Manafonistas

Previously known as the 21st Birthday Album, this is a gorgeous and goofy compilation of 45 fun and experimental electronic tone poems made for radio and TV from 1958 to 1979, some from the days when the music department only allowed the Workshop to exist by pretending electronic music wasn’t music (just as Forbidden Planet was scored with „electronic tonalities“). So since no one was being taken seriously, the composers could even be women, of whom Delia Derbyshire has recently gained acclaim (in electronic-music geek circles; if you’re not in one, it’s not too late to join!). The longest track, ‚A Whisper from Space‘, is 2:11; so if something doesn’t grab you, wait a minute. If only all records could be this varied and entertaining. Derbyshire’s immortal Dr. Who theme isn’t even necessarily the best track.

(Stephin Merritt, The Magnetic Fields, more of his current musical obsessions in TheQuietus)

 

(34) The One (1992) ***

A new start. New hair (transplanted). A very silly cover designed by Gianni Versace (who then also designed costumes and lightning for the tour, released on the VHS/DVD Live in Barcelona). Bernie’s lyrics are pretty good, but The One is not yet the beginning of a „mature period“, rather a solid mid-career album. Unfortunately Chris Thomas‘ production leaves it still a bit stuck in the 80s.

Standout tracks: The few exciting songs are the energetic Runaway Train with Eric Clapton on vocals and guitar, and the ambitious Sweat it out with very good piano soloing (if only the production was without that terrible glossy, almost plastic, sound, it could be such a great song). The 6-minute title song was a top 10 hit, and The Last Song is rather moving. Mostly solid, but the sound is anything but great.

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(35) Rare Masters (1992) ***

A 2-cd, 37-track compilation of 1970’s b-sides, non-LP singles, alternate versions and rare tracks, including the complete Friends soundtrack album and everything previously released on Lady Samantha twelve years prior. Some nice discoveries for fans in this collection.

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(36) Duets (1993) **

Just like Frank Sinatra did that same year, Elton recorded an album of 15 duets (plus one new solo) with a broad variety of people. Whereas Sinatra did not perform together with his duet partners in the same studios, Elton’s Duets are real collaborations, some new songs by Taupin/John (a duet with Little Richard fro example), a few from his own back catalogue, some old hits by other performers (Teardrops with k.d.lang, True Love with Kiki Dee, Love Letters with Bonnie Raitt etc). Lots of famous people (and less famous ones), but hardly anything worth listening to.

Best of all: A mesmerizing appearance by Leonard Cohen, Born to loose.

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(37) The Lion King (1994) **¼

Yes, the most successful animation film ever. Elton’s Song Can you feel the Love tonight won an Academy Award and initiated another comeback. Half of the music is songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, the other half is score by Hans Zimmer.

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(38) Made in England (1995) ***½

A better comeback album than The One, though commercially a less successful one. A more organic sound (the rare studio album between 1980 and 2001 not produced by Chris Thomas), more memorable songs, more personal songs, not too many keyboards, finally back to the grand piano, mature performances. Ray Cooper and Paul Buckmaster (with four string arrangements) are back as well, after many years. Best album in 20 years.

Standout tracks: Belfast, Latitude, Please – primarily an album for fans, though.

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(39) Love Songs (1995) **½

A Kuschelrock compilation, relying heavily on songs from 80s and 90s radio (only six sections from the 70s included). Most likely a result of new success with The Lion King. Some versions contain a new song. This CD is the place to go if you’re looking for one disc to have all the songs you’ve heard way too often on the radio. Only Rocket Man is missing; doesn’t count as a love song, I guess.

Standout: I guess that’s why they call it the Blues (feat. Stevie Wonder).

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(40) The Big Picture (1997) **

This time it’s not Versace but Julian Schnabel who was invited to make the album cover art. Unfortunately, everything else is quite similar to The One, only more dull. Slick 90s sound. It’s a boring album. I never liked it.

Standout track: Long Way from Happiness (if only the production wasn’t such a terribly uninspired plastic sound)

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(41) Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida (1998) *

As he did not want to compose songs for another animated Disney movie, Elton composed music for a stage version of Aida. This album is not the stage version, but a various artists album with lots of mediocre songs and performances, among them Boyz II Men, Janet Jackson, Sly & Robbie with Sting, Lenny Kravitz, Shania Twain, Tina Turner & Angelique Kidjo, the Spice Girls and James Taylor. I disliked it so much I couldn’t even listen to the CD from beginning to end once. It’s bad. I advise you not to listen to it.

Nothing notable here.

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(42) The Muse (1999) **

As he did neither want to work on another Disney animation nor on another Broadway show, Elton composed the score for Albert Brook’s Sharon Stone comedy The Muse. Nice.

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(43) One Night only – The Greatest Hits (2000) **

The Greatest Hits live in concert at Madison Square Garden. Unnecessary live album without any particular reason of existence. Oh, I almost forgot: There are some guests on stage: Bryan Adams, Mary J. Blige and Kiki Dee. I never owned this album. Can’t even remember ever having listened to it.

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(44) The Road to El Dorado (2000) **

As Elton did not want to compose songs for another animated Disney movie (but had his biggest success in the 1990s with that animated lion), he and Tim Rice decided to compose songs for an animated DreamWorks movie. Though the music is not as specific in the film’s context as it was the case with The Lion King, it’s more of a cohesive EJ album that that previous effort which included Hans Zimmer’s score sections as well. And hey, Randy Newman is here! I remember the album as being pretty boring, so I haven’t listened to it more than a couple of times, many years go.

Standouts: I don’t remember. None, I guess. 

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[continued here]  // previously: part 1 ,  part 2 ,  part 3

Celtic Frost – Morbid Tales. Just stunning. The recording / production have never dated. Like a lot of the best metal, there’s a strong sense of humour here. A towering work of art.

Venom – Black Metal. Arguably (probably) instigated an entire genre. I’ve never read up on the history of Venom, but there has to be a punk rock influence in here – the whole enterprise is gloriously free of the past.

Motorhead – Motorhead. Apologies for the lack of Umlauts. But yeah. From start to finish, just a great record. Love the subtle use of distortion: not overstated, saying „this band is too loud for the recording apparatus“.

Slayer – Reign In Blood. It kind of didn’t get any better than this. The LP is about 24 minutes long – and it’s difficult not to love an LP that does so much in such a short space of time. It’s an exhausting listen, in much the same way as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is an exhausting read, despite being only covering about 100 pages. I’m pretty sure Seb Rochford has mentioned Slayer in interviews more than once. Maybe that’s why Acoustic Ladyland clicked first time I heard them? Who knows. Fuck knows. But that’s given me an idea. I will do a Jazz Lifers at some point.

Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden. Great tune after great tune. Not sure how metal this is though. I hear elements of prog in it, elements of the genre known as „pub rock“ (which despite the slightly pejorative connotation, was not a bad genre). The intro to Phantom of the Opera – amazing.

Iron Maiden – Somewhere In Time. Tempus fugit. By now there was a different singer, and the band were very much in the metal sphere. Brilliant use of operatic vocal style in the line „tiiime is aaalways on myyy siiiide“. I think this LP is themed around time travel, but I haven’t ever read the lyric sheet so I don’t know for sure. A time travel themed metal record with a track named for an Alan Sillitoe short story. What’s not to like?

There are other records that could conceivably also fit here – 1984 (Van Halen). Surfing With The Alien (Joe Satriani), 1989 (Ryan Adams), Streetcleaner (Godflesh), Diadem of 12 Stars (Wolves In The Throne Room) and others. But where does rock end and metal begin?

“Music is like a little bird who is always right on my shoulder,” she said. “Even when I’m looking for respite someone always comes in and plays a little tune and I’m like, ‘Shit, it’s happening again.’”

 

 
 

“Sun Ra was, for me, one of the three or four most important musicians in the 20th century. With Hank Williams, James Brown and Curtis Mayfield he has made me what I am. Both as a visual artist and a musician. I once saw him in New York when he played a weeks residency at The Squat Theatre on 23rd Street. I went five times and each time was a revelation. One of the best weeks of my life.”

(Jeb Loy Nichols)

 

– „Country Hustle“ is such a fuckin‘ great record. Slow Motion killer groovers, hush-hush vocals, irresistible vibes, melodies to sink in (again and again), deep bass rolling, turn the lights down blue – and dance!“

– Michael, isn’t this a little bit too enthusiastic?

– No, not all. You know what tells you quite often that you have a damned great record in your hands? You just can’t decide what your favourite song is! 

 

„Now I’m driving down the 80 towards Sacramento / Past Vacaville, that once housed Roman Polanski and Charles Manson, you know / And now I’m driving down the 80 towards Sacramento / Capital of California and the birthplace of Diego Corrales /God rest his soul

Now I’m driving down the 80 towards South Lake Tahoe / Folsom Prison on the right / Dust devil right there in my sight / Now I’m approaching Old Hangtown, they hung bad guys there during the Gold Rush / I love Gold Rush history and all that old Western stuff“

(The Highway Song, tiny excerpt)

 

Was eine gewisse Extravaganz angeht, stehen, was all die grossen Liederwaren im noch so jungen Jahr angeht, die Monumentalwerke von The Magnetic Fields und Sun Kil Moon einzigartig da. Mark Kozelek und Stephin Merritt pflegen einen autobiographischen Hyperrealismus, der immer wieder ins Surreale entgleitet. Old Boy Stephin pflügt durch seine gesamte Vita, während Old Dude Mark vorwiegend durch die Gegenwart geistert. Es ist das ganz grosse Glück für uns Hörer, dass sie auf den Alben 50 SONG MEMOIR und COMMON AS LIGHT AND LOVE ARE RED VALLEYS OF BLOOD keinen Sticker kleben haben mit der Aufschrift „Strictly Confessional“. Des einen Irrgarten ist des andern Bewusstseinsstrom.

Ich habe zwar anno 2017 kein Songalbum öfter gehört als LAST PLACE von Grandaddy, das auf typisch Grandaddy’sche Weise den Abschied von der Kindheit und einer grossen Liebe zelebriert, im Wissen, dass man dem Schmerz am besten mit süsser Melodie und sanfter Verzerrung zu Leibe rückt, ich gerate in eine marokkanische Wüstentrance, wenn ich Tinariwen höre, ich glaube wieder an die Widerständigkeit des politischen Songs, wenn ich Rhiannon Giddens lausche mit der Faust in der Tasche,  ich möchte wieder mit der jungen Bridget St. John schlafen, wenn ich Laura Marling höre, ich will meine Lieblingsschallplatte von Muddy Waters auflegen, wenn der letzte Ton von Valerie Junes THE ORDER OF TIME verklungen ist, aber „when it comes push to shove“, wie wir Engländer sagen, dann ist das neue Doppelalbum von Sun Kil Moon meine grösste vorstellbare Seelennahrung des jungen Liederjahres, und es wird am Ende mein Album des Jahres sein. Natürlich muss man des Englischen mächtig sein, um nicht diverse Formen von Erschöpfung und Kopfschmerz zu erleiden, bei der empfundenen Schlagzahl von 325 wpm (words per minute), aber das ist schon alles, was der geneigte Hörer mitbringen muss. Dann stellt sich (bei mir jedenfalls, und selbst die manafonistischen Geister werden sich hier scheiden!) jener Sog ein,  mit dem man durch das  Grauen und die Highways gleitet,  durch Alltagshändel und Alltagsglück, durch Atempausen und Schockstarren, Träume und Traumen hindurch, Mortalität und Minne all inclusive. Overwhelming, Sons-of-Anarchy-like!

 

„On June 2nd, 1851 / James Wang was captured in Centerville, California by bounty hunter Robert Lee Himmel. Wang, wanted dead or alive for the murder of Jack H. Moldy, was brought into the town of Hangtown by Robert Lee and three of his men by stagecoach. Moldy was reportedly bludgeoned to death with miner’s picks by James Wang and three other fugitives, who, according to Wang, fled to Oklahoma. Moldy had apparently slept with Julia White, the daughter of John B. White, copper tycoon of Butte, Montana. Julia White was allegedly the obsession and love interest of James Wang. Wang was hung in Hangtown on June 10th 1851 at 10:00 AM. His last words were „cut this rope, you bastards.“ He was pronounced dead at 10:17 AM June 10″

(The Highway Song, tiny excerpt)

„Now I’m back on the 80, sign for Lake Berryessa / The Zodiac did a murder there, man, I’m obsessed with it / And yeah, a Hillside Strangler got married over there in Folsom Prison / I watched tons of videotapes on the guys and, yeah man, I’m fascinated with both of them / I drive down the 80, past San Pablo Dam / I used to pull catfish out of there in the summertime / Bring ‚em home and fry ‚em up in a pan / I drive down the 80, past Gentleman Jack / Past the C&H Sugar factory, crossing the Carquinez Bridge

Now I’m driving down the 80 / I see the yellow fruit stand / I’m gonna grab me a bag of oranges and some apples and a bag of pecans / Now I’m driving down the 50, past Pollock Pines / Got me a log cabin out there right on the snow line / And out on my acres, got me a pond of ducks / Kid goes fishing on my property, man / Good fucking luck / ‚Cause down in my pond, tied down with a ton of bricks / Is a dead guy bashed over the head with a guitar and stuck with an ice pick“  

(The Highway Song)

 

Interessanterweise fand ich nie einen Zugang zu den Red House Painters, der ersten Band, die Mark Kozelek bekannt machte. Das war mir zu grau und trist. Aber seine Metamorphose zu Sun Kil Moon änderte alles. BENJI wurde zu einem meiner Lieblingsalben (Ian – the Necks come to your town!!! – is a huge fan of that album of grief and desaster, death and doom (and love of life), too!). Und dann dieses opus magnum. Atemraubend, wie Kozelek kleine Brüche, Risse, Abrisse, Schnitte in diese Tracks montiert. Das Album groovt wie der Teufel, wenn man den Groove entdeckt. Down the Shadowbahn. Unexpected moments of tenderness all the way through.

 

„On June 10th, 2016 /  Burt Clossin turned himself into authorities unarmed and led police to the body of Dad Rock Slowhand Simpleton. Simpleton was an Eric Clapton impersonator who had recorded two albums in his forty-five years. He was known for embracing a musical style known as yacht rock or, in other circles, dad rock. Bert’s log cabin was subsequently searched. His walls were graffitied with the word „Loser.“ A small CD collection was found, including compact discs by Pete Yorn, Jet, Hot Hot Heat, Veruca Salt, Temple of the Dog, The Donnas, and Thirty Seconds to Mars. All CDs were still in the shrink wrap, unopened, except for Hot Hot Heat. Burt’s flip-phone was filled with texts to a 666 area code phone number. One to Louisiana prefix. All texts said, „Go away.“ His phone was also filled with photos of cats and payphones. The objects used to kill his victim were a ’59 reissued Les Paul guitar made by Epiphone and an antique ice pick bought at an Alameda flea market. No other weapons were found in the cabin. Other items collected were a 24-inch flat-screen TV, boxing blooper videotapes, a VCR, and sports clothing designed by Under Armour. Burt Clossin is now serving a triple life sentence plus five years for the death of Dad Rock Slowhand Simpleton in California’s Corcoran Prison. Burt claimed that his motive for the murder was triggered Simpleton’s singing voice, which, according to Burt, sounded too much like, quote, „The guy who sang „Wonderful Tonight.“ „Wonderful Tonight,“ an Eric Clapton ballad from the album Slowhand was Burt’s 7th grade sweetheart’s favorite song. „She dumped me,“ Burt told investigators, „for a rich kid with a pontoon boat.“

(The Highway Song)

Michael,

thanks for the question.

The Necks, when performing live, never discuss beforehand what will happen. Our music, in the live performance, is never prescribed – verbally or otherwise; it “discovers” itself while being made by us and we, in turn, respond. To set out to try and fulfil a stated “aim” would result in music very different to “Necks’” music.

This is relevant because Unfold resembles, possibly more than any of our other “studio” albums, a live approach. That’s not to say that certain “traits” don’t come to the fore (certain methods that appear frequently in other Necks’ pieces), but these “traits” reside in a deep, non-verbal layer of the group’s methodology. I certainly don’t deny that landscape and nature play an important part in what it is we are trying to express, but exactly how this happens is largely a mystery.

I don’t set out to mimic or sonically construct particular settings in nature. Having said that, I believe there is a strong connection between the seemingly repetitive and gradually modulating nature of much of Australia’s landscape and the music we make. I also see that there is a connection between myself (and other members of the group) having grown up on the shores of the Pacific Ocean and the aesthetic choices I (we) make.

Chris (The Necks)

 

 

(24) Too Low For Zero (May 1983) ***½

Frequently hailed as a return to form (I’m still standing) — and to the top of the charts, for that matter. However, in retrospect one has to admit that Too Low for Zero is far from being an imitation of the successes of the 1970s; there are hardly any similarities with albums of the preceding decade, even though the band is mostly the same as during that creatively most successful period, and Bernie Taupin was finally back on board 100%. This is totally 80s rock and pop, with an outright streamlined sound (It was the one EJ album my parents had in their collection.), a few synth-heavy tracks, some well produced guitars and a good portion of self-reflecting lyrics, which Elton turned into very strong songs for the charts.

Standout tracks: Whipping Boy, Kiss the Bride, I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues (featuring Steve Wonder!), Too Low for Zero (very untypical, very 80s).

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(25) Breaking Hearts (July 1984) **½

A lesser version of Too Low For Zero. Sad Songs (say so much) was a top 5 single, but it’s just as arbitrary as the album title. On a positive note, this album feels more like a „return to basics“ than the previous one, as it features a rather tight band sound with Elton’s „classic“ core trio of guitar (Davey Johnstone), bass (Dee Murray) and drums (Nigel Olsson). If it weren’t for the 80s keyboard sound and a couple of forgettable tunes (Did he shoot her?, Burning Buildings) this would be a really fine „classic rock“ album.

Standout track: I always enjoyed the nice pop tune Who Wears These Shoes, Li’l ‚frigerator and also Passengers, because it’s pretty weird for a hit single. But it’s really an album for fans.

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(26) Ice on Fire (November 1985) **½

With album titles becoming more even more arbitrary, Ice on Fire offers some decent soul-pop songs with swing, boogie, doo-wop and dashing trumpet and saxophone arrangements, plus a very glossy 80s production. Nik Kershaw played electric guitar on Nikita, for which Ken Russell(!) directed the extremely popular (heterosexual) music video, if there’s anything of interest you’d like to know. (I’m not 100% sure, but this may be the first album I bought.)

Standouts: Tell me what the Papers say, Soul Glove.

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(27) Leather Jackets (1986) *½

Don’t bother. This album is so poor (and did hardly sell any copies) it wasn’t even included in the re-release series of Elton’s whole back catalogue, so I wonder if anyone still knows or even cares about it. Cliff Richard and Kiki Dee are here for duets, Cher co-wrote a song (you wouldn’t recognize it, though), and even 50% of Queen guested on a song on this album. Btw: the cover is not by Andy Warhol but simply pretending to. Anyway, have a look at this incredibly inappropriate band photo:

 

 

Standouts: (…standing out of what?)

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(28) Live in Australia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (1987) ***½

It may be „just“ a concert album (the second one in 20 years), furthermore, one with an 88-piece symphony orchestra (in addition to his 13-piece live band) and Elton dressing up in a Mozart costume every night for 27 nights in late 1986 – but this album is quite an emotionally charged one, with EJ having been in a bad shape mentally, plus shortly before a „severe mental breakdown“ (resulting from too much cocaine and alcohol, among other issues, for way too many years) and a vocal chord operation. Each night first presented half a show with the rock band – and then, after a break, a second half with the band and the orchestra, but only (most of) the second part of the shows has been released on disc, unfortunately.

The 14 songs on this double album all date back to the early years (half of the second album is here), with songs from 1970 through 1976. A great selection, and the combination with orchestra still sounds very good, in parts intimate, moving and personal (I need you to turn to, Sixty Years on, The Greatest Discovery), in other parts „classically campy“ (Candle in the Wind, released a single again, going on to top the charts), in parts showman-like „big“, while still entertaining (Have Mercy on the Criminal).

Other standouts: The King must die, Madman across the Water.

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(29) Reg Strikes Back (June 1988) **½

Since EJ was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight, this title implies a return to a more personal album. That’s not the case, however. A mix of very 80s top 20 singles (I don’t wanna go on with you like that, Town of Plenty), a few glossy standard ballads, a hint of latin influence (A Word in Spanish) which must have been en vogue then (see also: Pet Shop Boys), the occasional good tune and some funny lyrics (Goodbye Marlon Brando).

Standout track: Heavy Traffic.

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(30) Sleeping with the Past (1989) ***½

A more personal and cohesive album, the beginning of coming to terms with lots of things, stylistically a return to a darker, a lot more soulful sound, influenced by Motown, The Drifters (Elton’s first group, Bluesology, had been the backing band for The Drifters in England in 1966), Aretha Franklin etc. – a good share of gospel and blues music here. The overall sound would be a lot better if it were less streamlined and glossy, then again it was still the 80s… It sounds a bit better than any other studio album of the decade, still misses some edginess. I never understood why the very mediocre composition Sacrifice went to number 1 and remains a big radio hit. It’s the one song on this album I reliably skipped.

Standout tracks: Healing Hands, Amazes me, Blue Avenue, I never knew her Name.

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(31) The Very Best of / To Be Continued… / EPs (1990) ***½

Two discs rounding up EJ’s career, chapters 1 and 2. Also setting an end to the cocaine and alcohol decades, leading to a new start in life. Notable for the inclusion of several non-album singles, such as the no.1 Don’t go breaking my Heart, Lucy in the Sky, Pinball Wizard, Philadelphia Freedom and two new songs, which are pretty good. / To Be Continued collects hits and rarities and previously unreleased stuff on 4 discs; lots of nice things to find here, such Elton’s debut single with Bluesology from 1967, a French duet with France Gall from 1980, a song for a Cartier commercial, an aggressively rocking duet with Millie Jackson, an absurd interpretation of Give Peace a Chance – and others. / The EPs are worth mentioning, because they actually make up half a new album, which isn’t bad, mostly because of the gospely You gotta love someone, which, listening to it today, I can still value as a very good and soulful song. Furthermore, there is a collaboration with Adamski, which also very good.

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(32) MTV Unplugged (May 1990) ***

This concert, the second or third show in MTV’s then new Unplugged series, has actually never been released on CD, LP or VHS – so it’s officially not an album. However, it should have been. It’s the rare chance to hear Elton play a solo show on grand piano only. And he’s very entertaining at that, has been a fairly good improviser, too. The only other option to hear similar intimate performances is the rarely available VHS To Russia with Elton from 1979, documenting a Russia tour with only him and percussionist Ray Cooper. It’s very unfortunate than none of the many duo tours Elton and Ray did during the past 30 years, including lots of lesser known songs, not one has ever resulted in a live album.

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(33) Two Rooms (1991) **½

If you’d like to hear the (rest of the) Beach Boys perform Crocodile Rock, Kate Bush become the Rocket Man, The Who closely trace Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting, as well as everyone from Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart to Joe Cocker, George Michael and Wilson Phillips say hi, this double album is the place to go. 

Standouts: not too many, most interpretations are simply too uninspired, but Sting’s intimate Come down in Time (accompanied only by Elton on piano, his only appearance on this release) is excellent [a good place to start for you, Michael ;-) ], and Sinead O’Connor turns the very underwhelming Sacrifice into a haunting piece of songwriting; Eric Clapton hands in a moving interpretation of the Border Song. Another highlight is the colourful piano performance on Bruce Hornsby’s version of Madman across the Water. 

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continued here; previously: part 1, part 2