How about: Celtic Frost - "Monotheist" Triptykon - "Melana Chasmata" Sleep - "Dopesmoker" Great progressive metal recordings!
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The original Rockabilly artists, like The Rock 'n' Roll Trio (Johnny Burnette and his brother Dorsey, along with Telecaster guitarist Paul Burlinson, a favorite of Jeff Beck). There are hundreds of others, released on small, independent, regional labels in the mid-to-late 1950's. The original version of white Rock 'n' Roll, it's the blend of Jump Blues and Hillbilly. |
bdp24 10-26-2017My wife and I recently enjoyed hearing "The Train Kept a-Rollin" on SiriusXM while we were out for a drive. Prior to some other mentions you’ve made of the R&R Trio in past threads here I had only been aware of JB’s later and of course very different solo hits. I think the car enjoyed hearing it too, because the incredible energy level of the music caused it to be going a good deal faster at the end of the song than when it started :-) Best regards, -- Al |
Yeah, Al! The first version I heard of "Train Kept A Rollin’ " was in 1965, that by The Yardbirds with of course Jeff Beck on guitar. It’s a great version, and I was amazed in 1977 when I heard a version I liked even more, that of The Rock ’n’ Roll Trio. Absolute killer! Johnny Burnette’s scream in the song is on a Little Richard level---as good as it gets. The R & R Trio created an incredible feeling of tension, which requires the musicians to "hold back" in a way that’s hard to explain but easy to hear. The Who were good at that too, no more so than in "I Can See For Miles". Most bands are all about release, not first creating the tension which makes the release so, ahem, satisfying. Tension and release, what makes the best Rock ’n’ Roll so sexual. Elvis’ early stuff is full of it, as is the work of Rock ’n’ Roll master Dave Edmunds. Listen to Dave’s guitar solo in his 1970 recording of the Dave Bartholomew song "I Hear You Knocking", a hit for Smiley Lewis in the mid-50’s. The held-back tension in the song is palpable, and then Dave’s guitar solo kicks it up a notch, his note-timing creating the most intense tension-and-release I’ve heard in music. XXX-Rated, baby! Dave and Robert Plant are close friends, and both fans of the Blues and Hillbilly from which Rock ’n’ Roll evolved. Dave was one of the guitarists being considered as replacement for Brian Jones in The Stones. Luckily, he didn’t get the gig, and ended up creating the real "Best Rock ’n’ Roll Band In The World" (the claim to that title by The Rolling Stones notwithstanding) with Nick Lowe, Billy Bremmer, and Terry Williams---Rockpile. One of the maybe four best bands I’ve seen live, the other two being Little Village, NRBQ, and of course The Band. The Beatles weren’t very good when I saw them live in '65, by the way. |
Helios is amazing! There is an electronic ambient label called A Strangely Isolated Place. They release music through Bandcamp, where you can buy vinyl or various types of digital files (mp3, flac, aiff...). Once you buy the digital album, you can download any format as many times as you like. Anyway, on that label, there’s an amazing album called ’A State of Becoming’ by Lav & Perl. The vinyl is s beautiful pink and sounds incredible, very much in the Helios vein. I love abstract/ambient electronic music.. I’ll try not to fill this thread. 😁 |
Wow, that's a lot. I'm going to limit this to recent albums I've acquired that were unknown to me or that I missed along the way. Enzo Enzo - Ariola BOPL 1004 - This sort of fits into French cafe music. My daughter told me she likes French Cafe music, but I'm keeping this copy. The Alternate Blues - Analogue Productions APR 3010 - Heavy hitters, improvisation, great sound and music. Heartworn Highways - Diverse Records 016DLP - Documentary recordings from 1975 by the Classics playing their Classics. Great sound, but you have to forgive the vinyl a little. Ben Alison - Newvelle Records NV005LP - One from a box set. Expensive recordings and unique approach to making/marketing music. Great new music and sound, regardless. Kenny |
@inna @chazark123 @toddverone Happy for the positive responses. Glad for the opportunity to give these artists a little bit more exposure. Chaz - Don't know about availability of all those in vinyl, but limited vinyl production is not unheard of from some of these small labels; e.g., Kranky, Ghostly, n5md. Suggest you check discogs to see how they were released. I've had decent success buying on the Discogs marketplace (a little vinyl; just look for M/NM and a seller w/100% rating). As far as more, like Todd said, I don't want to load up this thread. Many of these "discoveries" were a result of visiting a really wonderful record review site called, "A Closer Listen - A Home for Instrumental & Experimental Music". Richard Allen should get some kind of cultural achievement award for what he has put together there. Hope you and others will check it out. https://acloserlisten.com Todd - "A Strangely Isolated Place" is an interesting name for an electronic/ambient label being (as you probably know) the name of a well-regarded electronica recording by Ulrich Schnauss. I look forward to checking out Lav & Perl's, "A State of Becoming". I like ambient as well but for active listening prefer compositions that are "going somewhere", as in Helios' "Unleft". There used to be an "ambient favorites" thread here on A'gon. Would love to see that resurrected and expanded to include electronica and "modern composition". |
I posted these as part of a more extensive list in response to another thread: brian davison- every which way-mercury- (former drummer for The Nice, set up 1 off band after Emerson left; great vocals by Graham Bell, sounds like old Traffic, blues shouter hard rock, good sound, not big $); blast furnace- s/t- danish polydor- buy the RSD reissue from Denmark, original pressings are $$$- great mix of psych and melody; lucifer’s friend- s/t-german philips- zeppy sabbath, with hues of deep purple and heep vocals- classic proto-metal; don’t bother with the universal reissue |
Hey whart, did you see The Nice in their one N. American tour? Must have been in '68 I saw them, at The Fillmore in SF. I was into that kind of thing at the time, had their debut album. They were a quartet, right? Keith Emerson on organ, of course. Around the same time I saw The Vagrants, with Leslie West playing guitar and singing---his first "national" band. |
@ghosthouse Yeah, it's funny about that label name. The Ulrich Schnauss album came out before the record label existed.. not sure about the connection. It's great to meet another member who appreciates electronic listening music. If you like a bit more movement to your chill electronic music, check out djrum. His ep 'mountains' strikes a great balance between calm and energetic. The tracks and nice and long too, so they develop at a stately pace. I'll certainly be checking out 'a closer listen'. Thanks for the tip! |
@bdp24 - nope, didn't even know of Emerson 'til the first ELP record. Emerson was an amazing pianist and keyboard artist. There are video clips of him performing works of a classical nature. The whole "prog rock" thing got overdone, and lost traction, but I still listen to early ELP, I have a couple of The Nice on early UK pressings. Leslie West- a whole other story. Lon-guy-land boy as I remember. I first saw him and Mountain (with the great Felix Pappalardi) open for Tull right before Aqualung was released. (I think Glenn Cornick was still playing bass). Leslie was a tone monster. No shredding, no impeccable fingering technique, but he could pull more soul out of a few notes than many more technically proficient guitarists. (The leads in Theme for an Imaginary Western come to mind). FWIW, we went to hear Crimson a couple weeks ago. I wasn't a long time fan, only really cared about the first album, though I had passing familiarity with Red, Larks Tongue and a few other tracks from the Wetton era. (Greg Lake's voice on the first album was gorgeous, but got lost in the mix). This band put on one of the best shows I have ever attended- well produced, no sonic overload, tighter than hell- three drummers, everybody, from the woodwind player to the bassist, played dead on-- Very few "old" acts that are still around can even approach what they did in their heyday. These guys, from what I gather, are in better form than ever. Fripp, of course, was as inscrutable as ever- looking like a retired haberdasher or banker, sitting on a stool, conducting and occasionally playing these psychotic, psych fills on vintage Les Paul's that were run through synthesizers. Crazy good show if you can catch it. |
Yup Bill, Emerson got a lot of credit for being a "Classically" trained keyboardist playing Rock music. He did that, though, not by using Classical compositional knowledge (ala Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman, Gary Brooker, a few other Pop and Rock keyboardists, especially Garth Hudson of The Band) to create new, song-form music, but rather by playing music written by Classical composers for an orchestra, in a Rock band. For me, that didn’t work---it sounded silly. Pictures At An Exhibition, written by Mussorgsky for solo piano, but better known in the version orchestrated by Ravel, played by a Rock band? Uh, no thanks. In contrast, Garth Hudson used his knowledge of music theory to play great Classically informed parts in his organ playing in The Band. Matthew Fisher did the same in Procol Harum. That’s more like it! For me, at any rate. |
Jimmy LaFave Start with "Cimarron Manifesto" or "The Night Tribe" Poetic Austin (by way of Oklahoma) songwriter/rocker/Dylan devotee. His voice may not be to everyone’s taste. Think of a male early Lucinda Williams, the way his voice breaks and cracks. I like it just fine. He made great, rich music. He left us last May but his music deserves to live on and on. |
@toddverrone Likewise about meeting another with similar interests in "electronica" (though I'm all over the map on any given day, week, month)... Hope you do spend some time at A Closer Listen. Will be surprised you don't come away with a candidate for purchase. In turn, I will see what I can find from djrum A few others for you (and anyone else that's interested)... Coppice Halifax - High Hawaiian Fog Tangent - Collapsing Horizons Fort Romeau - Insides (kinda old school sounding synths at the start) |
Yes! The Muleskinner album is fantastic, and that live TV appearance was put out on VHS tape. I don't know about DVD. Speaking of Peter Rowan, he joined Seatrain in time for their second album (s/t, produced by George Martin), and the version on that album of Lowell George's great song "Willin' " is my favorite. |
Shout out for SnackeyP on Chicken Shack. I love the combo of Christine McVie's vocals and Stan Webb's guitar. I'd add Zachary Richard to the list. He's a Cajun musician who plays across a great many styles and often sings in French. His early live album "Fatras!" is great, high energy Cajun dance music featuring an impossibly young Sonny Landreth on guitar. Much later, he recorded "Cap Enrage", a lovely collection of French language ballads. In between were a series of great crossover records that blended pop, blues, rock, and Zydeco. |
+1 Chicken Shack. Stan Webb is fantastc. The Blue Horizon sessions is a great box set. I also have several other albums and a live DVD of Stan and sone of his current crew. Maceo Parker has some fantastic albums. Fred Wesley too. Jean Michel Jarre Imelda May The Waifs Tony Allen Nils Landgren Hey Nigreta/Curse of Lono The Boogie Patrol Ron Armus |
There is an absolutely incredible album from 1997 that few people are aware of: Greetings From Planet Love, by The Fraternal Order Of The All. The album’s title and the group’s name should give you a hint as to what the music and lyrics sound like! It is a tongue-in-cheek parody of the psychedelic era, done superbly well. It is the product of Andrew Gold, a name that will be familiar to listeners of a certain age. For you younger listeners, look him up. You have GOT to hear it! Especially you, whart!! |
Inna, since you had one record I was familiar with I had to check the rest. Sussan Deyhim got a thumbs up, I'll have to get that. Steve Roach- Jorge Reyes is worth another listen in a different mood. In order to get into Helborg/ Velez, a few tokes on the hash/hish pipe would most certainly help; that music is other worldly. |
