What are you listening to? 2021

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/0a4cd9b83992caade81772004af4f43d/8224054
Patti Smith's first lp. Been neglecting this for way too long, not sure if I've really been listening to her much. I may prefer her live around this time but this really is a fantastic record., I kept hearing it as neighborhood of folk rock for years, can see where i made the connection I think that and several other influences. NOt sure how much this sounds like 'Punk' per se but the formula that punk became was written a few years after this and it may have been a prevalent influence in what made up that influence. But this is more wordy and possibly playful and may be classed more as classic rock by some I don't know. Improvisatory band taht couldn't all play supremely well might exclude it. & major wordiness showing the band's roots in initially being support for a spoken word artist. Does have some pretty good touchstone sin teh music though, British invasion, soul etc. Not sure about the touches of reggae .
Anyway great record which is pretty essential.
Cover is a sly nod to Sinatra too which is cool especially for the time

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/8c503cebfe5a211bba2bcada88ec9fcd/6804049
John Coltrane live in Europe, disc 5 of this set. I was thinking this was teh 1961 set but it's this one. I got it cheap from FOPP a few years ago. I think its incredible.
Coltrane showing his love for showtunes or at least dissecting and rebuilding the parts of teh same in an intense but melodic way.
Funny to hear the first track here and compare it to Danny Kaye singing the same tune. McCoy Tyner on supreme form too.
I can hear how this treatment of showtunes could map onto acid rock bands taking apart folk songs in a similar fashion and assume this wasa major influence.
Anyway, several discs of great stuff. I think this was mainly Helsinki. I still want the 1961 set too. Love me some Coltrane.

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/7e415fb7367ecb730cde7025a71d2c39/3248509
1969 solo lp by one time Fred Neil singing partner. Great folkjazz stuff with touches of country and so on.
Another lp I've been neglecting too much. I went looking for my copy of Pelt's Ayahuasca which I didn't find but did find this and Horses.
Pretty sublime

Bunnydrums P*K*D Simulacra

Some great, gloomy grooves on this. I sometimes wish they had a better singer.

https://img.discogs.com/vnVh3EkR6R_coVpNh2IPEmDU8Mg=/fit-in/300x298/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-502192-1124413498.jpg.jpg

I remember reading a review of one of their lps back in the mid 80s I think. & still haven't got around to hearing them.
Think it was a UK weekly. But name sticks in mind. Is it a Duracell reference or something?

Haha, they predated the Energizer bunny. My first time hearing them, this collects their debut single, first and most of their second albums, plus a live cut and a remix. Somewhere between Joy Division and Shriekback. I'm reading that some of the cuts were mastered too slow vs. original vinyl, but I have no basis for comparison. Nice, throbbing production.

https://img.discogs.com/HyKMIuaHe1t1MCVMcEov1VRB7DU=/fit-in/600x653/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-8187945-1456776479-6443.png.jpg

^there is a quite good book centred on the thomson/stein collaboration & their wider cultural circle(s) in general

https://img.discogs.com/13f7ZwgsIxITje66hyqQkw9BAuA=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3164900-1318854208.jpeg.jpg

https://img.discogs.com/fML30YOgoA70j8rKkcEx0Gf7dvM=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-14483860-1584323188-1369.jpeg.jpg

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/79b2cc7508ed3a3a9f6fa352342422a6/2012866
Solo band lp by ex-member of both Sweeney's Men and the original Steeleye Span line up and wife who was also in the latter. Been hoping for a remastered version of this since getting the Edsel version which has bits that sound like the tape is stretched, think I heard the bit where that sound happens here and it sound much much better here. Esoteric label version put out at the end of the summer this year.
Sublime lp with roots in Irish folk and the spaciousness of the 2nd Sweeney's Men lp but some electric instrumentation being used. Love it.
I said I can hear where i was hearing the tape stretching and wondered if it was an effect on the guitars that is audible here but i think the Edsel version did heavily distort the sound at that point. Certainly put me off listening to that version . Not sure if I still have the cd concerned. & I think it may have been specifically the cd I think I had a vinyl reissue that sounded ok a few decades back. But have so wanted a decent sounding version of this on cd for decades and now have one. Got nastily delayed in being sent then arriving which was a pain though.

https://img.discogs.com/QVFRKepQRZ3By72htEVlKEfD1d8=/fit-in/600x593/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3957466-1424024492-2276.jpeg.jpg
Best of minimalist composer under name Philip GLass Ensemble. Have enjoyed some of his work for decades and never really had any. Think I had a single disc Music for 12 Musicians in teh late 80s but only a few stray flac sets since. So now have this. A new music shop appeared in Galway last week so I went though the cds looking for decent stuff. Got this , GD's Skeleton & Roses and later the Aretha Franklin singles set, probably shouldn't really be buying music.
This is so great though , Did have me wondering when he was mainly using playing volume as another instrument. Since i heard it was part of the process he was using, possibly still.
Contrasts with the other 2 titles here in an interesting way

https://img.discogs.com/IztAmWNgTrl8tAL50DcyCXbLDN4=/fit-in/500x499/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-8570351-1464260249-3832.jpeg.jpg
Late 40s recordings by Texas bluesman. I keep hearing what sounds like electrified strings and wondering if that's right, looked it up and people were playing some forms of electric or electrified guitar since the mid 30s so not inconceivable. But can't find any confirmation that he is doing so.
Anyway pretty great blues stuff. have been meaning to buy some more stuff by him since losing my late 60s vinyl Best Of which may have been more of a single lp.
Anyway think he's pretty fine and probably need more. So glad to find this in a local independent and 2nd hand book shop. Bell, Book & Candle worth a visit if you're ever in Galway.

need to hear the woods band!

https://img.discogs.com/kb5SNZrrTThwz1cfpe4jMyMug3A=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-6876729-1428528599-6737.jpeg.jpg

followed that up with this thing. especially liked the '76 show despite manuels's extremely shredded sounding throat... loved the garth synths. now:

https://img.discogs.com/vO40WUDFjvoV6P-VwvV-rz3SP_8=/fit-in/600x544/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-10272013-1495473734-1909.jpeg.jpg

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/00078e85c00f0961e2cc26b52c57b09a/7180821
1st disc of this compilation of Aretha's late 60s singles . Foun dit pretty cheap in a recently opened local music shop. Pretty fine stuff in great sound.
Do love a bit of Aretha. Fine deep soul stuff. I heard she lived in a house that backed onto Berry Gordy's and was teh daughter of a well known preacher. She was also badly directed by her previous label Columbia into doing more MOR stuff. But here she is with the right material and backing players so the results are dashed fine.

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/79b2cc7508ed3a3a9f6fa352342422a6/2012866
Early 70s solo material by one time Sweeney's Men and Steeleye Span man Terry Woods and his wife gay who was also in the initial Steeleye Span.
I 'kin love this record. It has the same sort of like modal spaciousness as the 2nd Sweeney's men lp. The version of Dreams which was a song also done by Sweeney's Men has a very interesting sense of rhythm. it kind of oozes. I was listening to this this week and thinking that you could pick up a lot from this lp even if you ditched the overtly Irish folk sound if you wanted to apply it to original music like the way things are played and stuff is interesting in itself. Had a similar idea when Listening to Steel Pulse a few years ago. Like it is possible to transpose ideas from here to something outside of teh same genre which is always interesting. Like stepping outside the silo and stuff. Great repetitive melodic stuff and things.
Did i mention I love this lp, have waited long enough to get a decent sounding cd of it. So, thanks Esoteric.

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/e59a118c3d2fac1b97793948d88957ee/6179841
The 2nd live lp released by the Grateful Dead. this one less overtly psychedelic than Live Dead. They are doing a lot of country , rock'n'roll and blues covers on here. They do still do an 18 minute instrumental of the Other one though.
I think I've been avoiding 1971 Dead for a while. Now thinking the reason I was doing so not to make the sense I thought it did . They aren't focusing on doing the stuff that I really loved about them open ended improvisation in a telepathic way as they do in the years around this but what they are doing is pretty great. I think they were still playing most of their songs differently on each performance and playing off each other very well , Definitely not playing things by rote and indeed able to turn on a Dime.
So may need to look further into what I have from this year. THis just happened to turn up in that music shop that just opened. Hoping others from this 50th Anniversary series might appear. This was very cheap , I thought they were normally about twice what I payed here. but I was still in2 minds about it until i played it. THis is joined now by a 2nd disc of another live set from teh same year I think this is 7/2/71 so trying to think if that's 7th February or 2nd of July. Not heard it yet but should be interesting.

i like '71 era dead just fine but for whatever reason i very rarely pull out skull & roses

https://superdeluxeedition.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/vinylpic2-480x366.jpg

listening to seventies remix for the first time in a very long time... think i'll stick with the og mix!

https://img.discogs.com/9K2pt4gvSg7o7rHOjy3hHxAX_Qg=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1899340-1337383790-6089.jpeg.jpg

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sumer_is_icumen_in_3_PCJaN.jpg

I've listened to this song every day for the last two weeks:

Jo Jo Gunne "Shake That Fat"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeG34oNUX9g

I just listened to that Jo Jo Gunne album twice last week. I think it's rather slept on/ignored.

I've had the Iron Virgin version of that song going through my head for years now, only recently learned it was a Jo Jo Gunne cover!

https://img.discogs.com/6DyIvXpuXtSdLp1OPmY_7JFWBEU=/fit-in/600x617/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-9972655-1599622350-4500.jpeg.jpg

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/7ed567147137935364a1be572c5efc06/4114696

I think this may be the only thing I have by Fela with Egypt 80 the band he formed after a lot of Africa 70 walked out on him at the end of a gig in Berlin in 1978. Not sure what has changed at this point, songs may have got longer though I'm not sure since this is live and they were already long in the studio.
Seemed the funk in the earlier stuff was more percussive. & I'm not sure who is still here from that band. Looks like Tony Allen was actually instigating in the move to walk out. Think i should be more familiar with the story. Credits and royalties and things anyway.
I pickjed this up when it turned up in a local record shop a few years ago and haven't listened to it overmuch.
I should definitely be a lot more familiar with fela's ouevre or maybe that should be more he & the band he was playing with's work since i think that was teh bone of contention since it was more symbiotic than auteur.

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/5a553e362c3cb450da9bd1dcd8fafe67/7236591
Psychedelic band from Pittsburgh who have put out a few releases through Cardinal Fuzz
THis is pretty dreamy , lyricless vocals over a wash of somewhat repetitive sound. Pretty folky too. Quite great, I think I mainly put it on cos it was sitting around the end of my bed/cd player but glad i did.
I think they are worth further investigation .

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/bc8ccf5135fcb9672335e56ba6429bed/1308864
Ray Russell guitar explorations from the early 70s. He was later known as much for his tv theme/soundtrack work so interesting to hear how out he gets. Though a lot of this does sound structured. I think I need the rest of his early 70s material though. Do have teh Running Man lp too.

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/1fe02b307aafb2d7f2f0567aaa2522f0/2156977
Psychedelic folk revivalists from teh early 00ies. I think this si fascinating, from Meg Baird's vocals through the fuzz saturation both symbiotic parts of what in places sounds pretty chambery. But yeah very like psychedelic like.
Anyway think I've been neglecting this too much recently so glad i got it off the shelf.
Think I may have been looking for Pelt's Ayahuasca when I was doing so and still not found that. So got that to look forward to.
I think I have the first lp but probably need to get others from the time. Baird's quite good with Heron Oblivion too.

https://img.discogs.com/JKVDdtQSQs_lEo4tZpEKzxrQv0s=/fit-in/600x634/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-11525693-1517886639-9581.jpeg.jpg

I thought that was a cover I hadn't seen. New Zealand release? Interfusion.

yep, was also released in the uk with the same cover by ua... those first two steeleye lps seem to have a weird release history: multiple versions released in the same country by different labels within a short period of each other with either the same or variant cover designs

https://img.discogs.com/g5jyqQhvNrR5mjMHdKSTOO8c5yE=/fit-in/600x585/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2647440-1578260512-3801.jpeg.jpg

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3182464479_10.jpg

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1525815172_10.jpg

https://light-in-the-attic.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/release_image/5246/image/large_550_Mowest_cover.jpg

an evening with...
https://img.discogs.com/Gkq-DDaTYZRxO5GEDBhgLQQu8gw=/fit-in/600x613/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-9097426-1474729222-2221.jpeg.jpg

Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue
Willis 'Gator Tail' Jackson - Mellow Blues
Dr. John - Zu Zu Man
Dream Syndicate - Out of the Grey

The Jackson album is loose jazz/funk jams released on the notoriously dodgy budget label Trip Records, featuring some noisy guitar allegedly by George Benson. It doesn't sound anything like him.

The Dr. John songs have also appeared on Trip, as well as a zillion other labels. Demos, outtakes, unfinished tracks overdubbed after the fact, and a couple not even sung by the Doctor, but by Ronnie Barron.

My first time hearing the bonus tracks that were added to Out of the Grey, including Alice Cooper's "Ballad of Dwight Fry."

https://img.discogs.com/ow0SVX46AuHvIv2Ylj-SAmGzzdE=/fit-in/600x603/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-14361840-1572981560-9311.jpeg.jpg trying to memorize orwell's lion/unicorn for class later "Oh my eyes are so tired from reading, let me close them" Zzz Zzz Zzz Zzz
shit! class in 20 minutes!

https://img.discogs.com/o2xoU7VUV4FVspW9eTpBVzvyh4A=/fit-in/347x312/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-13874007-1563050464-5584.jpeg.jpg
Non chronological compilation of 50s/60s black vocal group. I hadn't taken in 2 major factors in their history the Lieber and Stoller at the reins era and Ben E king being a central member before finding even greater solo fame.
But there area major stack of classic tunes here even if they are peppered with over familiar vaudeville tunes even if they do have somewhat interesting arrangements.
THis si a cheapo compi but sound seems to be at least decent.

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/cf8676d5b903e9d3725af84d92591a65/1405926
THis was more the bonus disc of demoes etc that came with teh 50th anniversary edition.
It starts with several acoustic takes on things that later have soem electric touches added. Some ethereal vocal stuff and stuff. Then gets into more electric stuff including a nice The Wall Song which I've loved since I first heard it done by the short lived David & the Dorks at the end of 1970 and a decent Cowboy Song which rocks but I like it a lot less since finding out what it is actually about.
Not heard the main lp yet but this seems to stand up ok on its own I mean at least as a repeated listening experience. Not sure if I would grab it on its own.

I've been having trouble with a 16 year old 3changer cd system where it keeps skipping discs and needs to be cleaned several times a week .
Which has meant that this disc hasn't turned up when it should
//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/e9ceadce0cd87a47e2008e22aebf0752/2293199
a compilation of material from a few lps from the turn of the milennium by the Zimbabwean Chimurenga star.
I try to listen out for teh guitar of Daniel Shitose which is supposed to be very innovative and based on the instrumental styles of an instrument more traditional to the area. I keep hearing it disappearing into clouds of mbira though but what i do hear is pretty great.

sorry Jonah Sithole is the name of the guitarist. I was haviing trouble with windows flashing closed last night so wante dto post as fast as possible.
& he died just before this , his guitar style was based on the sound of the mbira.

https://img.discogs.com/yeOIhVjl5qd5_4-rQFI9TdKUqxM=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2740479-1580014063-8574.jpeg.jpg
<3 <3 <3

There are a few live sets by an Albion Band with Richard & Linda Thompson onboard. Though maybe that's more relevant to Battle Of The Field which I think is pretty necessary let alone essential.
No Roses is really nice and is one of the few places where Shirley Collins has electric backing. Shame she hates jazz. But wow tis great.
Do love that Britfolk stuff from the time anyway.

yes, i remember reading an interview where she dismissed pentangle due to the jazz element in their playing :-/

re: crosby... never heard the david & the dorks material, another perro avenue to check out. i remember downloading some if i could only remember my name session tracks from some website 20+ years ago, not heard it since so that reissue looks enticing!

Digging in to this new CD box of Roland Kayn's Tektra - sounds great so far, fuck vinyl.

https://i.imgur.com/HjkOJ1h.png
A Primary Industry Ultramarine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoOImEfvDWk

Does anyone know anything more about this band?

they came from basingstoke and have a wikipedia entry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rain_(Basingstoke_band)

this too:
http://madridmusic.com/360grados/?lp_lang_pref=en&p=38

Chinaski, how is that Mowest comp? Curious if they were using Mowtown session players/producers. Similar vibe to the Motown stuff of that era?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TxAKtr7UDo

Heez - that Mowest compilation is really great. It's kinda ragged around the edges but you can't deny the songs and the product. Gordy's vision for the expansion west was pretty much a disaster I think but it was more circumstantial than anything to do with quality.

https://img.discogs.com/fvT1DnLzytxh4ir9-6geQ4-ew_4=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2629253-1464447179-4623.jpeg.jpg

https://img.discogs.com/ZdZbRH2a1bV-GbAhop3OJaeCXnk=/fit-in/592x525/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1562843-1246573491.jpeg.jpg

https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0001/045/MI0001045018.jpg?partner=allrovi.com

need to hear more wishart ^anticredos is the only piece of his i'm familiar with

listening to a dodgy boot of the emergency crew & scorpio sessions (amongst other bits and pieces)

https://img.discogs.com/DOwAwFYCVl7LYyNbGVJq4Na0rjQ=/fit-in/600x603/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-4140691-1356667705-2876.jpeg.jpg

https://img.discogs.com/KZ5eL54p7OVpBVKiBgrzOkgfV-c=/fit-in/600x533/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-6512695-1420992488-5721.jpeg.jpg

1920s big band blues by early great. She hasa pretty fantastic voice.
Got this 2nd hand then saw that there was a double cd available in the shop on th emain street. May go back for that.
Do still love these early blues, got turned onto it by Nick Cave, The Gun Club and probably early Bob Dylan a little earlier. In the early to mid 80s.

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/4e62dfd294a230e015aa2c16003eae82/8802680
Irish folk artist who I've been aware of for decades but not really had anything by. Am surprised by how much of this does not seem to be directly Irish folk though and also by how much I like it all.
Like he is doing a number of things from other traditions and more recently written .
I got the edition that came with a dvd too, there's a red covered one that is just the 2cds.

//e.snmc.io/i/300/w/cf8676d5b903e9d3725af84d92591a65/1405926
Now got the actual lp on not the bonus disc. & loving it as much as i did when i discovered it in the late 80s. Not sure if this was something i got turned onto when looking for other things like Gris Gris as I did around teh same time with Eugene Macdaniels Headless Horsemen Of teh Apocalypse. I musthave been aware of Crosby as a Byrd already. Probably read Timeless Flight already or atleast its initial much shorter incarnation. I know I read his memoir while hitching around the UK in th e late 80s.
& do love all of this PERRO stuff or at least what I've heard. Especially the solo Airplane lps.
https://preview.redd.it/r4on9e3oz3r31.jpg?auto=webp&s=3dc97c1e63c241ef0df2353202da9e1090d7021e
is an image that is in the booklet too. Headstock face appears to be Michael Shrieve

need to hear more wishart ^anticredos is the only piece of his i'm familiar with

Red Bird is ridiculously good!