Tangerine Dream - "Rubycon" (1975)

Dope music, I used to call this kind of music when I was younger. The musiscians probably did drugs. The ones listening to the music did drugs. This was a compliment. The music was different, alternative and druggy. It attracted me. At the same time I had, as a teenager, a somewhat hard time with the Tangerine Dream albums. I listened a lot to early Pink Floyd and other psychedelic albums, but Tangerine Dream's instrumental records were a little too formless, shapeless and vague. I guess I missed a clear hook to cling on to. The albums of Tangerine Dream often stood a long time in the shelf witout getting any air time. Maybe I didn't do enough drugs?

Today I think differently about this record. It's a really great album.

Tangerine Dream is a German band that was formed in 1967, and Rubycon was their sixth studio album (if I've counted correctly). The previous album Phaedra had been a great success. Edgar Froese has been the steady member in the band and at the time of recording of Rubycon the band consisted also of Christopher Franke and Peter Baumann.
The band is still active today and has released over one hundred albums since its creation, and if you also count singles and compilations, the number is over two hundred.

Rubycon consists of two songs, one on each side of the album - Rubycon, Part One and Rubycon, Part Two. Simple and logical. The album has a total time of about 35 minutes which is enough. It had been a long time since I played this album, and when I a few weeks ago listened to it, I was surprised how good I thought it was. It has spun a number of times on the turntable since. Synthezeisers and the 70's can go in any direction, but in this case a really nice sound. There is a ceratin attraction to the early development of synth-based music that was largely lost in the 80's. Rubycon takes the listener on a journey that passes through peaceful landscapes, dark and neurotic chambers, harmonic fields and steady pulses. And even though the instruments have evolved tremendously since those days, Rubycon might sound even more beautiful than today's electronic music. Perhaps it is the relative simplicity of the sounds that attracts?

The music can be described as a mix of early Pink Floyd (think Echoes or Time), and Kraftwerk. More electronic than Pink Floyd but druggier than Kraftwerk. Make David Lynch the producer of some darker parts of the record and maybe you'll have a picture of what it is. The music creates a nice wholeness, and even though there are two long songs I don't get tired of the music. The road the music travels on always feels logical and the changes that occur are so integrated that there's no doubt that it's one and the same song. It's like a smooth dark river that flows, it turns here, it turns there, there are rapid parts, there are slow parts, but it is one and the same river.

It's a dark and calm album, although a steady pulse beats in parts of the songs. Rubycon is as much atmosphere as songs, and I think Tangerine Dream finds a good balance between these focuses. Sometimes albums /songs like these have parts that are mostly a chaos of sounds with no structure, I usually don't enjoy such parts. Luckily, Rubycon doesn't have these parts. I would say it's an enjoyable album all the way through even though some parts are less interesting than others.

For some reason, I get a summer vibe from this album, which also happens when I listen to Edgar Froeses solo albums. I don't know why. Maybe I have listened to this album during the summer as a younger man.

I recommend Rubycon. It is a half mystic, beautiful creation that works well a dark winter evening or a sunny summer day. It's a cool sound and the clear 70's stamp only enhances the experience.
And the 70s must have been a fun time when albums like these could spend time on the charts (14 weeks on spot #12).

Tracklist

Side A
1. Rubycon, Part One 17:18

Side B
1. Rubycon, Part Two 17:35

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1969)

From the back cover:

This is a joyous, bouncing and entirely successful piece of pop music, bursting with good tunes and clever words, yet having a musical continuity and wholeness which is quite new in the world where the differing sounds of Beatles, Cream and Doors explode and dominate. "Joseph" is, if you like, pop music moving towards its coming of age.

There you have it, this is heavy stuff, apparently. Personally I think the cover is worth a Nobel prize, if it would be awarded for album covers (which I think it should). That alone is worth the $10 I paid for this LP and makes me return to my ideas that we need to have a mural at home.

This is a musical on the theme of Joseph, you know, the one with the evil brothers who was going to kill him but instead sold him as a slave. After some adventures including a dream interpretation regarding seven good years and seven poor years in Egypt, he became Pharaoh's second man. There, he was finally reunited with his brothers during the famine years, when the brothers were seeking help from Egypt's Pharaoh (who did well thanks to good preparations before the famine). The brothers' initial ill will against Joseph was partially based on a nice colorful coat he got from his father. And they probably thought he was somewhat self-important, and also his father's favorite. Of course they had to kill him. If you want to read the original story, just check out the Book of Genesis.

This musical is written by no less than Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), or Sir Tim Rice as he is addressed nowdays. Both were in their 20s when they wrote it and they did it on commission of Alan Doggett, music master of the school Colet Court. And it is as musicals tend to be, conceptual and theatrical music that sometimes is really great, but sometimes the music needs the visuals to really work. I'm no great connoisseur of Lloyd Webber but still recognize Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats and Phantom of the Opera in the music. Although both Webber's and Rice's careers at this point hadn't really got going, it feels like they already had found their way to make music (plagiarism and copying many claim in the case of Webber).


Webber and Rice

The first version of the music was a 15-minute concert by the choir at Colet Court, there was also an orchestra and the pop band The Mixed Bag which played along. It was the school's Easter concert 1968. Lloyd Webber's father felt this could become something really big and organized a concert in his own church, and now the show had become a bit longer. A third concert was made later that year and by this time it was a 35-minute show, thanks to some new songs. The Mixed Bag and the choir from Colet Court participated in these concerts and they also play on the LP that was recorded the following year. After Lloyd Webber's big success with Jesus Christ Superstar 1970, Jospeh ... attracted new attention and was launched in the United States as the follow-up to Jesus Christ. Since then it has been set up in countless productions at various places in the world throughout the decades. A film has also been made based on the musical.

Personally I think it's an OK album, but the music doesn't stand up to the fantastic cover. One thing I like about musicals is that it's often quite bombastic music, big choires, cool harmonies and sweeping, catchy choruses which often are really powerful. In its best moments. In its worst moments, the music without its visual complement is rather dull and a bit strange, more theater than music. On Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat you get both. There's a lot of humor in the music, and the first time I listened to it I followed the lyrics through out the whole LP even though I really hadn't thought I would do so. But the story was so exciting and fun so I got stuck in it.



Recording in the Decca studio

Many other musical albums are double-LPs, but not this one which is good. A double-LP often contains more fillers and boring songs you want to skip, especially when it comes to musicals. On a single LP you get more quality than quantity.
Conclusion: No real need to have this record in the shelf, but it's fun to have music from Webber's and Rice's early careers and at the same time a piece of art to hang on the wall (if you have a wife that doesn't allow murals at home).

Just as Joseph had a vision of the future, the text on the back of the cover holds a prediction by the Sunday Times' Derek Jewell, apparently a mystic:

The names on this disc aren't yet well-known. But with Lloyd Webber (currently at the Royal College of Music), Rice and Doggett all now involved in the record production game, that situation will change swiftly. "Joseph" is splendid enough in itself. It could be the start of something even bigger.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Side B
1. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

That's the official tracklist, a clear concept, wouldn't you say? But you can find tracklists that list the individual songs:

Side A
1. Way Way Back
2. Jacob Chorus
3. Favourite Son
4. Joseph's Coat
5. I Dreamed
6. The Dreams Were More Than
7. Next Day
8. Poor Poor Jacob
9. Joseph Was Taken
10. Potiphar
11. Suddenly They Heard
12. Poor Poor Joseph
13. Close Every Door

Side B
1. Joseph's Luck
2. Meanwhile in Bed
3. Poor Poor Pharap
4. Chained and Bound
5. I Was Wandering
6. Seven Years
7. Pharao Thought Well Stone
8. Back In Canaan
9. Stop
10. Who's the Thief
11. Is It
12. Benjamin
13. Show Him Some
14. And Joseph Knew
15. Joseph Joseph
16. So Jacob
17. I Closed My Eyes
18. Give Me

You'll find tons of clips from the musical on Youtube, but I couldn't find any songs from this original album.

Moody Blues - "A Question Of Balance" (1970)

From the research I've done, I've come to the conclusion that this LP is something as rare as an UK original press in my collection. In addition, a cover in mint condition with everything in it that should be there. Sometimes this kind of records are worth some money, and given that I found it very cheap (I paid maybe 4-5 USD ), you can wonder if I've done a brilliant investment. So you can wonder until you play the record. Then, more clearly than I would wish, deep scratches and dents are revealed. So deep that the record practically is unplayable. And so did Markus' retirement insurance fly away into cosmos on its white wings. Dreams are meant to be crushed.

Luckily, I have the album on CD too, so I can enjoy the music anyway. This was Moody Blues' sixth album and when you read about it, it's repeated time and time again that this was a departure from their usual big and lush productions in which they used a lot of overdubbing to create their sound. Instead, this album has a simpler and more basic production and sound, an important reason for this was that the band wanted to play as many songs as possible from the album live. More rockn'roll than psychedelia. Justin Hayward (vocals and guitar) says that "It was like a move from marijuana to alcohol".

Personally I don't think it's such a huge difference between this album and the band's other albums from the same period. In general, I think it's about the same soft and relatively large soundscape, the same sweeping choruses calling for a sing-along, the psychedelic-progressive touch, the same quality to the songs and so on. Certainly a difference can be heard regarding the production, but I don't think it is as great as it appears in information out there.

The opening song Question was Moody Blues first detour into the political landscape inspired by things happening like the Vietnam War. Hayward describes it as a protest song about a world that was beginning to be lost. It starts out like a hot smokin' rock song but a minute into the song it changes shape and suddenly becomes a sweeping, romantic song, and then again ends as a rocker. It was released as a single and became a #1 on the lists.

The album is filled with beautiful songs, and as usual regarding the MB records, a few more boring numbers. Worth mentioning a little extra is the beautiful And The Tide Rushes In, and the equally fine Dawning Is The Day. The semi-neurotic Don't You Feel Small is also really good as well as the sing-along Minstrel's Song. The closing track The Balance is also a nice song whose sweeping, powerful chorus on the theme of spiritual mysticism is a nice contrast to the spoken verses.

Speaking of mysticism, some of the band members held a serious interest in Eastern teachings and practices. During the years they were more and more given different identities - Pinder the impassioned mystic, Lodge the rocker, Edge the poet, Thomas the playful mystic, and Harvard the romantic. Some people began to see them as spiritual guides as much as musicians. The band got tired of this and Lodge wrote the song I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band) as a reaction to this, a song on the later album Seventh Soujourn.

The Moody Blues albums that were created the years 1967-1972 is often called the famous (core) seven, of which A Question Of Balance is one. It's difficult to rank these albums but A Question Of Balance stands up very well in comparison with the others. I discovered the Moody Blues in my adult years and they are one of few new discoveries where I have bought, not the entire discography, it's too big, but still a relatively large number of albums. In my case, all the albums of the mentioned famous seven. For a while, I was pretty hooked on the Moody Blues and I listened to them a lot. I still think they are amazing in their best moments, but as mentioned, every album also hold a few more boring songs. But when I'm in the right mood, I still mention Moody Blues as one of my favorite bands.

In any case, A Question Of Balance is a record I with a good conscience can recommend.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Question 5:40
2. How Is It (We Are Here) 2:48
3. And The Tide Rushes In 2:57
4. Don't You Feel Small 2:40
5. Tortiose And The Hare 3:23

Side B
1. It's Up To You 3:11
2. Minstrel's Song 4:27
3. Dawning Is The Day 4:22
4. Melancholy Man 5:49
5. The Balance 3:33

 Astral Dance - "Beyond" (1988)

Today's theme: A synth-based ambient / new age record, an album with individual tracks but where the music also creates a whole.

The Swedish band Astral Dance was founded in 1986 and was / is a band where Pelle Händén was the driving force. From what I know three albums were released and Beyond was the second of these. Pelle would collaborate with different people and on Beyond you also hear Johan Belin. In addition we hear Björn J:son Lindh playing the flute on two tracks. Björn J:son Lindh is a musician who shows up in the most unexpected and expected places, as soon a Swedish artist wants flute in a song you know Björn will be there. He must hold the Swedish record for guest appearances.

Pelle (born -62) learned to play the piano as a child, his father was a music teacher, but when he was eight years old he heard Jimi Hendrix play, which blew his mind. He therefore quickly changed instrument to guitar and formed his first rockn'roll band at age 12. When he was 15 he moved to Stockholm and started playing bass in various bands. 1981 to 1983 he was a member in the band Livkraft (Life force) which at the time apparently was a popular band, although I personally have never heard of it. And in 1984 he formed the progressive band Finnegan's Wake, which I have heard of. While playing in Finnegan's Wake, he started playing around with syntheseizers and realized the potential of this instrument, which then became his main instrument.
It can be added that the first concert he visited was Sweet at Scandinavium in Gothenburg (Sweden) 1974.

I probably bought this album the year of its release, or the year after. What attracted me was of course the mysterious cover, the mysterious band name and the mysterious album title. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I was at this time in life attracted by mysterious and "deep" music, expectations the cover of Beyond promised to fulfill. I had never heard of Astral Dance when I bought the record.

The young Markus' hopes were fulfilled. It is half mystic, deep music which can be likened to a long journey of 40 minutes rather than a series of short 5-minute leaps. It's synth-based instrumental music almost all the way through, as mentioned, you'll also hear the flute in a couple of songs. Towards the end of the album appears mysterious, male choirs to mystify the creation even more. I liked this album as a teenager and played it quite often, especially at night when it was time to sleep. It was an album I liked to listen to in the darkness, music that spoke to the inside of me. Quite far from Sweet in Scandinavium. Beyond was an album no one else I knew owned, therefor it gave me a feeling of being somewhat special, to know music a little bit better than everyone else, to have discovered something no one else had seen. Yes, I was unique in a way.

The older Markus is not as fond of Beyond, although to my surprise, I  appreciated it more than I thought I would when I listened to it for the first time in perhaps 20 years. It's a little bit too much New Age for me to fully enjoy, while at the same time many parts of the album actually are really nice. Syntheseizers and the 80's is a dangerous combination, and of course you hear that the technology was different then. Bands like Tangerine Dream and Krafwerk managed to create synth-based music in the 70s with a sound which still feels OK today, but something happened with the syntheseizers in the 80s. However, on Beyond Pelle and Johan barely stay on the right side of the knife sharp edge regarding acceptable or not acceptable 80s synth sound. There is a melancholy touch on some of the songs which speak to the sentimental part of me. Would the music paint a picture, I think this picture would be relatively dark, with a few splashes of color here and there. Like the album cover.

It's a relatively diverse record, given that it is instrumental music, where almost only syntheseizers are heard. Some parts are a little more energetic while others are more quiet, delicate and quite beautiful. Björn J:son Lindh's contributions are nice and can be enjoyed by themselves. Pelle and Johan manage to create a good wholeness over two sides. As always in these kinds of albums you've got some transportation parts but interesting parts turn up often enough to keep it interesting. As a whole, Beyond is a peaceful and relaxing experience, and probably not something a football hooligan would listen to before a clash with the enemy.

Possibly, this album will spin a few times on the turntable in the year to come, but as I said, it's a little bit too much New Age for me and the sound feels outdated. Music that I in my younger years thought was "deep" and mysterious, I today often think is boring, quasi deep and pretentious. But Beyond still gets an "OK"-stamp from me as it contains some pretty good parts, even though the sound needs an update. I'm glad this album is in my collection. And a man (Pelle) who chooses Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here as the album he would take to a deserted island, you have to respect.

The one who wants to hear what Astral Dance sounds like today can visit http://soundcloud.com/astral-dance/sets/astral-dance-today/


Tracklist

Side A
1. Beyond
2. Shai
3. Move On
4. Yamuna Nights
Total tid: 19:20

Side B
1. Fantasia
2. Dreamwind
3. St. Vitus Dance
4. Exit
Total tid: 18:25

No, no videos on Youtube from this album.