Neu! - Neu! 1972 mp3 [9/10]

Neu! came in to existence in the wake of break up of krautrock pioneers Kraftwerk. Neu!'s eponymous 1972 debut retains much of the sleek and mechanical instrumentation that was a staple of Kraftwerk's techno-robot-rock, however this album veers from the any of the techno elements that made Kraftwerk's brilliance slightly cheesy. There are also no vocals on Neu! This is pure instrumentation. The album kick's off with "Hallogallo" who's driving beat and sweeping guitar/keyboard soundscapes evolve over the course of 11 minutes, and although it never strays far from home, it never gets boring. That really could sum up the whole album. Neu! is in some senses a drone album, each track sticking around a certain sonic plateau and just playing around on it. However, it balances it's ambient drone with hard groove. For such a mechanical album, there is a whole lot of soul.

One of the greatest moments on the album is on "Negativland." The 9 minute track drives and grooves on relentlessly before just dropping you, mid-bar into silence. It's testament to Neu!'s compositional skills that I was truly shocked and started when it the groove I had become lost in disappeared.

Neu! has been ridiculously influential on everyone from Radiohead to Iggy Pop (Negativland's bass line could be straight from a Joy Division song too) as well as most electronic music. It's hard to imagine where we'd be with out this album. You shouldn't listen to this album because it's a prototype tho. Rather you should listen to it because it's still fresh and vibrant today.

Summary: Sleek and beautiful, this thing hums along and never tires you out.

Best Track: Negativland

Rating: [9/10]

Movie: Luther - 2003 **

Directed by Eric Till

To me, the Reformation is one of the most, if not THE most, unsettling of historical periods. Division in Christ's church pains me to no end as does any abuse of her power. Luther narrates the rise of Brother Martin Luther into prominence and his disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church which led to the Protestant Reformation.

Luther, fearing death in a storm, promises that if God will spare him he will become a monk. He struggles in his monastic life with the problem of God being a vengeful and angry God, asking why God would make us tainted with sin and expect us to be perfect or be thrown to hell. Joseph Fiennes portrays Luther as a man tortured by the Devil, being thrown around his monastic cell and screaming at Satan to leave him alone. I know that Martin Luther was continuously distressed by his own Sin and spent hours in confession confessing to the most minute sin, but I don't know about his being tortured by the devil. Luther is sent to Rome to get out of the monastery and there he sees more clearly the abuses of Church power. Eric Till gives shot after shot of what was wrong with the Church: indulgences, brothels for Clergy, artificial relics. It's interesting that one of the main supporters of this film is a Lutheran society, and it shows. With the exception perhaps of Luther's father Abbot, there is not a single positive thing to be found in the Catholic church in this film.

The film's strongest moments are mostly those that involve Frederick the Wise, played excellently by Sir Peter Ustinov, who is the most reasonable character in the film. A well know collector of relics, Frederick is convicted by Luther's arguments against them and defends him as an intellectual force, using his influence to grant Luther a fair trial after he is convicted for heresy following the publishing of his 95 Theses. Luther's defense is well known:

Unless I am convicted by scripture and plain reason

- I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other

- my conscience is captive to the Word of God.

I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.

Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise.

God help me. Amen.

One of the film's strengths is how well it shows Luther's distress at being called an enemy of the church. He constantly uphold's the Pope and says that he is writing against those who are corrupting the name of the Pope by actively abusing his authority for their own ends. When asked to recant he continually asks to be able to debate using scripture as to why his views are wrong or against the Pope and the result is the quote above.

Unfortunately there are a few points in the film which do not explain themselves and can be confusing as to what is taking place if one is not aware of the history.

Over all a decent film but I felt that the one sidedness of it and a few plot gaps left it wanting.

Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom 1974 mp3 [9/10]

This is the first album after Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt fell out of a window and was rendered confined to a wheel chair. Not to be stopped, Wyatt switched (mostly) from drums to focus on songwriting and piano. This is an album of restrained but fully realized emotion. Wyatt's voice has a strained quality but rarely seems to leave the realm of sighing-semifalsetto. The arrangements build in complexity on each side of the record until the madness of Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road/Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road which are full out noodling improv sessions with horns, drums, keys, bass, guitar all layering up into an emotional and dynamic climax. Other tracks such as "Sea Song" have a Bowie-esque quality to them with long piano chords and interesting structures which allow the other instruments to dance around Wyatt's voice.

Lyrically, Sea Song is the most straightforward - a song of yearning and mysterious love. Many other tracks seem to be mostly nonsensical, but there is an underlying emotion and lyricism even to the very strange love song, "Alifib."

There are moments on this album that seem to have influenced Radiohead and other more recent experimental groups, but this album stands as a great musical and artistic creation regardless of any later influence.

Summary: A challenging and emotional album, definitely requiring multiple listens to appreciate. Soulful and intense prog/jazz.

Best Track: Alifib

Rating: [9/10]

Frank Zappa "Sheik Yerbouti" 1979 2xLP [7/10]

Sheik Yerbouti, Zappa's 20th album, remains his best selling out of 62(!) albums.

"Some of you might not agree

'Cause you probably likes a lot of misery

But think a while and you will see...

Broken hearts are for assholes"

First listen:

Zappa in any era was experimental and goofy, but this album is hilarious. He somehow touches on pretty much every genre of music you can think of, but this is probably the most punk rock I've ever heard his meanderings. It's definitely not for everybody, and any album requires some concentration to really appreciate. A lot of people pass him off as random, and at some point it seems so, but Zappa is a master craftsman of the mad scientist variety, and also a very talented guitar player.

My pressing interestingly has Side 1 and 4 on one LP and 2 and 3 on another... each side ringing in at around 18 minutes of madness.

Side one has a whole lot of stuff on it (as does any one side of Zappa's collection) including Bob Dylan impressions, Peter Frampton "covers" and the above quoted "Broken Hearts are for Assholes" which is pretty self explanatory. 2 delves more into the unconventional with short spoken word quips between tracks (though nothing like on his early material like 1966's Freak Out!) Zappa has got himself a solid jam band which is well exemplified on the instrumental "Rat Tomago" and "The Sheik Yerbouti Tango." "Bobby Brown" is a brutally funny commentary on the hypersexuality of America which was banned in a few countries because of it's lyrics which I will not quote here...

"Tiny is as Tiny Does"

Side 3's "Dancin' Fool" hates on Disco, which, let's be honest, is totally ok.

Side 4's "Yo' Mama" is a 12 minute diss with a whole lotta guitar noodling.

There's a lot to absorb and I've been doing reviews of a lot of albums today so I obviously haven't done this album justice. But it's pretty awesome and I'm excited for more delving into it.

First listen:

Summary: Zappa mad hilarity

Best Track: Broken Hearts are for Assholes

Rating: [7/10]

Led Zeppelin "4" 1971 vinyl [8/10]

"You JUST got Zeppelin 4?"

yes. i know. i'm sorry. and I've never listened to it before this either.

"WHAAAAT?!"

i know. i know. i have heard tracks of course, "Stairway" of course (though only 3 times probably) and "When the Levee Breaks" and I think "Black Dog."

There is obviously very little to say about his album. Everything has been said. Though I must admit that I now understand. I now believe. Here's a play by play of my first listen of one of the greatest rock records ever made. From "Black Dog"'s first howl of "Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove" I'm sold. "Rock and Roll" just keeps me moving. Which is good, because honestly "The Battle of Evermore" is kind of goofy. It someone never quite hits "Cheesy" territory tho, and for that it gets some kudos. "Stairway" is, well, "Stairway." Though that guitar solo had more punch than I remember.

Side Two: The stoned monotone of "Misty Mountain Hop" broken up with Robert Plant's squeals is just freaking rad and groovy. Is Bonham using "Four Sticks" to play this song? coz it's thumpin'! "Going to California" is really gorgeous. I like the mellower side of Plant's voice - see his collab with Alison Krause.

"Levee" is just a great freaking song. That beat, the howling harmonica, the moan. It's the track I'm most familiar with on the album and the track that made me start liking Zeppelin in the first place.

What an enjoyable listening experience. "Evermore" was the single lull for me. I haven't said a thing about Jimmy Page's guitar work because it's a given. However, for the record, it's amazing.

Summary: Legendary Rock 'n' Roll

Best Track: When the Levee Breaks

Rating: [8/10]

Phil Ochs - Gunfight at Carnegie Hall 1970 [7/10]/Pleasures of the Harbour 1967 [8/10]/All the News That's Fit to Sing 1964 [7/10]

"I could never strip, that would be cheap."

Phil Ochs is just amazing - I bought 3 of his LPs today haha two of which I've loved for a while but never owned and the infamous Gunfight. Ochs is a first class protest folker. Maybe (dare I say it?!) better than Dylan. His biting wit and heartfelt concern for social issues in America and second to none. That combined with one of the richest voices, and that tell-tale vibrato, not to mention impressive arrangements, set him apart. All The News..., his first album, established him as a singer-songwriter of depth with songs about totalitarian gov't, Vietnam, and the Black Civil Rights movement.

Pleasures of the Harbour is a master work. It's one of my favourite albums and I'm pleased to have it on vinyl. Complex arrangements depart from Ochs' classic guitar and voice, but at no expense to the heart. "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" is probably the most famous track from Pleasures and the first verse is worth quoting in full as an example of his sharp irony.

Look outside the window, there's a woman being grabbed

They've dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed

Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain

But monopoly is so much fun, i'd hate to blow the game

And i'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody

Outside of a small circle of friends

There is not a single track on Pleasures that is not amazingly rich and beautiful.

Gunfight at Carnegie Hall was released in the wake of the 1968 Chicago Police Riots and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.. Depressed and disillusioned, Ochs, ever one to challenge any status quo, even those of his leftist hard-core protestor fans, Ochs decided to put on a show...a ROCK show. He came out on stage in a gold Elvis suit and played a mixture Buddy Holly and Elvis and other rock and roll mixed in with his classic folk songs. The shock was nearly as great as Dylan's plugging in at Newport. Ochs' antics brought on audible "Boo's" and shouts of "Bring on Phil Ochs," which he answered sarcastic with "Let's not be closed minded Americans" and other witty remarks. By the end of the concert the "Boo's" were replaced with cheers and an encore. Amazing. He spits in his fan's face to show their hypocrisy and comes out head high.

One of the best moments is when he gets the power shut off on him for playing to long and he get's everyone to chant "This is bullshit, we want power!" until the staff are forced to turn the power back on and he keeps playing. Punk. Rock.

One of the great American songwriters.

Summary: Folk Rock Protestor Extraordinaire

Best Tracks: All the News That's Fit to Sing - "Power and Glory"

Pleasures of the Harbour - "The Party"

Gunfight at Carnegie Hall - "Buddy Holly medley"

Rating: ATN [7/10]

POTH [8/10]

GFCH [7/10]

Music: Dillinger - Dillinger (1974) - vinyl - [6/10]

First Listen:

This is a pretty obscure Canadian prog record. No wikipedia for the band (except a later manifestation called The Hunt), no lyrics found. Side A has three tracks: "People," "City Man" and "Nature's Way" totally 14:30 and Side B is one 17 minute track called "Live and Return"

It's pretty classic prog music: synths, solos, and constant tempo and time changes. "Nature's Way" is pretty Pink Floyd-y. Actually a lot of the palette is reminiscent of Floyd, but the playing is more frantic which lends some really good energy to the album, especially "City Man".

"Live and Return" starts out kicking with some pretty frenetic drums and bass and which works itself into a slow jam with some pretty cool vocal harmonies (all 4 members contribute vocals to the album). Half way through it picks up again into a sweet jam session and multi-minute drum solo which shows off drummer Robert Harrison's impressive chops. Not a huge fan of his tone, but he keeps it interesting.

Chops is definitely one thing this band is about, and they've all got them, except maybe in the vocal department, but it's more about the music here.

On first listen this album is all about "Live and Return" which was really enjoyable. I'll try and listen to the lyrics more in subsequent takes and want to pay more attention to the sax solo on "City People."

Summary: Canadian Prog Rock

Best Track: Live and Return

Rating: [6/10]

Music Catch-ups *update to /10*

First of all I will list albums released in 2010 which I have purchased. I will then list all albums purchased since August.

Albums 2010 (not in any order particularly):

Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot, Son of Chio Dusty **** 7

Janelle Monae - The ArchAndroid **** 7

LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening **** 7

Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me **** 8

Pantha du Prince - Black Noise **** 7

Robyn - Body Talk Pt. 1**** 7

The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards *** 6

Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis *** 5

Isis/Melvins Spilt 12" *** 5

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - I Learned The Hard Way *** 5

Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM *** 6

The Ocean - Heliocentric *** 6

Albums since August:

- Arcade Fire - The Suburbs **** (2010) 6

- Wavves - king of the Beach *** (2010) 6

- Bob Dylan - Down in the Groove *** 5

- The Surfaris - Wipeout *** 5

- Oscar Peterson/Count Basie - Night Rider **** 7

- Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True *** 6

- Robyn - Body Talk pt 2 *** (2010) 6

- Destroyer - Street Hawk: A Seduction **** 7

- James Brown - Cold Sweat *** 6

- The Masked Marauders - ST **** 6

- M+M - Mystery Walk *** 5

- Oscar Peterson + Count Basie - Josh and Satch **** 7

- Michael Stanley Band - Heartland * 4

- Frank Zappa - Waka/Jawaka *** 5

- Frank Zappa - apostrophe (') **** 6

- Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline **** 6

- James Blake - The Bells Sketch EP **** (2010) 7

- James Blake - CMYK EP **** (2010) 7

- James Blake - Klavierwerke EP **** (2010) 7

Beginnings

Ah so I am attempting a review blog for the films and albums I consume on an all to regular basis. I have, for the past two years reviewed every album and film I buy/watch out of four stars and have TWICE lost these to computer errors. So this is slightly more permanent. The stars are somewhat arbitrary but basically represent thumbs up or down. Some are qualified. For example The Expendables should receive one star aka two thumbs down for being a terrible movie, but it gets two complementary stars because I enjoyed the mindless stupidity of it quite a lot. I dont even know who's going to read this but whatever. This format also allows me to update reviews later on on further viewings/ listenings.

My first post will end with all the movies I've seen since August and my second post will be of albums purchased/acquired since August. I do not count borrowing albums or those received off of a friend's memory stick as being acquired.

Without further ado, smash goes the champagne and the SS Terrible sails away into the ... something:

Movies with stars but no reviews seen since August:

- Badlands ****

- Expendables (*)**

- Scott Pilgrim vs the World***

- The Long Goodbye ***

- The Hurt Locker ****

- The Outlaw Josey Wales **

- Tekkonkinkreet *** (re)

- Doctor Zhivago **** (re)

- Bonnie and Clyde ****

- Iron Man 2 *** (re)

- Scott Pilgrim vs The World *** (re)

- The Last Samurai ****

- Burn After Reading *** (re)

- No Country For Old Men **** (re)

- Memoirs of a Geisha ****

- The Social Network ***

- Good Willing Hunting ****

- Psycho ****

- Lost in Translation **** (re)