George Russell's New York Band - Live In An American Time Spiral (rec. 1982, rel. 1983)

Finishing up this little box set of George Russell's incredible music with the composer firmly focused on his New York Big Band, who we heard in their initial incarnation last time.  Only a couple of members from that group remained by the time of this recording at the end of July 1982, and the lineup here's as strong as any Russell band.  Just three long pieces: taking up all of the album's first half is Time Spiral, a Swedish Radio commission written in 1979.  Starting from mellow electric piano, it boils over more than once into a funk monster with plenty of scorching solo spots.  The rest of the album digs into Russell's rich back catalogue all the way to the late 40s, in a barnstroming Ezz-Thetic, and early 60s for D.C. Divertimento which gets a groove-smoking makeover.  Tons of fun from a firey ensemble.

link

pw: sgtg

The rest of the "Complete Black Saint & Soul Note" box set:

Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature

Trip To Prillarguri

Othello Ballet Suite

Listen To The Silence

Vertical Event VI

New York Big Band

Stravinsky - Apollo, The Rite Of Spring (City Of Birmingham Symphony Orch/Rattle, 1989)

Picked up this cracking little 80s recording recently for a couple of reasons: I like Rattle's Stravinsky in general, and also here was a work of Igor's that I hadn't heard before.  Apollo, or Apollon Musagète in its full original title, is a two-tableaux ballet dating to the late 1920s and centred around the Muses of Greek mythology.  The recording here by the Birmingham Symphony under Rattle is Stravinsky's 1947 revision of Apollo.  In contrast to the strident, outrageous in its time Rite, Apollo is gentle, lyrical and almost Romantically lush, making it a great fit for Rattle, with a great sounding orchestra.  The Rite Of Spring that accompanies Apollo on this disc is also the 1947 version, and doesn't go for over-the-top fireworks but brings out lots of nice subtleties.  A really enjoyable collection overall.

link

pw: sgtg

Igor Stravinsky at SGTG:

Agon (plus bonus post: Firebird, Petroushka & Rite, Rattle 2017)

Aldous Huxley In Memoriam/Pribaoutki (live 2022)

Miles Davis - Aura (rec. 1985, rel. 1989)

A suite of music composed for Miles by Palle Mikkelborg in 1984, and recorded in early 1985.  Contractual hurdles delayed its release until 1989, but it was worth the wait - Aura is nothing less than Miles Ahead for the 80s, lushly orchestrated but with the sound right up to date for its era.  Elements of rock, reggae and electronic music are all woven into the multi-colour suite, which is musically germinated from a ten-note theme based on the letters in "MILES DAVIS", a la B-A-C-H.  Sometimes eerily ambient, such as the opening minute with the calm broken by John McLaughlin introducing the theme, sometimes hard-edged and frenetic, Aura is a great album that finds Miles with plenty of spark left in him.

link

pw: sgtg

Miles Davis at SGTG:
Conception
Walkin'
Blue Moods
Bags' Groove
Miles Ahead (with Gil Evans)
Sketches Of Spain (with Gil Evans)
Quiet Nights (with Gil Evans) 

A Tribute To Jack Johnson

Live-Evil
On The Corner

In Concert

Big Fun
Agharta

Dark Magus

We Want Miles

Wynton Marsalis / Eastman Wind Ensemble - Carnaval (1987)

Been meaning to give Marsalis a listen for ages, so this charity shop find came in handy.  It's not exactly typical of his straight-ahead revivalism of pre-60s bop, though - Carnaval reaches even further back to pay homage to the brass bands of the turn of the 20th century.  Not a great introduction to Wynton's trumpet playing either - he sticks to cornet throughout for brass-band lead-instrument authenticity.  But regardless, this is a really nice album.

Marsalis is backed throughout by the Eastman Wind Ensemble, conducted by Donald Hunsberger.  The programme sounds beautifully recorded (full digital, eh, great traditionalist? Shouldn't you have been recording on to Edison cylinders for this project? ;)) and features era-typical brass band repertoire from Jean-Baptiste Arban, Paganini, Rimsky-Korsakov and more.  Ideal music to accompany the last days of mild weather before the change of seasons.

link

pw: sgtg

Tangerine Dream - Livemiles (1988)

So here it is, the last TD post, and an album that marked another departure - this time of Chris Franke, who'd been a constant in the lineup since the early 70s.  In the grand tradition of Tangerine Dream's official live albums occasionally containing live music, Livemiles features half an hour of edited and studio-polished highlights from Franke's final concert in August 1987, but before that, features half an hour purporting to be from a concert in Albuquerque in June 1986.

Alternate cover art used on some reissues

When asked why the first side of Livemiles shares absolutely no music in common with audience tapes from the Albuquerque concert, Froese only ever deflected along the lines of "well, we did play that music at some point on that tour".  Whatever the source though, Livemiles: Albuquerque is still a good four-section piece of music.  Starting from a fourteen-minute buildup and ending on a stately, anthemic melody, it finds this short-lived trio lineup on fine form, but Livemiles: Berlin is better.  In three sections of around nine minutes apiece, the lovely Caspian Sea section gives way to the more rhythmically driven Velvet Autumn/Sunnyvale (these titles were announced during a concert broadcast, so I think are canon), then Dolphin Dance from Underwater Sunlight draws it to a close.  So the Berlin track is a very good patchwork of a few highlights from Franke's last concert, but there's more...

 

link

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Bonus post: Tangerine Dream live at Reichstagsgelände, West Berlin, 1st August 1987

...here's the whole thing.  As mentioned above, the open-air concert in West Berlin with which Franke bowed out was broadcast in full, so recordings made for an excellent quality source to use in the Tangerine Tree fan project.  The Livemiles: Berlin sections can be heard in their rawer form, the band's recent albums are all touched on (including instrumental versions of Tyger tracks - yay, listenable Tyger!), some of their film and video music is featured, and Haslinger's solo piano spot takes in themes going right back to Richocet and Pergamon.  Sure, the sound might be a bit slick and everything segues just a bit too perfectly (long-standing rumours of backing tapes abound), but I love this recording as a two-hour deep dive into the sound of mid-late 80s TD.

 

link

pw: sgtg

 

Previously posted at SGTG:

Electronic Meditation

Alpha Centauri  

Zeit

Atem 

Phaedra (scroll past main post)

Rubycon & Richochet

Stratosfear
Encore

Cyclone
Force Majeure
Tangram

Pergamon

Thief 

Exit

White Eagle 
Logos: Live At The Dominion
Hyperborea

Poland

Le Parc

Underwater Sunlight

Tangerine Dream - Underwater Sunlight (1986)

Jumping five years this time in TD history from the last post, to land squarely in the 'blue' years on Jive Electro.  The departure of Johannes Schmoelling in 1985 was for a long time my cut-off point for enjoying Tangerine Dream, but uncritical listening to this 1986 release reveals lots still left to love.  Froese plays more guitar on this one, Franke was still around for another year or two to bolster the sound, and of course Schmoelling had a replacement in the 23-year old Austrian pianist Paul Haslinger.

A classically-trained pianist who'd been playing jazz in Viennese clubs, Haslinger soon acclimated to the electronic trio and its armoury of new equipment.  There was still room for Haslinger's considerable piano talents, with an early highlight of this album's first side suite being his gorgeous solo at the halfway point.  The 19-minute Song Of The Whale may be the highlight of this aquatic-themed record, but the more uptempo tracks are fun too, even if we're well on the way from the 'electronic rock' TD of the early 80s to comfortably new age territory.  Some fine guitar work from Froese prevents things from ever becoming bland.  The final deep-sea ambience of Underwater Twilight rounds off the album well.

link

pw: sgtg

Bonus post: Tangerine Dream live at WDR Sendsaal, Cologne, 29 March 1986

Just prior to recording Underwater Sunlight, the new TD lineup undertook a month-long European tour, almost all of it in the UK followed by a single show in Cologne and one in Paris.  From the Cologne concert, the first hour exists as a radio broadcast recording, so makes for a nice short entry in the Tangerine Tree series that gives a flavour of the pre-album tour.  Material that wouldn't be included in Underwater Sunlight is particularly interesting here, such as the lengthy Akash Deep and its coda Beneath The Waves, Coloured Rain and The Cool Breeze Of Brighton (I understand at least some of these titles were fan-assigned and have since become semi-canon).  The opening re-work of the Stratosfear title track is good to hear too, as is a Haslinger solo piano spot which includes his eventual Song Of The Whale bridging section.

 

link

pw: sgtg

 

Previously posted at SGTG:

Electronic Meditation

Alpha Centauri  

Zeit

Atem 

Phaedra (scroll past main post)

Rubycon & Richochet

Stratosfear
Encore

Cyclone
Force Majeure
Tangram

Pergamon

Thief 

Exit

White Eagle 
Logos: Live At The Dominion
Hyperborea

Poland

Le Parc

Tangerine Dream - Thief (1981)

Think this is the only bit of Tangerine Dream's Virgin years that I haven't yet posted.  Thief was the soundtrack album for Michael Mann's feature debut, so can double as a tribute to James Caan.  As a TD album (and regarded as such in the series of 'Definitive Edition' remasters), sure it has bits of repetition and recycling, but that's par for the course in a soundtrack, and it creates a dark, dramatic atmosphere with ease.  Recorded in 1980 (other than a remixed portion of Through Metamorphic Rocks from Force Majeure, retitled Igneous), and so sitting between Tangram and Exit, the music is a solid addition to the 'proper albums' discography of Froese-Frank-Schmoelling.  Atmosphere, rhythm, melody and shorter tracks all point the way forward for this lineup.

link

pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:

Electronic Meditation

Alpha Centauri  

Zeit

Atem 

Phaedra (scroll past main post)

Rubycon & Richochet

Stratosfear
Encore

Cyclone
Force Majeure
Tangram

Pergamon

Exit

White Eagle 
Logos: Live At The Dominion
Hyperborea

Poland

Le Parc

George Russell - Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature (three recordings)

Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature is the signature work by jazz composer, theorist and pianist George Russell (1923-2009), presented today in no less than three different recordings.  Got hold of these in a Black Saint/Soul Note reissues box, so more Russell to come.  First up, The Essence Of George Russell, which may or may not contain the earliest recording of the Sonata: it's unfortunately the only thing lacking a recording year in the original double LP's notes.

First a drummer, George Russell's key contribution to jazz was as a music theorist championing the Lydian mode, which influenced everyone from Miles Davis and Gil Evans to the young Scandinavian musicians he'd work with on moving there in the 60s, many of whom would become ECM heavyweights.  Listening back to Terje Rypdal's Odyssey box set after hearing Russell is quite enlightening, for example, and it's Rypdal who is the guitarist on the "Essence" recording of Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature, the lineup also including Jan Garbarek, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen (you can probably guess by now what drew me to the Russell box).  On the original "Essence" double LP there were two additional pieces making up side four - only one of these, the enjoyably wild Now And Then (recorded 1966), is included on the CD due to time restrictions.

Electronic Sonata For Souls Loved By Nature, then, is structured in 14 segued 'Events': some where propulsive basslines and funky drums drive it forward, and others where the rhythms fall away and Stockhausen-like taped sounds come to the fore, as well as African field recordings.  The writing for horns can be both tight and melodic and much freer, particularly when Garbarek takes the spotlight (Jan's credited as having a hand in composing some themes, presumably these spotlights).  Taken all together, it's a rich and rewarding immersion in early fusion, avant-garde but accessible jazz composition and judicious electronic/tape music integration.

This next recording, originally released on the Flying Dutchman label in 1971, is perhaps the best known.  Soul Note's later reissue added the "1968" to the album cover - I'm not certain why, as Russell's original liner notes state the recording was made at a concert near Oslo in April 1969.  Perhaps "1968" refers to composer revisions that year, e.g. the reduction to sextet -  the larger group of musicians is slimmed down to just the core lineup, who are the same other than Red Mitchell now playing bass rather than Andersen.  This version also ups the tempo in places compared to the "Essence" recording, the whole thing running under an hour compared to just over the hour mark on Essence. 

Russell revisited the Sonata for this 1980 version, recorded in an Italian studio in June of that year with mostly American musicians.  It's recognisably the same work, two continuous sides with seven Events apiece, so hasn't undergone any major compositional reworking.  The turn-of-the-80s studio fidelity does make the ingenuity of the writing and musicians' interplay come across clearer, so it's a worthwhile contrast to the other two recordings.

 

19?? recording (The Essence Of George Russell)

1968 recording

1980 recording

pw for all: sgtg

Tangerine Dream - Palast Der Republik, East Berlin, 31 January 1980

Must've been a memorable start to the 80s for Johannes Schmoelling.  Having just settled into the new Tangerine Dream lineup, his upcoming first concert was not only across the Berlin Wall and behind the Iron Curtain, but in the great hall of the Palast Der Republik, with the heads of government and other officials in attendance at the second of the day's concerts.  So, you know, no pressure.

TD's famous East Berlin concerts on 31st January 1980 came about thanks to Edgar Froese's friendship with East German musician Reinhard Lakomy.  Lakomy was not only one of the best-known musicians in the DDR (and about to try his hand at a few electronic albums too - one of them here), but also had the ear of a contact at the state Ministry of Culture.  Lakomy made the case to them that Tangerine Dream, free of potentially troublesome lyrics, would be a safe bet for the first Western group to take part in the DT64 radio show's Youth Concert series.  Froese at one point even invited Lakomy to join Tangerine Dream, but the powers that be would've made this unworkable so the idea was abandoned.

The afternoon and evening shows saw the new TD lineup preview their reconfigured sound, which would shortly lead to the Tangram album, for thousands of East Berlin fans who could afford tickets (some prices heavily scalped) and the aforementioned government officials.  Before the evening concert, which was the one recorded, a great swell of ticketless fans desperate to get in moved Froese to demand they be admitted or there would no concert.

The second show's recording, then, was eventually broadcast on East German radio in its entireity (more of that later), and also formed the basis of a souvenir album.  The contractual agreement was that for six years following the concert, the album would only be released on Amiga, the DDR state label for popular music, so TD edited the tapes and duly delivered the record that ended up with the strikingly surreal cover image above.  Officially it had no title, but became known as "Quichotte" as this was what the two sides were called - named after a film version of Don Quixote being shown at a nearby cinema at the time of the concert.

The rest of the world finally got to hear the album in 1986, when it was titled "Pergamon" after a museum in East Berlin, but retaining Quichotte Part 1 and Part 2 for the track titles.  Starting out with a dramatic piano statement, Part 1 builds slowly, quickly recognisable as a close cousin of Tangram in its main themes.  After eleven minutes, the sequencer runs kick in until an atmospheric interlude provides a convenient switching point between the two LP sides.  A few more minutes of this in Part 2 are followed by an even more high-energy run of full-tilt synths, sequencers and a scorching extended guitar solo by Froese to take the album towards its end.  With 46 minutes of music this good from a freshly-minted lineup, Quichotte/Pergamon is a great counterpoint to the more polished Tangram.

 

link

pw: sgtg

As mentioned earlier, the full evening concert was recorded for East German radio broadcast, and the Tangerine Tree fan project managed to track down a good quality recording - followed a few years later by an even better source, which is what we have here.  Presented in full with even the four-minute introduction by the radio hosts intact, the complete concert featured a 40 minute piece followed by a 47 minute one, and a 13 minute encore.  So obviously much more music than appeared on Quichotte/Pergamon - and here's where the fun starts, spotting where the concert was used to construct the LP.

Part One, for starters, wasn't used for the LP at all.  Starting from swishing atmospherics, it builds up from calm ambience in the first nine minutes until the unmistakeable introductory theme from Tangram appears.  From here, there are other elements that show that forthcoming album as a work in progress, along with lengthy runs that are looser and more open-ended, and went otherwise unreleased.

Part Two then is the section of the concert on which the album was based.  The piano introduction is slightly longer than the LP edit, and there are occasional out-of-tune instruments that were cleaned up or enhanced for the album, but otherwise Quichotte Part 1 can be heard in its entirety.  What happens next though, around 28 minutes in, is that concert and album diverge - yep, Quichotte Part 2 is mostly a replaced (presumably studio backup) recording, likely from TD deciding that section with the great guitar solo sounded better than the respective section from the concert (good though it is).  The encore is another great sequencer piece that was otherwise unreleased, that eventually winds down to a lovely Tangram-esque mellow finish.  The recording fades out on the final rapturous applause from the fans - must've been quite an experience to be there.  Wonder if anyone in the audience was also at TD's show in East Berlin just over ten years later, when they played their last DDR concert.  Just been listening to that one too (Tree Vol. 49, February 1990), and ouch, their best days had gone at that point.  But Vol. 17, with newbie Schmoelling on board, is a classic.

 

link

pw: sgtg

Concert programme

Previously posted at SGTG:

Phaedra (scroll past main post)

Rubycon & Richochet

Stratosfear
Encore

Cyclone
Force Majeure
Tangram

Exit

White Eagle 
Logos: Live At The Dominion
Hyperborea

Poland

Le Parc

Konstruktivits - Psykho Genetika (1995 expanded edition, orig. rel. 1983)

Perhaps the best-known release by Glenn Michael Wallis, krautrock fan, Throbbing Gristle assistant and occasional collaborator with Chris & Cosey and Whitehouse.  Using the band name Konstruktivists with interchangeable spellings like the one above, Wallis and collaborators (like Gary Levermore on this one) combined krautrock influences and the best of early 80s industrial to create ominous electronic drones, with tape manipulation, other noises and effects, and occasional eerie vocals - all the good stuff.

Psykho Genetika was one of the first releases (along with the Nurse With Wound compilation Ostranenie 1913) on the Third Mind label, and yep, that's Stapleton's artwork on the cover above.  The original LP release was apparently a bit of a compromise given the label's available resources - on its first digital reissue in 1995, Psykho Genetika included "the full, uncut version" of the album with 33 minutes of extra material, and improved sound.

link

pw: sgtg

Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa (1984)

The inaugural release on ECM's New Series imprint for classical music, and an album that was instrumental in elevating Arvo Pärt and his tintinnabular style of writing in the public consciousness.  Recording for this incredible-sounding collection took place in late 1983/early '84, apart from WDR's 1977 world premiere live recording of the eventual title track.

Two arrangements of Pärt's Fratres take up most of the first half of the album, the versatile composition first being performed by Gidon Kremer on violin and Keith Jarrett on piano, foreshadowing greater input by Jarrett to ECM's new classical sub-label.  The piece's haunting sequences of chords and interlocking harmonies are also performed by the cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic.  In between is one of Pärt's most famous orchestral pieces, the sublime Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten.  To finish the album, the aforementioned premiere recording of Tabula Rasa is in two parts: just under ten minutes of fiendish string canons and cadenzas, then a wide-open, heavenly expanse of prepared piano and gorgeous orchestration.

link

pw: sgtg

 

Previously posted at SGTG:

Kanon Pokajanen

Spiegel Im Spiegel

Other posts featuring music by Pärt:

Trivium

Re: ECM

Christmas in Budapest, 2016

James MacMillan 60th Birthday Concert, 2019

The Fruit Of Silence at Truro Cathedral, 2019

BBC Concert Orchestra, Proms 2021

Gothic Voices - Hildegard Von Bingen: A Feather On The Breath Of God (1982)

More music by 12th century abbess and polymath Hildegard Von Bingen (in this case the British record label anglicized her name, but I'm keeping the 'Von' just for consistency's sake) in a sublime, early full-digital recording that helped put the fledgling Hyperion Records on the map.  

 

The Gothic Voices ensemble are never featured en masse, but instead the album picks out small groups and soloists in a nice varied running order.  A few tracks also have underpinning drones, either from reeds or a symphony (an early hurdy-gurdy).  All of it presents Von Bingen's haunting compositions in gorgeous clarity, the album going on to win a Gramophone Award and firmly establishing Von Bingen in the public consciousness.

link

pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG: Antiphona

Vangelis - Direct (1988)

The sole album from a short stint on the label, Vangelis' Arista period overlaps chronologically with Tangerine Dream's move to Private Music.  There's definite similarities: MIDI, FM synthesis, all the digital-era trimmings - but what still sits at the core of Direct is the talent of a fantastic composer and musician, with the technology serving the music.

And in terms of music, there's a lot of it compared to previous Vangelis albums - just over an hour, so a good cross-section of moods, tempi and so on.  The Motion Of Stars kicks off in high gear with twinkling sequences and a couple of nice ambient interludes, and things progress from there with other Vangelis trademarks: a couple of tracks with wordless vocals (Gloriana and Ave), harp stylings in The Oracle Of Apollo, and more.  Quite a few anthemic rock-like tracks, some that would be very good soundtrack music (Elsewhere is a personal favourite), and a memorably odd album closer with a spoken voiceover.  Lots to recommend.

link

pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
L'apocalypse Des Animaux

La Fête Sauvage

Albedo 0.39

Spiral

Opera Sauvage

Antarctica
Soil Festivities

Mask
Invisible Connections

Vangelis - Mask (1985)

Dark and symphonic Vangelis from his brief mid-80s period of pushing the boat out a bit, releasing more experimental but always compelling records.

Like its predecessor Soil Festivities (link below), the only track titles on Mask are numbered Movements - six of them here - and appropriately so, for a more classically-minded suite.  The ten-minute opener sets the mood of high drama, in sweeping minor key strokes with a dazzling sequencer pattern rattling along.  Lots of vocals here and throughout, with a choir chanting pseudo-Latin phonemes.  Movement 2 offers a bit of gentle respite before Movement 3 blasts back into the darkness, with particularly effective percussion and a brief calmer interlude with piano.

 

Into the album's second half, and a tuned percussion motif that made me think of Security-era Peter Gabriel underpins Movement 4 as the choir responds to a solo vocalist.  The lengthy Movement 5 returns to the dizzying sequencer runs of the first track, then the gorgeous finale gives the most focus to Vangelis' classic synth palette.  Wonderful, exhilarating music that's ambitious and enjoyable in equal measures.

 

link

pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
L'apocalypse Des Animaux

La Fête Sauvage

Albedo 0.39

Spiral

Opera Sauvage

Antarctica
Soil Festivities
Invisible Connections

Tangerine Dream - White Eagle (1982)

Another 40 minutes of Froese, Franke & Schmoelling doing their thing with advancing technology and increasing compositional skill, but an album that sometimes gets a bit underrated by me due to its proximity to the magnificent Hyperborea.  White Eagle has a similar structure, with a side-long piece against three shorter ones, but in reverse, so we get the 20 minutes of Mojave Plan first.  The track gradually builds for the first ten minutes before a swirl of phasing brings in a faster rhythm base to carry the rest in more melodic, upbeat mode.

Midnight In Tula is next, with its cheeky Trans-Europe Express-esque intro giving way to a faster and catchier electro-pop track, a marker of things to come.  Convention Of The 24 is a more atmospheric and static piece, experimenting for just under ten minutes with the hypnotic vibe they'd perfect on Hyperborea, then the title track is a nice short melodic closer.

link

pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Phaedra (scroll past main post)

Stratosfear
Encore

Cyclone
Force Majeure
Tangram

Exit
Logos: Live At The Dominion
Hyperborea

Poland

Le Parc

Frank Zappa - Jazz From Hell (1986)

More computer music from Zappa at his Synclavier, with the exception of one Shut Up 'N Play Year Guitar-style live snippet from a 1982 concert in Saint-Étienne, presumably included for a bit of textural variety.  

 

On all of the Synclavier performances, Zappa's increasing adeptness with the system - sampling odd sounds, pairing samples of different instruments together - comes through in the increasing sophistication of these tracks.  Some of them may sound like dated video-game music by today's standards, but they're all remarkable creations for the mid 80s, and remain enjoyable.  The opening Night School, the most straightforwardly melodic piece, is probably my favourite thing here, but the tricksier ones like While You Were Art II, the title track and the polyrhythmic tumble of G-Spot Tornado are lots of fun too.

link

pw: sgtg

Frank Zappa at SGTG:

Lumpy Gravy

Waka/Jawaka

The Grand Wazoo

Roxy & Elsewhere

One Size Fits All

Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar

Boulez Conducts Zappa - The Perfect Stranger 

You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 2: The Helsinki Concert

The Perfect Stranger (live 2018)

Tangerine Dream - Exit (1981)

Returning to Tangerine Dream this week and next, in a couple of albums that I often under-rate dute to their proximity to bigger favourites.  1981's Exit saw the now established lineup of Froese, Franke & Schmoelling continue to refine the group's new slick, melodic and more accessible direction: the longest track here is the nine-minute opener Kiew Mission.  A cold war-themed plea for global understanding, recited in Russian by an actress, it's another one of the rare uses of vocals by TD, and is followed by the more static moodpiece Pilots Of Purple Twilight and the catchy, upbeat Chronozon.  

 

Side two of the album reverses the pattern, with two short tracks leading to the eight-minute, highly atmospheric Remote Viewing.  TD's compositional skills were still strong throughout Exit, the three members' individual skills complemented each other well, and they continued to push forward with constantly-developing keyboard technology, the Fairlight being added to their arsenal at this point.

link

pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Phaedra (scroll past main post)

Stratosfear
Encore

Cyclone
Force Majeure
Tangram
Logos: Live At The Dominion
Hyperborea

Poland

Le Parc

Boulez Conducts Zappa - The Perfect Stranger (1984)

 

Three fine examples of Zappa's writing for orchestra - in this case chamber orchestra, as Pierre Boulez in preparatory correspondence advised that he had Ensemble InterContemporain most closely to hand.  The Perfect Stranger (the album) is filled out by 14 minutes of Synclavier music (the "Barking Pumpkin Digital Gratification Consort" is simply Zappa at his new favourite instrument).  

 

In the longest ensemble piece and title track, the liner notes explain that "A door-to-door salesman, accompanied by his faithful gypsy-mutant industrial vacuum cleaner cavorts licentiously with a slovenly housewife."  A recent live version, conducted by Ivan Volkov, is in the links list below.  The other two Boulez/InterContemporain renditions are Naval Aviation In Art?, first attempted at the 1975 Royce Hall concerts, and an arrangement of the live-improv vehicle Dupree's Paradise (see YCDTOSA 2 for a nice meandering band example).

On the Synclavier, Zappa gives us the twinkling atonality of The Girl In The Magnesium Dress; the Joe's Garage track re-arrangement Outside Now Again; the minute-long note-bending exercise Love Story, and the suitably ominous Jonestown.  He'd later remaster the album in a new mix, different running order and with noticeably different Synclavier instrumentation on Magnesium Dress - this first-pressing CD matches the original vinyl.

link

pw: sgtg

 

Frank Zappa at SGTG:

Lumpy Gravy

Waka/Jawaka

The Grand Wazoo

Roxy & Elsewhere

One Size Fits All

Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar

You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 2: The Helsinki Concert

The Perfect Stranger (live 2018)

Renaud François - s/t (1988)

Hour-long overview of French composer and flautist Renaud François (b. 1943), in what appears to be the only album fully dedicated to his music.  François has played extensively as both a solo flautist and as a member of Ensemble 2E2M, who play his compositions here, first on ...Un Regard Oblique... (1983), with its interweaving flute solos as a combination of trombones and tubular bells flesh out the tonal colours.  A solo piano piece, Deuxième Récit (1986) is next, played by its dedicatee Carlos Roqué Alsina.

Sonnet (1983) puts to music a verse by sixteenth century poet Pontus De Tyard, with an interesting combination of bass voice, piano and tuba.  François' work for wind instruments is highlighted in the next two pieces: the ensemble seascape Reflets II (1978) which includes an incredible percussion crescendo, and flute duet Tu/Les Ecoutes (1976).  The album ends with its longest work, Les Chemins De La Nuit (1984) for cello and orchestra, with more percussive fireworks and engrossing layers of tonal shading.  Wish there was more music by François available, this is all good stuff.

link

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Richard Teitelbaum – Concerto Grosso For Human Concertino And Robotic Ripieno (1988)

Free jazz, baroque concepts and 80s MIDI experiments all rolled into one fascinating work by NYC native Richard Teitelbaum (1939-2020).  Following earlier setups to have his piano control other digital pianos, Teitelbaum expanded the concept to have a "human concertino" of piano and two wind players (Anthony Braxton and George Lewis) controlling an array of digital pianos and synths, the "robotic ripieno".  If this live music/early computer music interface sounds like it's got shades of David Behrman about it, then yep, Behrman is thanked in the liner notes for advice and inspiration.

The three-part work was recorded live at the Klaviere & Computer Festival, WDR Koln in May 1985 and released on CD three years later (perhaps as a result of the work winning a Prix Ars Electronica award for Computer Music in '87).  In each section of around 18 minutes duration, Braxton and Lewis do their thing, Teitelbaum adds some live piano, and the MIDI ensemble tinkles away in response.  Really enjoyable stuff, especially in the knottier second part with more frenetic electronics, and in some of the truly bizarre sounds generated in the third part.

link

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