Where All Lights Tend

There's simply no sound in the blues as easily digestible, accessible, instantly recognizable, and as easy to play and sing as the music of Jimmy Reed. His best-known songs – "Baby, What You Want Me to Do," "Bright Lights, Big City," "Honest I Do," "You Don't Have to Go," "Going to New York," "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby," and "Big Boss Man" – have become such an integral part of the standard blues repertoire, it's almost as if they have existed forever. Because his style was simple and easily imitated, his songs were accessible to just about everyone from high-school garage bands having a go at it, to Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Lou Rawls, Hank Williams, Jr., and the Rolling Stones, making him – in the long run – perhaps the most influential bluesman of all.

Various Artists - The Rubble Collection, Volumes 11-20 (2007) {10 CD Box Set - Fallout FALLBOX002 rec 1960s-1970s}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 3.09 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.24 Gb
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© 1960s-70s, 2007 Fallout | FALLBOX002
Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Acid Rock / Freakbeat / Garage Rock / Mod

The second box in as many years of a truckload of obscure British psychedelia. Here are ten more CDs' worth of serious rarities by some bands that barely scratched the surface of the British freakbeat scene during rock's golden era, and a few who went on to other things. In all, there are 128 cuts here, all compiled and annotated by Phil Smee – of Perfumed Garden fame (also issued by Past And Present). While some of these acts, such as the Poets, the Human Instinct, Outer Limits, and Denny Laine left marks on the scene, as did mod bands such as les Fleur De Lys and the Buzz; many others came from the swamp and returned with only these few minutes of glory for all of their efforts.

Harold Budd's discs tend to end up in the new age section of the record store, because his music is generally pleasant, quiet, and soothing. But where most new age composers go for the obvious (and sometimes saccharine) melody, Budd veers off into ambiguity; he also lacks the mystical bent that often goes along with the new age style. Instead, his compositional voice is more like that of a detached observer – one who creates beauty without getting too involved with it. By the Dawn's Early Light finds Budd writing for various combinations of viola, guitar, harp, and keyboards. All of the music is lovely, but not all of the compositions sound complete. In several cases, they sound like raw ideas rushed into the studio before their time. Guitarist Bill Nelson provides much of the interest throughout the album, and the sighing, slithery viola of Mabel Wong lends an occasional turn-of-the-century salon feel to the proceedings. The only really embarrassing moments occur when Budd – whose voice sounds like an unfortunate cross between Garrison Keillor and Kermit the Frog – reads his own poetry. Skip those tracks and you'll be fine.

It is rare to find a disc as creatively programmed as this BIS release. Enhanced by lovely performances, played with great devotion to the memory of the recently-deceased Japanese master, the repertoire was chosen by conductor Tadaaki Otaka and producer Robert Suff, who organized it not only in the most effective succesion, but in a manner that illustrates the works’ individual meaning and illuminates Takemitsu’s career. All but one of the compositions are from Takemitsu’s late period. The other, the Requiem for Strings, is one of the earliest works to win him fame. Fantasma/Cantos II, for trombone and orchestra, is among the last Takemitsu compositions. Both it and the Requiem provide considerably more forward harmonic motion than the other four works, which are in Takemitsu’s typical “Japanese garden” meditative style, a kind of revival of French impressionism using harmonies that are more like Messiaen’s than Debussy’s.

Having done a remaster with panache on Sunburst Finish from 1976 (and reviewed so eloquently by Ian Canty here) Cherry Red (or Cheery Red as my computer often prompts) are back on the Be Bop Deluxe trail with Be Bop Deluxe’s legendary 1975 album released on the (legendary, naturally) Harvest label. Legendary maybe because we tend to look back with a rose-tinted glow at a set recorded with the legendary Roy Thomas Baker at the legendary Rockfield Studios by Bill Nelson and his troops…

La Monte Young - The Well-Tuned Piano 81 X 25 (6:17.50 - 11:18:59 PM NYC) (1987) {5CD Gramavision 18-8701-2 rec 1981}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.03 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 708 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 221 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1981, 1987 La Monte Young / Gramavision | 18-8701-2
Classical / Modern Classical / Modern Composition / Microtonal / Piano

The Well-Tuned Piano is La Monte Young's magnum opus, the work in which many of his theories are crystallized and laid out for the listener. It's a massive solo piano performance, lasting a little over five hours, during which Young displays virtually every combination of chords that he deems special, seguing one into another. At the end of the day, the question is: Given the formal system and obviously huge amount of time devoted to its investigation, is the resultant music beautiful enough to justify the large amount of hype accompanying the project? The first thing that strikes the listener is the sound of the piano itself, a Bosendorfer that has been tuned in just intonation.

For a few years, I got to travel with these bands—they included me—a dream come true. I’ve tried to take you on a trip with me and Art and the bands while reliving all of it a little—in writing it, in pictures I took, scenes and conversations I recall. And in the music Art asked me to record. About which I feel absolutely safe in saying it: That’s it. That’s jazz.