"Really awful is more interesting to listen to than pretty good" - Eno ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. welcome to the drivel blog of "music detractor, Simon Reynolds"
One of the first electronic avant-classical albums I acquired was this deep purple Deutsche Grammophon release from 1970 with this on one side and Luigi Nono's Contrappunto Dialettico Alla Mente on the other. Only $3! Those were the days.
Roland Kayn's very productive 1968:
"The electronic composition Cybernetics I is realised in a provisional studio at the NDR, Hamburg. Kayn also completes the first version of Cybernetics II for seven choir groups, sound producers, sound sources, live electronics, and tape. Preparatory work for Cybernetics III begins, using only vocal sounds of humans and animals as the starting material."
remember watching this as a kid on TV and being confused by the story line, but i reckon this would be fun to watch again just for the costumes and the sets
called the Last Days of Man on Earth in America
even more little snippets of the film watchable below if you can bear the 'reviewer''s grating sardonic commentary
i cannot remember if i read any of the jerry cornelius novels
read so much s.f. in those mid-teen years of frenzy
down Berko library a couple of times a week
i recall reading one of Moorcock's proto-steampunk, Kiplingesque alt-history novels, i think
D-Generation liked the quartet so much they borrowed 'The Condition of Muzak' for a song title
This is the Moorcock work I would like to read now (and wish I'd bought at the time when I saw it in the Virgin Megastore on Oxford St)
only 75p - why didn't i get it?
funds were tight then
75p was also not an inconsiderable amount of money in 1980.
Apparently Jerry Cornelius pops up in the plot of the Moorcock Swindle, which incorporates a fair amount of recycling from his own corpus, so they say
Of course that's the not only Brit renegade rock'n'roll band that Michael M's been involved with
sort of vaguely connected, recently acquired (not yet read) this by Mick Farren, a post-apocalyptic novel published 1975, inspired by the free festival scene, set in a future where rock became literally a pagan religion based around ancestral texts and decayed rituals
jacket blurb:
"In the wilderness of Britain little of civilization remains. Decadence and division have overtaken the huddled people of Festival. And faith in the texts of the old gods - Dhillon, Djeggar and Morrizen - is fading fast. Beyond the city walls the tribes are massing, united in evil intent. Hill savages fired by ritual superstition to pillage and slaughter. Satanic horse riders inspired by drugs to rape and defile. And crystal-crazed Iggy at the head of them all - a despot in search of territory. A territory like Festival."
another back jacket blurb
ALL ROADS LEAD TO FESTIVAL In the Great Hall of the capital city called Festival, the magic ritual of Soundcheck prepares the ancient loudspeakers for tonight's Celebration. It is the distant future, when all that remains of the ancient ways is a collection of sacred black discs which contain the words and music of the great prophets who lived before the disaster: Dhillon, Djeggar, and Morrizen, the fabled lizard-king.
But in the hills and valleys surrounding Festival, a threat builds. An outlaw army, wasted by spirits and speeding on 'crystal,' works its way toward the dying city, raping and pillaging, gathering strength and weapons as it goes. In Festival, the population continues its preparations for the Celebration, unkowing, unsuspecting...
In his first novel, Mick Farren, a leading writer in the underground press, combines the color and excitement of the finest fantasy writing with his own keen vision of a time to come when the Counterculture of today ascends to a whacked-out, chemical-crazed pre-eminence."
Well I never heard of this Farren written "agit prop" tome
pic via - on TV that's Farren + gang of Yippies invading the David Frost show in 1970
Of course Mick Farren - like Moorcock - also bridges the post-psychedelic and punk eras with his most famous slice of scripture - considered by some to be the spark that lit the fuse
Remix of Alexei Rybnikov's Juno & Avos opera, 1981, after the 2xLP published by Melodiya, USSR, 1982
ReMelodiya is a series of 40mn mixes focusing on a single Melodiya LP from the 1980s as the unique sound source for a thorough sonic transformation. Genres covered by the ReMelodiya remix series include electronic and contemporary music, opera for children and choral music. The title is derived from Melodiya, the well-known Russian, monopolistic state label prevalent in the 1980s.
ReMelodiya vol.1 is based on Alexei Rybnikov's visionary, electronic space opera titled Juno & Avos, with a libretto by Andrei Voznesensky. Most of the music on the disc is played on bespoke, self-built synthesizers and drum machines with typical Soviet sound of the 1980s, in addition to assorted percussion and strings. The vocal cast includes a variety of actors and singers, from deep Russian bass to heavenly female voices. In this redux and remix version, I tried to channel the highly epic dimension and provocative synth work of the original score.
Parts of the music of Juno & Avos was initially intended by Rybnikov for the all-electronic, futuristic film score of the legendary Soviet science fiction film Through the Thorns to the Stars (1981).
ReMelodiya vol.1 is dedicated to French comic book artist Mœbius.
credits
released July 31, 2017
Artwork by L.F. inspired by original LP cover.
And here's another Continuo Remix
Remix rationale ReMelodiya vol.2 is a remix of the first record release of Bronius Kutavicius' Kaulo Senis And Geležinio Kalno ("The Old Man of Bone on the Iron Hill"), an opera for children based on a well-kown fairy tale, whose caracters are animals (mouse, bird, swan, cow, ...) with a cast of children singers accompanied by a few adults performers. Bronius Kutavicius (born 1932) is the greatest Lithuanian composer, active since the 1970s. He composed in a variety of genres, from vocal, chamber or orchestral music, to opera and film music. His colorful, classical style incorporates elements of contemporary music (12-tone technique, aleatory, electronic) as well as archaic Baltic rites, folk songs and mythology.
ReMelodiya vol.2 is dedicated to Benjamin Britten, whose chamber opera Curlew River (1964), inspired by Japanese No drama, was in turn an inspiration for this reconstruction of Kaulo Senis And Geležinio Kalno.
The "Pozzo del Merro" is a sinkhole (a depression in the land surface) located a few kilometers east of Rome.
It is like a big funnel in the limestone of Lias age (about 200 million years). The name "Merro" is a Central Italy dialectical word meaning a "very deep and steep precipice". The mouth of the sink has a circular boundary with a 150 meters diameter.
The dry section, with walls covered by luxurious vegetation, is about 70 meters deep. On the bottom lies a small circular lake 100 feet in diameter, hiding a dark liquid abyss more than 1016 feet deep. In early 2000 three different Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) were used to explore the sinkhole.
The first of these, the "Mercurio" dived to 210 meters (maximum operative pressure limit) without reaching the bottom.
The second ROV "Hyball 300" reached 310 meters without touching down either.
Prometeo, the third ROV, apparently reached the bottom at -392 meters in March 2002 but actually the sinkhole may continue on a curved, deeper path. In any cases, the "pozzo del merro" remains the world's deepest sinkhole.
The tracks of this CD were obtained using only original recordings made in the Pozzo del Merro sinkhole in the first, dry part of the hole, and in the wet, bottom part, using special microphones and sensing hardware. The recorded sounds were then treated in studio with some basic processing: pitch shifting, filtering, reverberating, mixing, fading. When possible, arbitrary musical structures were avoided in the final mix.
and another underwater project by Olhon release rationale These recordings were obtained by treating and mixing underwater recordings made in a set of Italian volcanic lakes. The sensing device hardware was built around a hydrophone sensor, enclosed in a heavy waterproof steel body. A very long cable (200m) as been used for connecting the recording device, placed in the deeper point of the lakes to a digital recorder on a boat. These recordings cannot be considered a pure audio documentation: the recorded sounds have been treated and re-mixed with the intention of recreating the moods and sensations of the recording sites. All "unwanted", accidentally recorded noises were also used in the final mix: boat noises, water drops, noises of the metal sensor hitting the lake bottom, remote preamplifier hiss, clicks and pops etc. No synthesizers or additional sounds were used during the re-mixing phase.
Veiovis: Ancient pre-Roman god, responsible for earthquakes and volcanic activities.
"but I nearly died of hospitality" - has decadence ever been so coy?
the middling 70s at their nadir
info:
"Couldn't Get It Right" is a 1976 song by the Climax Blues Band. The song was written after the band's label told them that their 1976 album Gold Plated lacked a standout track and asked them to "try and write a hit".[4] They then wrote it, in the words of its bassist Derek Holt, "from absolutely nowhere"[4] and it hit #10 on the UK Singles Chart.[5] Later on that year, the song was picked up by Sire Records and the following year it made #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.[6] Later that year, the song was ranked #32 on Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1977.[7]
In an interview with Songfacts, Derek Holt explained that the song was "just a lucky moment in time", and that it is about being on the road in America. The chorus "kept on looking for a sign in the middle of the night" referred to searches for Holiday Inn signs, the sight of which meant that beds had been found for the night. When the band's career first started in America, they used to fly everywhere, in some cases involving up to three flights just to get to one place. Their itineraries meant that getting to any one place was difficult and involved arriving in a town, getting into a car, getting to the gig just in time to perform the sound check, performing the gig, re-entering the car and then looking for a bed. The final few years of the band's life were easier as they switched to using tour buses. This enabled them to leave the gig, enter the bus, get a bed, drive extended distances (in Holt's words, "1,000 miles or whatever") and turn up at the next gig refreshed.[4] The saxophonist Colin Coopersang the baritone lead on this song, with the bassist Derek Holt, guitarist Pete Haycock and drummer John Cuffley singing harmony.[4]
In an obituary for band member Pete Haycock, the Independent said that the song "transcended the clichés of the road-song genre and incorporated several of their trademarks, including the vocal harmonies of Haycock and Holt behind Cooper’s lead, and Haycock’s guitar being played in unison with Cooper’s saxophone, to create a concise gem of a single equal to the best work of the Doobie Brothers or Ace."[9]
Why that's the preternaturally chiseled John Robb isn't it, popping up unexpectedly in this recent-ish video for an old New Wave / pop-punk tune... (not the bloke with the finger up his nose, I hasten to add, but later in the video). This is a chorus - "oo you lookin at? oo you LOOKING at? you better not be looking at me?" - that has been popping into my head recently (and sometimes out of my mouth) for no apparent reason. The single got a lot of play on Radio One back in the day, in the evening mostly, and I think got to something like #74 in the pop charts.
a different slice o' Seventies (or rather - see below - two different slices o' Seventies)
the opening song of this LP is one of my favorite songs ever - harrows my heart it does
There is another version of "The Blacksmith" that the early Steeleye did but it's not half as piercing as that version on Pleased To See The King
Got into Steeleye and that particular LP through a piece now unfindable on the internet in which a chap pointed out that the guitar in "Skank Bloc Bologna" bore the unmistakable influence of Martin Carthy-era Steeleye Span. One of those light bulb moments that you would often get in the early days of the internet, where all kinds of strange bods were dropping odd knowledge that they'd stored up for decades, insights and connections.
Here's some Green quotes on the subject, via Bibbly-O-Tekextracts from aTime Out interview:
"At school, I used to go to a folk club in the Newport docks area. Martin Carthy was my hero. He's a seriously funky guitarist! At art college in Leeds, I followed Carthy around the country. I was once stranded in the middle of nowhere after one of his gigs, and Martin and Norma went completely out of their way to give me a lift home, which was lovely of them."
He liked the way that old men urinated at folk clubs!
˜They had a way of holding their cocks while they were pissing. I found that fascinating. I wrote a lyric about it on the first album [on 'Jacques Derrida']. 'He held it like a cigarette/ Behind a squaddie's back/He held it so he hid its length/And so he hid its lack.'
I must say though much as I love Pleased to See the King I've never managed to get into Carthy solo. I don't find his voice appealing. ^^^^^^^^^ A cool fan video with lots of photos of early Scritti live and done I presume for interviews (zines?) that I've not seen before, plus a bit from the Rough Trade doc with them inserting vinyl in the Skank Bloc fold-up sleeves
Odd to think that only about 4 or 5 years separate the Steeleye BBC film and the Scritti / Rough Trade TV footage (South Bank Show originally I believe) what a massive rock cultural gap (whereas the difference between 2019 and 2014 is barely discernible, in pop culture - if not in political culture, where it's a chasm)
"I somehow got a promoter for the F Club in Chappeltown Leeds to book my band as the support act for Scritti Politti in July 1979. Well, I didn't have a band... but I turned up with a guitar and a couple of local punks who had agreed to put on a spotaneous jam session with me. We asked Scritti Politti if we could use all their instruments, and they said " Yeah, cool.."
so up we went on stage and caused a lot of noise for 15 minutes, before the old West Indian owner of the place came up from the downstairs domino Blues Club and told us to get off the stage.
Half an hour later, Scritti Politti comes onstage, and Green says "Thank You" to the support band, and that they thought they were really great, and as gratitude they will play a set of total improvisation... and that's what they did.. all these numers from the Rough Trade 12 inch were woven together in a long musical jam.
At the end of the night when we were getting ready to go, the band came up to me and asked me if I wanted any money...of course I said no...and then we had some kind of group handshake, all of us."
Elsewhere in the YouTube thread, one Mixmaster Morris says:
I totally loved Skank Bloc Bologna and all the early Scritti stuff. Went to see them play about 5-6 times in this period. Somewhere I have tapes of some of those shows. Even went round their squat in Carol St and ate curried brussel sprouts. The Raincoats lived next door.
I also saw them at the Futurama festival in Leeds, maybe the biggest show they ever did
I think there should be a petition made to Morris to release these live tapes into the commonwealth, don't you?
Talking of which, has anyone ever tracked down this?
‘This company aimed to explode myths about the female psyche and challenged the notion that women are there to serve as ciphers for male protagonists in theatre. This music/theatre company – eclectic, savage, funny, tender and populist exploited everything from performance art to punk – and carried on in many incarnations for 14 years. It was a marriage of many styles’ - from http://sadistasisters.blogspot.com/
Jude Alderson on Sadista Sisters first show at the Hard Rock Cafe, via Unfinished Histories, a website documenting alternative theatre in the UK
"The thing at the Hard Rock wasn’t a show, the thing at the Hard Rock was a sort of event… it was a happening. The first show was…the opening, the set was a pair of female legs and a heart shape, in the centre, which I don’t need to tell you what that was, with a cellophane covering, and Teresa and I in pink cat suits with these amazing masks that were across here [indicates across face], that were like with cheeks and dummies on them and we had pink swimming hats on. So we looked like babies or foetuses or whatever, and we tore our way out of this heart, and then we sang this song ‘Baby Doll’, so we turned immediately into…desirable… nubile, Barbie doll baby women."
album audible here - http://www.bazboothzone.co.uk/music.php?item=380
Teresa D’Abreu later in Babylon Jude Alderson is ex-Kiss International and later Amazonia Music Theatre Company. Dave Stewart is ex-Longdancer, later in Catch Susie Hendrix (Tinline) is ex-Flicks, later in Painted Lady Wendy Herman is later in Angletrax Diedre Cartright is ex-Painted Lady Denise Dufort is ex-Flicks, later in Girlschool & Au Pairs Susie (Gutsy) Webb is ex-Flicks, later in Slits, Au Pairs Jim Toomey later in The Tourists, Pete Dilemma is ex-Doctors Of Madness, later in TV Smith’s Explorers
interview with Robyn Hitchcock
https://durianapocalypse.net/archive/87/000087iii.html
I swore that I wouldn't touch upon The Soft Boys but, very quickly, there was this song you used to do called "The Lonesome Death Of Ian Penman". Whatever happened to that? Well, it was recorded -- there's probably a quarter-inch version of it knocking around. We never used it -- I think, to avoid libel, we phased out the vocal. Ian Penman was one of the people who put the knife into The Soft Boys' back. And I've never forgiven any of those people. I don't forgive easily. If they're still alive and I've finally made it when I'm ninety-three, they've got it coming. When N.M.E. finally comes to my door on its knees for a front cover feature, I shall say, "Only if you get Ian Penman out of whatever institution he's in, have him cleaned out and sent 'round to apologise for his crimes publicly!" I can understand people not liking Can Of Bees. But it was defenceless. The Soft Boys were an easy target. We didn't have any allies -- any support. We didn't have a record deal. We financed the stuff ourselves. We had a small coterie of hard-core fans. And the whole thing was demolished. I thought it was peculiarly cruel to pick on an act that was suffering from having been the flavour-of-the-month. My bitterness knows no bounds. My vocation in life is as a songwriter, and my concern is to write better and better songs (or at least maintain a standard). The Soft Boys' manifesto was one of taking bits and pieces -- a bit like a collage, like if you gummed a tomato to a squirrel's head and then gaffer-taped a pigeon's wings to a cucumber. I would say that The Soft Boys were about arrangements rather than songs. After Andy left I was getting much more concerned with songs. There was coherence of approach because Kimberley was more interested in the Pop side (and so was Matthew) -- towards things like "Queen Of Eyes". But there was a legacy of doing funny stuff in funny time signatures. So the short list for Underwater Moonlight was weird because there was material like "Alien", "Old Pervert" (which did make it on there), "The Lonesome Death Of Ian Penman" (which still had the idea of skeletal guitar riffs and funny time signatures).
Sounds and NME punk men swatted in one fell swipe
Xgau swiped by Thurston & Co
Adam swipes Nick Kent and (if i recall right) Bushell Bob Smith's swipe target = Morley
Not actually aimed at a journalist, although it could be - but a pretentious fellow musician, apparently
there are others i'm sure added thanks to comments box reminder:
aimed at (I believe) Mat Snow, a Dave housemate guilty of an indiscretion in the pages of NME. But extended to the entire profession, and making interviewing Cave (as I did in '87 for the first time) a rather sticky business. also added thanks to comments box reminder:
believe that is Axl Versus Bob Guccione Jr and perhaps one or two other journos songs not swiping but containing rock writers
