Jazmin Bean - Worldwide Torture

 #Jazmin Bean #Jasmine Adams #pop metal #hyperpop #alt-pop #trap metal #alternative rock #nu metal #trap rock #music video

Jasmine Adams, professionally known as Jazmin Bean, is a British singer, songwriter, makeup artist, beauty brand owner, business entrepreneur, and of course, style icon. The artist is non-binary, goes by the pronouns they/them, and toes the line between pop star and underground rebel on a daily basis. As a champion of multiple aesthetics, Bean has been credited for her fearless approach to blending various styles together, sonically and visually, in her music career. “I create music and film that pushes the boundaries of beauty and societal standards - and throws itself into extremes,” she said in an interview. There is a certain allure in the dark and lurid appeal of Bean, with her website currently featuring an image of her holding a giant blade. Frequently linked to other acts like Grimes, Rina Sawayama, Babymetal, Poppy and Melanie Martinez, the rising pop star has cemented her place in the alternative genre. Bean’s art seems to pull all ends of the spectrum, from nightmarish visuals to lullaby lyrics which both transform the way we enjoy and interact with music.  From: https://screenshot-media.com/culture/influencers/who-is-jazmin-bean/

Queen - Father to Son

 #Queen #Freddie Mercury #Brian May #Roger Taylor #hard rock #glam rock #progressive rock #heavy metal #classic rock #1970s

A month after releasing their debut album Queen returned to Trident Studios to commence work on the follow-up, tentatively titled “Over The Top” – an idea that didn’t amuse EMI any more than “Dearie Me” had for its predecessor. Despite positive reviews for “Keep Yourself Alive” the individual members still weren’t convinced Queen was a going concern and maintained outside interest in physics (Brian May), electronics (John Deacon), Freddie Mercury and his art studies and potential dentist, Roger Taylor keeping on their side-line of a Kensington Market stall because who knew how long this thing would last?
Still they were anxious to resume work before going back on the road and preparing for a tour with Mott the Hoople so they grabbed a vacant August slot in Trident and began making the record that is many a fan’s favorite. It is certainly the first time one hears their trademark multi-layered overdubs, those rich harmonies, and the sheer joie de vivre of a group of young men refusing to be hindered by boundaries and conformity. So while other rock stars went on their holidays Queen worked like Trojans.
All four took to the recording process like a duck to water with the notable assistance of Roy Thomas Baker and in-house man Robin Geoffrey Cable, an ally of the band since he’d produced Larry Lurex aka Freddie Mercury on a spectacularly operatic attempt at the Phil Spector-Ellie Greenwich-Jeff Barry masterpiece “I Can Hear Music.” Also on that session was engineer Mike Stone, yet another highly talented sound man who’d learned his trade at Abbey Road, sitting in on The Beatles’ Beatles For Sale album and more recently thrown some magic dust over Nursery Cryme for Genesis and Joe Walsh’s heavy guitar gem The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get. Quite a team in other words, and May and company had plenty of their own ideas to bring to the party.
What became Queen II was done and dusted in that hot month. Realizing that as songwriters Mercury and May had radically different lyrical agendas – Brian the guitarist preferring a personal or emotional slant, while Freddie the singer liked to operate in realms of the phantasmagorical – it was decided to give the record a loose concept, splitting the material into “White” and “Black” sides to match the light and shade of the songs. The gatefold sleeve and the album’s label reflected the B&W mood and when they hit the road to support it they invested in monochrome stage gear designed by Zandra Rhodes. Photographer Mick Rock was hired to shoot the cover on the strength of his striking images of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed, and he had the band posed to look suitably moody and vampish a la Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express. Freddie, of course, couldn’t resist the faintest of smirks as he looked up at Rock with arms crossed.
For the debut Queen’s friend Douglas Puddifoot had depicted Mercury holding his soon to be familiar short microphone stand, performing in a spotlight on what looked like an arena stage. A fine conceit, considering Queen were far from that status yet, it didn’t really give the viewer a sense of what lay inside. Mick Rock’s photograph, which the boys thought was slightly pretentious at first, showed them to be a band or a gang and this time the potential purchaser was left intrigued by the potential content.
Inside there were many wonders. It starts with “Procession,” played by May in funeral march time on multi-tracked guitar, the Red Special hand-built by Brian and his father, Harold, when the aspiring musician was a teenager. The instrument, also known as the Old Lady or the Fireplace, became iconic for Queen fanatics.
Brian’s “Father to Son” was written with Harold in mind and combines metal guitar bridges and introspective piano played by the writer as well as John Deacons’ acoustic guitar and a neat vocal harmony.
The fortuitously titled “White Queen (As It Began)” was a song Brian had written in 1968 when he was just about to go to Imperial College to study physics. Inspired by the Robert Graves treatise on poetry and myth, The Golden Fleece, May also had a female muse in mind, a girl from his A-Level biology class at Hampton Grammar, and the combination of courtly love lyrics and an ideal of feminism struck a chord with Queen’s audiences who would soon realize this wasn’t just another standard glam rock group.
May makes his debut as sole lead vocalist on “Some Day One Day” and also contributes startling guitar overdubbing, with the outro section featuring three instruments playing different parts rather than meshing together in synch. Trident’s 24-track came into its own and Brain was exultant to achieve the sound he’d always craved.
Drummer Roger’s “The Loser In The End” closes out the “White” side with a variation on the Mother to Son theme, albeit with a slightly tongue in cheek or ambiguous humor in the verses and some lovely marimba work.
If Freddie’s contributions thus far were sporadic he took over for the “Black” side. “Ogre Battle” was carried over from the first album and given a proper arrangement, a damn heavy one with chilling vocal screaming and a taut thrash of guitars and drums, a classic gong, and plenty of sound effects to herald a suite that is Queen at their most progressive. Mercury wrote it on guitar and his heavy metal riff was leapt on with relish by May for its martial power and would become a staple in their live sets over the next four years.
“The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke” was inspired by frequent visits to the Tate Gallery, taken by Freddie and the others to admire Richard Dadd’s nightmarish painting of the same name. To replicate the strangeness of Dadd’s canvas the band employed heavy stereo panning, Fred’s piano and harpsichord parts, Roy Thomas Baker’s castanets, and multiple vocal overdubs and harmonies. Claustrophobic and deranged, the medieval fantasy world of the artist was brought to life with startling success. The reference to the “quaere fellow” in the lyric is nothing as obvious as some people imagine, rather another literary reference to Brendan Behan’s play, The Quare Fellow, given an arcane spelling.
“Feller” flows in segue form with Mercury at the piano picking up the closing three-part harmony to introduce “Nevermore.” Freddie and Robin Cable would also play pluck or string piano (again no synthesizers) on a song that deals with relationship breakdown, with a nod at Edgar Allen Poe’s poem The Raven.
The octave bending, polyrhythmic “The March Of The Black Queen” was written by Mercury at the piano and developed as an electric and acoustic guitar extravaganza with May adding symphonic tubular bells. As such it was virtually impossible to replicate live but remains an album highlight.
Another segue leads the listener into “Funny How Love Is” a Mercury song blessed with one of his most poignant and lovely lyrics (“Funny how love is coming home in time for tea”). The singer felt more comfortable working with Cable on this track and the pair revisited the Wall of Sound technique they’d employed on “I Can Hear Music.” It was Freddie in a nutshell.
And so to the finale – “The Seven Seas Of Rhye” – a song first heard by many when Queen snapped up David Bowie’s cancellation of a Top of the Pops engagement to debut “Rebel Rebel.” The show’s producers asked Mike Stone if he could recommend a replacement and so Queen made their first major TV appearance on February 21st playing the newer, fully fleshed track before the cameras and landing in living rooms with such panache and insouciance that switchboards jammed. The song was released as a single two days later.
Noted for its panning and arpeggios and a cross-fade that leads into a brief rendition of “I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside” (with Baker on stylophone, still not really a synth!) this is a magnificent piece of work on every level. A classic glam rock item of the era, one that recalls the brutal intensity of The Move. Good work all round.
Queen II is now acknowledged as a landmark in the band’s development and while it is hardly obscure, in America it is considered to be a cult artifact revered by the likes of Billy Corgan, Steve Vai, and Axl Rose, and remains an obvious influence on everyone from U2 to Muse. Even Bowie sat up and took notice, no doubt allowing himself a wry smile at Queen’s arrival due to his no-show and probably basking in some of their limelight. Finally, some competition.
But while the album was ready to go by September, fully mixed etc., it was held back by EMI since the first album was still in its infancy. The oil crisis of 1973 also led to a shortage of vinyl as Britain slumbered in the three-day week, galloping inflation and increasing political and social unrest. Even so, those who heard the album when it did come out on March 8, 1974, were impressed and spiritually uplifted. Queen had arrived in style and Freddie could give up his weekend job and concentrate upon the great times that lay ahead. Goodbye Kensington Market, hello the world.  From: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/behind-the-albums/queen-queen-2/

Gin Blossoms - Allison Road

 #Gin Blossoms #alternative rock #jangle pop #power pop #post-grunge #pop rock #college rock #power pop #1990s

There really is an Allison Road that inspired this song. It's in Roosevelt, Texas, off of I-10. A friend of Gin Blossoms lead singer Robin Wilson was driving back from the South By Southwest Festival in Austin on his way to El Paso when he saw a sign for it, and because his sister's name is Allison, he snapped a photo. That photo found its way to Wilson, who decided to use it for the title of a song. The song is about a girl (not really named Allison), with the Allison Road a metaphor for their relationship. Robin Wilson says the lyrics came from a place of joy and with romantic intent, so it seems he's having a revelation that this is the girl for him.  From: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/gin-blossoms/allison-road

“Do you think it’d be all right if I could just crash here tonight?” The introduction to “Hey Jealousy,” the 1992 song by the Gin Blossoms, introduces a lackadaisical ne’er-do-well, one who laments the loss of an old relationship while asking his ex for a place to ward off his hangover, because he has nowhere else to go. Unlike Nirvana or Pearl Jam, the darkness of the lyrics wasn’t matched by a darkness in the melody—the tune, in fact, had more in common with a melodic tune from R.E.M. or The Lemonheads than the sludge from Seattle. (It lent itself to Top 40 radio play as a result.) But lyrically, the tune did not come from a good place. The subject of the song was its author, Doug Hopkins, who wrote some of the best songs on the band’s 1992 album New Miserable Experience. Hopkins was a member of the band until the middle of 1992, just before the completion of this album, when his alcoholism became so out of control that he was fired from the band, which continued to perform his songs.
Not that they ever felt very comfortable with that fact. The band, full of lifers in the Tempe, Arizona music scene, were about to see major success. But Hopkins’ personal problems threatened that success—even though it was his songs that made that success possible. “Without Doug and his songwriting, we never could have signed a record deal,” lead singer Robin Wilson told People in 1994. “Even Doug admitted we couldn’t have succeeded with him in the band. He also felt we had betrayed him.” Hopkins’ bandmates were basically forced into a bad situation by their record label. A Metro Times piece by his friend, Brian Smith, laid some of the fault at his bandmates’ feet, but most of it at the label’s: His band mates were, to me, total bastards then — but kids, really; at least emotionally. They were young signees of a major record label — at the mercy of the A&R and lawyerly suits who lived in southern California-cliché homes in the hills above Sherman Oaks. The label mandate was dump Doug — get rid of the guy who built the band and whose songs got the band the record deal — or else. The label had already spent a small fortune recording a first album, which was scrapped. What’d the band know? Even Doug’s best friend, with whom he grew up, was a Gin Blossom. The band needed a career and took one.
Hopkins was a local legend in Tempe, and he soon found himself in another band, though that broke down, too. His physical state was not good, to say the least. “At that point Doug couldn’t function as a guitarist or a human being,” Smith said. Already suffering from both alcoholism and chronic depression, things got worse after he had been forced to hand over part of his royalties to his Gin Blossom replacement. Understandably, the situation sat poorly with him. Beyond “Jealousy,” Hopkins also wrote “Found Out About You,” a top 40 hit in 1994 that was about an ex-girlfriend who seriously injured him by kicking him in the head at an R.E.M. concert. As that song was starting to chart, Hopkins received his gold record for “Hey Jealousy,” one of 1993’s biggest hits. According to his biography on Lost Horizons, a site dedicated to his memory, he hung it on the wall for two weeks, then smashed it. Soon after, he took his own life — while not one, but two of his songs were becoming major hits. The band, of course, was torn up by the situation, naming their next album, Congratulations I’m Sorry, after the odd dichotomy of success and loss. His local scene was broken up over the situation as well.
From: https://tedium.co/2017/09/28/gin-blossoms-hey-jealousy-tragedy/

Gin Blossoms graduated from the college rock circuit in 1993, when the singles "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You" became top 40 hits. Compared to the waves of grunge produced in the wake of Nirvana's breakthrough, the Gin Blossoms evoked an earlier time - specifically, the big jangle of the '80s, when the South was alive with bands who strove to replicate the ringing sound of R.E.M. Certainly, New Miserable Experience, the group's 1992 major-label debut, sounded like a kindred spirit to '80s college rock, even if it was goosed with loud guitars that made it feel at home in the alt-rock explosion of the '90s. Despite racking up a number of hits during the mid-'90s, Gin Blossoms were plagued with internal problems, chief among them dealing with the fallout, departure and subsequent suicide of guitarist Doug Hopkins, who wrote half of New Miserable Experience. These tensions led the group to split in 1997 but after a five-year break, they reunited for an album and tour. From that point forward, Gin Blossoms were an active concern, releasing albums every few years and touring regularly, pulling in audiences who remember their '90s hits fondly.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/gin-blossoms-mn0000947563/biography

Genesis - Supper's Ready

 #Genesis #Peter Gabriel #Phil Collins #Steve Hackett #progressive rock #art rock #British prog #symphonic prog #theatrical rock #1970s

A cornerstone in the story of progressive rock, Supper’s Ready found this still developing genre reaching its apogee. There had been double-digit-length album tracks before - not least Genesis’s own 10-minute The Musical Box - but nothing quite as conceptually epic, as ambitiously executed as Supper’s Ready. Constructed from seven distinct parts that form a jagged musical whole, it instantly rose to become perhaps the most famous and influential musical adventure in a genre then bursting its creative banks with all-time classic tracks: the template for the ornate, classically influenced, lysergically-charged, heroically daft, peculiarly English variety of progressive rock that then ruled the world. According to keyboardist Tony Banks: “When we started it we thought we were writing a kind of follow-up to The Musical Box, and it was going along quite nicely. Then we had this pretty-pretty song, Willow Farm, on its own, and thought, what if we suddenly went from there into this ugly, descending-chords sequence? No one would be expecting it. And once we got into that, we thought, well, we’re here now, let’s carry on, with freedom, and see where it leads us. When we put the whole thing together and heard it back for the first time, we went: ‘Oh, this is actually pretty good.’” Genesis’ former guitarist Steve Hackett insists now, however, that he was not convinced it was a good idea at all: “I thought, no one’s gonna buy this, because it’s too long. The [lyrical] references are too far-flung. It’s totally ambiguous. I thought the first time [Charisma Records chief] Tony Stratton-Smith heard it he was gonna say: ‘Sorry, boys, game’s up, contract’s cancelled, you’ll be hearing from our lawyers.’” Instead it was Stratton-Smith who positively encouraged the band to take their music as far as it could go, according to Foxtrot producer David Hitchcock. Seeing his role as “essentially a facilitator” Hitchcock says his greatest contribution to the track was “explaining they didn’t need to play it all the way through to record it, that we could do it section by section, with cross-fades and edits, then put it all together later. That allowed them to concentrate for the three or four minutes of each section, and get the best possible performance, while also allowing them to bring in different sounds for each section, rather than playing it straight through with one long, homogenous sound.” The pressure was also on for the band to find chart success. “Not in the sense of making them sound more commercial,” says Hitchcock, “but in the sense of taking what they did as far as it could possibly go.” Tensions in the studio were rife. “Mainly between Tony and Peter,” says Hitchcock. “There weren’t big bust ups, just a lot of sulking.” When Gabriel began singing over the keyboard solo in the section titled Apocalypse In 9/8, Banks admits “I was pissed off. ‘You’re singing on my bit!’ Then I realized it now had all the excitement we’d been trying to create, especially the ‘Six Six Six’ section. You have a lot of drama in the chords themselves, then what he did on top just took it to another level. Yes, that half-minute or so is our peak.” The other big battle Gabriel won was over the lyrics. “We were all involved as lyricists on Foxtrot per se,” says Hackett, “but Pete insisted on writing all of the lyrics to Supper’s Ready himself.” The rumor subsequently spread that the core of the lyrical narrative was based on a ‘supernatural’ experience Gabriel had gone through with his then-wife Jill; that Gabriel had been convinced she was possessed, and brandished a makeshift cross out of candlesticks, to which she reacted violently. According to Hackett, however, the situation was probably more prosaic. “I believe there’d been some drug taking going on. I believe she was having a bad trip at one point, and that Pete and a friend managed to talk her round and get her out of the horrors or whatever it was. So that’s a part of what the song was about, but in a way there’s a kind of redemption implication that goes with that.” Gabriel later claimed other parts of the lyrics were inspired by a late-night sighting of seven shrouded men walking in his garden. There were also lighter moments like Willow Farm, which Hackett not inaccurately describes now as “part Teddy Bears’ Picnic, part I Am The Walrus.” Plus sideways mentions for topics as seemingly disparate as Winston Churchill in drag, firemen, New Jerusalem, and not forgetting: a flower. Whatever one took from the lyrics, Supper’s Ready immediately assumed the mantle of all-time showstopper at Genesis concerts, Gabriel going through several ever more outlandish costume changes before ascending to the indoor sky in a silver suit at its climax.  From: https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-behind-the-song-genesis-suppers-ready

 

Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved a Man (the Way That I Love You)

 #Aretha Franklin #soul #R&B #gospel #pop #jazz #blues #rock #Atlantic soul #Southern soul #pop soul #Muscle Shoals #1960s

In 1967, Aretha Franklin signed to Atlantic Records after the expiration of her recording contract with Columbia. She had not had the breakthrough success that she was hoping for on her previous label, and was eager to make a new start at a new home. She was immediately paired with legendary producer Jerry Wexler, and at his request, headed to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to record at the town’s F.A.M.E. Recording Studios. Wexler wanted to take Aretha away from the bustle of New York and LA to a sonic incubator to record a sound that was more authentic to her roots. The sessions in Muscle Shoals were successful in establishing the producer-artist bond between Wexler and Franklin, and the pair was able to produce the hit single “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Loved You)” during that time. Franklin would go on to have many chart-topping successes on Atlantic Records under Wexler's guidance. Some notable titles include “Respect”, “Chain of Fools”, "Rock Steady” and “Think”.  Franklin would later recall, “Coming to Muscle Shoals was the turning point in my career.” Franklin remained with Atlantic Records from 1967-1979. This period is regarded as her most prolific and commercially successful. She received 10 Grammy Awards during her tenure for works that she co-produced with Jerry Wexler and the esteemed Atlantic production team in New York and Muscle Shoals.  From: https://www.atlanticrecords.com/posts/aretha-franklin-art-musical-partnership-18201

Bjork - I Miss You

 #Bjork #art rock #avant-garde #experimental #electronica #alternative rock #glitch pop #psychedelia #trip-hop #neo-classical #singer-songwriter #ex-Sugarcubes #Icelandic #1990s #animated music video #Spumco #John K

Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi has made his first music video for Icelandic beauty Björk, who is an equally outrageous and innovative artist. Illustrating the song "I Miss You," the video features John K's stupid yet loveable character Jimmy the Idiot Boy cavorting with a bubbly animated version of the singer. A variety of techniques are used, including traditional 2-D cel animation by Kricfalusi's own Spumco Productions and Colorkey Productions, 3-D computer animation supervised by Charlie Gibson at Rhythm & Hues, real-time motion-capture animation by House of Moves, plus blue screen mattes bringing in live-action into the mix. (The live-action sequences with Björk were shot in a Los Angeles studio in just one day.) Björk, a long-time fan of Kricfalusi's work, insisted that he do a video for her when they met at one of her concerts. She was so pleased when she first saw John's storyboard that she apparently proclaimed, "It's just like Christmas!" and did not ask for any changes. The video is becoming something of a novelty, since MTV edited the director's cut to remove an end sequence featuring the animated Jimmy and Björk dancing underneath what look like a cross between rubber nipples and condoms on top of her actual (live-action) chest. It is ironic that the network cut that sequence while keeping shots of Björk violently ripping up a chicken, and even Jimmy himself. But fret not, devoted fans; the director's cut can be seen in rotation on that other music channel, The Box, as well as on MTV's new alternative sister network M2. The video is also included in promotions of the new RealVideo technology, which enables full-motion video to be displayed over the Internet.  From: https://www.awn.com/mag/issue1.12/articles/jacksoncapsule1.12.html

Björk Guðmundsdóttir was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1965. Technically she recorded her first album as an 11-year-old; she sings the Beatles’ “The Fool on the Hill” in Icelandic. A decade or so later, she joined the Sugarcubes, Iceland’s premiere art-rock band. They sounded like Twilight Zone Roxette. The first and best Sugarcubes record, Life’s Too Good - it’s got “Motorcrash” on it - came out in 1988, the year they played Saturday Night Live. The Sugarcubes put out two more records and had a beguiling junk-drawer chemistry to them, but anytime Björk’s voice pulled into anything past second gear, it was obvious where she was headed - or, let’s say it was obvious that only she knew where she was headed. And thus, in 1993, did her real first solo album arrive. She called it Debut. In her first music video as a solo artist, for her first single, “Human Behavior,” she is eaten by a bear. Debut’s genre, if you gotta assign a genre to it, is Björk. Björk makes Björk music. There’s a needle to thread here though, as her star ascends in 1993, and as we gird ourselves for the decades of Björk excellence and flamboyance to come. A quick summary of the last 25, 30 years of Björk. The truly extraordinary run of mind-bending music videos. “Bachelorette” especially, shout-out Michel Gondry. The increasingly avant-garde album covers. Utopia especially. The titanic avant-pop influence of the albums themselves, Post and 1997’s Homeogenic especially. The Timbaland album. The beatboxing album. The phone-app album. The starring role in Dancer in the Dark. The Oscars swan dress. The coffee-table book. The other book. The other other book. Like 400 box sets and compilations and so forth. Lotta box sets. The MOMA exhibit nobody liked. The multimedia magical-realist universe that revolves around her. The needle to thread here, the challenge to accept here, is to marvel at the inimitable Björk-ness of Björk without infantilizing her or merely caricaturing her. There’s a tendency to reduce her to a woodland-fairy-type late-night-comedy routine. Remember when Winona Ryder did a Björk impression on Saturday Night Live, in a Celebrity Jeopardy! skit, in 2002? That’s the exact moment the ’90s truly ended, just FYI.  From: https://www.theringer.com/2021/4/21/22395193/bjork-hyperballad-post-history

XTC - Ball and Chain

 #XTC #new wave #post-punk #progressive pop #art rock #pop rock #baroque pop #art punk #power pop #psychedelic pop #1980s #1990s

XTC were a long-running cult favourite Alternative Rock band from Swindon, UK, active between 1976-2006. From 1982 to 1998, the band had the following core members: Andy Partridge (vocals, guitar), Colin Moulding (vocals, bass) and Dave Gregory (guitar, keyboards, string arrangements, backing vocals). The band's other two initial members were keyboardist Barry Andrews and drummer Terry Chambers. XTC throughout their existence were based around the two main songwriters, Partridge and Moulding. Their initial style was a frantic, hyperactive variation of New Wave that added in elements of Funk, Punk Rock, Ska and Reggae. This stylistic fusion found favour with the contemporary Punk Rock movement, and the band gained some success with its first two albums. Andrews' resignation from XTC in 1979 and replacement with Gregory proved to be a pivotal moment in the band's career, as Gregory's sixties-influenced guitar style steered the band towards its later sound, and his invaluable contributions to the band's albums helped drive Partridge and Moulding to new musical heights. For a while after Gregory's arrival, the band got slightly more attention from the mainstream and managed to score a few hits, such as the goofy, Moulding-penned single "Making Plans for Nigel" and Partridge's "Senses Working Overtime" and "Sgt. Rock is Going to Help Me". The band retired from touring definitively in 1982 after Partridge suffered a severe mental breakdown, forcing their world tour to be cancelled. They remained studio-bound for the rest of their career, making occasional live appearances on radio and television. In response to the loss of touring income, Chambers left and moved to Australia. Partridge, Moulding and Gregory didn't bother to replace him, instead recruiting session drummers on an album-per-album basis. Once Chambers left, the group completely changed their style, with the dreamy, pastoral folk-rock of Mummer arguably serving as their New Sound Album. From that point on XTC became a full-blown Psychedelic Rock band, taking production cues from The Beatles and The Beach Boys, jangly guitars from The Byrds and idiosyncratic, humorous lyrics critical of society from The Kinks. Soon afterwards, XTC recorded the album commonly regarded as their masterpiece, Skylarking. Besides critical accolades, Skylarking managed to gain them a controversial hit single as well, the Beatlesque rock of "Dear God", where Partridge basically embarked on a long Nay-Theist Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter rant, railing against God's horrendous, callous treatment of humanity. God was so incensed by Mr. Partridge's display of testicular virility that he personally purchased 250,000 copies of Skylarking. Around the same time, XTC recorded some outright Psychedelic Rock Affectionate Parodies, under their alter egos The Dukes of Stratosphear. As The Dukes, the band released an EP, 25 O'Clock (1985), and an album, Psonic Psunspot (1987), where they were all credited under Stage Names (Partridge was Sir John Johns, Moulding was The Red Curtain and Gregory was Lord Cornelius Plum) and did their damnedest to pass the material off as genuine Sixties psychedelia. The EP and album were initially available on vinyl only, but simultaneous with the album the two were compiled as Chips from the Chocolate Fireball on CD only. It wasn't until 2009 that the original works were released on CD separately, with bonus tracks and credited to XTC as The Dukes of Stratosphear. The Dukes were also jokingly thanked in the Skylarking liner notes for allowing XTC to borrow their instruments.  From: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/XTC

Fairport Convention - Percy's Song

#Fairport Convention #Sandy Denny #Ian Matthews #Richard Thompson #folk #folk rock #British folk rock #electric folk #British folk #1960s #Bob Dylan cover

The best British folk-rock band of the late '60s, Fairport Convention did more than any other act to develop a truly British variation on the folk-rock prototype by drawing upon traditional material and styles indigenous to the British Isles. While the revved-up renditions of traditional British folk tunes drew the most critical attention, the group members were also (at least at the outset) talented songwriters as well as interpreters. They were comfortable with conventional harmony-based folk-rock as well as tunes that drew upon more explicitly traditional sources, and boasted some of the best singers and instrumentalists of the day. A revolving door of personnel changes, however, saw the exit of their most distinguished talents, and basically changed the band into a living museum piece after the early '70s, albeit an enjoyable one with integrity. When Fairport formed around 1967, their goal was not to revive British folk numbers, but to play harmony-and guitar-based folk-rock in a style strongly influenced by Californian groups of the day (especially the Byrds). The lineup that recorded their self-titled debut album in 1968 featured Richard Thompson, Ian Matthews, and Simon Nicol on guitars; Ashley Hutchings on bass; Judy Dyble on vocals; and Martin Lamble on drums. Most of the members sang, though Matthews and Dyble were the strongest vocalists in this early incarnation; all of their early work, in fact, was characterized by blends of male and female vocals, influenced by such American acts as the Mamas & the Papas and Ian & Sylvia. While their first album was derivative, it had some fine material, and the band was already showing a knack for eclecticism, excavating overlooked songs by Joni Mitchell (then virtually unknown) and Emitt Rhodes.

What We Did on Our Holidays
Fairport Convention didn't reach their peak until Dyble was replaced after the first album in 1968 by Sandy Denny, who had previously recorded both as a solo act and with the Strawbs. Denny's penetrating, resonant style qualified her as the best British folk-rock singer of all time, and provided Fairport with the best vocalist they would ever have. What We Did on Our Holidays (1969) and Unhalfbricking (1969) are their best albums, mixing strong originals, excellent covers of contemporary folk-rock songs by the likes of Mitchell and Dylan, and imaginative revivals of traditional folk songs that mixed electric and acoustic instruments with a beguiling ease.

Liege & Lief
Matthews had left the band in early 1969, and Lamble (still in his teens) died in an accident involving the group's equipment van in mid-1969. That forced Fairport to regroup, replacing Lamble with Dave Mattacks, and adding Dave Swarbrick on fiddle. Their repertoire, too, became much more traditional in focus, and electrified traditional folk numbers would dominate their next album, Liege and Lief (1969). Here critical thought diverges; some insist that this is unequivocally their peak, marking a final escape from their '60s folk-rock influences into a much more original style. This school of thought severely underestimates their songwriting talents, and others feel that they were at their best when mixing original and outside material, and contemporary and traditional styles, in fact becoming more predictable and derivative when they opted to concentrate on British folk chestnuts.

Full House
The Liege and Lief lineup didn't last long; by the end of the '60s, Ashley Hutchings had left to join Steeleye Span, replaced by Dave Pegg. More crucially, Denny was also gone, helping to form Fotheringay. Thompson was still on board for Full House (1970), but by the beginning of 1971 he too had departed, leaving Nicol as the only original member.

Angel Delight
Fairport have kept going, on and off (mostly on), for the last 25 years, touring and performing frequently. It may be too harsh to dismiss all of their post-Thompson records out of hand; Angel Delight (1971), the first recorded without the guitarist on board, was actually their highest-charting LP in the U.K., reaching the Top Ten. Nicol's exit in late 1971 erased all vestiges of connections to their salad days. Fairport was now not so much a continuous entity as a concept, carried on by musicians dedicated to the electrified British folk style that had been mapped out on Liege and Lief. 

So it continues to this day, supported by a devoted fan base (Dirty Linen, the top American roots music magazine, originally began as a Fairport Convention fanzine). Denny would actually return to the group for about a year and a half in the 1970s, prior to her death in 1978; Nicol rejoined in 1976. Keeping track of Fairport's multitudinous lineup changes is a daunting task, and the group has coexisted on an erratic basis with the various other projects of the most frequent members (Nicol, Mattacks, and Pegg, the last of whom has played with Jethro Tull since the late '70s). They began playing annual reunion concerts in the 1980s (sometimes joined on-stage by Fairport alumni like Thompson), events that turned into some of the most popular folk festivals in Europe. They also released some albums of new material intermittently throughout the last couple of decades, mostly pleasant traditional-oriented outings that appeal primarily to diehards.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fairport-convention-mn0000162233/biography

The Rolling Stones - She's A Rainbow

 #The Rolling Stones #Keith Richards #Mick Jagger #blues rock #hard rock #classic rock #psychedelic rock #British blues rock #British psychedelia #rock & roll #1960s

Part druggy experiment, part musical rivalry with the Fab Four, and a total anomaly in the Rolling Stones' catalogue, Their Satanic Majesties Request contains at least three trippy classics in "Citadel," "She's a Rainbow," and "2000 Light Years From Home." That it also contains an extensive sample of Bill Wyman snoring and an eight-minute stoned jam that begins with the timeless phrase "Where's that joint?" is a measure of Satanic Majesties' breadth of genius and folly. There's a lot going on here - try comparing the wayward Eastern atmospheres of "Gomper" to anything on Beggar’s Banquet, and marvel that you're listening to the same band. The fact that Jagger and Richards could still come up with the unimpeachably charming "She's a Rainbow" - baroque pop at its finest - and a fair stab at heavy R&B in "The Lantern," while attempting to negotiate the band's rocky passage through Flower Power is a tribute to their vision, their perseverance, and their drugs of choice.  From: https://www.amazon.com/Satanic-Majesties-Request-Rolling-Stones/dp/B00006AW2M  

The Rolling Stones song ‘She’s A Rainbow’ was met with a mixed reaction when it was first released back in 1967 but, as the years have gone by, the track has quite rightly grown in appreciation. Now, the track is firmly seen as a highlight from the psychedelically twinged Their Satanic Majesties Request. Remarkably, John Paul Jones, who would of course later go on to conquer the world with Led Zeppelin, arranged the strings of this song during his days as a session musician. The backing vocals were a joint effort by the entire band apart from Charlie Watts who had managed to escape his duties. In truth, the whole recording process for the record was a giant mess. Their legal ongoings at the time were causing issues after the infamous Redlands bust that saw Mick Jagger and Keith Richards spend time behind bars immediately after the time they began recording. This meant that it took the band over eight months in total to record the album as the legal problems coupled up with their newfound adoration for psychedelic drugs created a recipe for professional disaster that somehow created incredible art.
In his 2002 book Rolling with the Stones, Wyman describes the situations in the studio: “Every day at the studio it was a lottery as to who would turn up and what – if any – positive contribution they would make when they did,” he said. “Keith would arrive with anywhere up to ten people, Brian with another half-a-dozen and it was the same for Mick. They were assorted girlfriends and friends. I hated it! Then again, so did Andrew (Oldham) and just gave up on it. There were times when I wish I could have done, too.” “Sometimes I think it was a miracle that we produced anything with all the emotional upheavals within the group,” Wyman also noted. The late Anita Pallenberg was rumoured to be the muse for the track, with a 2020 biography by Simon Wells on the late model even being titled She’s A Rainbow. Pallenberg had just come out of a relationship with Brian Jones in 1967 after he was physically abusive to her in Morrocco, Keith Richards saw the violence and took her back safely to England with the two falling instantly in love with one another — even going on to have three children together.
The trippy sounding track isn’t a sound that one would associate with The Stones outside of Their Satanic Majesties Request but ‘She’s A Rainbow’ has become a true cult classic with their ardent fans as the years have passed. It took 30 years before they took to performing it at a touring show and then, following that run of dates, it was yet again put back on the shelf until 2016 with it now finally being a deserved regular in their sets.
From: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/story-behind-the-rolling-stones-shes-a-rainbow/

Michelle Shocked - Prodigal Daughter

#Michelle Shocked #contemporary folk #folk rock #alternative folk #alternative rock #folk punk #bluegrass #folk blues #Americana #country rock #singer-songwriter 

Arkansas Traveler, the third and last album Michelle Shocked released for Mercury/Polygram records ‘received little commercial notice’ according to Shocked’s Wikipedia entry. Which shows you exactly how underrated this album is. Not only to ‘the public’ (which proves once again how poor taste it has, generally speaking), but also in the music critics and opinions – at leat that is the impression you get looking for information about the album in places such as her own website, not to mention other places you would expect to find one of the classic and most amazing Roots music records ever. It’s not really mentioned all too often and when it is it’s mostly the album that didn’t do well – a greatly undeserved accolade. It was, fortunately, however re-released together with her other early work on her own Mighty Sound label, made possible thanks to the fact that she retained the rights to her work when she signed to Mercury (wise move, that). Which means that if you don’t know the album you should still be able to get it should my review entice you to do that. The album I am writing about here however is the original 1992 version. She is undoubtedly best known and most revered for her 1988 album Shot Sharped Shocked with its iconic cover image – and the standout track Anchorage, her ‘greatest’ (and pretty much only) chart hit. However good that album is (haven’t heard that in ages I have to confess, as I don’t currently own a copy – it’s been on my to-buy list for a very long time). Of course I love Anchorage a lot too (how can you not?), but Arkansas Traveler is most definitely my favorite album of hers by a long shot.
Even just reading a list of the artists involved on here is jaw-dropping, really. And that’s a long list indeed, but I just have to give you that here,although I am not too keen on name-dropping generally: The Band. Don Was/Mitchell Froom/Jerry Scheff/Kenny Aronoff. The Red Clay Ramblers (w/Bernie Leadon). The Hothouse Flowers (Anybody rembering them?). Uncle Tupelo. Taj Mahal. Doc Watson (R.I.P) & Jerry Douglas. Alison Krauss & Union Station.Rising Fawn String Ensemble (feat. Norman and Nancy Blake). (Paul Kelly) & The Messengers. Jimmy Driftwood (R.I.P.) Her father ‘Dollar Bill’ and brother Max Johnston (later of Uncle Tupelo, Wilco and The Gourds). So far, so good. Just names. But what this list doesn’t tell you is what each and every single artist mentioned here (and the ones not mentioned by name in their respective bands) contributes to making this album, well, one of the best albums of all-time, especially as far as Roots music is concerned. I kid you not. Of course this is an entirely personal and subjective matter. But the sheer quality you get on each track is utterly amazing. I would assume she had the time of her life recording this album – although getting all the artists together must have been a hell of a lot of work. Pleasant in nature of course, but doubtless there must have been a lot of hurdles to get them all to commit to this project. But given they must have all been artists for which the joy of playing comes first it most probably didn’t take them too much convincing to join the fun.  In any case all of the tracks on the album are brimful with energy, enthusiasm and the fun I assume was had by all is palpable anywhere, but especially in her vocals.  From: https://backroadbound.com/2014/05/13/michelle-shocked-arkansas-traveler/

Michelle Shocked is the chosen name of singer-songwriter Karen Michelle Johnson, known for her iconoclastic bent, both musically and politically. Throughout her career Shocked has used her music to deliver stinging social commentary. She has also explored a wide range of musical interests in folk, western swing, gospel, and blues with Texas roots.  From: https://musicianguide.com/biographies/1608004750/Michelle-Shocked.html

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Acid Dent

 #Psychedelic Porn Crumpets #psychedelic rock #progressive rock #garage rock #alternative rock #hard rock #stoner rock #Australian #animated music video #claymation

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets is an Australian psychedelic rock band formed in 2014 in Perth. The band has been cited saying that some of the inspiration for their music comes in part from classic rock of the 1960s and 1970s, such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and the Beatles. However, they have been influenced by more than just the rock genre, getting inspiration also from experimental electronic jazz. Jack McEwan, the band's vocalist, has also mentioned that their style "is pretty much identical" to that of Pond and Tame Impala, bands that are often viewed to be in the same sphere. McEwan has also stated that he believes Australia, and his hometown of Perth specifically, to be a hotspot for rock music, and attributes the growth of the band partially to the live music scene in the city. Besides the Porn Crumpets, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Tame Impala, two of the band's influences, also hail from Australia. Some have given credit to King Gizzard and Tame Impala for creating the current Australian psychedelic rock scene. Many consider psychedelic rock to be Australia's main musical export in modern times, also citing bands such as Pond, Orb, Gum and more as evidence for this claim.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychedelic_Porn_Crumpets

Zepparella - When The Levee Breaks

 #Zepparella #Led Zeppelin tribute band #classic rock #blues rock #heavy metal #hard rock #all-female band #cover band #music video

If it’s not a tribute band, or a quartet of groupies pining to peel off Jimmy Page’s pants, or a bunch of rock ‘n’ roll wannabes, or Howard Stern’s favorite band, what then, is Zepparella? Serious. The San Francisco-based quartet of women rockers came together in summer 2005, when jazzy singer Anna Kristina joined guitarist Gretchen Menn, bassist Nila Minnerock and drummer Clementine, who in great rock fashion simply goes by her first name. Separately, each has her own musical interests, which range from prog rock and metal to electronica and jazz, but together, it’s all about Led Zeppelin, baby.
“It’s a tribute to the music,” Clementine said when reached in San Francisco before their current tour, which sees the band at Sam Bond’s Garage on Friday. “We’re a tribute band in that we’re playing one band’s music, but we don’t really care about Jimmy Page’s pants.” Apparently, a lot of other bands do care about his pants. They’re everywhere: Black Dog, Stairway Denied, Led Zepland, Hammer of the Gods, The Immigrants (an Italian Led Zeppelin tribute band) or The Vibe Remains the Same.
But just because other bands play out their fantasies of being part of one of the greatest rock bands ever, if only for a night at a time, doesn’t mean the ladies of Zepparella are going to follow suit. “To me, tribute bands look like the players and sound just like the players – and that’s really fun. I’m not putting it down,” Clementine said. “But for Led Zeppelin, I feel like we wouldn’t be doing the music justice if we did that.”
To do the music justice, Clementine said, the band, which takes its name from Led Zeppelin and the campy Jane Fonda film “Barbarella,” learns the songs exactly as they sound on the album. “But as we play together, things happen and the songs start to breathe and our own music starts coming through.” There are guitar riffs and grooves on the drums the band wants to hit, but they leave a lot of room for the songs to have a life of their own. “These songs are built for different interpretations,” she said, “so it’d be kind of a crime to stick to the record version.”
The band’s album, “Live at 19 Broadway,” gives a taste of the similarities, and differences, between the two Zeps. One difference is the vocals. If anything, Robert Plant is more effeminate than the lustrous Kristina, whose jazz-influenced voice shines through. “She’s a jazz singer more than a rock singer, so it’s tougher for her to do this,” Clementine said. “She’s really gotten into learning the whole rock thing, and Plant is such a great place to start. “She’s not really trying to sound like him. It’s more the phrasing and the delivery.”
But there are times when Kristina definitely conjures up memories of Plant. The beginning of the band’s cover of Zeppelin staple “Whole Lotta Love” sounds as if Kristina ate Plant for breakfast and he’s trying to escape from inside of her. And the wails at the start of “Immigrant Song” are just as haunting and powerful as the original. The rest of the band does Zeppelin justice as well. Menn’s powerful guitar riffs, Minnerock’s steady bass and Clementine’s thundering drums capably carry Zepparella through Zeppelin’s oeuvre.
Even Howard Stern had nothing bad to say about the band’s take on Zeppelin. Zepparella is on a compilation record of all-women tribute bands, and Stern – that champion of feminism everywhere – was talking about the album in less than flattering terms on his show. “They chose one song to play, and it was one of ours,” Clementine said, laughing. “But they were like, ‘Hey, this is pretty good,’ and we were happy they were saying our name on the radio.” The band learned Led Zeppelin has heard of Zepparella, Clementine said. Robert Plant’s question: “Are they any good?” Yes, Mr. Plant, they are.
From: https://www.dailyemerald.com/archives/the-girls-of-zepparella-make-classics-their-own/article_6d019491-f59d-58ee-9283-6bf7eb604d84.html

Zepparella - four women intent on bringing the passion, the beauty, the aggression, and the musicality of Led Zeppelin alive. Zepparella explores their own improvised magic within the framework of Zeppelin’s mighty songs. For five years, the Zeppelin love has washed in waves out of the doors of the venues. Initial skeptics have been quickly converted.  From: https://dola.com/artists/zepparella

Tautumeitas - Raganu Nakts

 #Tautumeitas #Latvian folk #world music #traditional folk #Eastern European folk #music video

Tautumeitas - Raganu Nakts

Hey all, I'm wondering if anyone can offer info about this song. I've read a google translation, so I have a vague idea of what the lyrics mean. I'm curious about the history of the group and some background on where they are conceptually coming from. The percussion is also really interesting and I'm curious of the instrumentation? Are they traditional latvian instruments/rhythms? (Sounds similar to japanese taiko drumming.) I am a descendant of Latvians displaced after WW2. I'm not fluent in this beautiful language yet, I apologise, I will get there. In the mean time, I'm trying to develop cultural appreciation and understanding through music. I've become a bit infatuated with this song and I'd love to know more.

Firstly - original Latvian (mostly older dialect) lyrics from the folk song that they are using as a basis for their track can be found here - https://genius.com/Tautumeitas-raganu-nakts-lyrics
As with most folk songs, there is no good (proper, well understandable) translation possible for this song. It's basically a short snippets of explanation supported by repeating chants ("līgo, līgo" - phrase being chanted during the "Jāņi" celebration - Latvian national summer solstice festival with long history). General idea throughout the song is that there is "Jāņi" being celebrated that night, and girls are taunting all the evil spirits and daring them to try to come in their farmstead, which is protected by old-Latvian protective signs, and they are singing that nothing bad will happen to them. I must explain that this is a common theme throughout many Latvian folk-songs, especially the ones dedicated to "Jāņi" celebrations - you see, it's an old folk belief that during the "Jāņi" night Latvians feel the most united and strongest, and are even daring the evil spirits. So there are a LOT of folk songs and tales with this motive.
P.S. "Tautumeitas" currently is, imho, by far the coolest and most successful folk-music related band, that is singing and playing their own versions of the classic folk songs, making them way more attractive to the younger audience. I highly suggest you to check out their other songs from the latest album - they are all great.

From: https://www.reddit.com/r/latvia/comments/gf3k8w/tautumeitas_raganu_nakts_info/

Tautumeitas is a Latvian folk/world music band formed in 2015. The band consists of six women vocalists/instrumentalists. Their album 'Songs From Auleja', released in 2019, introduced the world to sixteen songs from the Latvian village of Auleja. These songs, based on recordings found in archives, were also unfamiliar to most Latvians. In fact, it is this repertoire of songs that brought Tautumeitas together in the first place. The traditional form of a cappella multipart singing on this album, known as bolsi, is linked with specific times of the year or special celebrations. The texts tell about various natural phenomena as well as events and activities in people’s lives. These multipart songs were traditionally sung outdoors, the singers actively interacting with the environment.  From: https://www.lmic.lv/en/musicians/-tautumeitas-4619#!/

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Fire

#The Crazy World of Arthur Brown #psychedelic rock #experimental rock #theatrical rock #British R&B #psychedelic soul #proto-prog #operatic vocals #1960s

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown were an English rock band formed by singer Arthur Brown in 1967. The original band included Vincent Crane (Hammond organ and piano), Drachen Theaker (drums), and Nick Greenwood (bass). This early incarnation was noted for Crane's organ and brass arrangements and Brown's powerful, wide ranging operatic voice. Brown was also notable for his unique stage persona which included such things as extreme facepaint and a burning helmet. Their song "Fire" (released in 1968 as a single) sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc, reaching number one in the UK. In the late 1960s, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown's popularity was such that the group shared bills with the Who, Jimi Hendrix, the Mothers of Invention, the Doors, the Small Faces, and Joe Cocker, among others. Following the success of the single "Fire", the press would often refer to Brown as "The God of Hellfire", in reference to the shouted opening line of the song, a moniker that exists to this day.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crazy_World_of_Arthur_Brown

 

Aorta - Sleep Tight

 #Aorta #psychedelic rock #acid rock #folk rock #jazz rock #proto-prog #psych pop #1960s

Aorta were an American psychedelic rock band from Chicago who recorded two albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The band developed from a soul, pop and rock'n'roll group who had originally formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1962 as Kal David and the Exceptions. Its members were Kal David (vocals and guitar), Peter Cetera (bass, vocals), Denny Ebert (drums, vocals), and Marty Grebb (saxophone, keyboards, guitar, vocals). David left in 1965, to join The Rovin' Kind, later to become Illinois Speed Press, and was replaced by James Vincent (later known as Jim Donlinger). The band was then known as The Exceptions. They released several singles on local labels, and an EP, Rock and Roll Mass, on the Flair label, before Grebb left to join The Buckinghams, being replaced by Jim Nyeholt. Ebert also left to be replaced by Billy Herman. As The Exceptions, Vincent (Donlinger), Cetera, Nyeholt and Herman recorded several singles for Capitol Records, but Cetera left when the other members expressed a desire to perform more psychedelic material. Cetera joined The Big Thing, who became Chicago Transit Authority and then Chicago.
After recruiting Bobby Jones as the new bass player, the group changed their name to Aorta in 1967, for a short period also adding Dan Hoagland on tenor sax. With Jim Donlinger on lead vocals, the band recorded a single, "The Shape Of Things To Come", a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and included on the soundtrack to the movie Wild in the Streets by the fictional group Max Frost and the Troopers. Aorta signed to Dunwich Productions, a company formed by Bill Traut, and the single was leased for release on Atlantic Records. Under Traut's management, the band were then signed to Columbia Records to record an album. Their first LP was produced by Traut and Donlinger. Entitled Aorta, it was issued in early 1969, as part of a drive by Columbia to promote "the Chicago sound" - the company simultaneously released albums by Chicago, Illinois Speed Press, and The Flock. The album has been described as a "startling record which was a mix of psychedelia, soul, jazz, folk, and rock housed in a beautiful, graphic sleeve that has always overshadowed the great music from within. Aorta is solid throughout, featuring strong musicianship, inventive studio wizardry, superb songs with a healthy dose of fuzz guitar and wonderful string and horn arrangements." The group toured in support of bands such as Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin and The Mothers of Invention, and were given a major showcase opportunity to impress music industry leaders at the Fillmore East in New York City. However, according to Donlinger, the band were offered LSD by another musician before the show, resulting in them giving what was described as a "train wreck" of a performance.
Jones and Herman then left, and Donlinger and Nyeholt, together with Donlinger's drummer brother Tom, temporarily joined the Rotary Connection. However, they then decided to reform Aorta, with the Donlinger brothers and Nyeholt adding Michael Been on bass, guitar and vocals. The band recorded a second album, Aorta 2, in a radically different style, leaning more towards country rock with Christian overtones. They finally split up shortly after its release on the Happy Tiger label in early 1970. Jim Donlinger and Michael Been, together with former Exceptions member Marty Grebb, then joined the band Lovecraft (previously H. P. Lovecraft).  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aorta_(band)

Spirit - Aren't You Glad

 #Spirit #Randy California #Jay Ferguson #psychedelic rock #hard rock #progressive rock #experimental rock #jazz rock #blues rock #eclectic #West coast psychedelia #1960s

Spirit’s sophomore album shows a more mature band sound that took the psychedelic rock, contemporary folk, classical and jazz-fusion elements of the debut and found them woven together in a tight musical tapestry with that off-kilter 60s psychedelia basted in a strong steady backbeat. One again Marty Paich made a reprise with his unique stamp with arrangements for string and horns which added the proper symphonic backing that with the jazz-tinged rock pieces created a veritable progressive rock template for 70s symphonic bands to expand upon. While Spirit never cranked out the hit singles, the opener "I Got A Line On You" was the exception as it was the band's only top 40 hit of their existence and the one track that everyone has surely heard if they have delved into 60s music at all. While that single and the closer "Aren't You Glad" add heavier aspects of rock complemented by Randy California's use of double guitar tracks, for the most part “The Family That Plays Together” is a more subdued mellow affair with the emphasis on exquisitely designed compositions that are cruising on California West Coast chill mode than anything close to the heavier Cream and Hendrix sounds of the day.
Part of Spirit’s eclectic inspiration stemmed from the fact that Barry Hansen, who would become the kind of parody as Dr. Demento who specialized in novelty songs and comedy, had a huge collection of music in the same house that he was sharing which allowed the band to peruse the vaults for musical inspiration. And that is exactly what Spirit sounds like to me. There are so many tiny snippets of sounds that remind me of both past and future acts that one could rightfully write quite a lengthy thesis on the matter. The music on “The Family That Plays Together” is generally characterized by a strong groovy bass line that anchors the melodic development. The guitars and keyboards provide unique and progressive counterpoints with Cassidy's jazzified drumming style adding yet another eclectic layer. The band had mastered the art of harmonic vocal interaction much like The Beach Boys or The Mamas and the Papas but were more sophisticated than the average pop band of the era despite having cleverly crafted pop hooks that took more labyrinthine liberties.
During the year 1969, Spirit were at their popular (if not creative) peak with two hit albums and a top 40 single under their belt. While the band never hit the big time, during this brief moment in history, it was THEY who were the headliners while bands like Led Zeppelin, Chicago and Traffic were opening for them. While at the Atlanta Pop Festival, they performed to over 100,000 music fans in the audience and Randy California rekindled his friendship with Jimi Hendrix, with whom who briefly played in Jimmy James & The Blue Flames. “The Family That Plays Together” is an excellent sophomore release from Spirit. While the debut may have had a few more flashy jazz-fusion moments, this one has a more cohesive band sound which shows a clear dedication to finding the ultimate band chemistry at play. Laced with subtly addictive hooks and sophisticated progressive undercurrents, “The Family That Plays Together” is actually a little more accessible on first listen although it's slightly more angular than the average pop rock band of the era but still a testament to Spirit’s unique musical vision.  From: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=13050 

Spirit was a highly regarded American rock band that achieved modest commercial success between 1968 and 1977. Founded in Los Angeles in 1967 by musicians who had a mixture of rock, pop, folk, blues, classical, and jazz backgrounds, and who ranged in age from 16 to 44, the group had an eclectic musical style in keeping with the early days of progressive rock; they were as likely to play a folk ballad featuring fingerpicked acoustic guitar, a jazz instrumental full of imaginative improvisation, or a driving rhythm tune dominated by acid rock electric guitar playing. The diverse tastes of the original quintet produced a hybrid style that delighted a core audience of fans but proved too wide-ranging to attract a mass following, and at the same time the musicians' acknowledged talents brought them other opportunities that led to the breakup of the original lineup after four years and four albums, then kept them from committing fully to regroupings as their music began to be recognized in later years. While two bandmembers, singer/guitarist Randy California and drummer Ed Cassidy, maintained the Spirit name, the others came and went as their schedules allowed, such that the group never fulfilled its early promise, although, as a vehicle for California's songwriting and guitar playing, it continued to produce worthwhile music until his death.  From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/spirit-mn0000746010/biography

Diamanda Galas - Wild Women With Steak Knives

 #Diamanda Galas #avant-garde #experimental #avant-goth #classical crossover #performance art #operatic #blues #jazz #five octave range #spoken word #piano #a capella #extreme vocals

“Wild Women with Steak-Knives,” from the tragedy-grotesque Eyes Without Blood by Diamanda Galas, is “a cold examination of unrepentant monomania, the devoration instinct, for which the naive notion of filial mercy will only cock a vestigial grin.”

Wild Women with Steak-Knives (The Homicidal Love Song for Solo Scream)

I want you to get down on your knees
And I want you to ask me:
What is my name
What is my name
What is my name
What is my name
What is my
What is
Your name

I have been looking for a killer
And I'm not talking about meatballs
I am talking about steak
Steak
Steak
Yes...killer

I commend myself to a death of no importance
To the amputation of all seeking hands
Pulling, grasping, with the might of nations
Of sirens, in a never ending bloody-bliss
To the death of mere savagery
And the birth of pearly, white terror

Wild women with veins slashed and wombs spread
Singing songs of the death instinct
In voices yet unheard
Praising nothing but the promise of death on earth
Laughing seas of grinning red, red eyes
All washed ashore and devoured
By hard and unseeing spiders

I commend myself to a death beyond all hope of
Redemption
Beyond the desire for forgetfulness
Beyond the desire to feel all things at every moment
But to never forget
To kill for the sake of killing
And with a pure and most happy heart
Extoll and redeem disease

She was hanging...
And her...
And I asked you: well, well
And ask you: well, well
What would you do
Angel in the house tonight

Black Sabbath - The Wizard

 #Black Sabbath #Ozzy Osbourne #heavy metal #hard rock #classic rock #heavy blues rock #British blues rock #doom metal #1970s

Every Metal Subgenre Began as a Black Sabbath Song
Nathan Smith
Some people out there argue that heavy metal was not invented by Black Sabbath. These people are wrong. To be sure, the Led Zeps and Deep Purples of the world certainly had their metallic moments, but it wasn't until Tony Iommi sheared off his fingertips in a metal stamper and down-tuned his guitar to compensate for this maiming that a new and sinister strain of rock and roll was truly sired.
Now, it's a fact that Sabbath didn't consider themselves heavy metal - not at first, anyway. They viewed themselves simply as putting a slightly new twist on the thunderously heavy blues-rock pioneered by the likes of Cream. There's a lot of truth in that self-assessment. But not even Clapton and co. can claim quite the broad influence on rock and roll that Black Sabbath has produced.
Need proof? Well, how's this for a premise: Practically all of heavy metal's 18 jillion, multifaceted subgenres can be traced back to a specific Black Sabbath song. In cranking out nearly an album per year back in the '70s, the band did a lot more stretching and exploring than they're sometimes given credit for. The result is that they managed to create an entire heavy-metal universe, one track at a time.
They didn't do it alone, of course, and today's metal is as rooted in hardcore punk as it is in '70s hard rock. But the seeds are there. Behold:
10. DOOM METAL
"Into the Void," 1971
Let's start with an easy one. Nowhere in the wide, wacky world of heavy-metal subgenres is Black Sabbath's influence more keenly felt than in doom metal. The band's slow grooves, down-tuned guitars and murky riffs embody the style to this day. The eerie spirit of impending doom on their early songs remains the template for the majority of doom metal's modern practitioners. "Into the Void" is a particularly good example of the doom metal sound from Master of Reality, but it could easily be replaced on this list by any number of tracks from the band's first few albums.
9. POWER METAL
"War Pigs," 1970
Black Sabbath wouldn't truly lead the charge toward power metal until Ozzy was replaced by Ronnie James Dio, one of the preeminent operatic voices in rock history. But the predilection for power was there almost from the very beginning. "War Pigs," possibly the greatest anti-war screed ever set to a backbeat, ranks as one of the most spine-tingling songs in heavy-metal history thanks largely to the most powerful vocal performances of Ozzy Osbourne's long career. It doesn't get a lot more anthemic than this one. If you needed any additional proof of the profound influence of "War Pigs" on the formation of the power metal subgenre, consider that it was a favorite cover tune of Dio's pre-Rainbow group, Elf.
8. THRASH METAL
"Symptom of the Universe," 1975
Sabbath infinitely preferred a slow, rumbling sound to high-octane speed. Almost nobody had more influence on the powerful guitar riffage that was the hallmark of thrash metal than Tony Iommi, however. The chugging crunch of "Symptom of the Universe" clearly predicts the rise of bands like Metallica and Slayer in the decade to come, not to mention Geezer Butler's lyrical themes dealing with evil, war and, uh, dirty women that were employed throughout the group's run in the '70s.
7. DEATH METAL
"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath," 1973
A gore-obsessed outgrowth of thrash metal, death metal retains almost none of the blues-based rhythms in which Black Sabbath trafficked. Thematically, though, Sabbath's influence still looms large. The song "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath," with its lyrical allusions to "living just for dying," strongly hinted at the attraction to oblivion that would be cranked up significantly by early death metal bands in the '80s and early '90s. Not to mention the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album cover! Seemingly scientifically engineered to freak out your mom, the artwork depicts a terrified man tormented by demons on a bed evidently possessed by Satan himself. It set a benchmark for horrifying imagery that death metal bands are still trying to outdo today.
6. BLACK METAL
"Black Sabbath," 1970
Black Sabbath never sounded anywhere near so ugly and extreme as the earliest practitioners of black metal did, but there's no denying that their influence is present. In particular, there's black metal's fascination with Satanism: While never expressing overt sympathy for the devil, early Sabbath flirted heavily with the Adversary; never more so than on their signature tune, "Black Sabbath." The song was constructed around a tritone, a dissonant musical interval derided as diabolus in musica (the devil in music) since at least the 18th century. The song's moody, cinematic opening, full of heavy rain and droning church bells, would also heavily inform the softer, more atmospheric strains of black metal that would arise in the genre's second wave.
5. CHRISTIAN OR WHITE METAL
"After Forever," 1971
The Satanists weren't the only rockers finding inspiration in Sabbath's music and lyrics. While they typically preferred to explore the dark side of the struggle between good and evil, Geezer and the gang weren't above occasionally inserting Christ and the Church into their musical morality plays. The song "After Forever," in fact, makes the claim that "God is the only way to love," and scolds nonbelievers for their faithlessness. While no one has ever called Black Sabbath "Christian rock" with a straight face, there's no doubt the band throws in solidly with the light side on this tune. Lord knows it rocks a damn sight harder than Stryper, too.
4. HAIR METAL
"Changes," 1972
Birmingham, England, is a hell of a long way away from the Sunset Strip, and while Tony Iommi has rocked a few questionable poodle-dos in his day, nobody has ever confused Black Sabbath with Poison. That doesn't mean their contributions to the now-reviled subgenre known as hair metal can be ignored, however. Though Sabbath's dark, sludgy sound was a far cry from the upbeat, overdriven L.A. style of '80s metal, they did practically invent one of the hair bands' most infamous tropes: the metal power ballad. "Changes" would be ripped off by a slew of teased and permed groups in the '80s, from the plaintive vocals right down to the piano accompaniment. Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home," for instance, could have never existed without it.
3. STONER METAL
"Sweet Leaf," 1971
Black Sab loved the herb as much as they loved any other drug - which is to say, quite a lot. Marijuana smoking was damn near universal at their '70s concerts, with the band's deep, slow grooves matching up with weed's pleasant effects like peanut butter and jelly. An out-and-out love song, "Sweet Leaf" cemented the connection between banging and stoning very early on in metal's development. Its sound has been replicated and expanded upon by the likes of Weedeater, Electric Wizard and other dojah aficionados. The song remains a cherished staple of the band's live show today, and it's possibly the most-covered tune in Black Sabbath's history. Draw your own conclusions.
2. FUNK METAL
"Behind the Wall of Sleep," 1970
Sabbath aren't thought of as a particularly funky bunch, despite their preternatural ability to lock into deep grooves. While they'll never be confused with James Brown, they did have their moments - the funkiest of which can be found on their debut album. In addition to the irresistibly bouncy "N.I.B.," Black Sabbath contains the song "Behind the Wall of Sleep," a riff-sterpiece featuring a sublimely funky drum break by Bill Ward. How funky? Well, funky enough to be sampled by the likes of Outkast, Beck, Too $hort and the Fugees, among others, according to WhoSampled.com. Not a lot of funk metal bands can claim to have influenced a roster of hip-hop artists that talented. Pretty much none, I'd say.
1. PROG METAL
"The Writ," 1975
Much of Black Sabbath's heyday coincided with the rise of progressive rock, and though they were never a part of that scene, they were certainly touched by it. Hell, as a hard rock band in the '70s, it was hard not to be. Particularly as the decade wore on, Sabbath toyed with some proggier elements - even adding a Moog synthesizer to tracks like "Who Are You?" and "Sabra Cadabra." For my money, though, "The Writ" from Sabotage stands alone as the first truly progressive heavy metal song. Coming in at more than eight minutes, the weird, lengthy song is notable for providing the first glimpse of the more dynamic vocal range that Ozzy would later employ to great effect on his '80s solo records.
From: https://www.houstonpress.com/music/every-metal-subgenre-began-as-a-black-sabbath-song-6510141

Gentle Giant - Just the Same

 #Gentle Giant #Shulman brothers #progressive rock #British prog #eclectic prog #classic prog #hard rock #experimental rock #jazz rock #neoclassical #medieval  #1970s #animated music video

Cool stuff in Gentle Giant songs

This is a listing of interesting musical and lyrical tricks and devices that Gentle Giant used on their albums. Some of them are obvious, while others require careful listening. These sorts of things make Gentle Giant's music so interesting to analyze.

Free Hand

During the verses of Just The Same, the bass and drums are playing in 6/4 while the piano, voice, and guitar are playing in 7/4.

The first section of On Reflection is a four-part vocal fugue. The last section is the same fugue played on instruments. In On Reflection, the last entrance of the band is accompanied by a springy wavering of the pitch (most noticeable in the electric guitar), which is likely the sound of the 24 track tape machine being dropped into "Vari Speed" mode, and the entire end section is transposed (sped up really) by a half step. Both the Studer and the Ampex tape machines, which were popular at the time of Free Hand, make this distinctive noise when you drop them into varispeed.

The bass part at the very beginning of Free Hand is repeated, in a different rhythm and tempo, when the "waltz" section begins (3:55 into the song). In fact, the whole waltz section contains various themes from earlier in the song.

The opening melody of On Reflection and the middle ballad section have almost identical melodies. Compare "In my way did I use you, do you think I really abused you" to "I remember the good things how can you forget."

The opening melody of Talybont is a heavily disguised reworking of the vocal melody of Just The Same. Talybont is a small hamlet in Wales near to where John Weathers lived. Talybont was recorded as the theme song for a movie about Robin Hood. The movie was never released, but it reportedly had "quite well known players in the movie business." If the movie had gone ahead, Gentle Giant would have recorded more material for it. Actually, some of that music did get recorded and appears on Under Construction.

The electronic sounds at the beginning of Time To Kill are from the old videogame, "Pong." And if you listen closely, you can hear one of the guys whisper "go" just before the loud buzz which indicates a goal scored.

The middle of His Last Voyage is a three-part vocal canon. The bass riff in the introduction of His Last Voyage fits over the very classic rock chord progression: I, bVII, bVI, V.

From: https://gentlegiantmusic.com/GG/Cool_stuff_in_Gentle_Giant_songs#Free_Hand

Gentle Giant were a British progressive rock band active between 1970 and 1980. The band were known for the complexity and sophistication of their music and for the varied musical skills of their members. All of the band members were multi-instrumentalists. Although not commercially successful, they did achieve a cult following. The band stated that their aim was to "expand the frontiers of contemporary popular music at the risk of becoming very unpopular” although this stance was to alter significantly with time. Gentle Giant's music was considered complex even by progressive rock standards, drawing on a broad swathe of music including folk, soul, jazz, and classical music. Unlike many of their progressive rock contemporaries, their "classical" influences ranged beyond the Romantic and incorporated medieval, baroque, and modernist chamber music elements. The band also had a taste for broad themes for their lyrics, drawing inspiration not only from personal experiences but from philosophy and the works of Francois Rabelais and R. D. Laing.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentle_Giant