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Song Of The Day – “Aries: The Fire Fighter” by The Zodiac

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ZodiacCosmicSoundsAt any other time in music history, this record would have never happened. But the timing was right for Cosmic Sounds by The Zodiac in 1967, and Elektra Records boss, Jac Holzman, was just the man to make it happen.

The album cover promised “Celestial counterpoint with words and music,” and the resultant record delivered the sublime and the ridiculous, all in one place. But first a little background…

Holzman was basking in the glory of the success of The Doors’ debut album when he got the idea to create a record that would match the psychedelic music that was currently all the rage, with poetry a la Jim Morrison, and use the signs of the Zodiac to tie it all together.

Holzman contacted Alex Hassilev of the folk group, The Limeliters to produce the project, and Hassilev brought in Moog synthesizer pioneers Mort Garson (who was also his business partner) and Paul Beaver (later of Beaver and Krause) to create suitable music for the endeavor.

Bassist, Carole Kaye and drummer, Hal Blaine of the L.A. studio collective The Wrecking Crew, made up the rhythm section along with “exotic percussionist” Emil Richards who had previously worked with Frank Zappa. Rounding out the stellar cast of musicians was West Coast jazzman Bud Shank on the flute and Mike Melvoin on keyboards.

But the icing on the proverbial cake was the heavy-lidded narration written by Jaques Wilson, which was “expertly” recited by folk singer Cyrus Fayer. Each song on the twelve track album was inspired by one of the zodiac signs, although the dialog is pretty much interchangeable between all the tracks, and always unintentionally hilarious.

The album did next to no business when released back in 1967, but heard with today’s ears, it contains a fair amount of first-rate music, and of course, the giggle-inducing dialog makes this record one of the coolest period pieces from the psychedelic era.

Take heed of the recommendation on the back cover of this record: “Must Be Played In The Dark.”


Song Of The Day – “The Holy Drinker” by Steven Wilson

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stevenwilsonIf you thought that the progressive rock dinosaurs that dominated the musical landscape of the 1970s were all but extinct today, think again. Sure, bands like Yes and Jethro Tull are still churning out the classics on stages around the world, but in recent years the prog-rock scene has seen a full on rejuvenation starting in the ‘80s with Metallica, whose brand of progressive metal made them superstars and in the ‘90s when The Mars Volta rose out of the ashes of the punk band At The Drive In to dress their music in proggy clothing.

Over the last decade, there’s been a plethora of full-on prog bands like Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater, 30 Seconds to Mars, Coheed and Cambria, Muse and even Radiohead and The Flaming Lips, who have folded elements of progressive rock into their arsenals and kept the genre fresh and alive.

And then there’s Steven Wilson, the studio wunderkind who is known as much for his 5.1 surround mixes of the King Crimson and Jethro Tull back catalogs, as for his numerous recordings under numerous names.

Perhaps, Wilson is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of Porcupine Tree. But his involvement with that storied group is just the tip of the iceberg, an iceberg that includes groups like Blackfield, which he formed with Israeli rock star Aviv Geffen, and No-Man (originally named No Man Is An Island (Except The Isle Of Man)) with fellow musician and vocalist Tim Bowness. And if that wasn’t already enough, there’s also  IEM, or Incredible Expanding Mindfuck, which Wilson formed to explore his love of krautrock, Bass Communion in which he focuses his attention on ambient music and Storm Corrosion, a collaboration with Mikael Åkerfeldt, who is the front man of Opeth.

Porcupine Tree started out as a duo of Wilson and his school friend Malcolm Stocks. After a series of singles and cassette only releases, Porcupine Tree became a proper band with the addition of Richard Barbieri, Colin Edwin and Chris Maitland. Numerous releases followed including Up the Downstair, The Sky Moves Sideways, Signify, the live Coma Divine, Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun before Maitland left and was replaced by Gavin Harrison in 2001. The following year, Porcupine Tree released In Abstentia and followed it with Deadwing (an album inspired by a film script written by Wilson and Mike Bennion), the live DVD Arriving Somewhere, Fear Of A Blank Planet and the double disc The Incident.

By 2008 Wilson began his solo career with the release of Insurgentes, followed by Grace For Drowning, a deluxe CD and Blu-ray release from 2011 with the individual parts named “Deform to Form a Star” and “Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye.”

Today’s Song Of The Day, “The Holy Drinker,” comes from Wilson’s just-released The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories), whose six extended compositions are based on the supernatural. You can hear the influence of Gentle Giant and Return To Forever all over this album, especially in the mellotron-drenched opener “Luminol,” in the fusion guitar solos of “Drive Home” and in the stop-start precision of “The Holy Drinker.” The album was engineered by Alan Parsons, whose guitar solo lights up today’s Song Of The Day.

 

Wilson’s current band includes Guthrie Govan on guitars, Marco Minnemann on drums, Nick Beggs on bass guitar, Adam Holzman on keyboards and Theo Travis on woodwinds. With the exception of Govan, all of the rest of the band members played on Wilson’s last album and the tour that supported it.

Wilson will be touring the U.S. this spring with former Frank Zappa sideman, Chad Wakerman filling in for Marco Minnemann on drums.

Song Of the Day – “On The Air” & “Moribund The Burgermeister” by Peter Gabriel (Live from Rockpalast, 1978)

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PeterGabrielRockpalast2By the time of the broadcast from this 1978 Rockpalast show, Peter Gabriel was three years past his Genesis days and was out on the road promoting his second solo record, Peter Gabriel (which also goes by the names Peter Gabriel II and Scratch because of its album jacket image).

I’ve already written several pieces on Peter Gabriel’s second album and its unique relationship with two other Robert Fripp productions, Sacred Songs by Daryl Hall and Fripp’s own Exposure , but a nice pro-shot concert from this era is a real find worth sharing.

The video was shot on September 15th 1978 and was shown on the long-running German music TV show, Rockpalast. It’s Gabriel in full theatrics, gyrating and rolling around on stage in costume, with dramatic lighting and an even more dramatic haircut.

His first-rate band includes Peter Gabriel on piano and vocals, Tony Levin on bass, Jerry Marotta on drums, Sid McGuiness on guitar, Larry “Synergy” Fast on keyboards and Timmy Capello on keyboards and saxophone.

The set list features all you could’ve wanted from a Gabriel show from this period, including White Shadow and Perspective from the second album and Solisbury Hill, Here Comes The Flood, Humdrum and Waiting For The Big One from the first. Toss in and early version of “I Don’t Remember,” that wouldn’t see a proper release for two more years and, of course, a token Genesis classic, “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway,” and you’ve got a feast for the eyes and ears for any Gabriel fan.

Thanks to my musical comrade in arms, Bob Wintermute, for sharing this with me.

Song Of The Day – “What The Eyeballs Did” by Atoms For Peace

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atomsforpeaceamokThe first thing that grabs you is the rhythm – jittery, squiggly, purely wiggy and totally glitchy rhythm. Rhythms that don’t make you dance, but do make you move. The ghost of Talking Heads’ Remain In Light lives here. Their fingerprints are all over songs that have been built up from rhythm. They inhabit the nine tracks that make up Amok, the first official album by Atoms For Peace.

Atoms For Peace consists of Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich (keyboards, synths), Joey Waronker of Beck & R.E.M.  on drums and Brazilian instrumentalist Mauro Refosco on percussion. The group bonded over their shared love of Afrobeat music and Fela Kuti, although you’d be hard pressed to feel the influence in the electronic jitter within.

They originally assembled back in 2009 when Yorke decided to take his first solo record, The Eraser out on the road. Back then the group went by the awkward monikers “??????” or “Thom Yorke????” depending on where they performed. Now they’re known by the also-awkward moniker “Atoms For Peace,” named after a song from The Eraser which took its name from a 1953 speech made by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Recording began in 2010, with Yorke assembling the band to share his laptop experiments. They then jammed on top of Yorke’s rhythm tracks and shaped the extended jams they captured on tape into songs by editing the pieces; much like Miles Davis and Teo Maceo did back in the day while creating masterworks like Bitches Brew and In A Silent Way. Except, Amok is no Bitches Brew or In A Silent Way…

My first impression of the record is that this is dance music you can’t dance to. Nothing really sticks. The songs are merely patches of sound and rhythm with Yorke’s barely intelligible falsetto floating in and out of the proceedings. Just when the tracks seem like they are ready to cut loose, they evaporate into the ether. Yorke seems like he’s a guest in his own band, a band with Flea firmly in charge anchoring the songs as best he can.

Some of the tracks rise above the textural density upon repeated plays revealing hints of melody, including the album’s opener, “Before Your Very Eyes,” “Stuck Together In Pieces” which is held together by Flea’s bass loops, and “Default” which sound like an outtake from David Byrne’s Music from the Catherine Wheel. “Dropped” and the record’s first single “Judge, Jury and Executioner” most resemble traditional song structures, and as a result are the most satisfying tracks here.

Best song of all isn’t even on the album! In their infinite wisdom, all of videos from Amok have been removed from YouTube. However, today’s Song Of The Day, “What The Eyeballs Did” is an outtake from the album that is easily better than everything that made it onto the album. When Atoms For Peace announced the release of the record in December, the song was included on the band’s website as a hidden Easter Egg. Happy Hunting!

So what we have is a somewhat flat headphone album you can get totally lost in. These tracks will no doubt explode when performed live on tour later this year.

Above High RadioActivity 🎼☢️

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I’m your Uncle Marty, as The 3D RadioActivity hits the 502 mark as this time our aim is to see how far we can get ABOVE HIGH RadioActivity!  ☢️ 🎶 😎

Download:
https://archive.org/download/The3dRadioactivity/3dradio_20190929-AboveHighRadioactivity.mp3
Or play here:

Some people aim low, we were positive by going HIGH in the show, after we passed ABOVE too, so BEYOND will be the natural segueway for us on our next sonic celebration.  What’s on your mind?  Send your ideas, cute pet stories, and suggestions to me by  email or leave a message on our Facebook page where you can give us a Like, and you can find hyperlinks to all of the earlier episodes and graphics in the photo section.  Tell all your circle of best friends and family to look for us on Theacidflashback.com,  http://www.villageconnectionmagazine.com/ Long Island, New York;Denver’s MileHiRadio, TuneIn and InternetFM dot com, because the best FM radio is now on the Internet.

Until we meet again, Always Rock On!

…Uncle Marty

“It’s not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.”

…Marilyn Monroe

Today in Rock History – October 8

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beatles-1964B1964, Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles recorded their next single “She’s a Woman” in seven takes, plus overdubs, recording the song from start to finish in five hours.

1964, Roy Orbison was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with “Oh Pretty Woman,” his third UK No.1. The title was inspired by Orbison’s wife Claudette interrupting a conversation to announce she was going out.  Orbison asked if she was okay for cash, and his co-writer Bill Dees interjected “A pretty woman never needs any money.”

1965, The Who appeared at City Hall in Perth, Australia.

1965, During a UK The Rolling Stones appeared at The ABC, Stockton on Tees. Also on the bill, Spencer Davis Group, Unit Four + 2, The Checkmates, The End, and Charles Dickens and The Habits.

1965, The Florescents supported by The Castiles, which featured a young singer called Bruce Springsteen appeared at the I.B. Club in Howell, New Jersey. This was The Castiles first publicly advertised nightclub appearance. Admission was $1.00

1966, Cream drummer Ginger Baker collapsed during a gig at Sussex University, England after playing a 20 minute drum solo. He recovered in a local hospital.

1967, Jimi Hendrix, Arthur Brown and John’s Children all appeared at the Saville Theatre in London, England.

1969, Humble Pie, supported by David Bowie, appeared at The Coventry Theatre in England.

1971, The Allman Brothers Band appeared at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, California.

led-zeppelin-led-zep-II1971, Led Zeppelin II was enjoying its 100th week on the UK album charts. It was the band’s first album to hit No.1 in the US, knocking The Beatles’ Abbey Road twice from the top spot, where it remained for seven weeks. When first released the album had advance orders of 400,000 copies in the USA, (the advertising campaign was built around the slogan “Led Zeppelin II Now Flying.”) In 1999, it was certified 12 times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for US sales in excess of 12 million copies.

1972, David Bowie performed at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.

1974, The Ramones played at CBGB, New York.

1975, The Doobie Brothers appeared at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee.

1976, AC/DC played at Jahrhunderthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

1977,   David Soul was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with “Silver Lady,” his second and last UK No.1 single. Soul was an actor on the American TV cop show Starsky & Hutch.

1978, Yes performed at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum in Oakland, California.

1980, Blue Oyster Cult played at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana.

1982, R.E.M. appeared at the Peppermint Lounge, New York City, supported by The Fleshtones.

1987, Chuck Berry was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His film biography, Hail, Hail Rock & Roll also premiered on the same night.

1988, On their 12th single release, U2 scored their first UK No.1 with “Desire.” The track which was also a US No.3 hit, was taken from their album Rattle And Hum.

1989, The Grateful Dead played at the Hampton Coliseum, in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

1992, The US Postal Service issued a set of commemorative stamps to celebrate pop music legends. The stamps included Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Ritchie Valens, Clyde McPhatter and Dinah Washington.

2000, Radiohead started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart their fourth studio album Kid A. The album became the first Radiohead release to debut at No.1 in the US.

2006, The Killers started a three week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Sam’s Town the US bands second album.The title refers to a hotel-casino in the band’s hometown of Las Vegas.

Born on this day: George Bellamy, guitar, The Tornadoes (1940); Butch Rillera, Redbone and Ray Royer, guitarist, Procol Harum (1945); Tony Wilson, Hot Chocolate (1947); Johnny Ramone, guitar, The Ramones (1948); and Bruno Mars (1985)

Link to Today in Rock History archives

Song Of The Day – “While I’m Alive” by STRFKR & “Young Turks” by Sexton Blake

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STRFKRsextonblakeSure, you’d be hard-pressed to forgive them for a band name as over the top as STRFKR (which is short for Starfucker). But props are firmly in order because over the past few years they’ve released three solid albums; chock full of deliciously danceable and tuneful electro pop confections.

STRFKR’s roots are in solo projects by guitar/vocalist Josh Hodges, released under the moniker Sexton Blake. While the first Sexton Blake album was purely a solo affair, the second album featured a band (also called Sexton Blake)with Ryan Bjornstad on keyboards, Tom Homolya on bass and Tim Edgar on drums.

Together they recorded and released the 2007 record, Sexton Blake Plays The Hits, comprised totally of ‘70s and ‘80s covers, like Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart,” Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes,” Milli Vanilli’s “Girl You Know It’s True,” Supertramp’s “The Logical Song,” Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature,” The Dream Academy’s “Life In A Northern Town,” Elton John’s “Daniel,” ELO’s “Evil Woman” and one of today’s two Songs Of the Day, “Young Turks,” a Rod Stewart cover.

Following the Sexton Blake records, Hodges and Bjornstad relocated to Portland, Oregon where they joined forces with Shawn Glassford and Keil Corcoran to form a new group. After a few name changes from PYRAMID to Pyramiddd, they settled on the moniker Starfucker, which has now been shortened to STRFKR. Their first blush of success resulted when Target picked up their song “Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second,” for one of their TV campaigns.

The group has three albums under its belt including the eponymous debut record, Jupiter from 2009 and the superb Reptilians, which was one of the best records of 2011. An album of demos from Reptilians was also released as a Record Store Day exclusive last year. After extensive touring in support of Reptilians, Bjornstad announced he was leaving STRFKR to embark on a solo career, and was replaced by guitarist Patrick Morris in time to record and release their brand new album Miracle Mile. (due out 2/19/13)

The album begins with the blazing synth introduction on today’s other Song Of The Day, “While I’m Alive,” setting the tone for the electro-Bee Gees feast to follow. The rest of the album’s tunes are highly danceable, but more importantly, they are infused with hook-laden melodies that stick around long after they’re over, and that, my friends, is the key to this band’s greatness.

Song Of The Day – “From The Sun” by Unknown Mortal Orchestra

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unknownmortalorchIIOut of the murky haze of gauze- encased melodies and tranquilized, processed vocals arrives the second album from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, cleverly titled II.

UMO is the brain child of Ruban Nielson, formally of the band Mint Chicks, who counts artists as diverse as Captain Beefheart and Sly Stone as major influences. Their muffled sound is an amalgam of neo-psychedelic acts like MGMT, Ween, Apples In Stereo and Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, coming off like an updated Sid Barrett-era Pink Floyd. However, their totally unique angular melodies set this group apart from all the rest.

It all began in June of 2010, when Nielson anonymously uploaded his song “Ffuny Ffriends” onto Bandcamp (a website that helps bands sell their music and merchandise directly to fans). The song garnered frenzied interest partly because it was uploaded anonymously. The buzz led to Nielson claiming the song under the name Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The eponymously titled debut album that followed on Fat Possum Records was one of the best albums of 2011, proving the hype generated by the song was no fluke.

Today’s song of the day opens their second album, and builds on a rhythmic pattern dictated by the opening vocal line delivered via Nielson’s filtered falsetto, “Isolation can put a gun in your hand…” The lovely delivery of the lyric belies the acidic desperation that lies at its core. The pattern is then fortified when the guitar, bass and drums kick in to establish the shuffled feel of the track.

It is followed by the album’s first single “Swim and Sleep (Like A Shark),” the soulful “So Good At Being In Trouble,” the Princely “One At A Time,” and mind-addled confections like “The Opposite Of Afternoon” and “No Need For A Leader,” creating a sonic sequence that is both mind numbing and alluring.

The album looses a little steam when it hits a bit of a dry patch with the wonky “Monki” and the atmospheric instrumental “Dawn,” where the songs cave under the weight of the production, but the record recovers during the home stretch with “Faded In The Morning” and “Secret Xtians” (Christians).

While not as melodically satisfying as the debut album, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s second helping is a record that will reward upon multiple spins.

Song Of The Day – “Kinda Fuzzy” by Eels

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eelswonderful

It’s wonderful! It’s glorious! It’s Eels new album Wonderful, Glorious! Actually, the album could have been titled Everett Comes Alive, or even more to the point Get Happy! 

For their tenth studio album, Eels turned to a collaborative process, creating songs out of in-studio jams, with E (Mark Oliver Everett) adding lyrics on the fly. The result is a recording that is far more diverse in its sound, and a whole lot greasier than the last two Eels records.

Coming on the heels of the three-album trilogy, Hombre Lobo, End Times and Tomorrow Morning, with their attendant themes of desire, heartbreak and renewal, Wonderful, Glorious moves beyond renewal into happiness territory, or at least, as happy as Everett will allow.

But what are we to make of Everett’s apparent happiness? Ten studio albums in, and this is a first! Generally speaking, when artists attain happiness and well-being in their personal lives, it usually means that the creativity suffers greatly. Yet on Wonderful, Everett manages to find new and interesting ways to revel in his high spirits, without dragging the proceedings down.

Right from the get-go, Everett and his band of merry men – the Chet, Knuckles, Koool G Murder and P-Boo – crawl out of the woodwork in somewhat vengeful form on “Bombs Away,” with its wiggy electronic clicks and pops, stop-stuttering rhythms and proclamation: “I’ve had enough of being complacent, I’ve had enough of being the mouse…Bombs Away,” setting the tone for the awakening to come.

“New Alphabet” proclaims “You know what, I’m in a good mood today. I’m so happy, it’s not yesterday,” while “Peach Blossom” hints at new beginnings with the couplet, “Oh man, feels so nice. That was a long, cold night. But then the sun came out, to thaw the ice.”

“The Turnaround” adds “You’re all gonna be sorry, when I leave town, And get it together for the turnaround” as it builds to the epic conclusion, “Six bucks in my pocket, the shoes on my feet, first step is out the door, and onto the street.” On today’s Song Of The Day, “Kinda Fuzzy,” Everett and company share “I’m feeling kinda fuzzy, the future looks bright, don’t mess with me I’m up for the fight!”

The record’s most intimate moment comes in the spare ballad “Accident Prone,” with a gorgeous melody and clever wordplay that turns the negative connotation of the title phrase into a positive:  “A happy accident, me running into you …I was getting tired of always being alone, Good thing that I’ve always been accident prone.”

The deluxe version of the album doubles the song count by adding four new songs, plus an additional eight exclusive live versions of older songs. While Wonderful, Glorious doesn’t dramatically break any new ground musically, it still an album that is, indeed wonderful and glorious. It should be lots of fun watching it come alive on stage when Eels take this album on tour.

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Song Of The Day – “Under Heavy Manners” by Robert Fripp with David Byrne

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robertfrippdavidbyrneAfter the demise of King Crimson in 1974, Robert Fripp spent several years laying low before entering a period of high activity from 1977-1980, resulting in some of his most interesting collaborations. Starting in 1977, Fripp joined Brian Eno in Germany to add guitar parts to David Bowie’s “Heroes.”  This was followed by Fripp’s production of albums for Daryl Hall (Sacred Songs), Peter Gabriel (his second album with the “Scratch” cover) and the eponymously titled album by The Roches, plus sessions with an amalgam of like-minded artists including Peter Hammill (of Van Der Graaf Generator), Brian Eno, Blondie (on Parallel Lines), Jerry Marrota, Phil Collins and Tony Levin. Some of these sessions resulted in tracks that made up Fripp’s first solo record, Exposure released in 1979. After the release of Exposure, Fripp also participated in sessions with Talking Heads (Remain In Light), David Bowie (Scary Monsters) and Peter Gabriel (his third album known as Melt).

God Save The Queen/Under Heavy Manners was the follow-up to Exposure, which was supposed to be the third in a trilogy of records he produced, with Sacred Songs by Daryl Hall as the first and Peter Gabriel’s second album as the second. However, RCA records refused to release the Daryl Hall record in 1977 deeming it too uncommercial (and kept it on the shelf for a full three years), so a re-think was needed.

At this point, Fripp was enmeshed in “Frippertronics” which is a tape loop technique he and Brian Eno developed putting two reel-to-reel tape decks side by side, with the tape on the recording deck capturing a sound and then as the tape passes through the playback head of the second deck, it is played back with a delay before being threaded onto the take-up reel of the second deck.

Fripp had used the technique on the albums No Pussyfooting and Evening Star with Brian Eno, on David Bowie’s Heroes, as well as on Exposure and the Hall and Gabriel records. The God Save The Queen album side (designated as “Side One”) featured pure Frippertronic recordings of just loops, while the Under Heavy Manners side (designated as “Side A”) featured what Fripp termed “Discotronics,” which augmented the pure “Frippertronics” with a dance beat.

During the recording  of Manners, Fripp was also working with Talking Heads on their album Remain In Light, so for the only track with vocals, Fripp invited David Byrne (billed as Absalm el Habib) to sing. All of the guitar tracks on the album were recorded live in 1979 while Fripp toured behind Exposure, with the bass played by Busta Jones who was also involved in the Talking Heads sessions, and drum tracks by Paul Duskin, added later in the studio.