There is a distinct difference between listening to music you like and music you love. I realize that sounds like I am stating the bleeding obvious, but sometimes I am finding myself spending more time listening to music I am a little bit interested in rather than listening to music I absolutely love. This is partly because I am always searching through music sites and cheap cd shops such as Vinnies and Salvos. Where every now and then I find a gem. But I end up picking up a dozen or more misses rather than hits before I do find a gem. It is worth it for the gem but then I want to know and hear everything about these gems and so that sets me off on a journey of discovery.
A couple of examples recently: Vaya Con Dios and Mick Karn. I discovered Vaya Con Dios in a Vinnies shop recently. I had never heard of them but the songs and musicians sounded vaguely interesting even though initially from the liner notes I wasn't even sure if they were an instrumental or singing band. As it turns out they are the number one Belgium group of all time and they are fronted by this fabulous singer Dani Klein. If you like Imelda May or Lannie Lane then you would love Dani Klein. She is fabulous. What a voice! Initially I thought I was listening to some fabulous obscure South American group till I read the liner notes thoroughly and then followed up on their history. She has everything in her voice: power, subtlety, sexiness, aggressiveness, nuances and the ability to tell a fully developed story. The album is amazing and I hope to get all their albums plus the other albums Dani has made with a group called Purple Prose. If you see an album with her name attached, grab it!
Now to Mick Karn. I should have known exactly who he is, but I confess it was just a matter of thinking the cd looked interesting. As soon as I put it on I knew I had something special. The same with Vaya Con Dios. I find often great cds announce themselves from the first note. Something like reading a great book. Often the first sentence will hook you. Such as the first line of Voss by Patrick White: "There's a man to see you, Miss. Said Rosa. And stood breathing". You put Dark Side Of The Moon or OK Computer on and from the first note you know you are in for an amazing journey. This Mick Karn was a collectors edition collection, but as soon as I started playing it I knew it was something special. Then the penny dropped. Of course, the bass player from Japan and Rain Tree Crow. I've loved David Sylvian's work for years and loved the individual musicians within Japan, without really following up on them. Suddenly this whole world is opened up to me. Great bass from Mick, great guitar from Richard Barbieri and great drums from Steve Jensen. Suddenly I realize the significance of an obscure album I picked up years ago called Dali's Car. Mick Karn and Pete Murphy. Porcupine Tree with Barbieri. And innumerable offerings from various combinations of the splintered band members. Yes, one cd can be the key to unlock a treasure trove!
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Just saw a most amazing concert last night at the Basement in Sydney, Australia. Lily Dior was launching her new CD and what a show she put on! She had a stellar bunch of musicians backing her and some dynamite original songs with fabulous arrangements, including some with a string quartet. All in all it was a blast and it was great to see how her voice has developed so dramatically over the years. She can croon, she can soothe, she can belt she summon the manning of the barricades! She has definitely found the strengths that lay within her and has fully brought these out in a dynamic voice. Cannot wait to listen to her new CD featured on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/diorlilymusic, Let's Talk About It. It's bound to be a very powerful CD.
I have always had a very eclectic outlook where music is concerned and thus over the years I have listened to many and varied pieces of music and collected vast amounts of cds over the years. I did have a fairly large vinyl collection but lack of space determined that it had to vanish and so it did. Anyway, my taste in music covers a vast field and there are just some categories of music that I will always have trouble with and so they will never feature in my my rantings and ravings. And, yes, my ravings will rant and my rants will rave. My problem is where to start and therefore I am going to go with the old tried and tested Desert Island Pick. Which is a means to try and determine what music I really really love and if push came to shove and I was only left with 10 cds on an island, which would I choose. And of course this is ignoring whether there is a means to actually play them!
So now you just have to wait a few days hopefully and I will start with the next instalment...
So now you just have to wait a few days hopefully and I will start with the next instalment...
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Heaven And Earth Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble Heaven & Earth
Released by Island Records in 1995. 58.26mins. Produced By Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble.
After Jah Wobble left Public Image Ltd he became involved in many projects with numerous musicians but it was his combination with the guitarist Justin Adams to form Invaders Of The Heart that lifted his music to another level. He gave expression to his love of various ethnic music in Rising Above Bedlam and then went through various musical journeys into God. Then a few years later he produced this album. It is one of those so-called “World” music albums that work because the music is always engaging and challenging and drifts, swirls and flies through many scenarios. It is a very ethereal and otherworldly album.
On the opener and title track Jah wobble has several Chinese musicians including Zi Lan Liao, who give it a distinctly Chinese atmosphere. A Love Song opens very quietly almost as if we are in a child’s bedroom, and then the music rises and Natacha’s distinct voice enters. It is a wonderful lullaby.
Dying Over Europe is quite somber and seems to be coming from another place and time. If the first two tracks were Heaven, this is very definitely Earth. Divine Mother is Jah Wobble mostly on Drums and bass and drives along very nicely. The centerpiece of this album is Gone To Croatian, opening with shuffling ascending percussive Gongs which lead into atmospheric swirling flutes of Pharaoh Sanders, then Nicky Skopelitis’ acoustic guitars and then bass and drums start to push it along and turntables announce the bass driving the engine. The turntables seem perfectly in place here, almost as if they were an ethnic instrument. And throughout the mastery of Bernie Worrell is much in evidence. Laswell produced this track and Hit Me which is another bass-driven track that features turntables and Sanders’ Tenor Sax. Om Namah Shiva is a showcase for Natacha Atlas and an uplifting end to the album.
This album and Rising Above Bedlam are both landmarks in World Music.
Roger Adam Smith ©March 12, 2007
Released by Island Records in 1995. 58.26mins. Produced By Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble.
After Jah Wobble left Public Image Ltd he became involved in many projects with numerous musicians but it was his combination with the guitarist Justin Adams to form Invaders Of The Heart that lifted his music to another level. He gave expression to his love of various ethnic music in Rising Above Bedlam and then went through various musical journeys into God. Then a few years later he produced this album. It is one of those so-called “World” music albums that work because the music is always engaging and challenging and drifts, swirls and flies through many scenarios. It is a very ethereal and otherworldly album.
On the opener and title track Jah wobble has several Chinese musicians including Zi Lan Liao, who give it a distinctly Chinese atmosphere. A Love Song opens very quietly almost as if we are in a child’s bedroom, and then the music rises and Natacha’s distinct voice enters. It is a wonderful lullaby.
Dying Over Europe is quite somber and seems to be coming from another place and time. If the first two tracks were Heaven, this is very definitely Earth. Divine Mother is Jah Wobble mostly on Drums and bass and drives along very nicely. The centerpiece of this album is Gone To Croatian, opening with shuffling ascending percussive Gongs which lead into atmospheric swirling flutes of Pharaoh Sanders, then Nicky Skopelitis’ acoustic guitars and then bass and drums start to push it along and turntables announce the bass driving the engine. The turntables seem perfectly in place here, almost as if they were an ethnic instrument. And throughout the mastery of Bernie Worrell is much in evidence. Laswell produced this track and Hit Me which is another bass-driven track that features turntables and Sanders’ Tenor Sax. Om Namah Shiva is a showcase for Natacha Atlas and an uplifting end to the album.
This album and Rising Above Bedlam are both landmarks in World Music.
Roger Adam Smith ©March 12, 2007
Climbing Tree Tree Music (Ki No Uta)
CLIMBING TREE Tree Music (Ki No Uta)
http://www.myspace.com/climbingtree
Alexander Hewetson - Double bass
Phillip Slater - Trumpet
Mathew McMahon - Piano
Simon Barker – Drums
Ross Wilson
Ten Thousand Leaves
Minyon Falls
Athelstan
Roots
Walking With Giants
Salvatore
Thulu (Tree)
Bicinium
This is an inspired atmospheric song cycle played with fine sensitivity by four of the top musicians living in Australia. Although the CD is titled Tree Music it also creates lot of watery images, as if a river is swirling around the tree roots sprouting from a river bank. It is music to get lost in, to let your imagination take you on a voyage. Overall it recalls the kind of music which Miles Davis was playing when he was the trumpeter Billy Cross in the film Dingo. It is music that drifts through the ether carried by the wind. Throughout there is a great wash of instruments especially the double bass which reverberates with enormous subtlety. This soundscape was written in a very inspired period of two days by Alex Hewetson and recorded in one, but has the stamp of longevity on it. There is nothing in here that the ears would ever tire of hearing.
The first tune has a lilting rhythm to it, drum and double bass starting slowly, and then trumpet and piano, like familiar members of the family, seep into our consciousness. This tune is named after one of the icons of Australian music, Ross Wilson, who fronted Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock, the latter band being the main inspiration for this music.
Bass and percussion quietly circle each other and glide through Ten Thousand Leaves. The next song is among my favourites and begins with the impression of footprints on mulched leaves, the piano and shuffling percussion leading us to the Minyon Falls in Nightcap Park on the North Coast of New South Wales. The forest is alive with a constant conversation between the instruments, weaving effortlessly in and around each other like sprites darting from tree to tree, recalling some of the nimbler moments of John Sangster’s Lord Of The Rings masterpiece. Throughout this song and the whole album the musicians play with a seamless subtlety and dexterity.
With a slow march we are introduced to Athelstan, named after the first King of England and one of its mightiest warriors. This is a soldier king in contemplation, readying for battle. When the swords hit the shields it is as if they are in slow motion.
At the beginning of Roots, the drumming digs into the earth. All of this music is about exploration in time and space, a primordial quest through the forests. The giants tread lightly and slowly in Walking With Giants, courtesy of Alex Hewetson’s walking bass.
The last three songs are a coda for this song cycle, bringing it all to a peaceful resolution. There is a delicate beauty in Salvatore which evokes the young boy of the film of the same name. Slater plays his trumpet seductively here and ends with a joyful fade-out. There is peace in Thulu (Tree), the notes of the piano having the softness and imagery of Satie, almost as if this tree is the nest, the tree-house to return to after wandering. This is a tree where every kid would like to live. The piano continues this peaceful rumination in Bicinium, firstly accompanying itself then joined by Alex bowing his double bass with the softest of touches, sounding like the faint buzz of a rather large bee.
This is definitely a CD that should be listened to in one go, especially at the end of a long day. Sit back and visit the places where the music takes you and by the end of it you will be carefree and completely relaxed. It is a very fine chill-out music played with intelligence.
© Roger Smith 10th April 2007
http://www.myspace.com/climbingtree
Alexander Hewetson - Double bass
Phillip Slater - Trumpet
Mathew McMahon - Piano
Simon Barker – Drums
Ross Wilson
Ten Thousand Leaves
Minyon Falls
Athelstan
Roots
Walking With Giants
Salvatore
Thulu (Tree)
Bicinium
This is an inspired atmospheric song cycle played with fine sensitivity by four of the top musicians living in Australia. Although the CD is titled Tree Music it also creates lot of watery images, as if a river is swirling around the tree roots sprouting from a river bank. It is music to get lost in, to let your imagination take you on a voyage. Overall it recalls the kind of music which Miles Davis was playing when he was the trumpeter Billy Cross in the film Dingo. It is music that drifts through the ether carried by the wind. Throughout there is a great wash of instruments especially the double bass which reverberates with enormous subtlety. This soundscape was written in a very inspired period of two days by Alex Hewetson and recorded in one, but has the stamp of longevity on it. There is nothing in here that the ears would ever tire of hearing.
The first tune has a lilting rhythm to it, drum and double bass starting slowly, and then trumpet and piano, like familiar members of the family, seep into our consciousness. This tune is named after one of the icons of Australian music, Ross Wilson, who fronted Daddy Cool and Mondo Rock, the latter band being the main inspiration for this music.
Bass and percussion quietly circle each other and glide through Ten Thousand Leaves. The next song is among my favourites and begins with the impression of footprints on mulched leaves, the piano and shuffling percussion leading us to the Minyon Falls in Nightcap Park on the North Coast of New South Wales. The forest is alive with a constant conversation between the instruments, weaving effortlessly in and around each other like sprites darting from tree to tree, recalling some of the nimbler moments of John Sangster’s Lord Of The Rings masterpiece. Throughout this song and the whole album the musicians play with a seamless subtlety and dexterity.
With a slow march we are introduced to Athelstan, named after the first King of England and one of its mightiest warriors. This is a soldier king in contemplation, readying for battle. When the swords hit the shields it is as if they are in slow motion.
At the beginning of Roots, the drumming digs into the earth. All of this music is about exploration in time and space, a primordial quest through the forests. The giants tread lightly and slowly in Walking With Giants, courtesy of Alex Hewetson’s walking bass.
The last three songs are a coda for this song cycle, bringing it all to a peaceful resolution. There is a delicate beauty in Salvatore which evokes the young boy of the film of the same name. Slater plays his trumpet seductively here and ends with a joyful fade-out. There is peace in Thulu (Tree), the notes of the piano having the softness and imagery of Satie, almost as if this tree is the nest, the tree-house to return to after wandering. This is a tree where every kid would like to live. The piano continues this peaceful rumination in Bicinium, firstly accompanying itself then joined by Alex bowing his double bass with the softest of touches, sounding like the faint buzz of a rather large bee.
This is definitely a CD that should be listened to in one go, especially at the end of a long day. Sit back and visit the places where the music takes you and by the end of it you will be carefree and completely relaxed. It is a very fine chill-out music played with intelligence.
© Roger Smith 10th April 2007
This is seriously a work at it's birth. I just wanted to get a blog up here now. Hopefully over the next month or so I will start to put up here mainly reviews of music and stage that hopefully will interest somebody out there.
Personally I am an actor with an interest in writing reviews.
I have just finished playing in The Merchant Of Venice which ran a successful season at the Newtown Theatre in Sydney, Australia.
I am now in the process of acting in two Feature Films, one for Amigos Productions and the other for AFTRS (Australian Film, Television and Radio School). Both of these are exciting productions which I am very keen about. More on these soon.
As far as music goes, I have very eclectic tastes which cover a very broad spectrum of music. I hope to share these with you as time goes by.
Now I have to get stuck into learning my lines for the first film.
Personally I am an actor with an interest in writing reviews.
I have just finished playing in The Merchant Of Venice which ran a successful season at the Newtown Theatre in Sydney, Australia.
I am now in the process of acting in two Feature Films, one for Amigos Productions and the other for AFTRS (Australian Film, Television and Radio School). Both of these are exciting productions which I am very keen about. More on these soon.
As far as music goes, I have very eclectic tastes which cover a very broad spectrum of music. I hope to share these with you as time goes by.
Now I have to get stuck into learning my lines for the first film.
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