VOTD 12/17/2025

 Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band: Lick My Decals Off, Baby (Straight)

Purchased used at a yard sale many years ago

The circumstances in which I bought this: a yard sale in the Schenley Heights neighborhood. I paid $5 for clean (and in one case, unopened) copies of this, The Spotlight Kid, and a copy of Trout Mask Replica with two copies of of the first disc instead of both records. Had I paid more, I might have also scored a copy of John Coltrane's Ascension too. I guess someone else got lucky on that one. I insist on not engaging in vinyl envy. This was one of the best finds I've made in the wild; we all get lucky now and then.

Trout Mask Replica is considered Captain Beefheart's masterpiece, or at least his grand statement. I can't argue against the latter. Generally I prefer this record. Unlike a lot of TMR, Don sounds like he's part of the band here.

Similar to TMR, it's...I don't know, strange music? The band never grooves long, if ever. The Spotlight Kid was the next studio album after this and a step towards...what's the word? Normalcy? 

Gone from TMR is The Mascara Snake, who was in the band because he was Don's cousin. I read in Bill Harkleroad's (Zoot Horn Rollo) book that this caused some hard feelings with the rest of the band, who were practicing from morning until night upon The Mascara Snake's arrival in the band. Also gone is Antenna Jimmy Semens, leaving the core of Zoot, Drumbo, and Rockette Morton. A fortunate addition was Ed Marimba AKA (Pittsburgh's own!) Art Tripp III. The addition of occasional marimba helped distinguish and define this band's sound. When Tom Waits started using marimba on his recordings, it immediately recalled this band. I think Tom himself has admitted as much. Art had bounced from the Mothers of Invention to join the Magic Band. He wouldn't be the last to do so. Frank fired everyone when he had several albums in the can c. 1968-9 and didn't want to keep guys on his payroll, so I assume that's why Art was available.

When I've seen people make their lists of best guitarists of all time, Zoot Horn Rollo's name has never been mentioned. I can't recall a time when he was given an improvised solo, so he wouldn't count as a great soloist. But his playing is jaw dropping at times. I'm not sure exactly how accurate this transcription of "Hair Pie" is (I think it might be even more complicated) and you can see how  difficult it would be to play accurately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lg_scy_0bo&list=RD3Lg_scy_0bo&start_radio=1

Zoot deserves more cred.

The way this band twists on a dime, changing tempos, playing parts in different meters simultaneously, speaks to how well practiced they were. What can sound initially like chaos reveals itself to be highly practiced and intentional. 

One minor quibble: the vocals are really up front in the mix. Like, pop vocals up front. It's sometimes difficult to hear what the rest of the band is doing when Don is singing. I would have pulled him back, 10, 15%. Still on top but a little more blended.

What this world needs is a two dollar room and a good two dollar broom!

CDOTD 12/12/2025

 Morton Feldman: String Quartet [1] (Koch)

I think I bought this new in NYC, some place

Sigh, back to Feldman. 

No regrets though. Did I buy this at a Tower Records in NY many years ago? Possibly, probably? It seemed like a find at the time, and maybe it was.

Some time between listening to this for the first time and now, I couldn't play this on a disc player I had. It came up with errors. 

I've more recently bought a boombox-style player just so I've have a convenient disc player in general: discs in my mancave, outside for cookouts. 

So, it's playing. I don't have the quietest stereo system, just wow it's a noisy disc. And where is this piece leading? There are beautiful moments, true invention. But I think my opinion is colored by knowing where Feldman was heading later. There are times when the String Quartet II is this but slowed down 4X. Or sometimes sped up? It's not simple. 

In retrospect, this does feel anticipatory of things to come rather than the thing itself. But there's no way Morty himself could have known that. Or did he?

I should just enjoy the moments.

Which leads me to...

Feldman had a high degree of skepticism regarding Stockhausen. But he expressed admiration for Karlheinz' Momente. Moment-forming, is that something that Morton did without the formulas of Stockhausen? Or was it more intuitive?

As I'm listening, I'm thinking: I wish I could be in the room as this was being performed. I want to feel the vibrations. I'm grateful for the documentation on CD, but I wish I could feel it.

VOTD 12/11/2025

 Charles Gross: Blue Sunshine OST (Mondo)

Purchased used at Vinegar Syndrome

Am I writing some spoilers for a movie that is nearly fifty years old? Maybe, should that concern you. It's probably nothing you wouldn't read in a two sentence IMDB description.

Blue Sunshine is a low budget shocker/horror film from 1977. The plot involves several people suddenly becoming bald and going on psychotic, murderous rampages. What is discovered is that five years prior, all of them had ingested a particular batch of Blue Sunshine LSD. The dealer, played by Mark Goddard, was now running for Congress. 

Mark most famously played Major Don West on the original TV series Lost in Space. I know he did other TV work but I can't recall ever seeing him in another film role. As a young child I fanatically watched LIS (in syndication by that time). I guess I wanted to be Will Robinson, played by Billy Mumy. He seemed smart, his home was a flying saucer and his best friend was a robot. Sounded like the life to me! I spent hours doing drawings of, Will, the robot, and of their ship the Jupiter II. 

I haven't seen Blue Sunshine since the days of VHS rentals, so it's been a few decades. I remember liking it. At the time, I don't think I understood that it's probably inspired by the Manson Family murders. If not directly, it's certainly Manson-adjacent. I'm sure there's a list somewhere of post-Manson, hippie-response movies from the 1970s. I Drink Your Blood comes to mind first, Messiah of Evil another, in addition to movies more directly based on Manson. 

I've recalled Blue Sunshine quite a few times in the past five years. Why now? I've been thinking about all the people in the news who are COVID vaccine skeptics and deniers. People who would rather put their faith in medical quacks who recommend ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine than trust peer-reviewed science. (For the record, those are real and useful medications, ivermectin if you have scabies. And I am throughly skeptical of the medical industry but put my faith in medical science itself.) They fretted about what will happen to those who took the COVID vaccine. "What will happen long term?" 

And hence, I would think of this movie. Maybe in about another year, hundreds of thousands of us will all lose our hair and become rampaging murderers. 

Me and my twisted little brain. 

The soundtrack! The music! Some good creepy orchestra, percussion, and synth cues. A few moments of lounge pop music. Though I'm calling out the composer on one cue: it's masked, but one of the selections clearly picks up on John McLaughlin's "Sanctuary" from the second Mahavishnu Orchestra LP. I hear you! 

I wonder if McLaughlin ever saw this? Oh, probably not. 

VOTD 12/01/2025

Lou Reed: Metal Machine Music (RCA)

Purchased used at Sound Cat Records

I never liked the Velvet Underground or Lou Reed's solo albums that much. Which is not to say I disliked them. I admire Lou's dedication to his art. He wrote a few okay songs. But he couldn't sing worth shit, in situations where singing was necessary. On Hal Wilner's Kurt Weill album (Lost In The Stars) Lou sang the title song. Except, he just can't hold a melody on a song that requires it. 

I was barely a teen when I started reading Creem magazine. I recall a back issue I bought at the QMart in Quakertown, that covered this Lou Reed album. There were three columns down one page, the middle of which read "no no no no no no no no no no...[etc]" with Lou's image superimposed on the text. I guess I remember it decades later.

So what to make this record? Its primary purpose is pretty much on the surface: Lou owed two LPs to RCA and devised this monstrosity.

Is this album prescient? I'm thinking both yes and no. Yes in that, there'd be cassette releases by Italian noise artists (specifically MB) that aren't too far astray from this wall of sound, just a few years later. Surely some of them must have known this album.

No insofar as, I don't think Lou was trying to influence anyone. He put this thing out into the world, and accept it or not. 

So what of the contents? It's a wall of sound, more trebly and bass-end. I can't particularly distinguish one side from another, though they're clearly not the same either.

But what of the effort? Maybe Lou didn't take this especially seriously, but he didn't not take it seriously. There's a push here, he wanted to make something. There's an atmosphere, an air to this. That said, while it's clearly not all the same, I can't distinguish one side from another. 

Four sides, and hour + spent with this. What would Lou think? Probably that I was a sucker. 

CDOTD 12/01/2025

Various artists: Hey Folks! It's Intermission Time! Snack Bar Concession Stand Classics & Jazzy Singles From the Good Old Days! (Modern Harmonic)

Purchased at Vinegar Syndrome Pittsburgh

I have an affection for aural ephemera such as this. Sell sell sell! And how do you sell? Optimism! We're upbeat! Make a line for the snack bar now!

At least, outside of politics. MAGA sells a line of pessimism looking back on optimism. Weren't things so great way back then? America was great then. Make America great again!

When exactly was that? Pre-civil rights era? The jazz age? The gilded era?

As you know, there's no answer to that question. It's an elusive sense that things were better back then. But for whom? 

You know, white people. And I don't say that out of misplaced white guilt. For all my enjoyment of listening to these cheerful jingles, it's super-caucasian. How would I feel as an African American, in my car at the drive in? Perhaps I wouldn't think about it at all, accustomed to the majority white presence in culture. Or maybe I'd think....crackers. I'll put up with these crackers. That's assuming Black people attended drive-ins in general, a suburban phenomenon. 

VOTD 11/26/2025

Shirley & Company: Shame Shame Shame (Vibration)

Purchased at Jerry's Records

When I was briefly doing my Nurse With Wound deep dive, I read Steven Stapleton's comments about being a young, obsessive collector of weird records. Among the criteria: the cover art. In his case he sought out psychedelic and surrealist imagery.

There was a time, in my young adulthood, I could look at the cover art or recognize an artist name, and I knew if the record was likely going to be for me. That's not that case any longer. There are a number of reasons. These would include my inability and disinterest in keeping close tabs on current indie and underground trends and artists, and the absolutely glut of product available in a current record store. I'm still willing to drop a few dollars on a gamble if it looks, for lack of a better term "experimental" enough, but I have my limits if I don't know the names involved. Which is most of what I find currently.

It's by happenstance that this record was sitting on the racks of Jerry's Records with the front cover on full display. The image is posted below. It's not the weirdness favored by Steven Stapleton, nor the grimness of early industrial noise LPs I might have sought in my early 20s. But I ask you, how was I to turn up an album with a primitive image drawn in magic marker, depicting (presumably) Shirley next to Richard Nixon, with the title Shame Shame Shame? And for $5? Sold!

The back cover proudly announces "disco dynamite!". Mmmm, maybe, maybe not. This dates to 1975, and disco broke out into mainstream mania in 1977 with the release of Saturday Night Fever. That's not to say disco didn't exist before that year, but this doesn't strike me as a down-the-line disco album. More poppy, funky r-n-b verging on a disco feel. When I think of disco, it's all very close to the same tempo with consistent (or incessant) hits on the snare on two and four. 

Do I recognize the opening title track? I'm not certain. Possibly. As a program I wouldn't have followed the vocal version directly with the instrumental; I would have put them on different sides. Likewise "Cry Cry Cry". Once again, have I heard this before? I remain unsure.

While not as flat and low-quality as the vinyl release of Sex World from my previous blog post, this lacks the high end lush production and arrangements of better known disco albums. It doesn't sound bad, if anything I prefer it less polished.

There are occasional contribution of people playing trombone and soprano saxophone, rather sharp. I'm just as guilty, it's a struggle in my own playing to this day.

The program is pretty good in general. I doubt anyone will claim this is a stone cold classic, but it's a fun listen and end with a strong funky closer in "Keep On Rolling On" with the largest horn section of the album. Shirley, whoever she is or was, has a light but well defined voice. It's been an entertaining listen, and that's not so bad.

$5 well spent, all based on a cover image.

VOTD 11/22/2025

Barry Lipman: Sex World OST (Vinegar Syndrome)

Purchased at Vinegar Syndrome Pittsburgh

Hello, back to typing my thoughts, for the time being.

There's a new store in Pittsburgh, Vinegar Syndrome. VS is a thriving (I assume) blu ray/DVD label dedicated to reissues of horror and exploitation films. Recently they've taken to 4K hi def restorations. Much of it, if not all, isn't readily available for streaming. I'd love to watch some of them without having to spend, say, $47 just to view the ridiculous Mac and Me. (A cheapo ET ripoff blended with one big McDonald's endorsement.) Plus I don't own a 4K player.

Vinegar Syndrome has opened four brick and mortar stores, the other locations being Toronto, Bridgeport, and Denver. Pittsburgh seems more logical than Bridgeport CT, but then I can't say I've ever been there. The label isn't just for mail order or conventions any longer.

The store is dedicated to physical media: used and new DVDs and blu rays, records, CDs, comics, books, t-shirts. It's mostly horror and exploitation-oriented, though I did find a reasonably priced used double DVD set on Criterion of Stan Brakhage's films. 

Among the new vinyl soundtracks was this, on VS's own imprint. If you haven't already guessed, it's a 70s porn take on Westworld. Maybe even taking the idea to its more logical conclusion.

I can say honestly I haven't seen the movie. The very existence of a soundtrack album from a 1970s hardcore feature is enough to pique my interest. The industry, the stories, the sort of care that was put into some of the movies, the adult industry's own star system and theater circuit, all of that is far, far more interesting than the movies themselves.

Each track is accompanied with a still for the associated scene. (The images don't get any more hardcore than a pair of bare breasts.) The Sex World theme itself is a pretty straight forward disco number. It was 1977 after all. Other cues sound a bit like bachelor pad music. Some lighter, some heavier, but generally trying to evoke that "sexy" mood.

The sound is flat, possibly mono(?), and sometimes choppily edited. Did the label have access to the original master tapes? It's well played, definitely professional musicians involved. I don't find it difficult to believe they skimped on recording fidelity, but I really wonder if this was of better quality out of the studio. 

But it's the fact of its very existence that caught my attention. It's so curious that this much effort was put into a movie for the raincoat crowd. Though, it was the age of "porno chic" I suppose, with an industry vying for more reputability in this most disreputable category. Nonetheless, it's a mark of quality. A real studio band playing well-developed charts. Today, for a cheap direct to streaming film, it would probably all be done on a laptop in Ableton Live. Or worse still, GarageBand. (I swear I've recognized GarageBand loops in Syfy Channel movies.) Even the images on the back make it look as though the movie was well filmed, probably on 35mm. 

Is this any less embarrassing or (I'll use the word again) disreputable than Cannibal Holocaust with its original score by Riz Ortolani? I've commented on it in this forum a few months ago. I've seen its trailer which tells me that I really don't need to watch that movie. I don't necessarily object to movies that are bloody or of questionable themes, but I have a big issue with cruelty and sadism, even if they're fictional. With that in mind, I don't need to see Pasolini's Salo either.

With that in mind, yeah I'd watch Sex World before I'd ever watch Cannibal Holocaust.

VOTD 10/14/2025

 Nurse With Wound: Gyllensköld, Geijerstam and I at Rydbergs (L.A.Y.L.A.H.)

I had on this record a day or two ago, to be honest. It's weird but a good record. More well-realized and  self-assured than any previous NWW record. I'd even say it's at the start of a great period in Steven Stapleton's creative work: this, Brained By Falling Masonry, The Sylvie and Babs Hi-Fi Companion, Spiral Insana, and several solid LPs of compilation contributions. He's doing most or all of the graphics, and the record covers look great. And in part running his own label. It's a beautiful gesamkunstwerk.

But I'm back to the feeling of, what's the point? It's been interesting to revisit where my head was at in the early to mid 80s, what I was listening to, what really excited me. But describing these weird-ass albums? It seems like a fruitless venture, or at least silly. 

Sitting down and listening to an album, really sitting and listening, is a positive thing. Writing is a positive thing. And I appreciate that there are a few people who read my words regularly. 

I might decide to return to this tomorrow, or six months from now, or never. Tomorrow is too soon, six months maybe, never: probably not. For now, I think I'm out. I'll see you when I see you.

VOTD 10/06/2025

 Nurse With Wound: Homotopy to Marie (United Dairies)

https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Homotopy.html

What does it mean? I don't know. 

I know this much: this was the first NWW that Steven Stapleton was satisfied with, the fifth NWW LP. Why did it take that many? 

John Fothergill is definitely out of the picture now. NWW is strictly Steven Stapleton's aural and visual imagery at this point. He does the cover art, he produces the sounds.

Like the front cover image, this is largely an austere statement. Most of side one is taken up by the sound of a cymbal, with female spoken voices occasionally and unpredictably entering. If a NWW album should be anything, it's unpredictable. He's definitely not afraid to be abrasive, as side two demonstrates. NWW was never an Industrial band, but these records are no less noisy.

Steven's audio landscapes seem to be clearly cinematic in nature. Aural landscapes. Is he dabbling in sampling on this record? My guess is that he's pulling some voices from extraneous sources, but I can't cite anything specific.

In the end, it breaks into what sounds like a small Balkan brass and reed band. Who'd have thought? 

Oh but wait....leave the needle in the groove...there's demonic laughing and more noise at the end. The CD version lists a fifth track, compared to the four on the LP. This must be the "Astral Dustbin Dirge". We'll come back to that.

This album does feel more accomplished, more self-assured than the previous. Knowing what I do about the NWW discography, Steven's work will hit even higher highs than this in the next few years.

VOTD 10/03/2025

 Safo Hene Djeni: Nea Ye Boe (Star Musique)

Purchased at Fungus Books and Records

More autobiography.

My band Bombici was asked by Manny Theiner to open for a west African band upstairs at Spirit House. Unusually, we played our set and had to rush off to another gig, but we got see the headliner do a warmup/sound check. They weren't playing seriously, but even so they locked into as tight a groove as one might imagine.

Colter Harper was playing guitar with Bombici that night. He's spent substantial time in Ghana in the past ten years on grants, teaching at University of Ghana and helping them set up a recording studio. While this band (whose name I don't recall, I'm sorry) wasn't from Ghana, Colter commented: "The bands there are incapable of being bad."

Imagine being in a culture where the music is so deep in your bones that it is expressed as tight, joyful, and a shared experience. That sure isn't the US. My old mentor and late colleague Annabelle Joseph taught Eurhythmics at Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon Universities. She told me how students such a South Americans had the rhythms inside themselves, that it's in the music they'd known for their entire lives. And she asked, what music do all Americans share in common? Rolling her eyes, she said: "Christmas music."

(Annabelle...I don't believe in an afterlife, but if there is one, I look forward to seeing you there. You were always one of the good ones. I miss you.)

I bought this record in the first days of Fungus Books and Records' opening. Michael had included several African records in the stacks. Being not too expensive, and the Colter connection to Ghana, this was my choice.

What's there to say? It's moderately low fidelity but very listenable. The sound is compressed but you can hear everything. The band rips. It's not as grungy as what Fela Kuti does; it comes off as sunnier than him.

When I feel down, I can go two ways when putting on music: something dark that is sympathetic to my mood, or something that I find uplifting. Generally I will go the former, but it's nice to know that this is here if I want to go the latter. Seek it out if you can.

VOTD 10/01/2025

 Nurse With Wound: Insect and Individual Silenced (United Dairies)

Okay, Another NWW listen before moving on to other things. 

This wasn't the first NWW record I bought, perhaps the second. It does make me wonder where my head was at when I was listening to it initially, and playing some of it in my early WRCT days. 

This is a noisy record, abrasive, even unpleasant at times.

Listening to the first side, what is clear compared to the first three NWW LPs is how important tape editing is to this statement. The changes are very abrupt, often happening quickly in succession. A female voice is is in the mix, singing sweetly in the background. Knowing what NWW would be like in the future, this seems to point to the future.

There's no instrumental virtuosity, as in the previous three LPs. Bashing on something metal, some basic drums. Feedback. Speaking. 

I think in a future posting I'll address Pierre Schaeffer vs Pierre Henry as composers. Let's just say, just because you're the first doesn't mean you're best.

Is this just Steven Stapleton at the helm, unlikes LPs 1-2-3? That's my understanding. There are no credits (at least in my copy) and both John Fothergill and definitely Heman Pathak are gone by this time. 

Steven was dissatisfied with this record and didn't make it available for many years after its initial UD release. I don't find it any more or less interesting than the previous three. The majority of side two, "Absent Old Queen Underfoot" is an absolutely bizarre conversation between jazz-brushes drumming and noisy feedback guitar or bass. Less edited than side one, but not unprocessed either. 

On discogs, there's a credit for Jim Thirwell (Foetus) being involved. I couldn't tell you who did what, but he'll be an important element within a record or two.

I'm not saying I hate it, but I think I used to be more excited by someone releasing a record that sounded like this than I am now. It is super-abrasive. If you see the name Nurse With Wound listed with "Industrial" bands, this could be one reason why. Listening to the early compilation tracks might make for an interesting comparison, such as "Dueling Banjos" on Hoisting the Back Flag (mentioned in an earlier blog post here). 

Side two ends with "Mutilés de Guerre", a far more compact work. It's looped yelling voices, processed, instruments run through a high-frequency filter, also not particularly pleasant. But it also gets to the point quickly. 

Should I be seeing a therapist if this was where my head was at one time?

In my defense: in my college radio days, I'd play just about anything regardless of content, unless it was considered NSFW by the FCC. The one piece I couldn't tolerate was Robert Ashley's "Purposeful Lady Slow Afternoon", which includes a description of a rape. No wonder I couldn't take it. "Mutilés de Guerre" ends with a banjo and voice rendition of "Ode to Joy" while screeching strings underpin it. It's not about rape thankfully, but not easy to listen to either.

I think I need a palette-cleanser after this one. 

VOTD 09/24/2025

 Nurse With Wound: Psilotripitika record 3 (Merzbild Schwet) (United Dairies)

Third day, third NWW LP. I intend to continue though I'll break things up soon with other albums and commentary soon. I have an album of traditional Ghana music that's awaiting a spin and blog posting.

Merzbild Schwet was the second NWW album of 1980, which clearly demonstrates how determined they were at the time. To think of what was going on in England at the time: Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records, NWW  and United Dairies, Whitehouse and Come Org, one more challenging (or even unlistenable) than the next, each releasing more than their in-house band, it must have been an exciting time.

I've recounted this conversation before, but I was at the Electric Banana with my friend Richard Schnap. We were young, enthusiastic, and saying, didn't the 70s suck? Isn't this an exciting time? Won't the 80s be great?

In retrospect, while a troubled time, the 70s seem much more interesting to me now, and the 80s represent the Reagan era. But then nothing's simple and it's incorrect to judge one decade more harshly than the other. (Or is it? Thinking of the current decade.) And specifically, I was excited about the boom in independently produced and released music. Those labels above are examples, as well as The Residents' Ralph Records, Larry Och's (+) Metalanguage Records, Chris Cutler's Recommended Records.

On the other hand, the 1970s might be my favorite decade for films. That's just an aside.

Who is NWW by the time of this record? There's frustratingly little information provided, at least for me who is always interested in such things. We know Steven Stapleton would soldier on with the project, and John Fothergill was almost definitely still in the mix at this point. Was Heman Pathak still involved? No indication either way. And with a clearly female voice singing/reciting on side one, others provided sonic materials as well.

What's clear is NWW's connection to earlier art movements, or at least inspiration from them. The title itself, Merzbild Schwet, references Kurt Schwitters. The two side-long tracks, "Dadaˣ" and "Futurismo", make reference to early 20th century art movements. Both the front and back cover images are largely collaged. One of the figures on the back cover is of a Viennese Aktionist, again connecting to yet another art and performance school/movement.

It's an easy thing to feel nostalgia for an era before we lived. I wonder what it was like to be in Europe between the two "great" wars, creating your own art movements, writing manifestos. The Surrealist Manifesto, the Dada Manifesto, etc. It seems exciting. Hell, what was it like to be in the theater for the first performance of Stravinsky & Nijinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps? People were supposed to have torn seats off the floor afterwards in outrage. It seems sad we can't feel that level of outrage over a work of art except for political reasons. Or maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. 

"Dadaˣ" clearly plays on the listener's expectations, whatever those may be. The underscoring track is played at half speed, making it seem as though the record's playing at the wrong speed. There are pops and clicks that make it sound as though the record might have crud on the surface. It runs through a variety of ideas before, unexpectedly, everything stops and leads to some free jazz. That idea is then mixed and remixed. An aural representation of Dada? Maybe, maybe. 

Side two: "Futurismo". A reference to the Italian Futurists. Futurist paintings were explicitly pro-technology, and often displayed a single body in various forms of movement. Interesting that "Futurismo" would be the title of the most spare NWW track so far. It also seems more like the "aural landscape" that future NWW would be. A long backwards piano chord plays...a female says, "We have not spoken for days and days"...the piano returns, sometimes speed-manipulated. There's a long note on the clarinet. Ideas emerge, fade to the background. Sometimes it's sparse, sometimes densely but briefly packed.

How did Steven Stapleton feel about this one? It wouldn't be until the 5th LP, Homotopy to Marie, that he would say he was really satisfied with one of his albums. That it represented what he heard in his head.

This side sound like that first "mature" work. Less about being confrontational, more about listening.

 

VOTD 09/23/2025

 Nurse With Wound: Psilotripitika, record two (To the Quiet Men From a Tiny Girl) (United Dairies)

NWW day two, album two. Part of relistening to these albums is to consider them in the continuum of Steven Stapleton/NWW's work. Some things are starting to take shape on this album.

Like the first LP, I do not own an original copy of To the Quiet Men From a Tiny Girl. My copy is from the 1990 collection Psilotripitika, which includes the first three LPs plus a 12" EP of two compilation tracks.

Something that can be both exciting and frustration about NWW records is that there is no "typical" album. There are however generalities. The group's work (and to call it a group is a little deceptive in itself; it would wind up being Steven Stapleton and then a long list of collaborators) does fall very broadly under the category of musique concrète. Broadly put, recorded audio sources assembled, edited, shaped, manipulated and collected through recording techniques to create composition. 

While this record shares some of the primitive improvisational qualities of the first record, it's notably different in two ways: its spareness compared to the first, and the increased use of recording techniques. There's more editing, adjusting of mixing and audio manipulation than the first. It sounds less like a freak-out than an aural landscape. That is definably the direction future NWW records would take. (Generally.)

Another important element is the artwork. Stapleton would not only be the single common musical/audio element of every NWW album, but he does most of the graphics as well. Befitting an approach inspired by and related to Surrealism, the back cover and insert artwork is collaged. (The back cover of the first LP was a collage as well, something I failed to mention yesterday.) The back includes a famous image from the film Battleship Potemkin, the insert and record labels using medical illustrations. Gray's Anatomy perhaps? For those of a certain age and from Pittsburgh, what was the source of The Five's foot-cutting image?

The insert also has a variation on the Nurse With Wound list mentioned yesterday. Some names the same, many subtracted or added, and the text is far smaller.

While perhaps not terribly consequential, NWW once again pushes the album length. Side one over 26 minutes, side two over 27. I now that record pressing plants advise against this. They're surely  pushing at limitations. It's really closer to what would be CD length than LP. 

With this second album, did they consider themselves a "band"? With this third release (the second being Lemon Kittens' We Buy a Hammer for Daddy) was United Dairies a bona fide (if tiny) label? I suppose both of those things turned out to be true. In retrospect we know both things are true, with a further development in technique and sound to come. 

VOTD 09/22/2025

Nurse With Wound: Chance Meeting on Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella. (United Dirter)

For no particularly good reason, I thought I might do a deeper dive into my vinyl collection of NWW records. Just what the world wanted! I don't how long and diligently I'll continue with this. I am again trying to develop more routines in my retired life, and I should check back in here more often again. Retired from a day job and education but hardly from music in general, to be clear.

So there's this record. It's fair to call it more of a curiosity or historical piece than anything. It's the first NWW LP, and the first on Steven Stapleton/John Fothergill's label United Dairies.

I've always found United Dairies a great name for their record label. It's funny but also is an early reflection of their interest in Surrealism. UD was initial both Stapleton and Fothergill, but before long it was strictly Steven's label. There was a time when I'd collect anything on UD, which mostly turned out good. Mostly.

I most definitely do not have an original copy. As far back as the mid 80s a copy could have set you back well over $100, and copies on discogs.com start at $2000 currently. For a record that's been reissued many times over, and really isn't that great of an album.

So three weirdo record collectors (weirdos collecting weirdo records) were given some free studio time. Without any particular ability to play nor plan, this record is the result. My vinyl reissue copy, from 2001, includes notes from Steven about the record's origins. He found John's guitar with ring modulator to be disappointing ("...ring modulators always sounded so great on album credits."). There's more here, and clearly more intentionality than a primitive trio improvisation: other musicians were added (Nicky Rogers on "commercial guitar), tapes were edited and manipulated. Nonetheless, it's a pretty modest beginning of what would be (primarily) Steven's creative life.

This album's original inner sleeve, reproduced in this reissue, may be as well known as any of the sounds in the grooves. Steven, in his more recent notes, states that the three friends (I've failed to mention the third, Heman Pathak) were avid record collectors. What attracted their interest? 1. Long tracks; 2. lack of vocals; 3. psychedelic-inspired art. The image on the sleeve is the so-called Nurse With Wound List. Text at the top reads: "Categories strain, crack and sometimes break, under their burden - step out of the space provided." That's a bold credo, statement of intent from the start. Below that text is a long list of artists they've collected, with the name Nurse With Wound breaking through chasm-like in the enter. There are many familiar names in the list: Kraftwerk, Terry Riley, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Throbbing Gristle, The Residents, Steve Lacy, even Tangerine Dream and Frank Zappa. But other names include Out of Focus, Moving Gelatine Plates, Operation Rhino, Thrice Mice, Brainticket, Ovary Lodge, and many others of whom I have no knowledge. There are people who have tried to collect all of the artists listed, and more recently there are at least two compilations (one of French artists, one of German) of people on the NWW List.

In the more recent notes, Steven writes, "I would like to dedicate this record to John and Heman, wherever you are now; it was a great time and I think we made a beautiful album." 

Listening to it now, it really feels like more than enough by the end even if you're patient with it. Particularly the second side's "Black Capsules of Embroidered Cellophane" which clocks in at 28:21.

On, but there's more. This reissue has a second disc. One side is "Strain, Crack, Break", which is a mixed/overlapped/manipulated reading of the NWW List by David Tibet. Concluding with, "All of these bands are completely shit." The reverse side has the figure from the cover image etched into the vinyl. Spiffy!

Well, it's mostly onward and upward from this one, should I continue.

VOTD 09/11/2025

 Modern Jazz Quartet: Concorde (Prestige)

Some days I seek a record or CD for the purpose of writing about it here. It's one of the reasons for the blog, right?

Other days I seek the music for my mood, or a reason. I don't just listen for writing.

I wanted something lower-key today. I don't mourn the death of Charlie Kirk. I didn't wish him harm but I consider him one of the problems, not one of the solutions. Not that I even knew much about him, being over the age of 30. 

I don't especially mourn 9/11, though I remember the day. I was living in my old house on Beechwood Blvd, sleeping in before my day at CAPA High School. My wife was already on the job. She called to say, "Just put on the TV right now." I tuned in to watch the second plane fly into the second tower. More students than not showed up that day. I didn't teach any lesson. I told the students to go online, read up on what's happening, or just sit and talk.

It's not so much that I consider the Modern Jazz Quartet to be musical comfort food, but at the same time it is. Low-key yet with concentrated intensity. My father, a big fan of MJQ, has posed the question of why they aren't better remembered or respected. I don't have an answer, any more than I do to his question why some pieces enter into standard practice as opposed to others. Maybe it's the chamber music quality that makes this less remembered than the Coltrane Quartet. 

Milt Jackson is the obvious star in the group, but that's too easy considering he's the primary melodic voice on vibes. John Lewis on piano is much more the glue. Hold things together. In this respect he reminds me of Teddy Wilson in the Benny Goodman Quartet; he's the proverbial center of the storm. Everyone else circles around him. 

I saw the Modern Jazz Quartet, I guess in this configuration (Jackson, Heath, Lewis, Kay) in 1982. It was at Heinz Hall in downtown Pittsburgh as part of the Mellon Jazz Festival. It must have been June 17, because it was Stravinsky's 100th birthday. A cake was wheeled on stage. My companion for the night, Chuck Gorman, noticed that Milt was repeatedly looking at his watch.

Opening the concert was the Wynton Marsalis Quintet. Chuck said, give these guys a year and they'll be amazing. Surely enough, I saw them almost a year to the later a Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, and they were indeed great. My favorite player by far was pianist Kenny Kirkland. There was a loss.

And to follow up on that thread of thought, the day after MJQ at Heinz Hall, I saw Ornette Coleman & Prime Time at Carnegie Music Hall, with the Chico Freeman Quartet opening. Chico played freer than I associate with most of his records. Ornette was a free jazz funk assault: him, two guitars, two basses, two drummers. Far too amplified for the space. I saw my friend Sachiko afterwards (last time I saw her) and she remarked, "I didn't expect Ornette to play disco!"

I wish I could see her now to ask her about her current opinion. Disco it definitely was not.

MJQ plays though some standards and a few originals here. Probably like most of their records. Comfort food?

VOTD 09/07/2025

VA: Z-95 8Tracs

Purchased in a local used record store, somewhere

I'm going autobiographical again, and some eastern PA niche history. 

I always had an affinity for music. Some my earliest experiences with music were TV commercial jingles. My mother told me she was impressed I would and sing the most complicated one, such as the song for Apple Jacks cereal.

It was really about age 12-13 I started paying more attention to music, which included listening to the local rock FM stations. These were the days of what was once called AOR: album-oriented rock stations. You were just as likely to hear an album cut played as a single. Nothing typified this more than Steely Dan's LP Aja; I remember hearing every song on that album played on the radio at least once. "Peg" was the big hit, but the "real" rock stations were more likely to play "Josie" or "Deacon Blues". 

I grew up more-or-less half away between Philadelphia and New York City, a little closer to the former. The closest metropolitan area was Allentown/Bethlehem. It was at the vital age of about 13 I discovered the rock station WEZV out of Allentown.

If I'm correct about my history, WEZV pulled a literal WKRP. In that sitcom, an easy listening station changes format mid-song into a rock station. I remember telling a friend my favorite station was WEZV, and commented, "That easy listening crap?" What I remember is that every time I tuned in, I heard either Queen or Blue Öyster Cult being played. Fine by my 13-year old self. Within a year, the call letters had been changed to WZZO. Z-95. Far more rockin'.

One of WZZO's primary commercial sponsors was an Allentown head shop. I don't remember the name, but I do recall their mascot was Buzzy the Bear. I found it hilarious someone turned up in an Allentown holiday parade dressed in a Buzzy costume. 

WZZO's programming was a little more interesting initially than what it would later became. They flirted with New Wave, Jim Carrol's "People Who Died" and The Nails' "88 Lines About 44 Women" in rotation. There was a short-lived show "Power Rock" which was a Punk and New Wave showcase, the first place I heard Devo's "Social Fools". 

Those things aren't an effective way to make money though, and the programming shifted to something closer to what Pittsburgh's WDVE is now. A straight-forward classic rock station, even though some of the music was then current.

So some time around 1980, the station decided it would release a compilation of local talent. According to the notes, they received eighty demo tapes, boiling down to the four groups on this LP. That must have been a real chore, plowing through those tapes. I imagine many were quickly deemed "pass". 

Who made the cut? Mountain Jam, Jimi Gear, John Fretz and the Bounce, and P.F. and the Flyers. There's no reason at all why anyone reading this would have heard of any of those groups any more than someone in the Lehigh Valley would have heard of, say, Hector in Paris. 

I owned this LP in high school. It was exciting to think that local bands were given the chance to record and release some of their music. These things were uncommon at the time! I would later sell it off in a mass record purge I've done a couple of times, only to buy it again recently for $5. Someone wrote on a sticker: "Great unknown Allentown PA bands!".

Great is a stretch.

Oh, some of it's okay. Copies of this apparently made it farther out than Lehigh and Bucks Counties. If so, did it make the scene surrounding Allentown sound provincial? Second rate, second market?

Mountain Jam was the name I remember hearing Z-95's concert calendar and gig announcements. I think there was hope that this would be the regional band that would break into something bigger. In terms of location, the Lehigh Valley isn't such a bad place to be. You can drive to NYC or Philly, gig and drive home the same night. Mountain Jam sounds like serviceable if unremarkable folk-rock. I'd invoke the Allman Brothers, but that would suggest MJ is more interesting than they are. They sound fine, and it's probably the best produced pair of songs on the album. 

Next up: Jimi Gear. He's right on the cusp of something like Loverboy but with synth lines more closely associated with New Wave. It's all multitracked, and maybe there'd be more juice if he had a real backing band. 

John Fretz and the Bounce? Straight forward pop rock. I'm probably sounding cruel, but I found it instantly forgettable on current listening. 

The group I found exciting in high school was P.F. and the Flyers. The first of their two contributions, "Black Hole Tone Dance", grabbed my teen ears. It's the only instrumental on the LP which automatically makes me more interested. Now? Not as excited but it's definitely not bad. I remember wanting to play the piece myself. I think I would have been aware of what a whole tone scale was at the time. Maybe. I didn't exactly benefit from superior music instruction in my high school days, I learned many of these things myself. Their other song, "I Do Do That", is a kind of white-boy take on reggae. It's okay, still better than the majority of the rest of the album. 

Where are they all now? Who even remembers this LP exists? How many sit in landfills? And maybe I should be more grateful. With so few of these things documented at the time (unlike now, in which you can stream a gig live on Youtube or Facebook) shouldn't I be thankful that anything from the then-scene was captured at all?

PS the title: it's an obvious play on words, eight tracks/8 track tapes. I don't miss cassettes all that much, but 8 tracks seemed especially stupid to me. When my family was buying a new car in 1978, my father asked, cassette or 8 track? I said, PLEASE, cassette.

VOTD 09/03/2025

Nocturnal Emissions: Befehlsnotstand: The Incomplete Werk of Nocturnal Emissions. (Sterile)

Purchased used at Amazing Books and Records, Squirrel Hill

I've sometimes used this forum to comment on the state of being a record hound. How, through the years, the chance to purchase used albums of interest has waxed and waned. The opportunity to buy something really unusual, and at not a completely outrageous price, seems to mostly be a thing of the past. Finding the Batman and Robin LP with Sun Ra last week was something of an exception. Not that it's a particularly valuable slice of vinyl, but rather to find it in the wild was exciting.

Even more than that particular album, any sort of 1980s industrial/experimental/noise LPs are very rare to come across, even at premium prices. I paid a what I consider to be a lot for my recent purchase of Hoisting the Black Flag, the early United Dairies compilation, because that we close to the top of my "want" list.

I definitely don't go hunting for Nocturnal Emissions LPs. I don't really know that much about them/him. The band, if you can call it that, is centered on Nigel Ayers (now there's British name). I remember their albums were generally part of that early 80s British industrial/noise scene, half a generation behind groups such as Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. The in-house label was Sterile Records, which also released an LP by MB and cassettes of Lustmørd and SPK.

But there's a NE album in a neighborhood used book and record store. Not cheap but not outrageous either. (I know I'm being evasive. More than ten dollars, less than fifty.)

This gives you a general sense of their direction. More often than not NE sounds a bit like Cabaret Voltaire, with early drum machine, distorted vocals, noisy instruments. Sometimes it's more of a wall of sound, but not the sheer confrontation of early power electronics groups. Can I describe this as cheeky? That's too cute. I get the sense of Nigel being young and passionate, enjoying the noise but not wanting to alienate everybody. As an album, it feels like an assortment of odds and ends; some of the tracks are taken from live performances, according to the sleeve.

For my personal collection it feels like a piece of the puzzle of that time and scene filled in, filed in between to my Bourbonese Qualk and Nurse With Wound albums. 

CDOTD 09/01/2025

 Mustafa Özkent vi Orkestrasi: Gençlik Ile Elele (Finders Keepers)

Purchased used at The Exchange in Squirrel Hill

I bought a new boombox yesterday at Best Buy. I dislike having to rely on a big box store for such things, but it seems there are few choices otherwise. 

Why a boombox? I wanted something portable I could play outside if need be, plus it's a combined CD/cassette/Blue Tooth player, which I can run through my stereo. I had been using a DVD player for CDs, but it lacked a screen to display tracking. 

Compact discs, such a rise and fall. I don't hide that I love vinyl. However I will continue to defend CDs as a format. They can hold close to eighty minutes of audio, don't degrade on multiple plays if you handle them correctly, they're light and take up very little space. Try moving 500 LPs as opposed to 500 CDs, and you'll gain an appreciation for how heavy and bulky vinyl albums really are.

Cars don't come with CD players any longer. To play discs in my car, I bought a $20 portable player, hot glued the power supply running from what used to be the cigarette lighter, and connect using an 1/8" cable. Unlike built in players in decades past, the disc doesn't pick up where it left off when you restart the car. 

I remember a time when, if you wanted to pick up a cheap copy of something used just to check it out (for example, I wanted to hear Miles Davis' Tutu), the cheap one was the vinyl over CD. That has completely reversed now. Vinyl, new or used, has reached some ridiculous prices. 

I did a small bit of research though, and maybe I'm not being entirely fair. The first LP I bought for myself was Kansas' Leftoverture. (Hey! I was thirteen!) Let's say I paid probably $6 for it new. According to an online inflation calculator, that would be $34 in current money. 

New single LPs often run about $35. I don't know, it still seems like a lot of money though.

The Exchange is a chain of new/used media and collectables in western PA and Ohio, and probably beyond. For a time the dollar bins were a wealth of real scores, such as when I found two Fela Kuti CDs for $1 apiece. I'd also say the used in general were more varied and interesting about ten years ago. I don't think I'll ever find something as multiple disc sets of Morton Feldman and Harry Partch on the shelves now. But I still look.

Which brings me to this oddity. It was sitting in my neighborhood Exchange. I suppose someone must have put it face out on the shelves, because why would I have ever noticed it otherwise? Who is Mustafa Özkent? Why is there a chimp wrapped in recording tape on the cover? It was the quotes on the outer cover that got to me, including, "The Harry Partch of Turkish Pop..." There's also notice it's part of the "Anatolian Invasion Series". Okay, now I'm interested. Being a used CD, it was at most $8 if I remember correctly.

So what is it? Let's start with the basics: all instrumental (fine by me). The instrumentation is guitar (often with wah wah), organ, bass, and drums, with possibly some additional rhythm instruments mixed in. It's vaguely kind of psychedelic; I'm reading the album originally dates to 1973. Driving bass grooves, often very prominent, with soloing on guitar or organ. The pieces are generally simple. if everything was less intense, you'd almost start to head into easy listening. I have found this a a good thing to put on for cookouts. It can play in the background, but will catch your ear sometimes.

Discogs.com indicates that a single original vinyl copy has sold there for $1700, with another currently up for $2150 (from South Korea!). Too rich for my blood, I'm happy to experience this for $8.

And wouldn't it have been a shame, that I'd never have gotten to hear this gem without the inexpensive CD version crossing my path. 

VOTD 08/27/2025

 DEVO: DEV-O Live (WB)

Purchased from Mike Shanley at a record show at Spirit

This past week I watched the DEVO documentary on Netflix. I slapped this one the turntable, being the only physical copy of a DEVO record in my personal collection. 

What of the movie? There was a point I made about the recent Led Zeppelin doc, based on having a review of that film: it comes from a viewpoint of fandom. In other words, expect more of celebration than critique. It has something else in common with the LZ film: the only people seen speaking on screen are the band members themselves. No seemingly endless stream of talking heads, such as in the Ennio Morricone and John Coltrane docs. 

The film is especially interesting and effective at tracing the origins, specifically to Kent State University. Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale were both students, at the time of the Vietnam War protests. Gerald knew two of those killed. It cemented the idea for both of them that protesting was an ineffective act, and other methods were necessary.

An aside: if I have my facts straight, not only these two mutants were at Kent State at the time, but so Joe Walsh attended KSU, Chrissie Hynde was there at the time, as was Chris Butler of The Waitresses and Tin Huey. John "Derf" Backderf was a kid in a neighboring community at the time of the shooting. His recent graphic novel Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio is excellent; Chris Butler is a primary source for the book and depicted as one of the characters in the narrative. The book is maddening and deeply sad, and I can' recommend it highly enough.

An additional aside: Derf attended high school with Jeffrey Dahmer, which he depicts in an earlier graphic novel My Friend Dahmer (later adapted into a feature film). Dahmer didn't really have friends per se, but he and Derf hung out together and the Derf celebrated Jeffrey's unusual and erratic behavior at the time. How could anyone know how bad it would get?

Sweet mother of mercy! This must surely establish Ohio as one of the weirdest places in the world in the 60s and 70s. (I haven't even mentioned Pere Ubu, the Cuyahoga River catching on fire multiple times, or Ghoulardi.)

And by the way, I was born in Akron in 1963, but we moved away shortly afterwards.

Back to the film. The pacing is brisk, especially in its opening with collage visuals to accompany the text. It's the origin story, moving from self-released singles to a major label contract, the surprise hit of "Whip It", and their failure to recapture the success of that record, and their eventual initial breakup.

"Whip It" is an interesting story in itself. Warner Brothers was looking over their shoulders trying to sniff out an actual hit single to sell. They chose "The Girl U Want", which failed to chart. But organically, some radio stations took notice of "Whip It". The video that resulted was a broad parody of sex seen in other music videos at the time, but apparently few people got the joke. It became a huge early MTV hit, and earned the band its first gold records. 

Seems to me none of that would happen today. 

There's plenty left out of the documentary, including mention of the recent reunion tours. It is however very successful in presenting how the bands philosophy and aesthetics developed.

This record is a token from their Freedom of Choice tour, supporting "Whip It". They sound fine, they're a well-oiled machine of a band by this point. During the movie, there's mention of Mark's enthusiasm for The Ramones. That influence not only demonstrated reductionism, but that DEVO's songs sounded better when they were played faster. "Be Stiff" is the example here, and the early recording seems to be frustratingly slow when compared to this later version.

My father emailed me to recommend the DEVO documentary. He's not anti-rock music, but he thinks most of it is disposable and just not very good. So consider that a strong endorsement.

VOTD 08/24/2025

The Sensational Guitars of Dan & Dale: Batman and Robin (Tifton)

Purchased at Jerry's Records

Isn't part of the point of recording collecting the thrill of the hunt? I don't anticipate finding something especially valuable for $3, but it's fun to look. In this digital age when anyone with a smartphone can look up sales prices on discogs.com, it's increasingly rare to find something unusual or valuable at a cheap price. And it's not that I'm always looking for something rare and valuable; unusual is more interesting.

Yesterday I spent a good ninety minutes at Jerry's Records with my old college pal Rob Pleshar. He was there with his girlfriend, both taking their time in various sections around the store. I very rarely spend that sort of time in a record store, and certainly not when my wife is with me (which she was). As Rob was combing through the unsorted 7" 45s looking for obscure Eastern European titles (and found a few), Norma and I were casually looking over the Jerry's "weird" section: picture discs, space-oriented, bas rock operas, Golden Throats (celebrities singing), recordings of trains, etc. I found this record in the superhero section. 

Could it be what I thought it was? Rob confirmed.

What makes this novelty/kids-orientated record of interest? It was legend for years but later confirmed: Sun Ra and members of the Arkestra (including John Gilmore) played on a Batman novelty record. Yes, this was it. 

So, this is not an especially valuable record, but certainly one of interest to some collectors. $9? Yes I'll pay. 

I recalled the last really interesting buy at Jerry's, when Jerry himself still ran the place. I came across three LPs titled Soothing Sound for Baby, volumes 1, 2, and 3. They could easily be mistaken for easy listening kid's records. In fact, they are three LPs of Raymond Scott's weirdly minimalist, pre-MIDI sequenced electronic music. Very desirable to the right collector. Being, me. 

The Batman record was my current secret score at Jerry's. But what of it? It's entirely instrumental, the first track being a lesser cover of the original Batman TV series theme. There's no credit given to anyone anywhere, and the entire project seems shady. In general it's blues-rock. The titles don't seem to have much to do with anything: "The Penguin Chase", "Joker Is Wild", "Robin's Theme", "Batmobile Wheels". There are arrangements of two old classical themes I can't place at the moment. "Batmobile Wheels" is an obscured instrumental arrangement of The Beatles' "She Loves You". It all smells fly-by-night, iffy. 

Writer Mike Shanley said he had this record as a kid and enjoyed listening to it. If there's any rarity to this particular album, it's that it survived kids' turntables everywhere. 

VOTD 08/20/2025

Lee Konitz: The Lee Konitz Duets (RRC)

Purchased at Jerry's Records

There were two inspirations for keeping this audio diary: Mike Shanley's blog, and Gino Robair's Facebook group, What's On Gino's Turntable?

In the case of the latter, he was unapologetic about that it was just about him. He didn't want to know what was on your turntable, he was only talking about what was on his. I don't think he's continued the group for at least a year, but whatever he put on the turntable was interesting.

As for the former, it's a more serious forum for album and concert reviews. Mike recently wrote a review of the Wold Eyes X Anthony Braxton, a disc I wrote about here myself. His take was far more in depth, analytical In my case, I wrote about myself in addition to commenting on the disc. 

I won't apologize for that, this forum is what it is. I only recognize that one of us is more serious in his writing. 

So more about me!

This was a record I discovered in the WRCT library back in my college radio days, and spin it a few times. I specifically remember playing the Lester Young tune "Tickle Toe", which finds Lee on tenor playing against Richie Kamuca, also on tenor. I know Lee mostly for playing alto, but I'm no expert on his discography. 

I run a bit hot and cold regarding Lee. Don't expect a passionate squonkfest when he plays, he's far too reserved for that. But damn, I wish he would play bolder now and then. He's practically the epitome of "cool".  There's a Kenny Wheeler CD on ECM, a quartet with Lee, Dave Holland, and Bill Frisell titled Angel Song. It's clearly meant to be a low-key session, sweet, chamber music-ish. It's beautiful, and Lee is an entirely appropriate person for the session.

When I was an undergraduate at Duquesne University, the jazz studies program brought in Lee Konitz for a short residency. I heard many complaints from fellow students: "Why not bring in Michael Brecker instead?" and similar questions. I found it disrespectful. Dr. John Wilson, like Lee, was a protege of Lennie Tristano, so Doc and Lee had a connection spanning decades.

I was taking Dr. Wilson's History of Jazz 1 Course at the time. Lee spoke to the group about Anthony Braxton. "Well I think Anthony Braxton is full of shit!" said Doc. Lee neither agreed or disagreed. According to Lee, he was hanging out in the early 70s at Chick Corea's loft, playing with him and Dave Holland and Barry Altschul. Anthony was also hanging around. He said the trio of Corea/Holland/Altschul wanted to go in a more modern direction. They went with Anthony and formed Circle, leaving Lee in the dust I suppose. Assuming all of this is accurate.

Lee had another anecdote about Anthony. He said that several times over, when Anthony Braxton said hello to him, he sang a particular phrase. Lee asked, "What is that?" Anthony: "It's part of a chorus you played." Lee wondered which. Doc retorted, "Yeah, now ask HIM to play it."

Lee gave private lessons to saxophone students that week, and I'm told was not at all kind to anyone. I didn't dare. 

Lee looked red- and puffy-faced that week. I don't think he was in good health at the time. Yet, somehow he lasted into the most recent decade and it was COVID that did him in. 

In my conversations with Anthony Braxton (a genuine raconteur), he told me that Lee Konitz had become "toughy-tough" (his exact words) with him after he won the MacArthur.

The album. I like this project, but I think I would have preferred a total commitment to the theme. "Struttin' With Some Barbecue" ends with overdubbed saxophone and euphonium, for example. 

Of all the tracks, the freest would seem to be "Duplexity" with Ellington trumpet (or in this case) violinist Ray Nance. It's the only track credited to both players. It's also the single longest performance on ths album. Here's where I say, more! 

The album ends with Marshall Brown's "Alphanumeric" with all players except Ray Nance. I completely understand ending the album this way, but personally I would have stuck to the theme. There's an inherent challenge to playing duet-style, but also an openness that is undeniable. I say embrace it. 

VOTD 08/13/2025

The Central Philharmonic Orchestra – 沙家浜 (革命交响音乐) = Shachiapang (Revolutionary Symphonic Music) Vol 1 & 2

Purchased at Jerry's Records

What did I expect from this pair of 10" records? Something as non-Western as possible I suppose. Plus you know, look at it: Revolutionary Symphonic Music, with Chinese vocalists and musicians wearing Maoist-era uniforms. I bought four Gagaku 10" LPs close to the same time from the same bin at Jerry's. I assume from the same collection. 

I am sympathetic to Socialist goals but definitely not a Maoist. Mao himself was no less a dictator than, I don't know, Trump or some such shit. Or worse. I believe in mutual respect for differences, not unity in race or orientation or clothing or taste. Nor down the barrel of a gun.

The music? Major and minor chords, often largely pentatonic. There's a broad vocal style I associate with Chinese and other "Eastern" styles, and I like that. I guess I didn't expect this to be too weird. It is propagandist, after all. The boldest the composition sounds is similar late 19th century to me. 

"Army and People Are Close as Fish and Water" is my favorite title in the cycle. 

I'd show these off to my Chinese students at CMU. In part for a laugh, but also to see the reaction. one student (a grad student if I recall correctly) said that "Shachiapang" wasn't really a correct transliteration; it was closer to "ShachiaBONG". Okay, I'll take his word on that.

I don't expect these will be worth any more than I paid for then, $7-8 apiece. But like my Gagaku 10" LPs, I love the thought of someone hunting through my collection after I'm gone and thinking, "What is THIS?"

Maybe part of the point of this blog is the immense diversity of recordings that are out there. 

 

CDOTD 08/13/2025

 Thelonious Monk: Thelonious Himself (Riverside)

There's a clip somewhere of Charles Mingus talking about pianists. He said most of them drive him crazy. They'll play the same voicings on particular chords over and over. He said the two exceptions were Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. 

It is a problem with being the harmonic filler in a jazz ensemble. It's an even bigger issue with guitarists: how do you not play the same C7 chord over and over? I'd occasionally try to coach my aspiring CAPA guitar students on this point. At least the piano has far greater resources. 

I think Mingus' comment is important to consider but not accurate. I've listened to a lot of Thelonious Monk. Maybe as much as any other artist, if not more so. He's my guy, you know? Whether it's reflected in my music or not (and it surely must be, at least subtly) I feel a connection to his music I feel for few others. In spite of Mingus' comment, Thelonious definitely does play the same voicings on chords sometimes. He's freer than most, but even he has his limits. 

By the way, Charles Mingus himself was an excellent pianist. His solo piano album is worthy of a listen. He also played piano on a few of his sessions, hiring someone else for the bass seat. Yikes, I can only imagine how that must have felt, playing bass on a Mingus session.

If you listen to a solo Monk album expecting what you'd hear on a solo Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, or Fat Waller record, you're going to probably be disappointed. It's not that Monk is lacking in technique, but he's rarely if ever flashy. An occasional flourish, that's all. Mostly it's...chunky. Monk was not the most subtle of pianists. He pounds out his thick harmonies. If you like that, he's your guy too. If you're looking for more flash or finesse, maybe look elsewhere. 

About half this program is old songs that he semi-reinvents: "April in Paris", "(I Don't Stand) A Ghost of Chance", "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You", "I Should Care", "All Alone". I posted a video of "I Should Care" on Facebook, saying that I felt like I understood Monk more as I aged. My father checks in with Facebook, pretty much just to see what I've posted. He misinterpreted what I wrote to mean the opposite. I said no no, the older I get, the more I get Monk solo. There's a melancholy to Monk's solo playing that didn't affect me so much when I was younger. Now I feel it far deeper.

I guess this is what I needed this afternoon. 

VOTD 08/06/2025

 Gang of Four: Songs of the Free (WB)

Purchased used at The Attic

It was 1982 I became involved with WRCT. I was staying in Pittsburgh for the summer, regularly listened to the station before becoming involved during that summer. In the next semester or two, I'd spend more time at the station than in classes. I don't blame the station. I made some contacts that remain to this day.

Gang of Four was a big deal at the station. In the fall semester of 1982, they played the student union on campus. I know I should have bought tickets, but I slept on it. I was dealing my state of depression in general. Tickets sold fast.*

The entire show was broadcast over WRCT live. I was in Richard Schnap's apartment, above his parents' garage, listening. They sounded great. GOF was touring on this album at the time.

WRCT had a policy of what was called "bin cuts". The bin was new albums. It was a way to force DJs to play something different, and appease labels to consider the continued relevance of a (then) 10 Watt station. 

When the live broadcast concluded, KJ the Jazzman took to the air. KJ was a fellow music major, Keith, who played guitar. He was a smooth jazz guy before the term was coined. Keith went on the air and played the first side of this LP to get his bin cuts in, immediately after the ban itself played all of it live. 

The first two GOF LPs, and the singles and EPs between those and this record, were very important to RCTers. One friend, when considering this album, thought they had become blander because of the "girl in the band". That is, between the time of Solid Gold and this album, bassist Dave Allen was replaced by Sara Lee. I don't know the circumstances. 

There's a clear progression from the first LP (Entertainment!), the second (Solid Gold) and this, the third. The first is very raw. it's well played, but almost sounds like a demo tape of a band mostly playing live. The second is more polished, a bit more produced but not overly so. Funkier, the African American influences more obvious. Guitarist Andy Gill is almost was abrasive as the first album. 

Then we come to this third LP. It's not a dramatic break, but things have clearly changed. The vocals are more upfront. The bass less so. When Andy Gill died, I was quoted in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette as saying that he could make a guitar sound like it was being strangled. There's little evidence of that here. 

It's closer to being a pop record than before, though it's hardly a pop album.

What were their motivations? I don't want to accuse them of selling out, but it's clear they were trying to head to a more popular direction. Did Dave Allen's departure mark a change of direction? Or did their push towards a more pop sound drive him out? I'm afraid I have no idea. 

I don't want to seem as though I'm completely putting this record down. To 2025 ears it sounds more dated than the previous two in part due to its then current production techniques. Raw will always sound current, polished has a half life. This sounds like early digital reverbs. 

Some songs and lyrics still pack a punch: "We live, as we dream, alone"; "Having fun is my reason for living (give me a break)"; "Making money is making sense". But when the project sounds more like a commercial venture, do the leftist-leaning lyrics start to lack punch? Seems to me, yes. The pacing of the album also seems strange; the most bracing song, "Call Me Up" opens (makes sense) but it ends on "Of the Instant", rather downbeat.

So, worthy album? Yes, but not in league with #1 & 2. After this, I can't say at all. 

* I entered CMU as a freshman in 1981. Between 1981-83, the campus saw concerts by King Crimson, The Clash, Cheap Trick, Gang of Four, Blotto, Tom Verlaine, Adrian Belew, and Iannis Xenakis. What a time to be alive. 

VOTD 08/05/2025

 Frank Zappa: Sleep Dirt (Discreet)

As is usually the case, my studio/mancave is in a total state of disarray. I'm as disorganized a person as you will encounter. But I do need to pick up after myself sometimes. I was filing some records away, including Jazz From Hell, and I noticed this record. I realized I'd never laid stylus to vinyl, so here we are. 

Frank Zappa was going through a label dispute at this time. Warner Brothers released three sessions in quick succession with no personnel or recording information. I remember Orchestral Favorites from the cut-out bins, which might have also been true for this album and Studio Tan. I had former as a teen. I liked some of the pieces on it (specifically "Strictly Genteel"), sold it off in a record purge, only to buy another copy later. All three albums had cover paintings by Gary Panter. I like all three. Gary is someone whose work I'd know better through Ralph Records; my first Ralph was the "Buy or Die" #3, with Gary's Tyrannosaurus front image. In this case Gary's painted an image of Hedorah (the Toho movies' Smog Monster) emerging from a bed.

Frank would later refer to these albums as bootlegs. That's only half true; there was a contract, but it was in dispute. Some of the tracks of those three albums were collected in the album Läther, though not everything. In short, it's confusing. 

Frank lived such a relatively short life, and was such a workaholic, that one can break down periods of his work into years rather than decades. He's in instrumental mode here, somewhat jazzy but through a rock lens.

The mix is at times terrible. "Regyptian Strut" is very bass and drums heavy, with the essential horn melody lurking in the background. Now that I hear the mix on that piece, I know that I have had this vinyl on before. 

Frank's guitar is prominent in some pieces, particularly "Filthy Habits", "Time Is Money" and "Sleep Dirt".  All bristle with nervous energy. That was certainly Frank's signature. 

The personnel information is available online. Without looking, I definitely detect both Ruth Underwood and Terry Bozzio. That places this in a particular time between the Napoleon Murphy Brock bands (Roxy and Elsewhere) and Zoot Allures. 

This is only a few years from the albums Frank produced thatIi either dislike or downright loathe. I found Zoot Allures to be a mixed bag, but the title track and "Black Napkins" rank among his best instrumental pieces. Sheik Yerbouti is also mixed but falling on the negative side for me. It wasn't long after that he released Joe's Garage, which I largely loathe. I think of it as a bad rock opera, and largely self aggrandizing. It does have one or two great works on it, but I just can't largely stand it. The same goes for most of his "rock" albums for the rest of his life. 

I do like some of his orchestral works, and many of the instrumentals. Shut up n' play your guitar!

CDOTD 08/04/2025

 VA: Cologne - WDR: Early Electronic Music (BV Haast)

Purchased at a big Jerry's Records sale

I know that, in posting to this blog semi-regularly, I have probably repeated myself quite a few times. So I guess I'll do it again!

One reason I appreciate, if not outright enjoy, early electronic music is the sweat on it. It took tremendous effort to create these works, and in this case on equipment not even intended for musical purposes. That said, my preference leans towards works in the analog field more than the digital, even though early digital works would have been very work-intensive. I'll take a bit of grunginess over the clean playback of a computer-generated work. It's a generalization, though.

I also like that there were passionate schools of thought. Specifically, the French vs. German schools of post-war technology-based composition.* It's something I'd teach in my college classes, though I'd try to remind my students that boiling it down to France and Germany only is a dramatic simplification. There were concurrently to this time (approximately), studios popping up in the US, Italy, and Japan. 

Using France and Germany as examples does supply an easy narrative to consider: the sampled sound world of musique concrète, the entirely synthesized sources in elektronishe musik. There's also the idea that the French school largely worked intuitively or even experientially, working the materials over based on hearing the results. The German school was more pre-determined, more rationalized. 

The works on this disc date from 1952-58. You can hear the primitive sound quality on the earliest of the works, that there's a dullness to the sound, a slight muffled quality. The earliest works represented, by Herbert Eimert with and without Robert Beyer, sound like they are the loosest compositionally. "Klangstudie II" is a reworking of some of the same materials used in "Klangstudie I", both played in succession. I tend to prefer those to the more clearly serialized works such as the two compositions by Karel Goeyvaerts.

Some of the names I really only know because of this collection or from reading about the WDR studio: Eimert, Beyer, Goeyvaerts, Gredinger, Koenig, Kiebe. The more familiar names would be Hambraeus, Evangelisti, Brün, and especially Ligeti. The latter's two (and only two?) purely electronic works are included here. The studio had clearly made improvements and updates between the first pieces and these, from '57 and '58.

Name most notably missing: Karlheinz Stockhausen. He did after all become studio's musical director at one point. It's not that surprising and probably due to rights issues. Maybe that's a good thing. More composers get to be represented this way. I also find Stockhausen's "Studie I" and "Studie II" to be extremely dry and generally not that interesting. It's "Gesang der Jünglinge" where he made a major breakthrough, in scope and technique. Clocking at over thirteen minutes, putting that work on this collection would have knocked several other composers off.

A big question or tension in this all-electronic world is: do you attempt to model the sounds after acoustical instruments or other sounds from the natural world? I'm certain there's some of that. Nonetheless, this was a new and original sound world at the time, and these composers would have felt they needed to created new music with new techniques that weren't based on the past. The goals were both universalist (a music free of nationalism, for everyone) and complete newness. Nice ideals, but it is music that's very alien sounding at times. It's hard to identify with it. That's part of the impact of "Gesang", that the human voice used naturally draws your attention. 

Seeing as all the works are based on similar sound sources, it's not too difficult to tell where one ends and the next begins. There's a range of techniques and sounds the composers choose. Nonetheless, the dogmatic passion that some of these composers felt, France vs. Germany, seems silly and short-sighted in retrospect. Why not use any combination of electronic and sampled audio sources? 

* I began using the term "technology-based composition" to make a description more inclusive of a variety of techniques than "electronic music". Is musique concrète electronic music? I think it falls under that general umbrella, but there's an argument against it. Karlheinz Stockhausen gave himself credit for inventing electronic music. Not only did Pierre Schaeffer's first studies come before any Stockhausen work, but it's frankly disrespectful of those composers working at the WDR prior to him.