In The Valley With Ryland Cooder

How many of my readers know about Ryland Cooder? Don't raise your hands all at once now. The man we all know as Ry Cooder is a mystery to so many people and that once included me. I knew nothing about him for the longest time. The library where I worked at had a few of his records, but I did not know what to think when I heard them. I liked his guitar licks, but I was wondering why he was not placed in the Hendrix's Clapton's, Page's of the world. He was and I did not know it. His musical knowledge of any kind of music that involves a stringed guitar type instrument is quite amazing. He can also cross so many boundaries that you wonder what he doing next.

I have heard his music on music from Cuba (Buena Vista Social Club) to the blues when he played with Son House, to being session man to so many people. This resume includes people like Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Little Feat, Captain Beefheart and so many more. Even with all that genre crossing he still has time to do music for films or just for himself. He has done a lot of musical scores. I have a few and they are pretty damn good, because of how his music can be put in any mood that is portrayed on screen. From his famous score for one of my favorite films Paris Texas to a movie called Crossroads, which is about the blues Ry pops up everywhere. He has made me listen to his music for a number of years and has got me into music I thought would never possibly listen to.



One day I decided to take a gamble on some of his music. It was an album called Rising Sons. It featured a young Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal. I picked up this cassette at the store one day and I wanted to hear for myself what he had to say. At 18 or 19 Ry Cooder was playing better then anyone his age. His guitar playing on the blues gems were absolutely stellar. His playing did not sound like he was this young pup, but a man with years and years of experience. Little did I know that he would be playing with Captain Beefheart and The Rolling Stones in the very near future.

All the playing he did outside his own work leaves us to wonder what he was not on as far as people he played with. The list of all the people he worked with is out of this world. I mentioned a few people above, but that was only part of the long list of people who asked him to play with on their albums. I was thinking the other day while playing some of his music that most of the people he did play with are still around today. Ry has pretty much cut session work out of his things to do list and now just works on his own stuff and of course got the Buena Vista Social Club to a rise in aware how great Cuban music is. His soundtrack work he still has an effect to amaze us with all he has done. I picked up my score to End of Violence and really could hear how much of an impact that he is.



Now, when it comes to an album that I should talk about in his catalog, there are many. His first four are really great. I could pick all of them and really. I chose Into The Purple Valley because it was my first Ry Cooder album I bought. The music on this album is unique and fun and really shows off why people like me love his guitar playing. If anything you take out of this album it's his great guitar playing. Something that is lacking on some music from the 1970's. He stuck to his guns on most of his music. He did not change his idea or focus with any music he put out. If you want to start with any Ry Cooder album, start here. It is really good stuff and it might get you more into his music. So take a chance like I did and I am sure you will enjoy it. Enjoy!!!

No Wave No New York

(Richard Hell) W/ Glasses and James Chance

The other day I picked up a book at the library about the music that happened around the same time as the Talking Heads, Television, Cramps, Blondie and Ramones started. It was music scene that I did not know about for the longest time, The scene was called No Wave, but when I found a 45 of D.N.A in the book donation bin at my local library I knew I stumbled upon something special. I had a bit of understanding on who and what the scene was and the important people that I should listen to. That single 45 with the two songs encapsulated just about everything that I could figure out from that era. The band was called D.N.A. It was a great history lesson and one thing I took away was to find more of this short four year span that changed the lives of so many people.

This odd era even made Brian Eno stand up and take notice. By the way he produced the album that we are discussing here. He wanted to know what the hell was going on. Thurston Moore stated in his book No Wave Post Punk Underground New York 1976-1980. The book was a great way to understand a scene that very little people know about. The people who do are frankly hipper then me. That 45 that got donated proved that to me the day I picked it up. D.N.A. was one of the four bands that are featured on this compilation. It was one of the oddest things that has ever graced my collection.



Around the same time I found that gem I went to New York and went record shopping with a friend who had the same taste in music that I did. He mentioned on the car ride down that I should find an album called No New York. It documents four bands including D.N.A., Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Mars and James Chance and the Contortions. All these bands lead the movement and changed the way we look at music and this music eventually lead the the important downtown scene in New York City. This music is something that should not be taken lightly. It's raw and seems not all that great, but if you understand any period of music, this explains a lot of connections to the CBGB's sound and also the Downtown scene that I love so much.


DNA: Ikue Mori, Arto Lindsay and Robin Crutchfield

There is something about a scene that can last four years and still have repercussions on what is happening now. Some of these artists still perform today and make so much great and creative music. Take Ikue Mori. She is an artist for John Zorn's many project and left the drums to play samples and electronic stuff. She is also a visual artist as well many of her artwork is shown on Zorn's Tzadik label covers. They are truly a site to see. Another is Arto Lindsay; his music is extremely important to me. His solo albums are a work of beauty and on one he covers Prince and he makes it sound like his own. Once called "Sex on a stick" his music fusion of my favorite Brazilian Tropicalia movement is really great when you hear what he does. Lynda Lunch still performs to this day and the other day I listened to her do the poetry of Jack Kerouac and it was pretty damn' good. Lastly James Chance is making music here and there and according to Wiki, he is doing a Jazz trio that plays standards.


Lance Loud of the Mumps and Lynda Lunch from Teenage Jesus and the Jerks

So I offer today this compilation of some really interesting music. Yesterday I dug out my CD and did another time machine run. I really wonder with all this great music that was going on in the 70's in New York City that the city did not blow up or start an earthquake. I really do like this stuff, it might be tough in some spots on the nerves, but the reward is there. Take a listen to this and tell me what you think. It's a bit expensive, but worth the effort to buy or find used. I went looking on E-Bay yesterday for a record edition and found it selling for $100.00. Enjoy!

Bill Laswell Remix's

Back in 1997 I was hanging around some music friends talking about people who in the music world are creative in the way they put music out or promote music or even expose new ideas or new musical ventures. The example I should use is like how John Zorn made a tribute album to Ennio Morricone. When you hear his musical interpration of Ennio's cinema's most important soundtrack stuff you realize that John Zorn and countless others really love music as a whole. They are not afraid to tell their audience who listen to them, who their musical inspiration is. I liked when Zorn did that and it taught me to actually listen to what John Zorn is doing and what he thinks is the music is that we should be digging, reevaluate and listen to.

We got on the subject of Bill Laswell. I think now that Bill Laswell is a genius. Then, I did not know much about him except for his better then average bass playing. I thought his musical skills were out of this world. His playing on albums he was leading or just in the band made it so much more fun. I even had Laswell produced albums like Axiom Funk and other Axiom products. For people who don't know Axiom was a record label headed by Bill Laswell to promote worldly music that would not get exposed. These artist on these albums included Sonny Sharrock, Ginger Baker, Henry Threadgill, Praxis, and countless others. I had about two dozen of these albums and they were so good to listen to. They did not stick to one label, they had all kinds of genre crossing or musical sounding that I was eager to soak up and enjoy.



My friend told me that he thought what Bill Laswell should do is find a way to mix the Fusion Miles Davis or mid 70's James Brown. My friend pointed out that this stuff does not get enough credit for changing the world of popular music. Bill must have been closely listening to our conversation because a year later he made such a great Miles Davis reconstruction. The stuff was music I was still getting into, but it was great to hear stuff that made me more and more go out and seek this stuff out. For the longest time these "Fusion/Funk" albums were long out of print. I remember listening to them at the record store and my friend telling me that his Japanese imports of these albums set him back $300 at one point. That was for three two CD sets. At one point in 1996 I had to buy the import versions myself of Live Evil and Get Up With It and those cost me about $80. In 1997 a great re-issue campaign got Live Evil in print but neglected Get Up With It and Big Fun. Both finally surfaced in 2000.

In 1997 my friend still working at the store came over to me and handed me a promo CD. He wrapped it up in birthday type paper and told me to go home and listen with headphones. I asked him what it was and he told me that I would love it. When I picked up my CD's and grabbed that one too, I wanted to open it right away. I decided to wait till I got home. When I was home my parents laughed and told me that my friend does not know that my birthday is more six months away. When I opened it up it was the Miles Davis Remix album. Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis from 1969-1974. I was like in awe. Had no idea what to think. I put it on and quickly grabbed my headphones. It was like I just stepped into a dream. This stuff was so great. I called my friend at work and he told me that it has not left his CD player since he too got a promo of the same CD. He was right though, the music did not leave my CD player for about two weeks.



So, if you can find this I suggest that you pick it up. Even if you don't have any Miles Davis Electric. It will be a great start to open your eyes to an era of Miles that is really great. In one of my early posts I did a review of Big Fun. I would suggest you try that out as well. Bill Laswell has a great way of bringing out some wonderful ideas and having people like us music geeks look over stuff that we remember. Try this and I know you as well, will love it too. Enjoy!

Artwork Roger

To take a break from writing about an album and artist I decided to write about album artwork. This came to me today when I was looking for an Art book at the library. I thought about the Art of Roger Dean. We all know his artwork for Yes, but did you guys and girls know about his artwork for other artists. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years back and he was the coolest guy. We just talked for about 15 minutes and his inspiration and stuff that makes him get these wonderful ideas that look like they stepped out of the 25th Century. I was going through this artwork idea the other day when I pulled out my Nucleus and Gun and Keith Tippett CD's who's artwork was also done by Roger Dean. Two of these were written about in the blog. Here is some of the artwork. After the jump I will tell you about what I think he was thinking. I cannot speak for him, but his artwork is great.


Roger Dean

His first album cover work was in 1968 for a group called Gun. In 1971, Dean produced the cover for the first album by the African/Caribbean band Osibisa which attracted widespread attention to his work. Later that year, he began the partnership with the progressive rock band Yes for which he is best known. His first design for the band was for their album Fragile. Dean designed the now-classic Yes "bubble" logo, which first appeared on the album Close to the Edge, and continued to create covers for the band until as recently as 1999 (The Ladder). Yes guitarist Steve Howe said, "There is a pretty tight bond between our sound and Roger's art." In addition to their album covers, Dean also contributed to his brother Martyn Dean's stage set designs for the band.

Known primarily for the dreamy, other-worldly scenes he has created for Yes, Budgie, Uriah Heep, Gentle Giant and other bands, Dean has said, "I don't really think of myself as a fantasy artist but as a landscape painter." Characteristic landscapes show graceful stone arches (as shown in Arches Mist, above) or floating islands, while many paintings show organic appearing habitats (such as shown in the cover for Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe). Though he primarily works with watercolour paints, many of his paintings make use of multiple media, including gouache, ink, enamel, crayon and collage. In addition to his cover paintings, Dean is respected for his calligraphic work, designing logos and titles to go with his paintings.


The Gun (Gun) I really like this album a lot and the artwork is pretty cool. It's too bad the band did not last that long. "Yellow Cab Man" is a really awesome song.



Osibisa (1971). I own this album and it's a great mix of Funk, Worldbeat and Rock and Roll. Great stuff.



Keith Tippett Dedicated To You, But You Weren't Listening. What a great album of British Free Jazz and wonderful playing by Elton Dean, Robert Wyatt and others.


Ian Carr and Nucleus. Elastic Rock. Like the Keith Tippett I featured both these in my blog. Both albums are a pretty penny in record form if you find them I would like them. Both on the wonderful Vertigo label. The artwork is nothing really new, but it sure is quite interesting to see that when you open the album.


Gentle Giant (Octopus) I own this LP, but with different artwork. The music is great, but it be even better with that artwork surrounding it. Another Classic Non-Yes cover art!



All this stuff is wonderful. I suggest you check it all out. There is a few web sites and a few books. I own one and it truly is wonderful to go through once in a while and try to figure out what he was thinking when he first started the idea. The last artwork will be a Yes one. Enjoy all these and this weekend I will get a few posts out to you.




Yes- (Yesyears) 1991. This was the artwork for the Yes box set that I bought. It truly is amazing (so is the music). I have a signed poster of this and really love staring at it and figuring out where in this world he drew inspiration and also where this could come from.

http://dj-spyder.blogspot.com/2008/11/roger-dean-album-art.html
Check out this site! For more artwork and stuff about Roger Dean.

The Other Grassy Knoll...It Came From Over There...

The Grassy Knoll paste together a creative assortment of elements and then soak them in barrels of dark atmosphere. Nothing on The Grassy Knoll sounds like anything else before it, save the snatches here and there of a trumpet call right out of Miles Davis, a stab at Hendrix a bit of Duane Eddy guitar, and loads of eerie electronics which whisper into your ear only to explode your head seconds later. Any further description might throw you completely off track, so suffice to say that The Grassy Knoll is made up of great grooves intertwined with creepy quiet parts that you can dance to. (AM)

Basically the concern of just one man, Bob Green, Grassy Knoll has explored a variety of cutting-edge musical styles, including ambient techno, acid jazz and dub, each under-pinned by Green's affinity for jazz fusion. He went to study photography at the San Francisco Art Institute, and had returned home by 1990, when he began recording with a computer and sampler. He returned to the Bay Area to look for musicians with similar interests, They put out three albums and each is as intriguing as the last.

Sorry folks I don't have other photos to show for this blog, but the album above is the one to get. It started for me when I saw them and heard them live in 1995 and I was thinking how great they were. This post is mostly about reflection on some really great music I explored while not listening to too much Rock and Roll. This album has elements of everything that the Allmusic web site described. The music on this album really can do a lot of just by listening to the YouTube video below. Let me know if you want a copy! I am sure I can dig one up for you! Enjoy!!

Broadcast Sound!

Broadcast's commitment to crafting meticulously, ethereally beautiful atmospheres gave their music a detached quality that made them somewhat difficult to embrace fully. This isn't the case on Haha Sound, the band's second album. While their music still sounds like it could've been crafted by ghosts in the machine,no Broadcast give it flesh and blood through more warmth and texture.(AM)

With that being said, we lost a true original on January 14th of this year in the singer of Broadcast Trish Keenan. It was a shock to me that she did pass away. She had a really great gift of singing and I felt like being in a different state every time I heard her. Her music to me was addicting. Her voice brought shivers to me and really made me take stock of what female vocals were all about. Sure, I loved the Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, Beth Gibbons and others of the world, but something about Trish was different. When I was back at college I picked up a Wire Magazine that had a feature on her and her band Broadcast. It was very good interview and it discussed all these wonderful influences that I would never have thought of. I went to the radio station where I did DJ'ing and picked up the CD The Noise Made By People. I gave it a good listen. It made quite an impression.



The music was not Portishead style or that kind of music. The music here was quite unique. It was a great to hear something fresh. In my last semester at school we got a copy of the album I am featuring here. Haha Sound was something that really blew me out of the water. Not only did this album really make an impression it also did not leave my CD player or my radio shows most of that semester that I was at school. That year for the college paper I mentioned how this album can send those shivers down my spine. It takes a lot of great sounds to make an impression on me. I might be quick or slow to pick up on it, but this one really struck a chord that no other artist had.

Broadcast mixes many genres and with that they do and they do it comfortably and create some great stuff. The songs that I love are "Colour Me In" and "Pendulum." 'Colour Me In" was even covered just as lush and beautiful by Of Montreal. They turned that electronic mix and sound into a sonic acoustic short landscape. It's what Broadcast does well is the fact they can really make a huge impression on me. The music of Broadcast fits well with me because of the music they search for as inspiration. This same music is the music I really love to explore, listen and really go giddy over.



I do suggest you try this, because Broadcast is a lost band. It's a band that surfaced with music geeks like myself and really caught the fire of all of us realizing there really is new and fresh music to be found. I really think you should start here and you might understand what I like about this music too. Try it and like it and I am sure you can thank me later. The snippet from Pitchfork below really helps describe what I am tell you about. Trish will be missed and I am sure no one will ever be like her. I really wished I saw them live back at the height of 2000 and really soaked it in better. Enjoy and if Trish you are reading this; Thanks! Enjoy!!

Broadcast take the infectious tick of pop and add it to the head-music tock of often non-pop genres (European art house soundtracks, exotica, incidental music, Ohm-style electronic pioneers). The result is an enveloping, mysterious record that marries the idealism of "the future of tomorrow today" to the stark reality of the post-millennial present and finds beauty and fascination in the tussle between melody and rhythm.(pitchfork)

Family In A Doll's House

The first time I heard Family was a few years back on a radio show in my area. This show was famous for playing Progressive Rock and other spacey music that I have never heard before. I was glad to hear it too. It was not like music I have heard before. Furthermore if this was Progressive Rock then the songs were not that long at all. On the other hand the music was lush and odd like Progressive Rock. It was odd, but I liked it and that was good enough for me.

About a few months after hearing them I was reading a music about lost Progressive Rock music. This magazine devoted in finding the classic gems that we barely remember when we were young and shaped them into a great issue of stuff I was dying to find out more about. The magazine was pretty cool adding a CD that had some of these lost gems on it. It was a good way to find new, old music that I would love to hear. It was a great issue because at the end it gave the best Progressive Rock albums. Before looking at the list I said to myself that I would know all of them because since I am a fan of the genre I should have them all. At the end of the list of forty I had thirty-four of them. Shocking to most of my friends, but true. I knew the artist they picked but had no idea about the album. The funny thing about Family was that what I heard in that brief moment was somewhat groundbreaking, but to this magazine it was much more then that.



In the magazine this what they said that caught my eyes. "Family's fully fledged 1968 debut was progressive in the truest sense of the word. While studio trickery-phasing, backwards masking, musical interludes linking track-placed them in the Psychedelic camp, some creative arrangements, making the best of the unusual combination of reeds and violin opened up whole new visits... and unique vocals agenda holding everything together." Furthermore, it stated that it was critically a hit and paved the way for other Family albums that deserve more reappraisal. Well, that was enough for me.

It took me a while to find some of their stuff, but about two months after reading that I found the album they were talking about in the magazine. This is the same album I am mentioning here. Music In A Doll's House. It is quite unique for music goes, but it is still quite a gem. It includes a famous bass player/ violin player who played in Blind Faith with Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, and Ginger Baker. This man's name is Ric Grech. Later on the lineup changed a bit and added was another famous bass player by the name of John Wetton. If you know who that is; he played in the band Asia, King Crimson and another cool short lived band called U.K.



At first listen you might not get it, but after a while you can see why I like this album. The music is quite different then all the rest and it really wants you to pay attention. The music does not have stand out tracks, or long songs like other albums. It is just really great music that has a good touch and a really a mark of a band that was truly ahead of their time. When I mentioned at the beginning of this blog about music that was different or beyond. This is what I am talking about. Enjoy and give it a try it might be really unique and for me that is good enough! Enjoy!

1000 Metal Volts

The first time I heard Shellac it was the summer of 1999. I did not know really what to think. They were loud and brash, but on the other hand it was something that I really liked. I did not know much of them, but of the loud and brash I had a few songs on various mix CD's. When I went back to college in the Fall of 2000 I heard my first full Shellac album. I quickly put it on a tape and listened to going back and forth to class. The music was great and the dis-junked music fit the mood I was in.

I was told about this band from a guy who worked at the record store. He told me about how Steve Albini likes things rough and has a warm spot for analog recording. This guy at the store told me about how Steve Albini produced some real musical classics. "He produced Nirvana's In Utero." I was told. The same person also told me when he produces a record certain magic happens that does not happen anywhere else. He handed me another CD and I listened with such intent that I knew there was magic even made by him and his band.



Over the next couple months I realized that he should be played on my radio show. I liked what him and the rest of the band were doing. It was not quite the way I thought a power trio should be, but I loved it. The crunching guitar parts and the heavy rumble of the bass and of course who could miss those really interesting beats from the drum. I would fit in anyway I could to put a Shellac song on my shows. It was always a given that I would play one song and I would get a phone call from one of my friends to play another Shellac song. I was always up for that.

In the spring of 2002 I stopped to see a friend at the record store I went to and he handed me tickets to see Shellac. For a cheap eight dollars four of us piled into a car and saw Shellac. This was (I know for a fact) going to be one kick ass show. I was more impressed with their live performance then anything in the world. The music loud on the CD was even louder in live performance. It was and still is one of the best shows I have ever seen. On the way back we all tried to figure out how Steve Albini and Bob Weston get that sound out of their instruments. We also tried to figure out the awkwardness of Todd Trainers drumming.



What I thought was great the lyrics of Steve Albini and the tongue and cheek feel of the whole band. It was a great impression on how great music is created. Now comes the hard part, what album to pick. I like them all, but I decided to choose an album that got me on the kick of Shellac. I chose 1000 Hurts because each song on here is so underrated musically. To one of my favorites called "Watch Song" to the song called "Prayer to God." The latter is about is a no plea for forgiveness or well-wishing; he asks his lord to kill an ex-girlfriend and her accomplice.
It is all in all some of the best loud rock you have ever heard. I suggest you take a chance this might be a keeper and if you have a great stereo. Crank up and stand back this might get a bit messy! Enjoy!!

Three Chords And A Few Ramones

Every once in a while I wish I had a time machine. I would use the time machine and visit parts of the past that I wish I was a part of. One the first journey's would be the early 1960's. I always wanted to be part of the Jazz explosion of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. I would stick myself at the Village Vanguard and catch John Coltrane or Bill Evans with his great trio of Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums. It would be interesting watch this scene develop into something that would be part of my musical loves. I am sure that every moment would be quite jaw dropping.

Another time machine run would be to the era of the Fillmore period of music. This would be the era of 1966-1971. If you are like me and love music live the Fillmore shows were a site to behold. I been told by family and friends that some of these shows were some of the best. What I would give to see the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers on a Febuary night in 1970 play from roughly 10pm at night and play all the way to the wee small hours when the sun was coming up the next day. Another show seeing the triple bill of Steve Miller, Neil Young and Crazy Horse and Miles Davis (Bitches Brew period no less) play for a great crowd. There would be so many shows. I cannot imagine seeing them all, but I would try my best to catch something so magical on a night at the Fillmore.



The third and possible time machine run would be to 1975-1979. I would once again plop myself in the city of New York and to CBGB's and catch people like Blonde, Richard Hell, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, Television and of course the Ramones. I would go to these shows and soak all the culture and scene of what was the birth of so much stuff. I actually been to shows at CBGB's but way after this scene was the place to go for great music. I went to an anniversary concert week back in 1995 where I saw people like Living Colour, The Cramps, Patti Smith, and countless others. It was a great time and where age was not discriminated and I could be talking with someone who was there in 1975 and he told me about the first time he saw the Talking Heads and told me how out of sorts they looked, but they could play and that was good enough for him.

In my time machine I would see these shows. I really was and still is a fan of Television. That same person who mentioned the Talking Heads told me about the 50 plus shows he saw of The Ramones. He was the one who coined my title of this post. He would tell his parents even though he was seventeen, he was going out to see a live show "Hey Ma, I am going to see three chords and a few Ramones." He told me how great this music was with such conviction that every one of the 50 shows that he saw of them it never got old. The music was full of energy and the time was priceless. Every time they played at the CBGB's they would play for about an hour and the place would go crazy. They would try out new songs and if the crowd liked them they would add them to the new album. It was quite an experience like no other.



I have seen the Ramones about a dozen times, but nothing like that person I talked to. He and I still talk about that golden era. He misses it as much as I wish I was there. Once in a while I pull out my Ramones albums and remember that golden era. Today I played the first Ramones album and really gave it a listen. While shoveling snow today it quickly made all the snow go away and the worries were gone, but the time back in 1977 where I wish I was it made it all the more wonderful. All the songs on here are great and I am sure by now are engraved in your memory banks everything from "Beat on the Brat" to "53rd and 3rd" to "Judy Is a Punk" and the famous "Blitzkrieg Bop." All of it classic and all of it wonderful. What would I give to go back and watch and listen to this all unfold before my eyes. Classic all the way and rightfully should be turned up all the way.

Beat on the brat
Beat on the brat
Beat on the brat with a baseball bat
Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh.

Beat on the brat
Beat on the brat
Beat on the brat with a baseball bat
Oh yeah, oh yeah,uh-oh
Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh.

What can you do?
What can you do?
With a brat like that always on your back
What can you lose?

What can you do?
What can you do?
With a brat like that always on your back
What can you lose?


Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh.
Yeah

Beat on the brat
Beat on the brat
Beat on the brat with a baseball bat
Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh.