Pink Floyd – “Obscured By Clouds” (1972)

Let us for once be honest with each other, put our masks aside and show our true selves - if there’s any Pink Floyd record from the 70s you can skip it’s this. If a different band than PF had made this album I, and many others, had certainly appreciated it in a different way. But when you're a band like today's main attraction you expect something better. So my judgement may be a bit unfair but at the same time it’s a proof of Pink Floyd's greatness.

Obscured By Clouds is the soundtrack to the French film La Vallée (The Valley in English) by director Barbet Schroeder. The band went to France and recorded the album in about two weeks. The film is about a number of people who go into the jungle in New Guinea searching for a mythical place - "the valley obscured by clouds". Although I was a little negative above towards the album it’s no doubt better than the movie which I found pretty boring when I saw it. My only reason to see it was of course that PF had made the soundtrack, this led me to believe that the film would be really cool. But no.

The songs are generally of lower standard than PF songs usually are, I also miss the wholeness PF albums often are. Obscured By Clouds feels more like a number of individual songs than an album. Compared with the band's previous album Meddle or the subsequent Dark Side Of The Moon there’s a big difference concerning this. Maybe it's because it's a soundtrack where the music is primarily designed to fit in a movie and its different scenes, it may make it harder to create a wholeness.

There are also few songs on the album that move me in any way or impress me. Compared with what Pink Floyd had created previously or was going to during the years after, which could be psychedelic, bombastic, powerful, pretentious and/or very beautiful, the songs on Obscured By Clouds are relatively bland. Some of the songs are instrumental while others are with song. Some are a little bit druggy, some are slow ‘ballads’ while others are more rock’n roll, but no one is on my top 10 list of PF's best songs.

So, no absolute need to have the record in your collection if you’re not a Pink Floyd fan (as I am). Then you must of course have it. Now and then I pick it out and let it spin on the turntable. Pink Floyd is still Pink Floyd.

 

Favorite tracks

Obscured By Clouds

When You’re In

Burning Bridges

 

Tracklist

Side A

1. "Obscured by Clouds" 3:03

2. "When You're In" 2:30

3. "Burning Bridges" 3:29

4. "The Gold It's in the..." 3:07

5. "Wots...Uh the Deal" 5:08

6. "Mudmen" 4:20

 

Side B

7. "Childhood's End" 4:31

8. "Free Four" 4:15

9. "Stay" 4:05

10. "Absolutely Curtains" 5:52

 

Old vinyls – new versions

A couple of the records I’ve written about earlier on this blog I’ve had the pleasure to buy again, in new versions. I’d like to mention these so the picture is complete.

 

Kate Bush – “The Kick Inside”

As I’m for the moment living in Quebec, I guess it’s not a big surprise I found this record with the more unknown Canadian cover (the right one below).

Read my earlier post on The Kick Inside.

 

Sunday Funnies

To my delight and surprise I found this record with a somewhat different cover – a gatefold sleeve! The record I already had in my collection was not a gatefold sleeve. Maybe there’s a European version and an American, I honestly don’t know.

The fronts of the covers are the same on both versions but the back sides are a littlte bit different. A picture on this side and the gatefold sleeve “opened” are to be seen below.

Read my earlier post on Sunday Funnies.

Camel – “Moonmadness” (1976)

For quite a long period in my life I often thought about whether I should get some albums I had on vinyl also on CD, I thought it was so comfortable to listen to CDs. Far too often, I let the convenience guide me and I took a CD from the shelf instead of a LP. Thus, many of my vinyl records were unplayed for a long time. Nowadays it is the opposite. Moonmadness is an album that have followed the path from CD to vinyl. Firstly, I think this is Camel's best album (yes, better than The Snow Goose) and therefore deserves to exist in my collection in both formats. Secondly, I have, thanks to my stay in Quebec (where I currently live), found lots of records with the North American cover. This is fantastic for a European like me.

Above you therefore see the North American cover of Moonmadness, which is totally different than the European one. Some of you may wonder if it really makes sense to buy a record you already own just because it has a different cover, the music's the same. Of course it’s worth it, I answer, especially if you can find the record for five dollars. You should know that serious collectors often buy all the different covers that exist of a record, one record from each country where the record has been pressed, different pressings, and so on. So my purchases of records with North American covers is nothing.

Moonmadness is Camel's fourth album and was the album released after their breakthrough The Snow Goose (it’s strange that you can never write or talk about Camel without mentioning this album). This is also the last album with the original lineup of the band - Andrew Latimer (guitar, flute, vocals), Peter Bardens (keyboards, vocals), Doug Ferguson (bass, vocals) and Andy Ward (drums, percussion, vocals).

The record has a loose concept consisting of songs that personify the four band members. Air Born is about Latimer, Lunar Sea is about Ward, Chord Change about Bardens and Another Night about Ferguson. All songs are written by Latimer and Bardens except Another Night which all band members have been given credit for composing.

As mentioned above, this album is my favorite Camel album and also one of my favorite records all categories. Camel belongs to the progressive school, but always manages to stay on the right side of the border to too difficult and complex. Bands such as King Crimson sometimes becomes too great a challenge for me as their music often is too strange and neurotic. Camel is a challenge just big enough and Moonmadness finds the perfect balance between difficult and enjoyable. They give the listener challenges like long instrumental parts, time changes and odd time signatures, but all the time it’s easy to like what you hear. In contrast to The Snow Goose, Moonmadness has vocals in most songs. Because something always happens in the songs the listener's interest is kept alive at all times, no part nor song is too long, you never grow tired of the music. We are treated to everything from dreamy harmonies to 7/4 time signatures, often in one and the same song.

Many people compare Moonmadness with Pink Floyd's creations, personally I don’t think they belong in the same category. 70s Pink Floyd was more about epic albums with big soundscapes. Compared with PF Camel no doubt belongs to the more classic progressive music genre and I suspect that the members of Camel are more skilled as musicians (maybe Gilmour uncounted) but perhaps not as songwriters. This means the music of Camel is a bit more difficult (but not too difficult), more complex (but not too complex) and probably a bit more technically demanding for the musician. The sound is also "smaller" than PF's often larger soundscapes.

I highly recommend this album to everyone on planet Earth. I believe that even those who usually don’t like progressive music can appreciate this LP. Since it was purchased, it has been played a lot on my stereo and it will continue to do so. It is one of the few albums where all of the songs (almost) are fantastic. The two examples of the songs below from YouTube are two songs my then 1 ½-year-old son liked a lot. As a responsible father I thought the musical education must begin early. For a long time these two songs were his favorites along with a Lee Hazlewood song. I thought I had succeeded, but unfortunately he has a seven-year-old gone lost. Perhaps he can find his way back home again.

Finally, following the Moonmadness recording Mel Collins (saxophone, flute) became a new member of the band and Ferguson was replaced by Richard Sinclair (ex-Caravan).

Favorite Songs

Air Born

Lunar Sea

 

Tracklist

Side A

1. Aristillus 1:56

2. Song Within a Song 7:16

3. Chord Change 6:45

4. Spirit of the Water 2:07

Side B

1. Another Night 6:58

2. Air Born 5:02

3. Lunar Sea 9:11

 

 

Moody Blues – “Days of Future Passed” (1967)

The reader with a good memory might remember a previous post on this blog on the topic of CDs in my collection I would like to have on vinyl. This record was one of them, apparently this wish is now fulfilled. A stroll around Quebec's stores for used records last week resulted in Days of Future Passed (amongst others). And for the price of 5 CDN, it was a bargain, if you ask me.

I must be honest and admit I don’t remember how I first discovered Moody Blues, but it was as an adult. This was the first of Moody's albums I bought and my collection quickly contained all of their "famous seven".

This was Moody Blues’ second album. According to legend, their record label Decca Records wanted to promote their new Deramic Stereo Sound (DSS) by recording a rockn’roll version of Dvorak's New World Symphony. Moody Blues, who owed the company a lot of money since their first recording, was chosen for this project. Among other things, their debt would be considered paid off as a consequence of this recording.

Moody Blues managed to get the artistic control over the recording and abandoned the original idea after a while. Instead they used their own material and with the help of Peter Knight, who had been hired for the original Dvorak project, they created their own mix of rockn’roll and classical music - Days of Future Passed. (It may be added that some people on Decca denies that there ever was an original Dvorak Project, this wasn’t to be until somewhere in the 70s, according to them). The band presented their "rockn’roll” songs for Peter Knight who subsequently wrote the classical parts that link the songs together. In this way, Peter Knight has perhaps just as much responsible as the band for the final result. On the vinyl album, credit is given for the compositions to Redwave-Knight, where Redwave is a fictitious name the band gave to themselves and Knight of course is Peter Knight.

London Festival Orchestra, which plays the classical parts on the album, consists of musicians from Decca who were given this name. "London" was added to the name to make it a bit more impressive.

I have always kept this LP as one of my absolute favorites, top 3. Firstly, I like Moody's "rockn’roll” songs on the album, they are all really good creations. Secondly, I like how smoothly the classical musical parts take over, and hand over to the "rockn’roll” parts. It is almost imperceptibly, suddenly you’re listening to classical music and don’t really know what happened and when the "rock’roll” song ended. I put the word "rockn’roll" in quotes because it’s not really rockn’roll, it’s more the psychedelic sounds of the 60's (whatever you call that music). The album is a concept album on the theme of a typical day, from morning to night and listening to it is to embark on a fascinating musical journey.

The record company was skeptical of the creation when it was finished as they felt it scared the fans of classical music with its rockn’roll content, at the same time the thought it frightened rockn’roll fans with its classical content. But they had no reason for their fears, the album sold really well, largely thanks to the hits Tuesday Afternoon and Nights in White Satin.

The record was remixed 1978 since the original mastertapes became increasingly degraded. This means that there are no CDs with the original mix. A lot of people find the early original mix not so good, nevertheless I'm glad I’m now an owner of both a CD and a vinyl (with the original mix).

I can’t do anything else than highly recommend this album, it’s fantastic from the moment the first sound is heard until the last chord dies out.

 

Tracklist

Side A

1 The Day Begins 5:45

2 Dawn: Dawn Is A Feeling 3:50

3 The Morning: Another Morning 3:40

4 Lunch Break: Peak Hour 5:21

Side B

1 The Afternoon: Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?) 8:25

2 Evening: The Sun Set: Twilight Time 6:39

3 The Night: Nights In White Satin 7:41

 

 

Talking Heads – “Fear of Music” (1979)

I now and then heard the Talking Heads album Speaking in Tongues being played on the stereo in the house where I grew up, it was my older brother who owned it and it was a record I liked. If there was one person behind the name Talking Heads or ten-man-band, I had no idea. In my early self-centered teenage years, I thought because this record was the only one I had heard with TH, it was the only album they had made. This was so obvious I never even reflected on this idea. Imagine then my surprise when I as a 14-year-old visited the record store Tropez Records in Uppsala (Sweden) and found an ink black album with TH called Fear of Music. My world tumbled when I got the life-changing insight that Talking Heads, and thus probably many other bands, had a history! It was something of a shock and a new world, or many new worlds opened up. The wallet also had to open up. Damn!

As you often did in those days I listened to the record in the store and I thought it was fantastic. Especially the second track Mind blew my mind and I spontaneously felt that it was one of the best songs I've ever heard. Back home from the store and proudly showed my brother the new record. I remember how he lay on the living room floor and listened to the album in headphones. When he was done, he gave the album thumbs up and mentioned that he had really liked the song Memories can’t wait. It felt good that my brother, who had introduced TH in my life, also liked the album.

Fear of Music was Talking Head’s third album and Brian Eno was again the producer. The basics for the album was recorded with Eno for two days in drummer Chris Frantz’s and bassist Tina Weymouth’s loft in New York. The cover was designed by keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Harrison, he’s also the one who came up with the album’s title. Most songs were created by the band jamming together, however, the singer/guitarist David Byrne has got most of the credits concerning the songwriting. Byrne has written the texts except to the opening song I Zimbra. When the record was released it got a positive respons from the general public and critics.

Personally I think this is a very good album, one of Talking Heads best, if not the best. Just like the album cover the sound is relatively dark, it's not a depressing album but I can’t call it uplifting. There are not many records out there where all the songs are good, but Fear of Music is one of them. Almost. All tracks are of very high quality but if I must break it down to controlled enthusiasm and unconditional love the songs I Zimbra, Paper and Cities have always belonged to the B-team. Animals is the only song I’ve had a hard time with (except the last part which is fun). Other songs are gems. Heaven is the most "normal" song on the album and probably the only one who could work in the repertoire of a cover band playing at a 50th birthday party. Life During Wartime is a favorite of many fans and one of TH's more famous songs. Yeah, OK, that one could problably work in the reperiore of a cover band also.

Over the years, Fear of Music has received lots of top spots in lists like the best album of 1979, best album ever, the best album in the last 20 years, best album of the 70s, etc. (How many lists can be created anyway?).

Favorite Songs

Mind

Memories Can’t Wait

Air

Electric Guitar

Drugs

 

Tracklist

Side A

1. I Zimbra 3:09

2. Mind 4:13

3. Paper 2:39

4. Cities 4:10

5. Life During Wartime 3:41

6. Memories Can't Wait" 3:30

Side B

1. Air 3:34

2. Heaven 4:01

3. Animals 3:30

4. Electric Guitar 3:03

5. Drugs 5:10

 

Memories can’t wait

 

Air

Prince – “Controversy” (1981)

“People call me rude / I wish we all were nude / I wish there was no black and white / I wish there were no rules”

Some albums in people's collections have been purchased for one or two songs, sometimes you’ll also find other great songs as an extra plus. Other albums have been purchased because the buyer assumes it will be a good album, but maybe just finds one song that’s agreeable and lets it go round and round on the turntable. If I remember correctly, I got this record from my brother, I’m not sure how he had got it. I was somewhere in the first half of my teens and ever since the day I got the album I have always associated it with a single song - the title track Controversy.

Yes, this relationship has been so tight that when I now listen to the album, it's almost as if I hear it for the first time. I found the song Controversy quite nice while the others, at the first listening in my teens, were rather boring and uninteresting. Therefore, I never played them again. Instead I let the song Controversy start and finish this LP. It was OK to treat records you hadn’t bought with your own money this way, if I had paid for it myself, I had probably forced myself to listen to the other songs as well. I also suspect that my brother didn’t pay for this album, which made it even easier. It should also be added that, after a year in my possession, a number of drops of acetone ended up on the B side which left this side more or less ruined. Those things happen, right? I can now listen side B thanks to the Internet and the Web site Grooveshark.

Controversy was Prince's fourth album and his most political up to that date. It sounds typical Prince - many parts syntheseizer, a few parts funky bass lines, a few pinches of falsetto vocals here and there, of course some love dripping ballads and a few sexual hints (how about the subtle Jack U Off?). When I listen to it now it still feels pretty bland. Prince's love ballads have never been my favorite genre and I've always been ambivalent to his relatively dry funky sound with lots of syntheseizers. On many of his records, including this one, there is much one can put aside, but here and there there are a few gems hidden. When listening to the record before writing this post, I realized that it was actually another song I sometimes listened to, Annie Christian. It had fortunately survived the acetone attack and just as in my younger years I still find the song quite good with a somewhat different sound from the rest of the album.

Prince went on a tour following the release of Controversy, among other things, he opened a number of concerts in the United States for the Rolling Stones. A combination that, at least in my world, seems a bit strange.

In addition to the above mentioned exceptions, I am not particularly fond of this album so it will problably continue a quite life in my record collection.

Favorite Songs

Controversy

Annie Christian

 

Tracklist

Side A

1 Controversy 7:14

2 Sexuality 4:20

3 Do Me, Baby 7:47

 

Side B

1 Private Joy 4:25

2 Ronnie, Talk To Russia 1:48

3 Let's Work 3:57

4 Annie Christian 4:21

5 Jack U Off 3:12

Prince and Youtube seems to be a bad combination at the moment (of course it is the artist who doesn’t feel like giving people the opportunity to listen to his songs for free). Therefore no cool Youtube links. Greedy and disappointing, to say the least, and bad PR in today's world of digital media. And this from an artist who probably has more money than he will ever be able to spend (like Youtube clips would get someone to lose income).

Wire – “The Ideal Copy” (1987)

Once upon a time there was no Internet, at least not among the common man and in the shape it has today. It was in the second half of the 80's and I was in my mid-teens. I heard a really good song on the radio and as usual at that time you had to listen carefully when the song was coming to its end if you wanted to know who performed it. If you missed this golden moment you were done for, then you'd better hope that soon you would hear the song again and then manage to get the artist’s name. As a consequence of this, some songs had an almost mythical status, at least in my life. Songs that you’d heard only once, which were fantastic but you had no idea who performed them and therefore had no chance of getting. But that’s another story, in this case, I got the name of the band - Wire, a totally unknown band to me, but one that I decided to investigate further.

I visited the legendary music store Musikörat (the Musical ear) ear in Uppsala, Sweden, and asked to listen to The Ideal Copy. I soon realized it was the second track Ahead I had heard on the radio, a nice kick-ass song with a lot of energy on a record that was quite different from most other records I owned. Although there was not total love at first sight, I bought the album.

Wire was founded in 1976 in London and released their first album the following year. Initially, the band is considered to have belonged to the punk scene, but they developed their sound constantly, and on their second and third album, they had moved quite far away from the classic punk sound. Some call what they did in the 70s for art-punk, others believe that they can not be categorized. 1980-85 the band took a break and The Ideal Copy was their first full length album after this break (and thus their fourth LP). And as before, the band had developed a new sound.

Wires history was something I knew nothing about and was blissfully unaware of until much later in my life (thanks to the birth of Internet). As mentioned, it was not unconditional love at first sight, and it never was. Sure, it held a relatively strong attraction to me and I found quite a lot of joy in the album, but the great passion never appeared. There was always something in the music that made me a bit ambivalent towards it. I think it had something to do with the relatively dark sound of the record and the singer's voice, which for some reason raises a neurotic feeling inside me. I never got curious about Wire's earlier creations and let the band remain an unknown entity in my record collection. However, this album was played extensively during my teenage years although it has become increasingly less played as more years have passed by.

The feelings from my teenage years have persisted. There is still something in the sound and vocals that makes me a bit uncomfortable, although many tracks are quite enjoyable. I still like the earlier mentioned Ahead, Feed Me and Ambitious are other highlights. Side A has always been my favorite and I think the B-side, apart from the opening song, always have been relatively boring.

A difference today is that a curiosity has been awoken concerning Wire's earlier works. That I now know more about them is problably a factor in this. Thanks to the internet it’s now very easy to explore new music and at the top of my list are Wire's second and third album. It can be mentioned that Wire has released its twelfth album this year (2011).

Finally, it must also be mentioned that The Ideal Copy was the first album also released on the then new format DAT, so if not for anything else, it should go down in history for that. After listening through The Ideal Copy for the first time in many years before this post, I think it will get more playing time from now on.

Favorite Songs

Ahead

Feed Me

Ambitious

 

Tracklist

Side A

1. The Point Of Collapse 3:18
2. Ahead 4:52
3. Madman's Honey 4:23
4. Feed Me 5:50

Side B

1. Ambitious 4:00
2. Cheeking Tongues 2:02
3. Still Shows 4:00
4. Over Theirs 5:18