What Are You Listening To?

[Tiggi]

Mid-70s Art Rock which bears more than a passing resemblance to the music that Bowie, & Roxy Music were making at the time.

Harley's song characters are strange, as are some of the situations, and everything has that sleazy, decadent Cabaret feel to it.

Very nice album, with something to get your teeth into.


AllMusic 4+/5 stars.

[Tiggi]

1978 Rock-Disco-Orchestral telling of H.G. Wells' late nineteenth-century sci-fi novel.

Not too disimilar to the Alan Parsons Project house sound. There are only about half a dozen songs, and about the same number of musical themes (some are reprised) to sustain the 85 minutes of this "double" album (ask your Dad...), but the real star of the show for me is the narration from Richard Burton. The only person I could think of that could do the same job would be Orson Welles !!

The album comes across as musical theatre really, but it was released as a Rock album IMHO, and ironically the live spectacular which started up only a few years back can still be found filling arenas.

Chock-full of majorly cheesy moments, but on the whole this is a great listen if you appreciate dramatic music, and it's wonderfully recorded.


AllMusic 4/5 stars.

Edit:

Out of curiosity I've just had a look to see if the Orson Welles Mercury Theatre radio broadcast is available on CD. It is, and I've just ordered a copy. It's not music, but...

[CRAZY-HORSE]

PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS "band on the run" 1974, vinyl,japanese original cd, 25th anniversarycd, 30th anniversary cd/vinyl.
#1UK, #1 US, #1 Aust.

the band quit on the eve of recording, the studio in Lagos was only partially constructed when they arrived to record,it was monsoon time in Lagos, Paul and Linda were held up and robbed at knifepoint and the mastertapes stolen....yet out of all these trials and tribulations
came what is regarded as Paul McCartney's greatest album.
Macca has always had a knack of dressing up mediocrity and making it sound like brilliance and this album is a prime example of this.
lyrically the album is very weak, on the reverse though, the music is first class rock 'n' roll, none moreso than on the superb sounding "jet", which is a rock mastpiece in anyone's terms! then there's the trademark McCartney sing-a-long tunes that stay stuck in your head upon hearing like "mrs.vanderbilt","mamunia" and "picasso's last words", elsewhere, theres a blues tune in "let me roll it" which is in similar vein to the Beatles "oh,darlin'". then there's great pop tunes in the title track, "no words" and "1985" and the usual acoustic track, this time in the classic jazz/pop sounding "bluebird", but as with the rest of the tracks here the lyrics are weak IMO as a PM fan.
there's nothing experimental or out of left-field here, just Macca playing to his roots and strengths and although this is not my favourite PM album by any means it is probably his most concise effort in his entire career, thus this one gets near full marks...for that alone. i would almost certainly encourage anyone to use this album as a starting point to the solo career of Paul McCartney.

worst song: 1985
best song: Jet

tracks:

1. band on the run*** #3UK, #1US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3wA4ZxGd3U live
2. jet*** #7UK, #7US.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlELackcEu0 live
3. bluebird***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZOtzVaxYUE live
4. mrs.vanderbilt*** #41Aust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59t5eMfqlBw live
5. let me roll it***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLjOeNFCKpI live
6. mamunia***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbZWZoYQ_...698B326DBE audio
7. no words**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D7SGV3gx...re=related audio
8. picasso's last words (drink to me)**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnCIVPYERSc audio
9. nineteen hundred and eighty five**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c5pgo6zU...re=related audio

3s=6
2s=3
1s=0

rating: 2.7

[CRAZY-HORSE]

HANK MIZELL "jungle rock" 1976, vinyl.

i mentioned the artist and lead track to MH on FB the other week and he'd never heard of him, i was surprised, yet also not surprised, guess i would have been more surprised had he heard of Hank???
anyway, i usually, once a week trawl through the local secandhand vinyl dealer in my area to see what little oddities/curiousities he may have in stock and couldnt believe it this week when i actually discovered this one tucked away in the country section...so i bought it.
now it could fit in the country thread fine, but being rockabilly it could also be classed as early 'classic rock and roll', so i decided to put it here.
now, Hank has an interesting story for his fifteen mintes of fame...the title track was recorded and released in 1957 in the US, it failed to chart anywhere and HM dissapeared into obscurity until 1975 when a rollerrink DJ in the UK went on holiday to the US, he was a fan of the old 1950's rock era and subsequently found "jungle rock"-the single at a carboot sale covered in dust etc so he took it back to the UK and started playing it at therollerrink, the kids loved it,apparently the track got more people up and skating than any other song he played....
fastforeward a couple of months...he played the track to a friend of his who worked at Charley Records, a small independant label, who liked it and sought out the publisher etc for re-releasing, sure enough, the single "jungle rock" became a huge hit in the UK in 1976 reaching #3 on the singles charts, as there was no video then or no singer to sing the song on to of the pops, a search was launched to find the elusive Hank Mizell, he was found living in a trailer park in Chicago totally unaware the single was a hit. he was taken back to the UK to record this album in a similar vein, but his fifteen minutes were up, no more hits, the album didnt chart etc etc...back to obscurity again.
however the result was a twelve track album of pretty good rockabilly tunes, most of which were either written or co-written by Mizell.


I LIKE THIS ALBUM

worst track: higher
best track: jungle rock

jungle rock:

I was walking through the jungle just the other night
Oh well, I heard a big a-rumble and I thought it was a fight
We stopped there to listen, I began to move my feet
It was a jungle drummer doin' a knocked out beat
It was a jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A knocked out beat and I had to move my feet
It was a jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock

Oh well, I moved a little closer just to get a better view
I saw a chimp and a monkey hat done the Suzy Q
Oh well, a-gator and a hippo was a-doin' the bop, while a great big frog was a-makin' me hop
It was a jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A knocked out beat and I had to move my feet
It was a jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock

Oh well, the fox grabbed the rabbit and they hit the bunny hug
And all the beasts that fly was a-cuttin' the rug
Oh well, the camel was a jitter buggin' with a kangaroo
And the elephant, the mover, with the ring-ding-oo
It was a jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A knocked out beat and I had to move my feet
It was a jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock
A jungle, jungle, jungle, jungle rock


tracks:

1. jungle rock***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OPp6gngT...ure=fvwrel audio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9ToIq7AZkg live(not good quality but probably his only ever live performance??)
2. aint got a thing**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUwNgFPemfc audio
3. ready freddy**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMRFxFe3K...re=related audio
4. higher*
5. easy money**
6. rakin' and scrapin'**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AboqC-Nyqjw audio
7. singing in the jungle**
8. sweetie pie**
9. kangaroo rock**
10.animal rock and roll**
11.ubangi stomp**
12.flatfoot sam**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km8kZPHev...re=related audio

3s=1
2s=10
1s=1

rating: 2.0

[Tiggi]

Jennifer Warnes was one in a long line of quality backing singers who've worked with Leonard Cohen, and this is a 1987 album of LC covers - Jenny Sings Lenny, she proclaims on the inner sleeve. LC sings a duet with her on Joan of Arc to excellent effect. Her version of First we Take Manhattan saw light of day a full year before LC's "original" on I'm Your Man.

JW's voice is very obviously a different animal altogether than LC's, and this gives an interesting slant to the songs, as her singing is beautiful throughout, and I don't think LC himself would ever describe his own vocals as beautiful ?!

The material tends to focus on what would now be Leonard's middle period, and it's all brilliantly put together. I first bought this when it was released, which more or less coincided with my introduction to Leonard himself, so I'm equally familiar with either versions of these songs. Someone like Music Head, who's an ardent LC fan may not quite appreciate these versions the way I do. Don't know...

Excellent music, and FWIW the recording is state of the art.


AllMusic 4+/5 stars.

[Music Head]

^^
Normally don't care for these kind of tribute albums
As in everything, there are exceptions.

[Tiggi]

Robbie has handed me a memory stick containing about 35-40 downloaded albums. I've just loaded about seven of them onto my laptop for perusal. This is one of them.

Head Porcupine Treeist Steven Wilson, plus Israeli vocalist Aviv Geffen.

Nothing like PT. I love the two studio albums released so far, but this didn't do much for me. It may have something to do with listening on laptop, as I'm often underwhelmed by music not played through my proper music system.


Not graded by AllMusic.

[Tiggi]

The Mael brothers' fourth record from 1974, released at the peak of their UK popularity.

Ron's idiosyncratic song-writing in combination with Russell's operatic vocals was an unusual combination then, and would probably still be classed as exactly that now.

The songs fit within the Art-Rock movement which flourished in the mid-'70s, but they have an almost Gilbert & Sullivan operetta feel to them.

Something a bit different...


AllMusic 4/5 stars.

[Music Head]

^^
not their best but I can't help but love these guys

[Tiggi]

^ Absolutely...

And they're still at it. Admirable.