Manafonistas

Sad news: Saxophonist Klaus Kreuzeder passed away yesterday at his home in Munich at the age of 64. Apparently he suffered from a post polio syndrome and had to give up playing sax in 2013.

I heard him a couple of times live on stage with Eberhard Schoener and with his band Aera as supporting act for Steve Hillage.

What a loss. May he rest in peace.

Among the manafonistas, there are some who like Paddy’s music, especially his Prefab Sprout albums, others don’t. I remember when the band started everybody sang its praise, everybody wrote smart things, and I REALLY wanted to join the chorus, but I couldn’t. Let’s just call it a matter of taste. I didn’t like the perfume factor in their works, and I didn’t like a single song of Paddy’s last solo album. This is a minority report, no arrogance intended. But I loved this ONE album (I lost my copy) that really failed to find a big audience. I TRAWL THE MEGAHERTZ.  A lot of people don’t like it, they think it’s kitschy, symphonic, pseudo avantgardistic, and the album (cd) is just rotting away and collecting dust in so many listener’s record collections. BUT I LOVE IT! Is there anybody out there who wants to get rid of his or her copy, then please leave a comment with your email adress (that can only be read by manafonistas, not by casual readers). I would like to buy your original copy, no mp-3 download, no youtube-link, no high quality copy, I just want the original cd or lp (if it is in spankling condition). And I pay for it. But no fool’s price. Standard price plus packaging.

“ … We were in a hotel. A bit worn down. A memory of better days.

Where I don’t know, perhaps it was in Sylt? I haven`t been there yet so I don’t know.

I recognized Michael of course and there were other people (whom I had not yet met, but I understood they were the other Manafonistas – perhaps Jochen, Gregor, Martina or Marcus – there were no individual identities that I could separate from each other, just an identity as a group).

We (perhaps Uwe, Wolfram, or Lajla – again there were no individuals – just shadows bleeding into each other) were sitting around a big table in a room with very a strong light. White and strong.

The food was being served – cut into small cubes. There were no cutlery – no knives or forks. And nobody seemed to get the idea that it was possible to eat without knives and forks.

We (or maybe Henning or Jan or Ian – or rather a creature consisting of us as if we were one) started looking everywhere, but the only cutlery we found had been dipped in paint or so broken that we couldn’t use it.

Finally we returned to the table to discover that the food was gone) …“

 
 
As I woke up this morning the dream still lingered in me. And it is still lingers on, and I have the feeling having met you – the other Manafonistas – already.

What it means that we could not eat our food (cut in small cubes) without cutlery or that we didn`t find anything suitable when we were looking for it I don’t know, neither that the plates with our food were gone when we were back from our search.

I usually do not remember my dreams so clearly, and also during this dream I remember the feeling of knowing that I am dreaming. I feel I dream so much with my eyes open, that I prefer to not use my dreams as source of creation, whether it is with sounds or images or words.

As I am writing right now – the dream mixes with the sounds of Daniel Lanois Flesh and machine – that I have played quite a lot the last days. Or have I? Is it rather that it is a record that was already playing inside me, and I have just needed someone to record it for me to recognize it? And it happened to pass thru Daniel? Flesh and Machine does feel like home, in a quite unexpected way.

Flesh and Machine grows on repeated listening, and also when i am just trying to remember the sounds (without playing it, like just before going to sleep or just after waking up) and it has a lot of the same effect on me, as visualizing Stalker by Tarkovskij or the playing of Coltrane, whose record Live at the Temple University has been equally a revelation this week.

But that is another dream waiting to dream me.

*

Am 10.11. erscheint es dann nun, das letzte (?) Album von PINK FLOYD; zusammengestellt aus den THE DIVISION BELL Sessionbaendern …, und ich hoere schon wie in naher Zukunft, im Musikseminar …

„In der vorangegangenen Stunde hatten Sie Gelegenheit das The Endless River – Album von PINK FLOYD zu hoeren. In einer Ausarbeitung sollen Sie nun Ihre Eindruecke beim Anhoeren des Albums schildern. – Bitte beruecksichtigen dabei auch folgende Fragen:
 
1.) Das Album wird in der bisherigen Rezeption in den Medien aufgrund seines groesstenteils instrumental gehaltenen Grundzugs in die (etwas vorauszusehenende) Kategorie „Ambient“ versehen. – Handelt es sich hier Ihrer Meinung nach um ein Ambient-Album ? Begruenden Sie Ihren Eindruck !

2.) Was unterscheidet Ihrer Meinung nach „gute“ Ambient Musik von „schlechter“
Ambient Musik ? Arbeiten Sie die Trennlinie an Beispielen heraus.“