Sándor Lakatos And His Gypsy Band - Budapest At Night (undated recordings, this compilation first released 1987)

This is the other recent find that I've been enjoying loads.  This collection's from the 80s, but the recordings (no specific years given) might be much older, as Sándor Lakatos (1924-1994) and his Gypsy Band had been releasing albums from the late 50s onwards.  All sounds fantastic though, with so much verve, energy and sheer jawdropping virtuosity brought to these Hungarian folk tunes.  Not much else to say about this one really, other than it's tons of fun.

link

pw: sgtg

Richard & Linda Thompson - Pour Down Like Silver (1975)

A new box set was recently released taking in all of the albums (and more) by this legendary pairing in British folk, so here's my favourite album of theirs.  Just about to take a break from music, as they'd converted to Sufi Islam, Richard & Linda Thompson's new spritual embrace was encapsulated in the gorgeous centrepice of this album, Night Comes In.

Beat The Retreat and Dimming Of The Day were further sublime expressions of spiritual longing, but the sardonic wit of Thompson's songwriting up until then wasn't entirely absent.  The opening track Streets Of Paradise was particularly good on that score, and the album as a whole still features plenty of his brilliant guitar playing.  Always inspired by Scottish music, Thompson ends the album with a cover of James Scott Skinner's fiddle tune Dargai.  Pour Down Like Silver was the most stripped-down sounding of all of Richard & Linda's albums, and the bare-bones sound (filled out where necessary, most distinctively by John Kirkpatrick's accordion playing) suits these starkly beautiful songs well.

link

pw: sgtg

Steve Hackett - There Are Many Sides To The Night (1995)

Steve Hackett live and acoustic, from the Palmero Teatro Metropolitan in December 1994, supported only by keyboards from Julian Colbeck.  Steve's on sparkling form, and in jovial spirits, frequently teasing bits of his old classics (and even tracks from his time in Genesis) before claiming to have forgot them all.  He does open with Horizons, and touches on his earliest solo records (links below) with Kim and a re-arranged Ace Of Wands.  The rest of the set highlights his acoustic records as might be expected, plus a nice bit of Vivaldi, a blues where he drops the guitar in favour of harmonica, and a cover of Andrea Morricone's Cinema Paradiso.

link
pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Voyage Of The Acolyte
Please Don't Touch
Defector

Michael Hedges - Breakfast In The Field (1981)

The discography of acoustic guitar virtuoso Michael Hedges might have been tragically cut short after sixteen years, but it contained some sublime music.  It all began here, after Windham Hill boss William Ackerman discovered Hedges playing in a coffee shop and offered him a deal immediately.  It's an interestingly low-key start for someone of Hedges' jaw-dropping talent, especially in the laidback pair of opening tracks.  The reverbed production of Aerial Boundaries hadn't been intergrated into Hedges' sound yet, making Breakfast In The Field a showcase of his raw sound that still resonates.

And with just that guitar technique front and centre (barring backup cameos from Windham Hill mainstays Michael Manring on bass and George Winston on piano), it becomes apparent as the record progresses just how much the label had struck gold with their new signing.  The album consists of mostly brief pieces, delightful little miniatures of skill and melodic sensibility, like the atmospheric title track or the nightclub down the street-inspired Funky Avocado.  The most drawn-out track is the almost five minutes of Two Days Old, another gorgeous highlight of an essential album.  A major talent had arrived, in the most understated, unpretentious way possible.

link
pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Aerial Boundaries
An Evening With Windham Hill Live

Windham Hill Artists - An Evening With Windham Hill Live (1983)

An Evening With... was a star-studded 'live sampler' album issued by Windham Hill in their first flush of major success.  From the liner notes: "On October 9th, 1982, a group of ten Windham Hill musicians gathered for two shows at the Berklee Performance Center, Boston, Massachusetts. It was during those two shows that these recordings were made."

It's a treat to hear all these great musicians out of the studio and on stage, even if just a fleeting spotlight falls on each of them.  Michael Hedges is up first with a superb Rickover's Dream from Aerial Boundaries, the live solo performance showcasing his extrodinary talent to an even greater extent than the original.  Not to be outdone, Alex De Grassi turns in nine minutes of rolling loveliness in Turning: Turning Back, then is heard in a group format on another of his pieces, Clockwork.  That odd sound you hear is a lyricon, the first ever electronic wind controller; the player here, the late Chuck Greenberg, was one of the co-engineers of the instrument.

Hedges returns to kick off the album's second half, again playing a track from Aerial Boundaries, Spare Change.  Dedicated to Steve Reich, the piece is backed up by Liz Story on piano and bassist Michael Manring, and displays just how much the early Windham Hill stable owed to the classic ECM sound.  Next in the spotlight is Windham Hill founder William Ackerman to play two of his pieces.  Visiting has more lyricon from Greenberg and bass from Manring, then Hawk Circle is a guitar duet with Hedges while George Winston backs them on piano.  And it's Winston who closes the album, in a solo medley of Reflections and John McLaughlin's Lotus Feet.  Absolutely gorgeous music from start to finish.

link
pw: sgtg

Windham Hill at SGTG:
Piano Solos | Autumn | December (Winston)
Solid Colors | Unaccountable Effect (Story)
Southern Exposure (De Grassi)
Aerial Boundaries (Hedges)

George Winston - Piano Solos (1973) (reissued as Ballads And Blues 1972 - The Early Recordings)

Seven years before George Winston became Windham Hill's breakout star, he released his debut album 'Piano Solos' on John Fahey's Takoma label.  Windham Hill reissues, titled 'Ballads And Blues 1972', started from 1981, to make these formative recordings available to the new audiences brought in by Winston's success.

It's a short and sweet, fun little record that packs in all of Winston's early influences on his playing.  The impressionistic, 'New Age' pianism from Autumn onwards is only hinted at here, in a set of bluesy originals, covers (including Fahey's Brenda's Blues) and traditional melodies that cleave more closely to their roots.  Even so, Winston's talents on the piano are clearly fully-formed, and listeners who might not be as receptive to 'New Age' piano music will probably like this better than Winston's later recordings.

Original LP cover

link
pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG: Autumn | December

Alex De Grassi - Southern Exposure (1983)

Solo fingerpicked steel guitar with folk and jazz influences, from Japan-born American guitarist Alex De Grassi.  This was De Grassi's fourth album for his cousin William Ackerman's Windham Hill label - must have been handy to have a relative running a growing enterprise with a cornerstone of Fahey/Kottke-style guitar.

Ackerman and De Grassi were of course destined to sit in the very long shadow cast by WH's most legendary guitarist Michael Hedges, but on this evidence De Grassi had much to offer on his own merits.  Southern Exposure starts with the all too brief Overland, a bubbling spring of sparkling melody, before settling in for the more reflective Blue And White.  After that, great tunes keep coming, worming their way into your subconscious with every listen: 36, Street Waltz, Subway, the short and sweet title track - to name just a few.  And it all sounds fantastic - in the sleevenote detail typical of early Windham Hill, this was all "recorded live to two-track digital using a Sony PCM 1600". 

original LP cover

link
pw: sgtg

Alan Stivell - Symphonie Celtique (Tir Na N-Og) (1980)

Whilst trying to pay attention in French class at school, I noticed a poster on my teacher's wall: a long haired, bearded bloke playing a harp, along with some other (presumably) musicians, and the word "Stivell" at the top in a Celtic-style font.  That image stuck with me, as I thought it could be something I might like if it was an artist/group.

A while later, I did indeed discover Breton harpist, singer, folklorist and composer Alan Stivell (born Alan Cochevelou, 1944), and got hold of an LP of the legendary Olympia concert.  Still don't have the Dublin concert, the source of Mr. Weir's poster, but now I do have this awesome "symphony" of Celtic prog-folk that Stivell wrote and recorded at the end of the 70s, which remains his most ambitious undertaking.

The Celtic Symphony is structured in three 'Circles' on sides 1-3 of the original double-vinyl, with the fourth side being a celebratory suite.  The circles represent the concentric structure of Tir Na N-Og, the island afterlife of Irish mythology also alluded to in one track on a recent post here, and break down into four tracks in each 'Circle'.  Missing from the CD is a minute-long reprise at the end of the Third Circle, but whatever the reason, that's no great loss.  What is here is wonderful.

I'm hearing some similarities to mid/late 70s Popol Vuh, albeit with a much more Celtic flavour, particularly in Ar Geoded Skedus and the stunning nine-minute Divodan.  Elsewhere there's organ drones, orchestrated pieces for strings, obvious spots for Stivell's beautiful harp playing and his vocals in Breton language/French/occasional English.  Intending the Celtic Symphony to be a more internationalist celebration of minority cultures, life, the universe and everything, there's also a reach beyond Stivell's traditional palate to more proto-World music sounds, hence bits of sitar and such.  An ambitious undertaking for sure, and one that pays off in spades.

Alternate cover, closer to original vinyl.  1988 French CD cover at top.

link
pw: sgtg

Geraldo Azevedo - s/t (1977)

Hailing from Petrolina, Pernambuco, Geraldo Azevedo started out as a songwriter and a player in a few minor groups, which included crossing paths with Nana Vasconcelos early on.  This was his first solo album, following a collaborative release with Alceu Valença five years earlier at the height of the Udigrudi underground movement.  Cross-fertilizing MPB with folk styles from Northeastern Brazil proved to be a good combination on this album, allowing Azevedo's fingerpicked guitar talent to shine.

There's a good balance in these ten songs between string arrangements (and occasional synth) and earthier guitar sounds - lead guitarists Robertinho do Recife & Ivinho are particularly well featured on the 8-minute medley in the first half, and on the following Domingo De Pedra E Cal and Em Copacabana.  That stretch of the album contains its strongest highlights for me, and it's arguably the style that fits Azevedo best: languid and contemplative, but with just enough fire to drive the tracks forward.

link

Milton Nascimento/Lô Borges - Clube Da Esquina (1972)

Back to Brazil, with possibly the most stunning high water mark in MPB (música popular brasileira).  Clube Da Esquina (corner club) was a collective of musicians from the Minas Gerais state, led by Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges, the latter just 20 when this double-album was recorded.  With 21 songs in 64 minutes, Clube Da Esquina is like a fat-free White Album or stripped-down Manassas.  Over the succinct running time, it manages to take in regional folk influences, hazy, languid psychedelic pop and a huge dash of Beatlesque styling in a journey that feels more perfect with every listen.  Even the album cover has a great story behind it.

A track-by-track is pointless on an album like this; picking out highlights near-impossible for one with literally no duds - even the two tracks that don't break the minute mark are necessary, rather than jokey filler.  So here's a handful of favourites.  From Lô Borges' seven compositions, I'll go for the sun-dappled goodbyes of O Trem Azul with its gorgeous harmonies, and Trem De Doido, a poignant ode to mistreated psychiatric patients, with Beto Guedes' stinging lead guitar.

Out of Milton Nascimento's phenomenal songwriting and legendary voice... what to choose as favourites?  I'm going to plump for his more impressionistic side that comes out in the Side 3-4 split, on Um Gusto De Sol's woozy, sleepy personification of a pear in a fruit bowl, and the swirling production effects of Pelo Amor De Deus.  But then he's just as good as an interpreter, of Spanish songwriter Carmelo Larrea's bolero standard Dos Cruces, or duetting with Alaíde Costa on Me Deixa Em Paz.  Or indeed with no lyrics at all, on the near-title track or on the ode to his adoptive mother Lilia, soon to be re-recorded with Wayne Shorter (Wagner Tiso from Native Dancer is also all over Clube with his great organ style). Stay tuned for more of the near-instrumental side of Milton later this week, but for now make sure to download this perfect album.

link

Phil Keaggy - The Master & The Musician (1978)

Thought this might make a good follow-up to the Hackett post - I've been listening to it a lot recently as a companion-piece to both Voyage Of The Acolyte and Please Don't Touch.  Phil Keaggy was (and I gather still is) a Christian-Contemporary singer-songwriter, but took a break from that after his first couple of albums to make this all-instrumental masterpiece that fully showcased his writing and playing skills.

From a couple of videos I've watched (unrelated to this album), Keaggy didn't frequently get nicknamed 'the greatest nine-fingered guitarist in the world' and suchlike for nothing, and although The Master & The Musician only hits cooking temperature at a few well-chosen moments (mostly toward the end of the two long suites, Reflections and Medley), the subtlety of a lot of these tracks makes the material shine all the brighter.  The album opens with a synth sequence overlaid with a nifty E-bow display (Keaggy was an early adopter of the device) before settling into an acoustic pattern that gets gradually overlaid with chiming electric lines.  Following that, the mellow jazz-fusion of Agora (The Marketplace), along with Follow Me Up later on, offers the most upbeat material and memorable, masterful-but-unpretentious lead lines.

For the most part though, it was the acoustic tracks on this album that brought Hackett to mind for me, especially in the choice of flute and other wind instruments to accompany the guitar.  The Castle's Call, Wedding In The Country Manor and Deep Calls Unto Deep all offer memorable melodies and gorgeous technique throughout, and could've sat proudly on a Steve Hackett album (or indeed, an album by that other ex-Genesis guitarist Anthony Phillips - whose back catalogue I've yet to take a proper stab at) of the era.  And although there's no lyrics on Master & Musician, that doesn't mean no vocals - Keaggy and his wife Bernadette can both be heard on the cute little beatboxing experiment Mouthpiece, and harmonising sweetly and wordlessly on the penultimate medley.  All in all, an absolute gem of an album for anyone wanting to hear an underrated (in the secular music world, at least) guitarist/composer at his most inspired.

link

Ry Cooder & Vishwa Mohan Bhatt - A Meeting By The River (1993)

And an inspired and fruitful meeting it was.  Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, the Rajasthani master of the Mohan Vina - a modified slide guitar of his own creation, with eight sympathetic drone strings added; and Ry Cooder, the eternal journeyman, on regular slide, recorded these four tracks in a Santa Barbara church - shame they didn't record more.  My only minus point for this record is always that I wish it was twice as long, but what was captured, backed up by Bhatt's regular tabla player Sukhvinder Singh, and Cooder's son Joachim, is superb.  A pair of lengthy, exploratory tracks are followed up by a catchy, upbeat jam and then a gorgeous closing ballad, the only non-original, a Fijian folk song.  One for al fresco listening with a long cool drink.

link

Van Morrison - Saint Dominic's Preview (1972)

With my trans-Irish Sea parentage, Van Morrison was always going to be part of the musical staple diet growing up - and this album remains a favourite.  Recorded in late '71/early '72 at the height of Morrison's California period, Saint Dominic's Preview is perfectly balanced between short, zippy soul/blues classics (straight off the blocks with the breathless acapella euphoria of Jackie Wilson Said) and two 10 minute+ epics.

Of the latter, Almost Independence Day drifts in a stream of Krause-synth consciousness and two chord 12-string guitar, giving it a striking resemblance to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here title track from three years later.  But the  definite highlight of this great record is Listen To The Lion - for me, it's simply one of the greatest, most unreserved and fearless vocal performances Morrison ever accomplished.  Gives me chills every time once he really lets rip in the middle section, before things calm down again.

link

Michael Hedges - Aerial Boundaries (1984)

Second album from acoustic guitar virtuoso Hedges, who died in a road accident aged just 43; a huge loss of a true individualist.  Often filed in 'new age' bins due to his association with the Windham Hill label, there was much more to his technique and melodic sensibility that should've reached a massive audience.

Everything's instrumental here (he'd evetually record some vocal tracks later in the 80s) and perfectly produced, with an ECM-esque swathe of reverb highlighting all the hammering/pulling techniques and making for a timeless record.  Can never quite decide if I like the cover of Neil Young's After The Gold Rush, or if it misses the mark a bit (surely he could've had a stab at...anything more guitar-based from Young's catalogue, and made it shine with his brilliant technique?) - download and decide for yourself, and enjoy the rest of this gorgeous album.

link

Djivan Gasparyan - I Will Not Be Sad in This World (first rel. 1983)

Back in more relaxing, near-ambient territory today; but no electronic ambience here whatsoever, just one instrument in fact – the Armenian double-reed wood flute known as the duduk.  Played here by master of the instrument Djivan Gasparyan, backed up only by another duduk drone, 40 minutes of this stuff might on paper seem a bit monotonous, but the pure sound and hypnotic melodies draw you right in.

Original LP cover, 1983

Just the right side of unsettling to be truly mellow, these eight traditional duduk pieces were first released on the Soviet Melodiya label in 1983, and came to wider attention when Brian Eno gave the album its first international release under the ‘I Will Not Be Sad…’ title in 1989.  Having been thrust into the 80s/early 90s ‘world music’ limelight, Gasparyan toured widely and played with/influenced many musicians including Peter Gabriel, most famously on the ‘Passion’ soundtrack to Scorcese’s Last Tempation of Christ.

link

Original CD release, 1989 (picture at top is 2005 reissue)

Linda Perhacs - Parallelograms (1970)

The story of how this album came about never fails to fascinate me.  Dental hygienist to Hollywood royalty happens to mention to a patient (film composer Leonard Rosenman) that she writes songs; gives him a tape and is excitedly asked to record an album straight away; album vanishes without trace but becomes a cult classic, then records another album after a 44 year gap.  All the while keeping her day job.  I haven't heard the 2014 album, The Soul Of All Natural Things, yet, and I really should sometime; but for now here's the wondrous Parallelograms.

You might be able to guess what kind of album would result from a bucolic Laurel Canyon lifestyle in 1970, but in this case you'd only be part right.  Sure, there's sunny, hazy odes to dolphins, rivers and sandy toes, all of it gorgeous in its own right, but there's other forces at work here too.  Perhacs channeled her synaesthesia into the complex, multi-layered title track, penned late one night on the road by capturing it not in simple words but in geometric shapes.  The undercurrent of strangeness on this album in fact reveals itself within its first two minutes.  After establishing a pastoral scene straight out of the Ladies Of The Canyon playbook, Chimacum Rain twists into a hallucinatory soundscape full of effects-laden xylophone tones, and, to quote the liner notes, "amplified shower hose for horn effects".  Highly, highly recommended.

link

Judee Sill - Abracadabra: The Asylum Years (2006 compi of 1971-73 releases)

Taking another quick diversion now from business as usual to spotlight one of my favourite singer-songwriters.  This 2CD reissue contains Judee Sill's entire back catalogue, so thought I may as well post it all at once.  Abracadabra also adds some live recordings and fascinating demos/works in progress, making this the only Judee Sill release you'll ever need - an archive set of shelved recordings came out about a decade ago but didn't come near the magic of these two original albums.

Rather than recount the tragic lost-soul story of Judee Sill's life (plagued by addiction which would claim her life at 35), I prefer to just focus on how good her music was.  Both of these albums showcase just how unique her synthesis was of folk, blues and a dash of country with more baroque and hymnal influences from her upbringing singing in church.  Her voice carried both a homely twang and a gossamer beauty - especially when recorded in multiple overdubs on several songs.

Both albums stay in understated ballad mode for the most part, but Sill could turn up the energy too on songs like Jesus Was A Crossmaker (her best-known song, covered by The Hollies) and Soldier of The Heart from the second album, Heart Food.  Heart Food for me has an ever-so-slight edge over the self-titled debut, with slightly more adventurous arrangements (this time all handled by Sill herself), indeed much more adventurous on The Donor, seven minutes of spine-tingling overdubbed chorale.  Also on Heart Food is The Kiss, simply one of the greatest love songs ever written.

Disc 1
Disc 2