The Son S 02

Joseph Vitarelli's (THE LAST SEDUCTION, SHE'S SO LOVELY, COMMANDMENTS) lush, orchestral score evokes a contemplative, playful, and sometimes haunting reflection of filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn's journey to piece together the life of his absent father, renowned architect Louis I. Kahn. The MY ARCHITECT soundtrack also features two vocal performances: the devotional "Call to Prayer" (a striking solo by a Muslim muezzin recorded on location at the mosque in Kahn's monumental National Assembly Building of Bangladesh) and the celebratory Hebrew hymn "Hayom Tamtzeinu" rendered with fervor by a cantor originally from Kahn's home city of Philadelphia. Included also on the soundtrack is a taped snippet of Louis Kahn himself in the visionary moment captured in a track called 'The Brick'. The documentary MY ARCHITECT was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and won the hearts of audiences and critics alike, placing it on a large number of best film of the year lists.

Some albums exist outside of time or place, gently floating on their own style and sensibility. Of those, the La’s lone album may be the most beguiling, a record that consciously calls upon the hooks and harmonies of 1964 without seeming fussily retro, a trick that anticipated the cheerful classicism of the Brit-pop ’90s. But where their sons Oasis and Blur were all too eager to carry the torch of the past, Lee Mavers and the La’s exist outside of time, suggesting the ’60s in their simple, tuneful, acoustic-driven arrangements but seeming modern in their open, spacy approach, sometimes as ethereal as anything coming out of the 4AD stable but brought down to earth by their lean, no-nonsense attack, almost as sinewy as any unaffected British Invasion band.

The Chicago mainstay's debut album was a rough, gruff, no-nonsense affair typified by the decidedly unsentimental track "Your Love Is like a Cancer." Seals wasn't all that far removed from his southern roots at this point, and his slashing guitar work sports a strikingly raw feel on his originals "Look Now, Baby," "Cotton Picking Blues," and "Hot Sauce" (the latter a blistering instrumental that sounds a bit like the theme from Batman played sideways).

Various Artists - The Nation's Favourite 70s Number Ones (2015) [3CD] {Sony Music}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.57 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 568 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 30 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 Sony Music | 0825646152285
Pop / Rock / Disco / New Wave / Folk

With 68 tracks, most of which I thoroughly enjoy listening to, I had to buy this album as soon as I looked to see what new releases were in the shops. It was a particularly good day for me as I also bought three other new releases, so I've got a busy period of reviewing this week. Many of these tracks will be familiar to fans of 70s pop music, and not just in Britain where this compilation was released. Mainstream pop, rock, soul and disco music inevitably dominate, reflecting the tastes of record buyers at the time. I only started collecting records in 1977, but I listened to a lot of pop radio before then so I became very familiar with these songs. Along the way I had forgotten some, but in most cases I'm pleased to be reminded of them.

The Father, the Son and the Godfather is a snapshot from a time when art music escaped from the courts and churches. Domestic music-making in the company of close friends became a treasured extension of social interaction, and the resulting boom in ‘market opportunities’ offered composers a tremendous freedom in their choices of genres and styles, as demonstrated by this colourful programme. It features three composers whose music could not be more different, taking into account that all works were composed during the span of only two generations by authors who knew each other better than just well: J.S. Bach (the father), C.P.E. Bach (the son) and Georg Philipp Telemann (CPE’s godfather).