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Post by dem on Mar 24, 2016 10:45:20 GMT
I would have liked to have seen Hawkwind do the Eurovision, meself... 'No content' should have read 'no contest' of course - though I can think of many live albums over the years that would qualify for the former. I've never quite got the Velvets live album; it seems poor next to the studio stuff to my ears. Though when I add that I also think Van Der Graaf's corruscating (certainly by the encore of Nadir's Big Chance) Vital (Live) runs Space Ritual close, that may make sense. Or not. Actually, White Light White Heat maybe qualifies as a live album, just one without an audience. For my money, Live 1969 is the place to go for the definitive versions of Ocean and New Age, plus I adore that super-slow take on Sweet Jane (as later covered by 1000 Maniacs. It shows up on the superb Natural Born Killers original soundtrack). Vital. Erm, yes and no. Mirror Images is astounding, pretty much a hymn to self-loathing, and Door ("'Ooh, we're all in this together' he said ...") and Ship Of Fools are VDGG gold, but whoever let Graham Smith's violin within a cosmos of Still Life ought to be shot. Even Lou Reed circa Metal Machine Music would have drawn the line at such aural torture. Roger Zelazny. Turns out I've read more of his stuff than I thought, which isn't a lot. Maybe half a dozen shorts, mostly black magic & v*mpi*re-related, though not of the space variety. |
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Post by pulphack on Mar 24, 2016 11:02:11 GMT
I see your point about White Light White Heat - that's one of the reasons I like it, yet Live 1969 has never clicked. Mind you, one of the reasons I find Vital so harrowing is Graham Smith's violin, so make of that what you will! There's a studio version of Mirror Images on PH's 'pH7' album from the same year, and it's tame compared to the live reading. I also like Charles Dickie's cello and Nic Potters face melting bass on the live album. Apparently the drums are loud not because the drummer produced it (as I always thought) but because the mic recording Dave Jackson's sax and flute failed, and the only way to pick him up was on the bleed from the drum mics!
To be continued in the Oct 1978 edition of 'Beat Instrumental'...
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Post by Dr Strange on Mar 24, 2016 12:54:06 GMT
Sweet Jane (as later covered by 1000 Maniacs. It shows up on the superb Natural Born Killers original soundtrack). Wasn't that The Cowboy Junkies, from their Trinity Session album? |
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Post by dem on Mar 24, 2016 13:15:12 GMT
Wasn't that The Cowboy Junkies, from their Trinity Session album? Yeah, it f**k**g was. I'm on vintage form this week. I see your point about White Light White Heat - that's one of the reasons I like it, yet Live 1969 has never clicked. Mind you, one of the reasons I find Vital so harrowing is Graham Smith's violin, so make of that what you will! There's a studio version of Mirror Images on PH's 'pH7' album from the same year, and it's tame compared to the live reading. I also like Charles Dickie's cello and Nic Potters face melting bass on the live album. Apparently the drums are loud not because the drummer produced it (as I always thought) but because the mic recording Dave Jackson's sax and flute failed, and the only way to pick him up was on the bleed from the drum mics! To be continued in the Oct 1978 edition of 'Beat Instrumental'... One song that really suited that line-up was Crying Wolf. Saw them come bombing out of the traps with it at Brunell Uni or South Bank or some such - a right manic metal din, far more-so than anything on glampunk smash Nadir's Big Chance. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Mar 24, 2016 15:29:07 GMT
Yeah, it f**k**g was. I'm on vintage form this week. Did you know that Townes Van Zandt was the opening act when The Cowboy Junkies toured America in early 1990, and he wrote a song for them ( Cowboy Junkies Lament)? |
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Post by dem on Mar 24, 2016 18:41:25 GMT
Yeah, it f**k**g was. I'm on vintage form this week. Did you know that Townes Van Zandt was the opening act when The Cowboy Junkies toured America in early 1990, and he wrote a song for them ( Cowboy Junkies Lament)? I didn't! Just listened to it via a popular file broadcasting channel. God, but I love the guy's voice. Wot no Rock 'N' Roll Animal? Where's Glampunk when you need him? Many moons ago, Glampunk swapped his vinyl copy for a Clangers poster. Hawkwind, VDGG, Velvet Underground, Arthur Brown, LOTNC, Viv Stanshall, Cowboy Junkies, TVZ .... We really must do these Roger Zelazny threads more often. |
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Post by andydecker on Mar 24, 2016 21:36:40 GMT
Hawkwind I have also in my small LP collection. I don't even have a record player any longer, but back then when I had my Moorcock phase I had have these records. Somehow I was disappointed.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Mar 24, 2016 22:52:27 GMT
Now we're on a roll. Warrior On The Edge Of Time or Chronicle Of The Black Sword, Andy?
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Post by Shrink Proof on Mar 25, 2016 10:20:35 GMT
Actually, White Light White Heat maybe qualifies as a live album, just one without an audience. For my money, Live 1969 is the place to go for the definitive versions of Ocean and New Age, plus I adore that super-slow take on Sweet Jane (as later covered by 1000 Maniacs. It shows up on the superb Natural Born Killers original soundtrack). A high point certainly, but the recordings of "What Goes On" and "We're Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together" are stunning. WGO has some rhythm guitar/organ crosstalk that you just want to go for ever and ever (anchored by some truly relentless drumming from Ms Tucker) whilst WGHARGT proves that sometimes rhythm guitars and amphetamines can mix ("Oh now, watch me..."). |
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Post by Shrink Proof on Mar 25, 2016 10:34:55 GMT
And you're right, Shrinky, 'Space Ritual' IS the best live album ever. No contest. "801 Live" gives it a real run for its money. Monkman/MacCormick/Phillips/Watson as tight as a gnat's ass, Eno being, well, Eno, and, best of all, consistently blistering psych guitar from the great Phil Manzanera. No over dubs and not a note out of place. The only live album I can think of that's regularly made me wish I was at that concert. Investigate soonest. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Mar 25, 2016 10:53:16 GMT
And you're right, Shrinky, 'Space Ritual' IS the best live album ever. No contest. . Nope, you are both wrong - it is the MC5's Kick Out The Jams. |
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elricc
Devils Coach Horse
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Post by elricc on Mar 25, 2016 12:01:51 GMT
Fond memories of seeing Hawkwind at Stonehenge festivals in my youth, I would def have said that Space Ritual was the best live album ever, but I then saw you mention Kick out the Jams, and now I can't decide at all
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elricc
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 100
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Post by elricc on Mar 25, 2016 12:04:18 GMT
Now we're on a roll. Warrior On The Edge Of Time or Chronicle Of The Black Sword, Andy? Warrior on the edge of Time of course, PXR5 or Quark Strangeness and Charm What a bunch of Sweeties or Kings of Oblivion by the fantastic Pink Fairies any Bevis Frond Fans? |
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Post by pulphack on Mar 27, 2016 8:42:55 GMT
Poor old Roger Zelazny - this has turned into a bit of a mare for him. And I find I'm writing more about music than books at the moment - but then apart from Thomas Burke the only things I've read outside of research lately are Herbert Jenkins and Beverly Nichols, neither of whom are in any way Vault material. In fact, the only places you can talk about Nichols on line seem to be gay sites, and while his sexuality obviously had a bearing on his work, the subject matters are what interest me, so I'm even out of the loop there.
Meanwhile... Kick Out The Jams never quite makes it for me because of Rob Tyner's bloody awful falsetto on Ramblin' Rose. The rest of the album is wonderful, though (even if they do nick Reg Presley's publishing money by claiming I Want You Right Now for their own when it's a barely disguised Troggs lift). I've never heard 801 Live, Mr Proof, but will check it out on your recommendation.
Bevis Frond! I lost track of his stuff in the late nineties, but the early albums are splendid examples of a man who had to wait twenty years to really cut loose... Tangerine Infringement Beak is my fave 'seven songs in one with lots of soloing' piece, especially the part where he stops singing and says 'I thought of about five rhyming couplets for this point but none of them seemed to make any sense so I decided not to bother' (not verbatim, but pretty close I think) before launching into the chorus...
I need to read some more books.
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Post by Dr Strange on Mar 28, 2016 9:04:09 GMT
Yes, Ramblin' Rose is painful listening - but don't blame Rob Tyner, I am pretty sure that Wayne Kramer took the vocals on that track. If you want to hear some new psych, I'd recommend Cambridge band "Psychic Lemon" - you can listen to them here soundcloud.com/psychic-lemon (though maybe a little bit too much flute on some of the tracks). |
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