LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III

Loudon Wainwright -Years in The Making

Big fan of the Wainwright clan and perhaps prefer the extraordinary work of Martha but have quite a lot of Rufus too. Their dad has written a memoir biog book which should make a good read [came out last year so needs another plug I reckon] and has compiled a new collection of songs too check it all out here:

Loudon Wainwright Aquarium Drunkard interview

Loudon Wainwright III - Liner Notes etc available here

SANTANA - ABRAXAS

'Black Magic Woman'

On this day in music history: October 24, 1970 - “Abraxas”, the second album by Santana hits #1 on the Billboard Top 200 for 6 weeks (non-consecutive). Produced by Fred Catero and Carlos Santana, it is recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco, CA from April 17 - May 2, 1970. Recorded in only two weeks and released just thirteen months after their self-titled debut, it is an even greater success for the San Francisco based rock band. The album takes its title from a line in German author and poet Herman Hesse’s (“Steppenwolf”, “Siddhartha”) book “Demian”, which is quoted on the back of the original LP jacket. The albums’ now iconic cover art features a painting by artist Mati Klarwein (“Bitches Brew”, “Live-Evil”) titled “Annunciation”, painted in 1961. A major critical and commercial success upon its release, it spins off three singles including covers of the Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac) penned “Black Magic Woman” (#4 Pop) and the Tito Puente latin jazz classic “Oye Como Va” (#13 Pop), both becoming FM rock radio staples as well as major pop hits. Sony Music issues a remastered CD of “Abraxas” in 1998 featuring three live bonus tracks. Long a favorite of audiophiles, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab releases of a limited edition double vinyl LP mastered at 45 RPM in October of 2016, pressed with MFSL’s “one step” pressing method for unsurpassed sound quality. “Abraxas” is certified 5x Platinum in the US by the RIAA, and is inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1999.

Of course bought when it came out and I think the first two albums (at least) mark a period of discovery for many British listeners as they were transported by Carlos' wonderful playing and the Latin American beat introduced to a wider audience that may not have understood anything past say Tito Puente in the fifties but Santana broke new ground for sure and this is them at the very peak. It has to go with a mention to the author of 'Black Magic Woman' and us Brits were astonished at Carlos nod of acknowledgement toward one of our own great guitar heroes who we felt we had lost by then but the Fleetwood Mac we adored was both with Peter and Danny to whom I dedicated this entry

Turn it up . . . it deserves to rattle your windows . . . . . . . 

Source: Live at The Boston Tea Party 1970

RICHARD HAMILTON

GROWTH & FORM

Yes more art! Visitors paying attention (who ARE you talking to? - ED) will be aware I did my thesis for my art degree and for composer Gavin Bryars and historian Fred Orton then at Leicester on Richard Hamilton. One of the earliest projects around exhibition design Richard was involved in was called 'Growth and Form' and is somewhat over shadowed by the later 'This is Tomorrow' which grew to legendary proportions
Hunting around t'interweb thingamabob I found this:

Growth and Form, Exhibition Catalogue, 1951. Exhibition produced by Richard Hamilton at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, 1951

/ «Growth and Form […] consisted of a large-scale installation – reconstructed in 2014 at Tate Modern, London, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid – that was inspired by the book of Scottish mathematician and biologist D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, On Growth and Form (1917). Hamilton brought together a range of scientific and organic materials, using the most innovative and imaginative technologies of the moment. One of the effects of this exhibition was, as Hamilton wrote, the influence it may have upon design trends’. […] This exhibition, inspired by the sensitivity and strategies of Surrealism and Dada, Joyce’s literary techniques and Duchamp, helped Hamilton develop his own exhibition language. His visual references were also determined by the discovery of György Kepes, László Moholy-Nagy and Sigfried Giedion. These readings favoured revitalising the social function of art and bringing together artistic and scientific experimentation, at a time when technology was developing a new visual order. Hamilton saw a clear need for an exhibition practice based on the principles of visualisation and the ability to incorporate contemporary technology. To all these ideas we should add his technical training in design. [continue…] – Growth and Form, MACBA Collection, Barcelona / 

https://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/collections/zoology/renew/hamilton/

https://www.macba.cat/en/growth-and-form-5245

TRACEY EMIN

BBC - imagine - Tracey Emin where do you draw the line?

Great programme in the 'imagine' series last night and I have always felt an intense regard and respect for Tracey as an artist and as a woman, a person, her attitude and her experiences as a youngster and her vulnerability and also her strength. This programme includes great interviews with her going some way to explain or explore her work and sensitive observations not least from current Director of the Tate Gallery, gallery owner Jay Jopling and the Arts Council's head, Nick Serota

BBC - Tracey Emin imagine; where do you draw the line



The only thing I own is a tea towel by her that was produced for her show at Modern Art Oxford and I cherish having it . . . . . it made me laugh . . . . . "it reads "Not a happy Kitten . . . . . . . in fact I'd say it was a dog"

Mind you she did say she believed in an afterlife and had recently married a rock in her garden but hey . . . . . . . 

BRION GYSIN

When I was trying to read all of William Seward Burroughs' work (via Jack Kerouac) I developed an interest in Brion Gysin and anyone who was expelled from the Surrealists by the truly awful pompous bombast, Andre Breton, was all right by me. (this a man so full of his own self importance writing manifestos he tried to tell Dali what to do, very quickly realising the only star artist of the movement could pretty well do as he liked or face the master leaving the group which he pretty much did anyway! "Badges? We don't want no stinking badges?" Poor Andre sort of missing the boat and the point!) 
I always unwanted to try to build one and try their Dream Machine and now we have plans . . . 

William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin with Dream Machine.

ya ya yanina‏ @schweben_weben

Build your own Dream Machine “Subjects report dazzling lights of unearthly brilliance and color…

Elaborate geometric constructions of incredible intricacy build up from multidimensional mosaic 

into living fireballs like the mandalas of Eastern mysticism" 

drive.google.com/file/d/0B9NKN6kKD8tLOVdDQUhfYVJ5Uzg/view …

LED ZEPPELIN II

Again an album bought when it came out . . . . my friend and neighbour Johnny bought the first album and we couldn't stop playing it. We kept gathering at his parent's house and ended up playing it over and over it seems like. It blew us away as it must have done to so many others. There had simply been nothing that sounded like this before (or since!)
I went out and bought it myself and played it constantly on my Dad's radiogramme (ask your grandparents) which packed a punch but drove my folks mad. 'What is this NOISE?" 
I don't know if anyone will get this but II is where I stopped and though it impressed us quite as much as the first album and contains some groundbreaking pieces of music this is where I left them. Something happened between two and III and I know loads of people stuck with them all the way and I know some folk who left around the time of the fourth album too but nothing has EVER matched the first two albums for me . . . . . . . and curiously I am quite happy with that. What with the bass and drums driving the extraordinary beat and the guitar soaring overhead what always struck me was Robert's extraordinary voice and in combination they always sounded superhuman and totally beyond belief

On this day in music history: October 22, 1969 - “Led Zeppelin II”, the second album by Led Zeppelin is released. Produced by Jimmy Page, it is recorded at Olympic Studios, Morgan Studios in London, A&M Studios, Quantum Studios, Sunset Sound, Mirror Sound, Mystic Studios in Los Angeles, CA, A&R Studios, Juggy Sound, Groove Studios, Mayfair Studios in New York City, “The Hut” in Vancouver, BC, Canada and Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN from January - August 1969. Quickly following the success of their self-titled debut, Led Zeppelin’s sophomore release is written on the road, and recorded in numerous studios in the US and UK on days off between tour dates. “Led Zeppelin II” quickly surpasses their debut in sales, cementing the bands’ musical reputation as well as establishing a template in which countless hard rock and heavy metal bands will adapt and follow. It spins off several classics that become rock radio staples including “Heartbreaker”, Ramble On", and “Whole Lotta Love” (#4 Pop), the latter of which is issued as a single. The initial US pressing of the LP, mastered by Bob Ludwig turns out to be problematic for some, as loud and dynamic passages on the record cause it to skip on cheaper turntables of the day, initiating sizable returns. Atlantic is forced to remaster the album (this time by George Marino), with the bass and high end significantly rolled off. These original “loud cut” pressings of “II” becomes sought after by collectors over the years. The now iconic cover artwork for “Led Zeppelin II” designed by David Juniper, features the faces of the four band members superimposed on to an airbrushed vintage photograph of German World War I Air Force pilots. Also added to the photo is actress Glynis Johns, as an in joke directed at recording engineer Glyn Johns, whom John Lennon had sardonically referred to as “Glynis” while working with The Beatles on “Let It Be”. Juniper’s cover art receives a Grammy nomination for Best Album Cover in 1970. The album is remastered and reissued in June of 2014 on CD and vinyl, with a boxed “Super Deluxe” box set featuring the both the CD and vinyl versions, along with alternate mixes and outtakes, a lithograph of the cover artwork and a hardbound book with rare and previously unpublished photos. “Led Zeppelin II” spends seven weeks at number one (non-consecutive) on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified 12x Platinum in the US by the RIAA, earning a Diamond Certification.

EMILY BARKER

I'm a big Emily Barker fan and have pretty much everything I think and she has a new video out about which she says

"Hi  When my friend and regular collaborator, Patti Gaal-Holmes (artist, art historian, film-maker, writer) reached out to me earlier this year and asked if I'd be interested in working with her colleague, Babak Jani, I jumped at the opportunity.I met with Babak in a coffee shop in London and we talked about films we loved and how their aesthetic and imagery might work well with my song, 'No. 5 Hurricane'. Drawing inspiration from the symbolism in Wim Wenders' 'Wings of Desire’ and the palette and decor of many a Wes Anderson film, we discussed ideas on how to represent memories, passing time, regrets and the difficulty of letting go.We shot the film in two days at various locations around Bournemouth with an enthusiastic and inspired team from Bournemouth Film School at AUB. It was a wonderful experience and I'm really pleased with how it came out. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch below!"

I love this video and she is always fascinating . . .I first came across her work when watching Ken Branagh's 'Wallender' in 2008 and have stuck with her ever since 

It's a track from her last album 'Sweet Kinda Blue' which you can purchase or stream here

https://kartelmusicgroup.lnk.to/emilybarker

NEW MORNING

Now yesterday saw the release of Dylan's 'New Morning' back in 1970 and I got lost with Bob prior to this though curiously not from 'Self Portrait' which I enjoyed (I was going through a very weird phase it must be said) but earlier on I was busy listening elsewhere I guess . . .I stayed stuck listening to 'John Wesley Harding' ['67?] which was and remains a favourite album with it's totally unique voice and story telling tone that I adore and with it's weirder than weird cover which I was playing for the next few years at least. I think it surpasses all of the next few albums output and is streets ahead of them all still and technically the stuff on 'New Morning' was rehashed and earlier than Self Portrait but hey go figure it wasn't really then until 'Blood on The Tracks' (1975?) of course, that I sat up and took notice again. . . . .You might be forgiven for thinking I stuck with His Bobness all the way through but the late 70's breakdown into god bothering really troubled me and spoke to other folks and not me ( I don't gotta serve nobody sorry, Bob) but this album had some great songs on it. Not least 'If Not For You' a favourite love song and the title track of course but also 'The Man In Me' which remains an extraordinary song still covered in his set list from time to time. So no I didn't buy this when it came out and got it several years later . . . . . .really the triumvirate of mid eighties albums 'Infidels', 'Empire Burlesque' and 'Knocked Out....'  all of which I still love and bought when they came out . . . . . was when I returned to really paying attention to his output and don't think I have wavered again since

On this day in music history: October 21, 1970 - “New Morning”, the twelfth studio album by Bob Dylan is released. Produced by Bob Johnston, it is recorded at Columbia Recording Studios, Studio B & Studio E in New York City from June - August 1970. Issued just four months after the controversial and poorly received “Self Portrait”, Dylan emerges with a much more coherent and tightly produced album, attracting raves from both critics and fans. Some speculate that the album is rushed out in response to the negative backlash that Dylan receives following the release of “Self Portrait”. Though most of “New Morning” had been recorded prior to the release of “Portrait”. It produces the classic “If Not For You” which is also covered by George Harrison on his solo debut “All Things Must Pass”, and a version by Olivia Newton-John is her first US hit in 1971. The majority of “Morning is recording during June and July of 1970, with "If Not For You” and “Time Passes Slowly” being re-recorded. “Day Of The Locusts” which was not finished earlier on is completed and recorded during the same session on August 12, 1970. Dylan also records cover versions of “Ballad Of Ira Hayes” and “Mr. Bojangles”, but are not included in the final track listing. Prior to the completion of the album, Dylan parts ways with his long time manager Albert Grossman, gaining full control over management of his career and music publishing. Grossman continues to maintain a financial stake in Dylan’s earlier work until his death in 1986. The album cover artwork features a portrait of a bearded Dylan on the front, without any artist name or title graphics. The back cover features a black and white photo of the musician, with blues singer Victoria Spivey. The photo is taken during a recording session where Bob had played harmonica and sang backing vocals, on an album by Spivey and Big Joe Williams. Spivey had met Dylan in 1961, while he had been playing the coffee house circuit in Greenwich Village. Becoming fast friends, she is one of his earliest supporters prior to him signing with Columbia Records. Originally released on CD in the late 80’s, the album is remastered and reissued in 2009. It is reissued on vinyl by Sony Music in 2001, with a 180 gram LP pressing released by Music On Vinyl in 2009. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab also remasters and reissues the classic title as a limited edition hybrid SACD and 180 gram vinyl LP in 2014. “New Morning” peaks at number seven on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.

“There was me - that is Alex - and my three droogs - that is Pete, Georgie and Dim.  We sat in the Korova milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening."

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

00:54

Albums purchased when they came out continues with this masterpiece. I saw the film (I think in Banbury) when it came out and it mesmerised me, then for reasons best known between Stanley Kubrick and Anthony Burgess it was banned for years. The book too is an odd little masterpiece as is the author an odd little meister! To ban it for all those years is a mystery and I consider it all a masterwork of 20thC horrorshow! and clearly the soundtrack is Wendy Carlos' meisterwerk also and though she was called Walter then it stayed with me throughout my life . . . . . . . . 



A Clockwork Orange Theme - Wendy Carlos from Universal Music Library on Vimeo.

personally I recommend the entire album for your listing pleasure and that you then go straight out and buy it.How can any discerning record collection not have this soundtrack of soundtracks in it?

Beats me!

Complete available here



A Clockwork Orange Soundtrack (Vinyl) from Patrick Kelly on Vimeo.

Clockwork Orange soundtrack album

Clockwork Orange album

Walter Carlos - Clockwork Orange vinyl - Amazon UK
Walter Carlos - Clockwork Orange vinyl UK reissue here








"viddy well little brother, viddy well" . . . . . .

"Food all riiight? . . . . try the wiiine? . . . . " Patrick Magee my favourite Beckett actor . . . . 

"The bricks . . . "

While I worked at The Museum of Modern Art Oxford (1977-1988) one of the most extraordinary events occurred largely fired up by the press and one of the most enjoyable aspects of working there were interactions with the public. The most notable case of the media affecting people's opinions was Carl Andre's 'Bricks' bought by the Tate Gallery in 1972 and put on display in 1976 [for some £2,297 please note]. Never had any art 'event' had such an affect upon the general pubic to the extent that they sought out their local nearest art gallery to vent their spleen. It happened a lot. Over several weeks I would get asked questions or have to field vehement complaints some several times a day. I used to enjoy playing with their assumptions and enjoyed many a heartfelt argument with people who had been affected by articles in the red top press and the more right wing of our yellow journalistic pedlars.

 I would start by asking a number of questions

1/ Have you been to see it? So you are criticising something you haven't even seen? Why do you suppose that is?

2/Are you a qualified artist?

3/Have you studied the subject?

4/Would you ask similar question of a practitioner of mathematics?

5/or classical composer?

One of the things I would get asked statements to fend off would include:

a/what is it all about?

b/it's just a pile of bricks 

c/ why anyone could do that?

d/my child could do that?

e/ it's an outrage that it cost so much

To which I would say a/ well that is quite a complicated question and it is about what the artist says it's about

b/ well okay so they are just bricks. Have you been to see them?

c/ Well anyone could do that but they didn't

d/ but they didn't!

e/ what do you think the going rate for bricks in the form as arranged by a fine artists would be?

They were not ordinary red house house bricks. 'I think they are really rather beautiful and they seem to be a yellow cream firebrick. The investment of public money has made a small (sic) fortune [it is now worth well into seven figures]  I asked every single person complaint whether they had seen it and apparently they didn't feel they needed to as there were pictures in the press. I asked them why the Mona Lisa then was on display tin the Louvre. I asked when was the last time they had been in an art gallery or museum to look at pictures, sculptures  or art. I asked every single person whether they had (or wanted to) read an interview in the then current copy of Art Monthly with the artist [which I thought was one of the most helpful articles I had read and I had a degree in the subject]. 

No-one accepted these offerings . . . . . . 

Carl Andre 

American Minimal sculptor and poet. Born in Quincy, Massachusetts. In 1954 worked for Boston Gear Works and travelled to England and France. Served in the US Army 1955-6. In 1957 moved to New York and worked for a publisher. Wrote poetry and made drawings and some abstract sculptures in perspex and wood, with geometric forms. Influenced by Brancusi and by Stella, his close friend. 1960-4 worked as railroad freight brakesman and conductor on the Pennsylvania Railroad; made few sculptures, but these show move away from carving to works constructed out of simple blocks of material. His sculpture first exhibited in a group show in 1964, followed by his first one-man exhibition at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, 1965; major retrospective exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1970. Made floor sculptures out of standard industrial units such as bricks or metal plates in simple arithmetic combinations; also experimented with scattered blocks and pieces of bent pipe, etc.

the 'bricks'

Equivalent VIII 1966