The Pop Group "Y" (1979)

Y [debut]

release date: Apr. 20, 1979

format: cd (2007 remaster)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]

producer: Dennis Bovell, The Pop Group

label: Radar / Rhino - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: *1. "She Is Beyond Good and Evil" - 2. "Thief of Fire" - 3. "Snowgirl" - 5. "We Are Time" - 7. "Words Disobey Me" -

*Bonus track on 2007 remaster

Studio album debut by Bristol-founded avant-gardist band The Pop Group consisting of vocalist Mark Stewart, guitarist John Waddington, bassist Simon Underwood, guitarist & saxophonist Gareth Sager, and drummer Bruce Smith. The original album issue consists of 9 tracks - cd issues of the album add the band's single debut as track #1 and its B-side as track #11, and the running order has been altered slightly. The original vinyl album has a running time of 40 minutes, and with two additional tracks, the cd just exceeds 47 mins.

Stylistically, this mostly sounds like... nothing else really - and especially considering the year 1979, it stands very much on its own. It's both funk, post-punk, and an experimental release, which makes me think of a fine blend of acid rockers Captain Beefheart and post-punk rockers The Birthday Party with the addition of funk. Only, the latter band, alledgedly, appears to have been itself heavily inspired by The Pop Group. So, how did they end up with such an original blend on two stand-out albums that has been hailed as inspirational sources to a long list of followers? The thing is, the album was anything but acclaimed when it came out, and the even sharper follow-up How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? from 1980 didn't make record labels cue in line to sign with this highly original band. Instead, they were met by mixed to negative reviews and the band ended up dissolving after two albums. The members, however, went on to perform in various other constellations who were all somewhere on the frontier of new musical directions - and all far from what was perceived as mainstream.

I have only recently discovered the musical qualities of this band and my first reaction had me thinking of Captain Beefheart and Shriekback. The first name comes to mind by the vocal performance of Mark Stewart and the experimental and krautrock-like and syncopated rhythm section with heavy use of percussion and brass, whereas Shriekback probably have listened much to The Pop Group before mustering it's own sound, which in itself carries a bolder source to the industrial style. In that regard, Y basically represents a huge conglomerate of styles, where the most apparent ones are funk, funk rock, surf rock, post-punk, dub, and garage rock. At the time of the release it probably would've been labeled art punk, I guess. There's definitely also bonds to the strong political approach of The Mothers as well as politically-oriented punk bands of the anarcho-punk rock fraction of the British punk rock wave - again, something which becomes more evident with the angrier follow-up.

Back in the day, I would most certainly have rejected this as being too noicy and too weird, a bit alongside other iconic albums I missed out on upon a first introduction - artists which count The Fall, Crass, The Creatures, and Psychic TV (to name a few), but when knowing of later manifestations of the alt. rock umbrella, The Pop Group has come to stand as founders of something out of the ordinary - an experimental detour into mystic musical landscapes - in a quite refreshing manner.

This is defintely something else - a first draft, you could say - intentionally, it may have been more connected and constructed with experimental krautrock and that of pure funk in mind, but with inspiration from the punk rock scene it surely turned out as a highly original take on genre definitions, and it's nevertheless an exciting take on post-punk with an original tone that would be further investigated on a wilder and more experimental follow-up.

This is recommended for anyone interested in modern music history.

[ allmusic.com, Uncut 4,5 / 5, Mojo, Record Collector 4 / 5, Sounds 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Kraftwerk "Autobahn" (1974)

2009 cover

Autobahn

release date: Nov. 1, 1974

format: cd (2009 remaster)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]

producer: Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider

label: Kling Klang / EMI Records - nationality: Germany

Track highlights: 1. "Autobahn" (5 / 5) - 3. "Kometenmelodie 2" - 5. "Morgenspaziergang"

4th studio album from by German band Kraftwerk as follow-up to Ralf und Florian (Oct. '73) is by many considered the start of the band's success story - a group which originally, and partly still here, is a duo with Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. 'Partly' because Kraftwerk is at this point both a functioning duo-project and an artist collective at the same time. Although, not yet an official member during these recording, percussionist Wolfgang Flür plays on the album - and he will be a stable member from the release and up until '86. On the other hand, both guitarist Klaus Röder and songwriter Emil Schult (who is also credited the front cover) appear together with Hütter and Schneider inserted in what should look like a rear-view mirror on the front cover, where a picture of Flür has been inserted onto the dashboard of the car, as illustration of the band's five official members - however, Röder already left the band by the time of the album's release. On some later vinyl releases, Schult is not mentioned as a member... And on other releases, the rearview mirror image and dashboard have both been retouched. However, there is no doubt that the two musical driving forces are the founders of the band: Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider.

Autobahn with its five tracks has a total running time of approx. 42 minutes, and it has achieved iconic status in music history as a groundbreaking avant-garde album with a colossal significance for the beginning of synthpop, ambience and the entire electronic genre, and an album that has inspired contemporary and later artists across genres, and it's not only the title track, which has given the album this extraordinary status. On the band's previous albums, it was mainly or partially unmistakable krautrock and musique concrete which characterised Kraftwerk's music, but with this very album, the band marks the start of a predominantly electronic approach with the inclusion of elements from musique concrete. On the vinyl edition, the track "Autobahn" - credited Hütter, Schneider and the poet Emil Schult (who often co-wrote the songs) - with its nearly 23 minutes running time fills the entire A-side, and the song has become a modern evergreen. A song like "Kometenmelodie 2" has significant similarities with some music by Jean-Michel Jarre, while inspiration especially from this and from the final track "Morgenspaziergang" may be heard on several compositions by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, who have shown great admiration throughout the band's career on multiple occasions via album and song titles, in compositions, as well as on covers. David Bowie, Roxy Music, and Brian Eno are also indebted to the music by Kraftwerk.

Personally, I didn't give the band much importance until they made "Das model", or rather: not until the song was re-released with an accompanying video in '81, and then I didn't even know that the track featured on the album Die Mensch-Maschine ( 1978). The band and its music was always in the periphery of what I found interesting, without understanding that much of the British synthpop that I was particularly excited about in the early '80s owed huge debt to Kraftwerk. I do however, reacll the title song from some airplay on the national radio back in the lat 70s, and it was a tune that stood out. One of the great Danish bands from the 80s was the new wave band Kliché, and their two acclaimed studio albums Supertanker (1980) and Okay Okay Boys (1982) are nearly unimaginable without Kraftwerk and especially this very album.

The album peaked at No. #4 on the UK albums chart, as No. #5 on the US Billboard 200, and as No. #7 in Germany. The title track released as a single went to No. #9 on the national chart list, No. #11 in the UK, and made a 25th place in the US. Still, the track has achieved iconic status.

Autobahn is a piece of music history on par with the best works of the greatest artists. And it's not just huge because it's original, but because it anticipates and forms new styles and helps creating a whole new genre. The album is naturally included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". The band has reissued this album and most other albums in 2009 in remastered editions, however, it's worth noting that the first three albums by Kraftwerk have never been officially reissued in any format. This rejection is also seen on the 8-disc box set Der Katalog (2009), where they enlists all their studio albums from 1-8 on the back cover starting with Autobahn, thus completely omitting the first three albums, just as Hütter says that with that collection they have collected all of their previous albums. On a later occasion he said that they have plans to release a second box set containing the earliest recordings, although, this has not yet materialised.

Essential.

[ allmusic.com, Uncut 5 / 5, Drowned in Sound, Spin 4,5 / 5, Mojo, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

original cover

detail from cover

~ ~ ~

This post is part of MyMusicJourney, which enlists key releases that have shaped my musical taste when growing up and until age 14. Most of these releases come from my parents' and / or my older brother's collection.

The Durutti Column "Time Was Gigantic...When We Were Kids" (1998)

Time Was Gigantic...When We Were Kids
release date: Nov. 3, 1998
format: digital
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,02]
producer: Keir Stewart
label: Factory Too / London Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Organ Donor" - 2. "Pigeon" - 3. "I B Yours" - 4. "Twenty Trees" - 7 "Sing to Me" - 9. "For Rachel" - 10. "Highfield Choir"

11th studio album by The Durutti Column released on Factory Too (with the aid from London Records) and produced by Keir Stewart. Factory Records had closed in '92 and Factory Too closed in '96, which only explains why many of the original album releases on the two Factory labels are rather hard to find anywhere in distribution. This album is not entirely electronic but it shows Reilly's journey into avant-garde indie pop.

Laurie Anderson "Homeland" (2010)

Homeland
release date: Jun. 22, 2010
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: Laurie Anderson with Lou Reed and Roma Baran
label: Nonesuch Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "My Right Eye" - 5. "Only an Expert" (4 / 5) (live on Letterman) - 6. "Falling" - 7. "Another Day in America" - 9. "Dark Time in the Revolution" - 11. "The Beginning of Memory"

7th studio album release by Laurie Anderson. I think many people thought she wouldn't release another studio album again, but here it is, 9 years after her previous album. Actually, the album had been scheduled for a release back in 2006 or '07 but as the tracks are based on a live performance show that kept changing along the way, the actual release date was pushed forward. My initial verdict was more negative. It's no secret that the music by Laurie Anderson requires attention and reflection. After a couple of years I now see this in a much more positive perspective. It's highly founded on the lyrical side, which makes it a difficult musical work of art, but then again: Laurie Anderson is much more than just a musician. As usual there are lots of fine notions on modern life and existentialism in general. It's recommendable, and frankly, I will probably rate it higher... in time.
[ almusic.com, PopMatters, Slant 4 / 5, Los Angeles Times 4 / 4, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Laurie Anderson "Life on a String" (2001)

Life on a String
release date: Aug. 21, 2001
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

6th studio album release by Laurie Anderson. Once again, she releases an album after several years concentrating on art performances and live concerts, and this time, I really think, the result is disappointing. Of all her albums, this is perhaps her least interesting release. Stylistically, she dwells on her many spoken-word performances over the years adding strings and chamber music to her special lyrics. LA is not just about music, and perhaps this should be rated in the light of being a multi-mdeia performance artist, but I stick to the musical aspect.

Laurie Anderson "Bright Red" (1994)

Bright Red
release date: Oct. 25, 1994
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5]
producer: Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson
label: Warner Bros. - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Speechless" (3,5 / 5) - 2. "Bright Red" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "Freefall" - 7. "Muddy River" - 8. "Beautiful Pea Green Boat" - 14. "Same Time Tomorrow" (4 / 5)

5th studio album release by Laurie Anderson. The album is divided in two halves - the first seven tracks are labelled "Bright Red", and the last seven: "Tightrope". It's not that much different from Strange Angels (1989) in style, although, I think, she tries to mix the pop style with her earlier works, experimenting with a more minimalist way of expression in combination with lyrics. However, the five years between the two releases makes it a bit of a disappointment. The album received mixed reviews, and although, I don't find it entirely great, it's surely an interesting album with much focus on the lyrical side.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Laurie Anderson "Home of the Brave" (OST) (1986) (live)

Home of the Brave (soundtrack) (live)
release date: Apr. 25, 1986
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5]
producer: Laurie Anderson and Roma Baran; Nile Rodgers (2 tracks)

Tracklist: 1. "Smoke Rings" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "White Lily" - 3. "Late Show" (4 / 5) - 4. "Talk Normal" (4 / 5) - 5. "Language Is a Virus" (4,5 / 5) - 6. "Radar" - 7. "Sharkey's Night" - 8. "Credit Racket"
[ full movie ]

3rd 'studio' album by Laurie Anderson is also experimenting with format. It's both a live album, a soundtrack, and a studio album. The movie is not entirely live takes but a mix of live recordings and studio mixing. The movie is fascinating, although, it's only a concert movie. "Sharkey's Night" is taken from Mister Heartbreak (1984) but here in a different version, and the track "Language Is a Virus" is taken from her 5 lp live album United States Live (1984). Overall, I think, it's a better release than Mister Heartbrake but not really at the same level as her debut album.
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5 stars ]

Laurie Anderson "Mister Heartbreak" (1984)

Mister Heartbreak

release date: Jun. 12, 1984

format: cd (1990 reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]

producer: Laurie Anderson

label: Warner Bros. - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Sharkey's Day" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Langue d'amour" - 4. "Kokoku" - 5. "Excellent Birds" (feat. Peter Gabriel) (official video) - 7. "Sharkey's Night" (feat. William S. Burroughs)

2nd studio album by Laurie Anderson following two years after her acclaimed debut Big Science is co-produced with Bill Laswell (three tracks), Roma Baran (two tracks) and Peter Gabriel (track #5). It continues some of her experiments from the debut but the album is much more straight-forward in terms of touching on traditional pop / rock patterns, which I think is a bit on the down-side. But then again, how could she follow the astonishing debut otherwise? Had she followed too closely on the music structure and stylistic originality, she would have failed to demonstrate a natural artistic progression. Co-starring Peter Gabriel is not malplaced here - his own take on world music in an original art rock style tends to imply some of the same inputs of untraditional rhythm patterns from krautrock and / or African popular music. The album certainly places Anderson in a more traditional sphere of contemporary art rock as opposed to her more avant-gardist debut, which managed to stay true to an electronic experimental stand. Here, she embraces and expands the mainstream culture with her ideas of pop. Personally, I'm more into her stronger experimental stuff and sees "Sharkey's Day" and her collaboration with William S. Burroughs (track #7) as highlights on the album, whereas attempts with more traditional melody-structure drowns somewhat in heavy arrangements we've met elsewhere. The song "Excellent Birds", co-written with Peter Gabriel also ended up two years later on Gabriel's hit album So (1986) only titled "This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)".

Mister Heartbreak may not be up there with the iconic debut, but it's definitely among the more interesting releases of the year.

Recommended.

[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

BEST OF 1982:Laurie Anderson "Big Science" (1982)

Big Science [debut]
release date: Apr. 19, 1982
format: vinyl (WB K 57 002) / cd (2007 remaster)
[album rate: 5 / 5] [4,78]
producer: Laurie Anderson, Roma Baran
label: Warner Bros. - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "From the Air" (5 / 5) - 2. "Big Science" - 3. "Sweaters" - 4. "Walking & Falling" - 5. "Born, Never Asked" (5 / 5) (live) - 6. "O Superman (For Massenet)" (5 / 5) - 7. "Example #22" - 8. "Let X=X" (live) - 9. "It Tango"

Studio album debut by Laurie Anderson released on Warner - the 2007 remaster by Nonesuch Records. This is a corner-stone of modern pop music, and it's a masterpiece of avant-garde art rock synthpop - and it's still fantastic. The music is extremely original, although one may find that she's inspired by other artists of modern classical minimalism and musique concrete, e.g. Frank Zappa, Jean Michel Jarre, John Cage, and perhaps most evidently: Philip Glass. Nevertheless, Anderson had already experimented with other ways of musical output from the 1960s, and the music on Big Science also contains traces to German, French, and Japanese electronic pop music but her special sound remains unique. The minimalist music is of course central but her play with words and lyrics is likewise at supreme level, which makes it such a masterpiece.

1982 Favourite releases: 1. Laurie Anderson Big Science - 2. Dead Kennedys Plastic Surgery Disasters - 3. Elvis Costello & The Attractions Imperial Bedroom

Show lyrics <- click...

~ ~ ~

"It Tango"

"She said: it looks. don't you think it looks a lot like rain?
He said: isn't it. isn't it just. isn't it just like a woman?
She said: it's hard. it's just hard. it's just kind of hard to say.
He said: isn't it. isn't it just. isn't it just like a woman?
She said: it goes. that's the way it goes. it goes that way.
He said: isn't it. isn't it just like a woman?
She said: it takes. it takes one. it takes one to. it takes one to know one.
He said: isn't it just like a woman?
She said: she said it. she said it to no. she said it to no one.
Isn't it. isn't it just? isn't it just like a woman?
Your eye. today's work. to look into them.
your eyes. it's a day's work. just. looking into them."

~ ~ ~

Philip Glass "Powaqqatsi" (OST) (1988)

Powaqqatsi (soundtrack)
release date: 1988
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,18]

"Serra Pelada"

A Philip Glass soundtrack to the great movie "Powaqqatsi" by Godfrey Reggio.

Jocelyn Pook "Flood" (1999)

Jocelyn Pook
Flood (1999)

[track is featured in "Eyes Wide Shut" by Stanley Kubrick]

"Masked Ball (1999 Extended Mix)"

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Jean-Michel Jarre "Equinoxe" (1978)

Equinoxe
release date: Dec. 1978
format: cd (2014 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]
producer: Jean Michel Jarre
label: Sony Music - nationality: France

Tracklist: 1. "Equinoxe Part 1" - 2. "Equinoxe Part 2" - 3. "Equinoxe Part 3" - 4. "Equinoxe Part 4" - 5. "Equinoxe Part 5" - 6. "Equinoxe Part 6" - 7. "Equinoxe Part 7" - 8. "Equinoxe Part 8"

4th studio album release by Jean-Michel Jarre originally released on Disques Dreyfus. The style is a continued development of progressive electronic and synth from the predecessor Oxygène (1976) and together they form the artistic high-point of Jarre's studio albums. After the success with these two albums he continued in a more popular style with focus on electropop synthesizer sequences.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

BEST OF 1976:Jean-Michel Jarre "Oxygène" (1976)

Oxygène
release date: Dec. 1976
format: vinyl (1977 Scandinavia) / cd
[album rate: 5 / 5] [4,82]
producer: Jean Michel Jarre
label: Polydor Records - nationality: France

Tracklist: 1. "Oxygène (Part I)" - 2. "Oxygène (Part II)" - 3. "Oxygène (Part III)" - 4. "Oxygène (Part IV)" - 5. "Oxygène (Part V)" 6. "Oxygène (Part VI)"

3rd studio album by Jean-Michel Jarre, originally released on Disques Dreyfus, is the French avantgardist's surreal yet sublime masterpiece, which is a corner stone for all electronic music. I was just a little more than 10 years old when the album came out, but I remember it 'cause my older brother bought the album a few years later and he played it a lot. This is from a time when I first became aware of the many different qualities of various types of music. At the age of 14 I visited London for the first time, and today, more than 30 years later, I still recall many of the album titles that I brought back home from that trip, and this was just one of them. Jarre was ahead of his time, and it was like looking into the future when listening to his music. I still listened to ABBA and Boney M, so this was something quite different. The album is still fascinating as a modern classic, and it has probably inspired many electronic artists in the present time of the release but also in the many new shapes of electronic eras since then.
The album is the only album by Jarre to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
[allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars]

1976 Favourite releases: 1. Jean-Michel Jarre Oxygène - 2. Ramones Ramones - 3. Ennio Morricone Novecento (OST)

Charles Mingus "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady" (1963)

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
release date: Jul. 1963
format: cd (1995 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Bob Thiele
label: Impulse! - nationality: USA

[ full album ]

Studio album by Charles Mingus originally released on Impulse!
This is a great album of highly original jazz by one of the most significant composers of the genre. The style here is avant-garde jazz with big band elements. The original vinyl version contains three tracks on the vinyl A-side and one track (in three parts) with the title(s): "Trio and Group Dancers (Stop! Look! And Sing Songs of Revolutions!) / Single Solos and Group Dance (Saint and Sinner Join in Merriment on Battle Front) / Group and Solo Dance (Of Love, Pain, and Passioned Revolt, Then Farewell, My Beloved, 'Til It's Freedom Day)" on the B-side.
The album is the only Mingus album to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

1963 Favourite releases: 1. The Beatles Please Please Me - 2. Charles Mingus The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - 3. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas Heat Wave