Craciun Fericit!

Noul album al lui Jeff Beck: Loud Hailer

Unul din cele mai frustrante aspecte pe care le observi la un geniu, este cat de imprevizibil poate fi acesta. In cazul lui Jeff Beck, gena geniului s-a tot mutat de la stadiul crud al blues-rockului la fusion, si, asa cum a dovedit pe ‘Who Else’ in 1999, la genul electronica. In cazul ‘Loud Hailer’ Beck este mai putin preocupat sa-si imbogateasca paleta stilistica, si mai mult interesat sa fie parte a trupei.

In ultimii ani, Beck a gravitat in jurul alcaturii de grupuri de muzicieni extrem de virtuozi, cum ar fi basistele Tal Wilkenfeld si Rhonda Smith si bateristii Narada Michael Walden si Vinnie Colaiuta. Acum, la varsta de 71 de ani,  artistul isi auto-impune o plasare a instrumentului pe care-l stapaneste in mod desavarsit, in zona unui mediu muzical mai liric.

In timpul unei petreceri acasa la tobarul Roger Taylor, Beck le-a cunoscut pe solista Rosie Bones si chitarista Carmen Vandenberg de la Bones – o trupa hip pop-rock din Londra. Filippo Cimatti, care de asemenea colaborase cu Bones, a fost cooptat si el la realizarea albumului Hailer cu Beck si Cimatti in centru, Giovanni Palotti la bas si Davide Sollazzi la tobe.

“This shit is real, baby.”

Este unul din primele versuri de pe “The Revolution Will Be Televised”, piesa hard care deschide albumul. Nu stiu daca poate exista ceva mai graitor despre cat de visceral si explorator poate suna Beck decat aceasta piesa. Inca de la prima auditie, Hailer se anunta a fi un album de chitara suprema marca Beck, cu intorsaturi whammy, triluri si strigate la fiecare colt. De-a dreptul ciudat pentru cineva care nu vrea sa fie supranumit  un ‘guitar hero’.

De fapt, chitara prestata pe acest album este una din cele mai bune din viata lui Jeff Beck, care in prezent se afla la nivelul cel mai avansat al jocului, si nimeni nu-i sta in preajma, nici macar pe-aproape.

Aici avem de a face cu chestii pe care ne-ar fi dificil sa le intelegem daca nu am sti ce facea Beck in urma cu patru sau cinci ani. Asculta de cateva ori bucata “Thugs Club” debutand cu un rubato distorsionat, dupa care se adanceste intr-un ritm funky naucitor si la un moment dat se rupe brusc de partea de solo, taindu-ti respiratia (min. 1:25). Aceste abateri ruperi bruste caracteristice lui Becki m-au facut deseori sa ma intreb uluit: ‘‘Cum naiba le face?’’

Va las sa descoperiti singuri ce urmeaza, nu inainte de a incheia spunandu-va ca Jeff Beck canta la momentul actual una din cele mai bune chitare din intreaga lui cariera. El se afla pe culmea absoluta a acestui tip de joc.  Ar putea suna putin cam hiperbolic pentru neinitiati, dar acest al-17-lea album al sau are un loc confortabil printre mai vechile “Wired”, “Truth”, “Blow by Blow” si “Guitar Shop”.  Jeff Beck nu face decat sa schimbe permanent regulile, demonstrand deocamdata oricui, ca eventualitatea pensionarii este supraevaluata.

Full Moon Fever (R.I.P. Tom Petty)

Chiar dacă Full Moon Fever este primul album solo al lui Tom Petty, la realizarea acestuia au contribuit din plin foști colegi de trupă (de la Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), dar și viitori colegi de trupă (de la Traveling Wilburys). Lansat în ultima decadă a lunii aprilie a anului 1989, Full Moon Fever s-a bucurat de succes atât la public, cât și la criticii de specialitate și a ajuns până pe poziția a treia în Billboard 200, fiind certificat de 5 ori cu platină în Statele Unite și de alte 6 ori în Canada. 

Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever (1989) - Remastered (HQ) from Tato Schab on Vimeo.

Question Mark - 1974

Aceasta bijuterie muzicala a luat nastere din cateva ghitare fuzzy din Nigeria, in 1974, insa de curand au mai fost cateva ocazii ca oamenii sa (re)descopere acest album excelent: ‘Be Nice To The People’.

Question Mark au scos un singur album, dupa care s-au despartit. Datorita unor reeditari recente ale Shadoks Music si casei germane de discuri Q.D.K. Media, Question Mark a capatat noi fani din lumea intreaga. Grupul a fost format din Amehi Izuorah (ch. Bas), Chyke Okafor la tobe, Victor Egbe la chitara solo, Frank Izuora vocal si Uzo Aguelfo la percutie.

Albumul contine un mesaj general de iubire fata de semeni. Sa nu va asteptati la mesaje politice, sociale sau activiste, deoarece aici avem de a face exclusiv cu iubire.

Muzica este de genul celei la care te intorci din cand in cand pentru a o reasculta si a descoperi noi aspecte legate de sunet si armonii nedescoperite inainte. Piese ca Love, Be Nice To The People sau partea finala de la Mary Enne dau ascultatorului ideea clara despre sunetul distinct al acestor inregistrari. Albumul suna atat vechi cat si nou, prafuit si modern. Imprumutind din exuberanta colegilor americani Blo, Witch, Ofege, Chrissy Zebby Tembo sau Rikki LLionga, Question Mark reunesc sunete de genul The Beatles, Buffalo Sprinfield, The Grass Roots, The Youngbloods, chiar Genesis si King Crimson in faza de debut.

Albumul perfect cu care sa incepi anul. Vesel dar si melancolic, inocent si inimos, Be Nice To The People este un ‘must’ pentru orice fan al genurilor Afro Psihedelic si chiar mai mult decat atat.

Tracklist:

A1. Have You?
A2. Be Nice To The People
A3. Hey Hey Girl
A4. Love
B1. Oh My Girl
B2. Freaking Out
B3. Scram Out
B4. Mary Anne

La multi ani, Jack DeJohnette !

JackDeJohnette s-a nascut in Chicago unde si-a inceput cariera muzicala ca pianist. Studiind pianul inca de la varsta de patru ani, el a inceput sa cante profesionist cand avea paisprezece ani, pentru ca mai tarziu sa renunte la pian in favoarea tobelor, care l-au facut si cunoscut. DeJohnette a cantat R&B, hard bop si muzica de avangarda in Chicago. A fost liderul propriilor grupuri si a cantat alaturi de Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell si alti membri de baza ai AACM. A mai aparut ocazional alaturi de Sun Ra si a sa Arkestra. La inceputul anilor 1960 DeJohnette a avut ocazia sa participle alaturi de John Coltrane la iregistrarea a trei piese, dupa care s-a mutat in la New York unde a devenit mambru al cvartetului Charles Lloyd Quartet. S-a alaturat trio-ului Bill Evans in 1968, in acelasi an in care grupul a participat la Festivalul de Jazz de la Montreux in urma caruia a fosr produs albumul Bill Evans la Festivalul de Jazz de la Montreux. In 1968 a lucrat pentro o scurta perioada cu Stan Getz si cvartetul acestuia, ceea ce l-a condus spre primele integistrari cu Miles Davis. In aceasta filmare din Antibe - Franta 1969,  il putem vedea alaturi de Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Dave Holland si Waybe Shorter, inrepretand lucrarile Milestones, Footprints si ‘Round Midnight.

Red House (Jimi Hendrix)

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“A buddy said, ‘There's a song that you oughta hear.’ He was talking about ‘Red House,’ by Jimi Hendrix, and that completely turned us upside down. It was blues taken beyond.” -Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top

Cream - 1967 Sun Vanishes (Clapton, Bruce, Baker)

Jimi is nor fast and neither furious. He stands very firm in his legs. But is so...WOODOO and so wayout. Clapton is a great guitar player to be listened by engineers (except this performance here which is what I prefer to have out of him instead of the crap coming the years after). Hendrix is for sensitive and intuitive guys in the first place. And he was the same from the very begining to the end. Sorry but it's just my opinion.

Sun Ra/Merzbow Strange City

Cele mai mari merite pentru ca acest proiect sa prinda viata, ii revin lui Justin Mitchell de la Cold Spring. Am putea spune ca acest album face posibila intalnirea celor mai ciudate minti. Irwin Chusid – administratorul mostenirii artistice a lui Sun Ra – a contribuit cu cateva piese ale marelui artist, niciodata aparute anterior acestui proiect, piese ce au fost remixate de maestrul de ‘noise’ Masami Akita cunoscut si ca Merzbow. Strange City este rezultatul remix-ului/colaborarii dintre cei doi, care conecteaza planurile stilurilor muzicale free jazz si noise. Albumul a fost lansat initial in 2016, dar prima re-editare a acestuia soseste un an mai tarziu.

Albumul debuteaza splendid cu Sun Ra si a sa Arkestra, introducandu-ne in estetica free jazz-ului, aceasta fiind insa inlocuita rapid de undele ‘noise’ ale lui Merzbow. Restul inregistrarii consta in aducerea in prim plan a stilului noise, care acopera treptat intregul fundal sonor. Avem de a face cu un proces aspru pe care Merzbow il implementeaza aici, mai degraba decat sa incerce sa descifreze mesajele cosmice ale lui Sun Ra, pe care parca le incripteaza in propriul DNA, de asemenea de origine extraterestra.

Cu toate acestea, chiar fiind acoperit de voalul de ‘noise’, spiritul lui Sun Ra coordoneaza intreaga lucrare. Structurile, sensul cosmic si tiparele ritmice, chiar asa schimbate cum sunt, toate la un loc vorbesc despre tonul si modul de operare ale lui Sun Ra. Inrepretarile extreme ale lui Merzbow sunt cuplate la esenta free jazz-ului, proiectand intr-o lumina aparte. De exemplu, sunetul de sticla sparta de pe “Granular Jazz Part 2”, prezinta un acompaniament naucitor pentru frazele saxofonului, colorand in acelasi timp limitele de spatiu ale acestuia, inainte de a-l devora in intregime.

Strange City depinde de textural tot atat cat depinde de improvizatiune. Sun Ra si structurile sale lucide se intind pe intreaga durata a acestei lucrari. Forta artistului, absorbit complet de nenumaratele posibilitati de sablonare, ritm, deconstructie si explorare ne-armonica, este ca o coloana vertebrala a albumului si spiritului de free – jazz al acestuia. In timp ce Sun Ra exploreaza posibilitatile muzicii, Merzbow exploreaza posibilitatile sunetului, impingandu-l pana la limite.

O caracteristica generala a acestui album este aceea ca radiaza un ciudat sens de echilibru. In timp ce polizoarele sonore ale lui Merzbow sunt ascutite si par sa acopere intregul spectru sonor, prezenta lui Sun Ra rezida in miezul acestei lucrari. In ciuda desfigurarii si atenuarii la care este supusa, muzica lui Sun Ra dicteaza evolutia albumului, prin modalitati de sinteza granulara sau procesare extravaganta. Cel mai impresionant moment al albumului este “Livid Sun Loop”, care prezinta aceste echilibru ciudat prin explozivitatea in cea mai pura forma a lui Merzbow, in timp ce structurile subiacente ale lui Sun Ra asigura luciditatea acestei naratiuni haotice.

The Who: Who's Next

The Who: Who's Next

Absolut toate piesele albumului sunt fabuloase, insa punctul culminant pe care-l atinge “Won’t be Fooled Again” se intinde dincolo de sine, devorindu-si propriile restrictii, pina cind cintecul devine mult mai mult decit un simplu riff si-un strigat. Pur si simplu arde.

Deserts (Edgar Varese)

DESERTS de Edgar Varese

Lucrarea contine pasaje musicale inregistrate pe banda. Varese a fost – printre altele – si un pionier al muzicii electronie. Frank Zappa spunea cu umorul sau caracterisatic acid, ca Edgar Varese a fost mai bun decat Beatles. Nu mai mare, desigur, dar mult mai bun.

Problema cea mai mare a unui compozitor apare atunci cand are in fata o foaie alba de hartie si nu stie ce sa faca cu ea. Si incepe sa astearna pe acea foaie fie material muzical dissonant, fie bucati disparate dar bine organizate luate fiecare in parte. Aceasta compozitie contine mult spatiu deschis cu foarte multe sunete atent balansate. Deserts este o lucrare izvorata din nevoie lui Varese de a gasi cele mai bune solutii pentru cele mai dificile probleme propuse.

YOWZA !

Yowza, YOWZA ! Imi pregatesc o noua serie in care arhitectura care ma inspira va fi acompaniata de muzici care ma inspira. Appearantly hard for the music to fit in the whole but not necessarily impossible.

P.I.L.: Metal Box

Out of all the fascinating alternate takes, B-sides, rare compilation-only tracks and never-before-released sketches that comprise this expanded reissue of Public Image Ltd’s post-punk landmark, it’s a live version of “Public Image”  that is the real revelation. Part of an impromptu June 1979 concert in Manchester, the song keeps collapsing and restarting. “Shut up!” snaps John Lydon, responding  to audience jeers. “I told you it’s a fucking rehearsal.” Another PiL member explains that the drummer, Richard Dudanski, only joined three days ago. PiL relaunch the song only for Lydon to halt it with “Miles too fast!” The jeers erupt again and the singer offers a sort of defiant apology: if the crowd really wanted to “see mega light displays and all that shit,” they should go watch properly professional bands who put on a slick show. “But we ain’t like that... We’re extremely honest: sorry about that... We admit our mistakes.”

This performance—an inadvertent deconstruction of performance itself—takes us to the heart of the PiL project as well as the post-punk movement for which the group served as figureheads. At its core was a belief in radical honesty: faith in the expressive power of words, singing and sound as vehicles for urgent communication. After the Sex Pistols’ implosion, Lydon was trying to find a way to be a public figure again without masks, barriers, routines, or constraining expectations. So it’s especially apt that “Public Image”—PiL’s debut single, Lydon’s post-Pistols mission-statement—is the song that  fell apart at Manchester’s Factory Club. “Public Image” is about the way a stage persona can become a lie that a performer is forced to live out in perpetuity. Lydon sings about “Johnny Rotten” as a theatrical role that trapped him and which he’s now casting off. Starting all over with his given name and a new set of musical accomplices, Lydon was determined to stay true to himself. The group’s name came from Muriel Sparks’ novel The Public Image, about a movie actress whose career is ruined but who, the ending hints, is freed to embark on an authentic post-fame existence. Lydon added the “limited” to signify both the idea of the rock group as a corporation (in the business of image-construction) and the idea of keeping egos on a tight leash.

A comparison for Lydon’s search for a new true music—and a truly new music—that would leave behind rock’s calcified conventions is Berlin-era Bowie’s quest for a “new music night and day” (the working title of Low). Indeed it was Virgin Records’ belief that Lydon was the most significant British rock artist since Bowie that caused them to extend PiL such extraordinary license and largesse when it came to recording in expensive studios. That indulgence enabled the recording of three of the most out-there albums ever released by a major label: First Issue**, Metal Box, Flowers of Romance. But it’s the middle panel of the triptych that is the colossal achievement:  a near-perfect record that reinvents and renews rock in a manner that fulfilled post-punk’s promise(s) to a degree rivaled only by Joy Division on Closer.

The key word, though, is reinvention. Lydon talked grandly of abandoning rock altogether,  arguing that killing off the genre had been the true point of punk. But unlike the absolutely experimental (and as with many such experiments, largely unsuccessful) Flowers of Romance, Metal Box doesn’t go beyond rock so much as stretch it to its furthest extent, in the manner of the Stooges’ Fun House or Can’s Tago Mago. It’s a forbidding listen, for sure, but only because of its intensity, not because it’s abstract or structurally convoluted. The format is classic: guitar-bass-drums-voice (augmented intermittently by keyboards and electronics). The rhythm section (Jah Wobble and a succession of drummers) is hypnotically steady and physically potent. The guitarist (Keith Levene) is a veritable axe-hero, as schooled and as spectacular as any of the pre-punk greats. And the singer, while unorthodox and edging off-key, pours it all out in a searing catharsis that recalls nothing so much as solo John Lennon and the intersection he found between the deeply personal and the politically universal. There are even a few tunes here!

But yes, it’s a bracing listen, Metal Box, and nowhere more so than on the opening dirge “Albatross.” 11 minutes-long, leaden in tempo, the song is clearly designed as a test for the listener just like the protracted assault of “Theme” that launched First Issue had been. Absolutely pitiless music—Levene hacking at his axe like an abattoir worker, Wobble rolling out a looped tremor of a bassline—is matched with utterly piteous singing: Lydon intones accusations about an oppressive figure from his past, perhaps the master-manipulator McLaren, possibly his dead friend Vicious, conceivably “Johnny Rotten” himself as a burden he can’t shake.

“Memories,” the single that preceded Metal Box’s November ’79 release, is more sprightly. Like “Albatross,” though, the song is an embittered exorcism: Lydon could almost be commenting on his own nagging vocal and fixated lyrics with the line “dragging on and on and on and on and on and on and ON,” then spits out “This person’s had enough of useless memories” over a breath-taking disco-style breakdown.

With “Swan Lake,” a retitled remix of the single “Death Disco,” Lydon is possessed by an unbearable memory that he doesn’t want to forget: the sight of his mother dying in slow agony from cancer.  If the wretched grief of the lyrics—“Silence in her eyes,” “Final in a fade,” “Choking on a bed/Flowers rotting dead”—recalls Lennon’s “Mother,” the retching anguish of Lydon’s vocal resembles Yoko Onoat her most abrasively unleashed. On the original vinyl, the song locks into an endless loop on the phrase “words cannot express.” But “Swan Lake”—named after the Tchaikovsky melody that Levene intermittently mutilates—is nothing if not a 20th Century expressionist masterpiece: the missing link between Munch’s “The Scream” and Black Flag’s “Damaged I.”

Just as placing “death” in front of “disco” was an attempt to subvert the idea of dancefloor escapism, the title “Poptones” drips with acrid irony. A real-life news story of abduction, rape and escape inspired the lyric, with one detail in particular triggering Lydon’s imagination: the victim’s memory of the bouncy music streaming out of the car’s cassette player. This juxtaposition of  manufactured happiness and absolute horror is a typically post-punk move, exposing pop as a prettified lie that masks reality’s raw awfulness: for some post-punk groups,  an existential condition (dread, doubt) and for others, a political matter (exploitation, control). On “Poptones” this truth-telling impulse produces one of Lydon’s most vivid lyrics (“I don’t like hiding in this foliage and peat/It’s wet and I’m losing my body heat”), supported and surrounded by music that’s surprisingly pretty, in an eerie, insidious sort of way. Wobble’s sinuously winding bass weaves through Levene’s cascading sparks as well as the cymbal-smash spray he also supplies (PiL being temporarily drummerless during this stage of the album’s spasmodic recording).

With PiL still between drummers, on “Careering” it’s Wobble who doubles up roles, pummeling your ribcage with his bass and bashing the kit like a metalworker pounding flat a sheet of steel. Levene swaps guitar for smears of synth, while Lydon’s helicopter vision scans the border zone between Ulster and the Irish Republic: a terrorscape of “blown into breeze” bomb victims and paramilitary paranoia. “Careering” sounds like nothing else in rock and nothing else in PiL’s work—as with several other songs on Metal Box, it could have spawned a whole identity, an entire career, for any other band.

“No Birds Do Sing,” unbelievably, surpasses the preceding five songs. Levene cloaks the murderous Wobble-Dudanksi groove with a toxic cloud of guitar texture. Lydon surveys an English suburban scene whose placidity could not be further from troubled Northern Ireland, noting in sardonic approval its “bland planned idle luxury” and “well-intentioned rules” (rolling the ‘r’ there in a delicious throwback to classic Rotten-style singing). For “a layered mass of subtle props” and “a caviar of silent dignity” alone, Lydon ought to have the 2026 Nobel locked down.

After the greatest six-song run in all of post-punk, Metal Box’s remainder is merely (and mostly) excellent, moving from the juddery instrumental “Graveyard” (oddly redolent of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates’ early British rock‘n’roll classic “Shakin’ All Over”) through the rubbery bassline waddle of “The Suit” to the stampeding threat of “Chant,” a savage snapshot of 1979’s tribal street violence. The album winds down with the unexpected respite and repose of “Radio Four,” a tranquil instrumental entirely played by Levene: just a tremulously poignant and agile bass line overlaid with reedy keyboards that swell and subside. The title comes from the U.K.’s national public radio station, a civilized and calming source of news, views, drama and light comedy beamed out to the British middle classes. As with “Poptones,” the irony is astringent.

Listening to (and reviewing) *Metal Box *in a linear sequence goes against PiL’s original intent, of course. As the flatly descriptive, deliberately demystified title indicates, Metal Box initially came in the form of a circular canister containing three 45 r.p.m  12-inches—for better sound, but also to encourage listeners to play the record in any order they chose,  ideally listening to it in short bursts rather than in a single sitting.  But what once seemed radically anti-rockist (“deconstruct the Album!”) is now a historical footnote, because anyone listening to a CD or other digital format can rearrange the contents however they wish.

And if you do doggedly listen to Metal Box in accordance with its given running order, what comes across strongly now is its sheer accumulative power as an album. That in turn accentuates the feeling that this is a record that can be understood fairly easily by a fan of, say, Led Zeppelin. It works on the same terms as Zoso:  a thematically coherent suite of physically imposing rhythm, virtuoso guitar violence, and impassioned singing. Lydon would soon enough ‘fess up to his latent rockism on 1986’s hard-riffing *Album *(also reissued as a deluxe box set at this time) on which he collaborated with Old Wave musos like ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker. That incarnation of PiL even performed Zep’s “Kashmir” in concert.

Listening to Metal Box today, the studio processing—informed by PiL’s love of disco and dub—that felt so striking at the time seems subtle and relatively bare-bones compared to today. As the Manchester concert and some wonderfully vivid live-in-the-studio versions from the BBC rock program “The Old Grey Whistle Test” prove, PiL could recreate this music onstage (despite that fumbled “Public Image”).  Levene, especially, was surprisingly exact when it came to reproducing the guitar parts and textures captured in the studio. Even the band’s debts to reggae and funk can be seen now as a continuation of the passion for black music that underpinned the British rock achievement of the ’60s and first-half of the ’70s—that perennial impulse to embrace the formal advances made by R&B and complicate them further while adding Brit-bohemian concerns as subject matter. If PiL’s immediate neighbors are the Pop Group and the Slits, you could also slot them alongside the Police: great drummer(s), roots-feel bass, inventively textured guitar, a secret prog element (Levene loved Yes, Lydon adored Peter Hammill) and an emotional basis in reggae’s yearnings and spiritual aches.

Metal Box is a landmark, for sure. But like Devils Tower, the mountain in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, it’s an oddly isolated one. In marked contrast to Joy Division, PiL’s spawn was neither legion nor particularly impressive (apart from San Francisco’s wonderful Flipper). Nor would PiL’s core three ever come close to matching the album’s heights in their subsequent careering (Wobble being the most productive, in both copiousness and quality). I was apprehensive about listening to this album again, fearing that it had faded or dated. But this music still sounds new and still sounds true to me: as adventurous and as harrowingly heart-bare as it did when I danced in the dark to it, an unhappy 16-year-old. Metal Box stands up. It stands for all time.

Gizmodrome: 'Strange Things Happen'

“Strange Things Happen” is the title of a song on Gizmodrome‘s debut album.

Certainly great things have happened in the studio, when the four incredible talents met to create one of the most exciting and versatile albums of 2017.

Gizmodrome are in fact a high-voltage “All-Star-Band” formed by Stewart Copeland (The Police and multi-awarded soundtracks composer), Mark King (Level 42), Adrian Belew (ex-King Crimson, David Bowie, Frank Zappa and Talking Heads), and Vittorio Cosma (who played with Italian prog legends PFM and an impressive list of Italian and international stars).

Their self-titled debut album will be released worldwide by earMUSIC on September 15, 2017. For all those, curious to have a taste of Gizmodrome, a “work in progress” version of the song “Amaka Pipa” can be found below. 

Santana: Welcome - o capodopera de sunet cu ingeri in background

Voi incerca sa va povestesc ce se intampla in primele minute ale acestei calatorii muzicale, urmand ca apoi sa continuati aceasta experienta sonora intesata cu ingeri, fara vreo alta infrluenta din afara. 

Welcome a iesit pe piata in anul 1973 (eu aveam 13 ani in vremea aceea, dar l-am ascultat prima oara pe la varsta de 16 - 17 ani).

Albumul se deschide cu un sunet suav de keyboard, ca o raza de soare de primavara timpurie, sau ca un fluid diafan de particule divine aparut dintr-un neant primordial, pentru ca numai dupa cateva secunde sa se dezvolte ca un tumult armonios dominat de de un sunet de chitara puternic evocator. Treptat, tumultul sonor de origine divina se estompeaza, facand loc urmatoarei piese, unde vocea aminteste de prima mirare atunci cand te nasti din pantecul matern si, o data ce vezi lumina zilei incepi deja sa-ti umpli fiinta de Dragoste, Devotament si Renuntare. Ceea ce te va urmari toata viata. Te las in continuare sa visezi pe acordurile acestui splendid album. Bine ai venit in lumea noastra!

The Stooges - Fun House (1970). Asta e mult peste rock. Este sacrificiu.

Queen: Bohemian Rapsody

Paul Beauchamp: Grey Mornings

‘Compozitiile muzicale pot fi foarte triste, insa poti simti o placere in aceasta tristete. Ieftina consolare este aceea ca: vei fi fericit. Consolarea superioara o atingi cand iti place si recunosti propria nefericire, cand iti place si iti recunosti soarta, destinul si viata asa cum sunt ele, si de aici incolo incepi sa atingi un si mai mare nivel al constiintei’. Umberto Eco

Fiind un iubitor, atat de suferinta cat si lungi meditatii, de furie sau stari mentale caleidoscopice, label-ul italian Boring Machines ne incanta cu aceasta frumoasa 'drona' suspendata. Fiind compus in perioada in care locuia in locul natal al lui Umberto Eco, regiunea Piedmont din nordul Italiei, Grey Mornings este al doilea album solo al lui Paul Beauchamp (ex Boring), inregistrat in America si care pare sa aiba intentia de a exprima si destructura sensibilitatea ecologica pe care omul o poseda in mod involuntar; in acest caz ceata persistenta si norii diminetilor mediteraneene.

Chiar acceptand faptul ca fundalul muzical ar putea fi pe alocuri limitat, semantica titlului fiecarei compozitii in parte, precum si ordinea acestora, pot sugera multiple interpretari - depinzand de mediul in care sa gaseste ascultatorul si de starea sa de spirit.

Piesele de pe album sunt urmatoarele:

1. Condense
2. Craw
3. Tendril
4. Dissipate
5. Enclose
6. Drift
7. Haze
8. Settle
9. Murk

Auditie placuta!

THE WHO LIVE AT LEEDS FULL ALBUM

Cel mai bun album rock inregistrat live. De ce? Penru ca:

- valoarea muzicii si a interpretarii este maxima;

- nu are vacarm;

- nu are solo interminabil de tobe;

- nu are inflorituri de prost gust (nici vocale si nici instrumentale);

- nu tipa ca un cretin solistul vocal intre piese;

- sunetul si evolutiile sunt atat de bine echilibrate incat ai impresia ca discul este produs in studio;

- se simte emotia din fata scenei chiar daca nu se aud urlete decat la sfarsitul numerelor.

Titanul BASS-ului Jaco Pastorius Culegere de clipuri rare incepand cu anul 1986!

The Rolling Stones: cateva dintre cele mai scandaloase momente din timpul turneelor

Grecii antici aveau asa zisele Mistere Dionisiace atunci cand pierdeau decenta in dans si intrau in transa, etaland un fel de exces intoxicat. Pentru turma, asta suna similar cu concertele Rolling Stones din tineretea noastra. Associated Press scria intr-o stire din 1972 ca show-ul Stones de la stadionul Philadeplhia Spectrum ‘s fost un spectacol de incingere, isterie, parfum, transpiratie, marijuana si asurzire’.

1964. The Beatles erau asediati de adolescente tipatoare, in vreme ce fanii Stones erau literalmente turbulenti. Unul din cele mai iritante momente s-a intamplat in timpul unui concert din Blackpool Anglia, cand Richards a aruncat efectiv un fan dincolo de scena. Keith pretinde ca individul respectiv il scuipase. In acel moment, o multime de 7000 de adolescenti furiosi au navalit pe scena distrugand echipamente in valoare de 5600 $.

1966. Reputatia tot mai crescanda a Stonesilor din cauza ca dadeau petreceri reprobabile, a culminat cu devastarea simultana a 14 hoteluri din NY de catre fanii trupei.

1969. Acuzatiile din UK pentru detinere de droguri, i-au impiedicat pe Stones sa aiba turnee timp de cativa ani la rand, Brian Jones - care curand avea sa moara inecat intr-o piscina - parasise trupa, Dupa o lunga pauza de multiple acumulari tensionate, formatia sustine un concert langa autostrada Altamont din California, unde au participat 300.000 de oameni. La acel eveniment, motociclistii din gasca Hells Angels au asigurat ‘paza’ insa un tanar a fost injunghiat mortal langa scena de pe care Mick Jagger canta ‘Under My Thumb’….(va continua in functie de interesul vostru…).

The first riffs in hard rock music

Cat Food (King Crimson)

RUSH. Permanent Waves, sau cum sa faci fata schimbarilor permanente alegand frumusetea.

SPIRITUL RADIOULUI: Radioul cu lampi. Era masiv - din lemn - si avea “ochi magi”c verde - in care priveai aproape, sau total mesmerizat flacaruia elecronica, mai ingusta sau mai lata, asa cum o dadeau undele - mai bune sau mai rele. Daca te uitai inlauntrul aparatului, acolo in spate, descopereai o lume intreaga de tuburi inalte ca niste zgarie-nori luminand palid si galbui “cartiere” intregi de diode, rezistente si condensatoare. Intorcindu-te la lumea din afara cartierelor secrete, priveai ochiul magic, in dreapta caruia se intindea lumea. Marile capitale si cele mai importante orase asezate pe frecvente, erau luminate de beculete de 3 volti. Te uitai in nestire la panorama luminata in timp ce de la Europa Libera razbatea Dave Brubeck si ochiul magic se ingusta sau latea odata cu unda. Cu cat era mai ingusta lumina verde, cu atat era calitatea auditiei mai buna. Erai copil si incercai sa retii denumiri de orase. Toate aveau denumiri frumoase, si toate pareau sa fie intr-o lume in care existai si tu. Lumina calda a scalei radioului era usor de asociat cu iarna si cu lumina calda din soba casei in care te-ai nascut. Era usor de asociat cu civilizatia. Apoi ai crescut, te-ai dus la scoala si ai aflat despre Francois Villon si "Zapezile de altadata".

Metheny / Coleman / Haden / DeJohnette - Song X: Endangered Species

Chitaristul Pat Metheny a avut o mare admiratie pentru Ornette
Coleman, cu mult inainte de acesta inregistrare in care amandoi au lucrat intens alturi de bass-istul Charlie Haden., asa ca o colaborare intre cei trei ar fi fost de asteptat…insa cine oare ar fi ghicit ca in toata aceasta aventurare, Geffen music isi va aplica eticheta?  Imaginea mai mult de rocker a lui Metheny a lucrat impotriva artistului in alte parteneriate pe care le-a avut din cind in cind (notabila participarea sa la The Sign of 4 cu Derek Bailey), insa pe acest album el isi sublimina din fericire instinctele de afisare, lucrand foarte bine alaturi de geniul empatic al lui Coleman. Muzica in sine are aici similitudini puternice cu ansmblurile timpurii ale lui Ornette Coleman, in care toti artistii cantau solo-uri in acelasi timp, puse din cand in cand in paranteze de temele pieselor. Adesea, Metheny reuseste sa fie foarte expresiv ca vocea a doua, performand cu brio alaturi de stapanul saxofonist. In acest mod, el ofera strategii alternative, dar niciodata festiviste. Sectiunea de percutie dubla – asigurata de deJohnette si Denardo – este feroce atunci cand se impune, iar Charlie Haden se auto-exprima admirabil in contextul general.

Ornette Coleman - Buddha Blues

Se pare ca aceasta este singura inregistrare in care Coleman
a folosit un instrument denumit’ suona’ – un fel de oboi din lemn – avind un sunet puternic si distinct. Suona este un instrument popular important din nordul Chinei si este utilizat ocazional la nunti si inmormintari. Suona este utilizat de ansamblurile de suflatori si percutionisti cunoscute si sub denumirile de chuida sau guchui. In Taiwan -, instrumentul respectiv este esential in muzica ritmata ce insoteste manifestarile taoiste, atit cu ritmuri de bun augur cit si cu ritmuri de rau augur.

The Clash - Rock the Casbah

„Rock the Casbah” a fost hitul care a consacrat formatia The Clash si a dus-o in mainstream. Piesa a fost compusa de Topper Headon, tobosarul grupului, care a fost concediat inainte ca melodia sa aiba ocazia sa urce in topuri. Se pare ca „nedreptatea” s-a intors impotriva formatiei, care a dus-o din ce in ce mai greu si a ajuns sa se destrame. Toti membrii aveau deja alta viziune si isi doreau sa faca altceva. In 1983, dupa o lunga pauza, The Clash a cantat la US Festival iar publicul a simtit ca singurul motiv pentru care gasca mai era impreuna era „bunul dolar”. Acela a fost momentul cand lucrurile s-au dus definitiv de rapa.

Sound-ul Clash ramane unic, la fel si atitudinea si de aceea il propun ca inspiratie pentru daramarea oricarui guvern nedemn pentru poporul sau.

Curtis Harding - Soul Power (Full Album)

London Calling - The Clash

Captain Beefheart