String Driven Thing's return to action hailed almost wholly from memories of this marvelous album. At the time, however, all seemed doom-laden. "It's a Game," although it received plenty of British airplay, went nowhere (although a hit Bay City Rollers cover later went some way toward making amends)
by Dave Thompson

Tracks
1. Heartfeeder - 6:39
2. To See You - 3:58
3. Night Club - 5:05
4. Sold Down The River (C. Adams, G. Smith) - 4:29
5. Two Timin' Rama - 3:10
6. Travelling - 2:55
7. People On The Street (C. Adams, Pauline Adams) - 6:03
8. The House - 2:37
9. The Machine That Cried - 5:19
10. River Of Sleep - 11:11
11. If only the good (C. Adams, G. Smith) - 4:26
12. It's a game - 3:36
13. Part of the city - 3:32
All songs by Chris Adams except where noted

String Driven Thing
*Bill Hatje - Bass (tracks: 1, 8, 9) ,
*Colin Wilson - Bass (2)
*Billy 'The Kid' Fairley - Drums, Congas
*Grahame Smith - Violin, Viola
*Chris Adams - Vocals, Guitar
*Pauline Adams - Vocals, Percussion

1972/74 String Driven Thing / Please Mind Your Head 
1975 Keep Yer 'And On It

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John Cale - Slow Dazzle (1975 uk, splendid progressive art rock)

Recording again with Phil Manzanera, along with noted journeyman guitarist Chris Spedding, Cale kept up the focus and amazing music on Slow Dazzle, easily the equal of Fear in terms of overall quality. With Brian Eno again helping out on synth work, Slow Dazzle comes across as a little more fried and unsettling than earlier work.

Even the warm, epic lift of the chorus of "Mr. Wilson," very much a tribute to the Beach Boys' main man and one of the best he's ever received, is surrounded by strings and piano both lovely and paranoid. The more accurate tone of the record can be found in such numbers as "Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll," an intelligent, sly demolition of the lifestyle done to a glam-touched chug topped off with brass and backing singers, and even more dramatically with "Heartbreak Hotel."

One of the most amazing cover versions ever, and arguably the best Elvis Presley revamp in existence, the slower pace, freaked-out Eno synth arrangement, and above all else Cale's chilling delivery make it a masterpiece. Then there's "Guts," which deserves notice for its low-key but still sharp feedback snarl and steady, cool rhythm, but perhaps has its best moment with Cale's gasped, killer starting lyric: "The bugger in the short sleeves f*cked my wife." For all of the stronger rock power, Cale's obviously not out to be pigeonholed, thus the calmer swing of many other numbers, like the great '50s rock tribute "Darling I Need You," featuring great guest sax from Andy Mackay, and the quick, almost sprightly "Ski Patrol."

In terms of his own performance, Cale's voice again sounds marvelous, balanced perfectly between roughness and trained control, while his piano skills similarly find the connection between straightforward melodies and technical skill.
by Ned Raggett

Tracks
1. Mr. Wilson - 3:17
2. Talking It All Away - 2:59
3. Dirty-Ass Rock 'N' Roll - 4:44
4. Darling I Need You - 3:38
5. Rollaroll - 3:59
6. Heartbreak Hotel (Axton, Durden, Presley) - 3:14
7. Ski Patrol - 2:12
8. I'm Not the Loving Kind - 3:12
9. Guts - 3:27
10. The Jeweller - 5:07
All songs by John Cale except where noted.

Musicians
*John Cale - Bass, Clavinet, Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Organ, Piano, Viola, Vocals
*Gerry Conway - Drums
*Timi Donald - Drums
*Pat Donaldson - Bass Guitar
*Brian Eno - Keyboards, Synthesizer
*Andy Mackay - Saxophone
*Phil Manzanera - Guitar
*Geoff Muldaur - Harmony, Vocals
*Keith Smart - Drums
*Chris Spedding - Guitar
*Chris Thomas - Piano (Electric), Violin
*John Wood - Engineer, Synthesizer

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John Cale - Helen of Troy (1975 uk, fabulous art rock, bonus track reissue)

The supporting crew on Cale's final Island album makes for a lineup that could never have happened again -- at least, in terms of future results, imagining, among others, Cale, Chris Spedding, Brian Eno, and Phil Collins once more in the same room together seems totally unlikely. Regardless of the oddity, Cale once again led a great ensemble band (Spedding now having fully taken over from Manzanera on guitar) through another set of great, inspiring songs.

Whoever is putting in the guitar solos, Spedding or Cale, sometimes misfires, sometimes succeeds brilliantly -- consider opening song "My Maria," where the earlier efforts are intrusive but the concluding parts a perfect addition to the building smack of the song. Cale's songs generally tend towards the uneasy throughout, his sometimes strained but never forced singing, high volume at points, making the most of the material. The atmosphere of the album as a whole is perhaps the most band-oriented of the three Island records, with further arrangements sounding like additions more than intrinsic parts of the songs.

It's not a criticism, though, more an interesting experiment with often strong results, like the strident horns and heavily treated noise on the title track. "I Keep a Close Watch" is the secret emotional sucker punch on Helen of Troy -- Cale long harbored a sadly unfulfilled dream that Frank Sinatra might cover it, and there's little doubt why. Taking the opening line from Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line" as inspiration, with a much different thematic intent, it's an unabashedly romantic number with a great string and horn arrangement.

There are, again, gentler moments that call to mind earlier tributes to the Beach Boys here and there, such as "China Sea," along with a great rendition of Jonathan Richman's "Pablo Picasso." Overall, Helen of Troy finds Cale at his edgiest, with fascinating results.
by Ned Raggett

Tracks
1. My Maria - 3:52
2. Helen of Troy - 4:20
3. China Sea - 2:32
4. Engine - 2:47
5. Save Us - 2:22
6. Cable Hogue - 3:32
7. I Keep A Close Watch - 3:29
8. Pablo Picasso (Jonathan Richman) - 3:23
9. Coral Moon - 2:18
10.Baby, What You Want Me To Do? (Jimmy Reed) - 4:51
11.Sudden Death - 4:39
12.Leaving It Up To You - 4:34
Music and Words by John Cale except where noted.

Musicians
*John Cale - Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals
*Phil Collins - Drums
*Pat Donaldson - Bass
*Timi Donald - Drums
*Brian Eno - Synthesizer
*Chris Spedding - Guitar

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John Cale - Fear (1974 uk, marvelous art rock)

When ex-Velvet Underground virtuoso John Cale relocated back to Britain after a sojourn on the west coast of America, he was ready for a change in direction. Through his writer friend, Richard Williams, he took a three-year, six-album deal with Island Records. “There was a kind of dreamlike quality to London in those days”.

Cale wrote in his autobiography, What's Welsh For Zen? “I was glad to be back there with a different ambience and a new record deal to fulfill.” Moving into a house in Chelsea and then to Shepherd's Bush, Cale found himself somewhat isolated, spending his time recording and writing after spending mornings listening to music. “I would load the turntable with boxed sets of the Beach Boys and Mahler and sit there drifting in a West Coast nostalgia.” These influences spill on to Fear which featured support from Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera and marked a return to the brooding territory of the Velvets albums. It was a dense, clipped, rock album that pointed the way towards punk perfectly. It reflected Cale's dope and alcohol altered mindset. “[I] was trying to be Lou. I was on keyboards, guitar and bass . . . the title song disintegrates into a frenzied 'say, fear is a man's best friend', less sung than shouted.”

This track, “Fear Is A Man Best Friend”, and the eight minute “Gun” were towering achievements. Fear was well received by the UK press, and rightly so, as it brought Cale back to being a British artist. Nick Kent said in the NME that “there's more than enough lyricism and inventiveness dumped into the work to pale most other contemporary products into relative insignificance.” Although it is somewhat overlooked today, Fear demands repeated listening.
by Daryl Easlea

Tracks
1. Fear Is a Man's Best Friend - 3:53
2. Buffalo Ballet - 3:29
3. Barracuda - 3:48
4. Emily - 4:23
5. Ship of Fools - 4:38
6. Gun - 8:05
7. The Man Who Couldn't Afford to Orgy - 4:35
8. You Know Me More Than I Know - 3:35
9. Momamma Scuba - 4:24
Words and Music by John Cale

Musicians
*John Cale - Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Viola, Vocals
*Doreen Chanter - Vocals
*Irene Chanter - Vocals
*Michael Desmarais - Drums
*Brian Eno - Keyboards, Synthesizer
*Bryn Haworth - Guitar, Slide Guitar
*Archie Leggett - Bass, Guitar (Bass)
*Phil Manzanera - Guitar, Slide Guitar
*Judy Nylon - Vocals
*Fred E. Smith - Drums
*Liza Strike - Girl's Choir, Vocals
*Richard Thompson - Guitar
*Brian Turrington - Bass

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John Cale - Paris 1919 (1973 uk, brilliant art rock, 2006 remastered extra tracks issue)

John Cale's 1973 album Paris 1919 has long been justly celebrated as the most accessible and most purely beautiful record of his storied, multi-faceted career. And despite the album's abiding eccentricities-- the literary and historical allusions, posh orchestration, and abstruse lyricism-- it has often seemed to be Cale's most personal and revealing work as well, a deeply felt meditation on loss, dislocation, and introspective yearning. For this lavish new remastered edition, Rhino UK has unearthed 11 previously unreleased rehearsals and alternate takes, including one completed outtake, "Burned Out Affair", not included on the original album. This wealth of additional material nearly triples the running length of the original, and provides fascinating new insight into the deliberative construction of Cale's still-vibrant masterpiece.

By 1973, of course, Cale had already assembled a resume that would assure his status in the avant-rock pantheon. He'd worked in the Dream Syndicate and Theatre of Eternal Music alongside La Monte Young and Tony Conrad; recorded an album with Terry Riley; produced albums for Nico and the Stooges; and-- most significantly-- had co-founded the Velvet Underground. Yet it must be noted that at this point Cale's musical legacy had not yet entirely caught up with him. His early work with Young and Conrad was (and largely remains) under-documented and clouded in shadow, while the Velvets-- and the Stooges, for that matter-- boasted a reverent cult following but had yet to earn their reputation as supremely influential proto-punk and underground rock icons.

Meanwhile, Cale's post-VU solo work had been largely met with critical and commercial indifference, which eventually lead to him parting ways with Columbia Records. His first album for his new label Reprise was The Academy in Peril, an underrated collection of avant-garde instrumentals that Warner Brothers ultimately decided to bill as their first classical release. Despite this marketing confusion, Cale's standing with Reprise remained solid-- at least if one is to trust Paris 1919's original liner notes, included here-- and he was able to author the new album with some degree of creative control. Just as importantly, and for perhaps the last time in his career, Cale was able to approach the ambitious project with a distinct freedom from audience expectation.

Many of the choices Cale made with the benefit of this freedom remain astonishing to this day. Most noteworthy was his curious decision to enlist the talents of guitarist Lowell George and drummer Richie Hayward, both members of the L.A.-based boogie-rock outfit Little Feat. Though it must have seemed an incongruous choice at the time, this small ensemble proved to be an inspired marriage of styles, as George contributes several lovely, expressive solos and Hayward underscores tracks like "Macbeth" with a cavernous post-Velvets stomp. Cale also employed the UCLA Symphony Orchestra to flesh out his sophisticated, piano-based compositions, and their dramatic arrangements furnish Paris 1919 with much of its stately, haunting grandeur.

Throughout the album, Cale populates his songs with geographic detail-- including not just Paris, but also Barbury, Andalucia, Dunkirk, etc.-- and cryptic characters like Old Taylor, Segovia, and Farmer John. As writer Matthew Specktor points out in his lively liner notes, these wry characterizations allow the album to take on the appearance of a Graham Greene novella, with Greene himself the subject of one of the album's strangest and most erudite tracks.

On this track, as elsewhere on Paris 1919, Cale's lyrics veritably drip with intrigue and thinly-masked violence ("It must all seem like second nature/ Chopping down the people where they stand") with the album's central narrative based very loosely upon the Versailles Conference in 1919 Paris. But many of these songs contain tantalizing autobiographical overtones as well, particularly on the opening "Child's Christmas in Wales", which blends its Dylan Thomas references with what might be memories from Cale's own childhood. And on the elegiac "Half Past France", it's left ambiguous whether the song's narrator is a battle-weary WWI soldier returning from the front, or simply an exhausted touring musician wondering where exactly on the map he is.

The shadow of Graham Greene returns on this set's one completed outtake, "A Burnt-Out Affair", a track whose name seems a mash-up of two Greene titles: A Burnt-Out Case and The End of the Affair. Despite Cale's rather ragged vocal delivery, this track seems perfectly of a piece with the bulk of Paris 1919, leaving one to wonder what structural concerns might've kept it off the original album. Many of the other bonus tracks included here appear to be unfinished sketches, including a striking rehearsal take of Cale's deathless ballad "Andalucia" which he sings in a muffled near-whisper, sounding as though not entirely sure of the lyrics.

But several of the bonus tracks seem nearer completion, and grant the listener an intriguing glimpse at what could be Paris 1919's alternate history. A hypnotic, viola-led "drone mix" of "Hanky Panky Nohow" draws a stronger link to Cale's earlier musical experiments than anything on the released version of the album, while a stripped-down rendition of "The Endless Planes of Fortune" better accentuates Cale's nuanced vocal and Lowell George's understated country-rock accents.

The album's title track appears in two additional versions-- a "string mix" that features only Cale and a small chamber ensemble, and a "piano mix" that includes a beautiful, overtly Brian Wilson-inspired vocal bridge. Each of these alternate tracks is revelatory in its own right, and when taken together with the completed album this collection offers a brilliant working portrait of an artist testing the full possibilities of his songcraft. For better or worse, Cale has never again made another record quite like Paris 1919, at least in part, one suspects, because so many in his audience have since longed for him to do so.
by Matthew Murphy

Tracks
1. Child's Christmas in Wales - 3:20
2. Hanky Panky Nohow - 2:46
3. The Endless Plain of Fortune - 4:12
4. Andalucia - 3:54
5. Macbeth - 3:06
6. Paris 1919 - 4:06
7. Graham Greene - 3:00
8. Half Past France - 4:19
9. Antarctica Starts Here - 3:00
10.Burned out Affair - 3:24
11.Child's Christmas in Wales (Alternate Version) - 3:30
12.Hanky Panky Nohow (Drone Mix) - 2:51
13.The Endless Plain of Fortune (Alternate Version) - 4:08
14.Andalucia (Rehearsal) - 4:34
15.Macbeth (Alternate Version) - 3:34
16.Paris 1919 (String Mix) - 4:29
17.Graham Greene (Rehearsal) - 1:40
18.Half Past France (Alternate Version) - 4:50
19.Antarctica Starts Here (Rehearsal) - 2:52
20.Paris 1919 (Piano Mix) - 6:09
Words and Music by John Cale

Musicians
*John Calen - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
*Wilton Felder - Bass
*Lowell George - Guitar
*Richie Hayward - Drums

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