Manafonistas

Fiction
 
Today I was hanging out with ghosts watching ghost football in a stadium overgrown, whose greenkeeper has probably not been seen since ’67. Ghost pies, ghost Bovril, ghost match. Back of the spectre net.
 
Non-fiction
 
Today (after I was done with the ghosts) I heard Olivier Alary’s wonderful Fiction / Non-Fiction. I have no idea how I found it, or indeed who Olivier Alary is, but this was the record my ears needed. Lately I’ve been listening to bits of Trance Frendz by Ólafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm as well as Brian Eno’s otherworldly Reflection, maybe they primed the brain for this. Listening to it is like stepping into a dream. No point in looking for meaning here or using adjectives or finding comparisons. This will be on the 2017 list for real. Lifer? Too soon to tell.
 
 
 

 
 
 

More here: 130701.com/release/fiction-non-fiction/
 

 

 
 
 
Die französische Plattenfirma Barclay hatte Peter Baumann (von Tangerine Dream) und seiner Firma Paragon Productions 1978 den Auftrag erteilt, für ihr Sublabel Egg drei deutsche Elektronik-Acts zu produzieren. Asmus Tietchens‘ Album Nachtstücke wurde eines davon.

Es war wohl nicht ganz das, was sich die Franzosen vorgestellt hatten. So zog sich die Veröffentlichung der Platte bis 1980 hin, und die Auflage war mit 800 Stück auch eher zurückhaltend kalkuliert. Die Musik war die Quintessenz der völlig freien Basteleien mit einem Moog Sonic Six und einem Minimoog, die Tietchens in den Jahren davor ohne jede Veröffentlichungsabsicht eingespielt hatte.

Nachtstücke ist Asmus Tietchens‘ erste Soloplatte (vorher hatte er bereits an Cluster & Eno von 1977 und Liliental von 1978 mitgewirkt, die gesondert zu besprechen sein werden). Die Klänge stammen vom Moog Sonic Six, irgendwo meine ich auch ein Mellotron herauszuhören. Ein noch recht unentschlossenes Werk, das ein wenig verloren in der Landschaft steht. Klanglich sind die neun Stücke recht unauffällig gehalten; eher sind sie Versuche, mit einfachen Melodien zu spielen, die auf zum Teil recht grimmige Hintergründe gepappt sind. Damit ist Nachtstücke auch ein Vorläufer der vier zwischen 1981 und 1983 bei Sky erschienenen Platten, die dann fast so etwas wie eine eigenständige Werkgruppe bilden werden. Eine vergleichbar melodienorientierte Vorgehensweise taucht dann erst Ende der 80er wieder auf, als Tietchens den Fairlight entdeckte.

Einige Stücke sind von der Plattenfirma eigenmächtig gekürzt worden, das Cover ist nicht mit Tietchens abgesprochen. Auch mit Peter Baumann hat es keine weitere Zusammenarbeit mehr gegeben.

 

Asmus Tietchens: Nachtstücke
Barclay/Egg 91.040 (1980)
Re-release in der von Tietchens ursprünglich beabsichtigten Fassung mit vier Bonustracks auf Die Stadt DS 55 (2003)

 

 
 

Er lag mit seinem Adoniskörper in der Badewanne und hörte Scott Walker. Plötzlich riss sie die Tür auf und schrie: „Das tönt ja schlimmer als die Sirenen!“ Sofort tauchte er weg zu verlockenderen Stimmen. Er stellte sich vor, wie Aphrodite gerade ihre Scham mit Feigen bedeckte. Er würde seiner Haussirene bald die Flügel stutzen. Er sah den Erotikengel vorbeischweben und sah zu, wie Aphrodite ihre Sirenen in Vögel mit hübschen Köpfen verwandelte. Wie betörend ihr sanfter Gesang! Er tauchte kurz auf, um Luft zu holen. Da stand seine Nixe in ophiolith-grüner Haut und dunklen peridotiten Flecken im Gesicht. Schnell griff er nach dem Wachs und stopfte es in seine Ohren. Er sah noch, wie sich ihr Mund in tektonischen Rhythmen bewegte, Lava schien auf das Kissen des Badehockers zu fließen. Dann tauchte er schnell in seine sedimentale Tiefsee, um sich von seinen Sirenen verführen zu lassen. Welch Schreck ereilte ihn, als seine Vögel mit Bart und leierndem Gesang erschienen. Als er auftauchte war sie weg. Er fühlte sich wie Odysseus. Sie würde für immer an ihm gescheitert sein. Er genoss die Stille, in die Scott Walker das Ende von „RUN“ sang.

Previously known as the 21st Birthday Album, this is a gorgeous and goofy compilation of 45 fun and experimental electronic tone poems made for radio and TV from 1958 to 1979, some from the days when the music department only allowed the Workshop to exist by pretending electronic music wasn’t music (just as Forbidden Planet was scored with „electronic tonalities“). So since no one was being taken seriously, the composers could even be women, of whom Delia Derbyshire has recently gained acclaim (in electronic-music geek circles; if you’re not in one, it’s not too late to join!). The longest track, ‚A Whisper from Space‘, is 2:11; so if something doesn’t grab you, wait a minute. If only all records could be this varied and entertaining. Derbyshire’s immortal Dr. Who theme isn’t even necessarily the best track.

(Stephin Merritt, The Magnetic Fields, more of his current musical obsessions in TheQuietus)

 

(34) The One (1992) ***

A new start. New hair (transplanted). A very silly cover designed by Gianni Versace (who then also designed costumes and lightning for the tour, released on the VHS/DVD Live in Barcelona). Bernie’s lyrics are pretty good, but The One is not yet the beginning of a „mature period“, rather a solid mid-career album. Unfortunately Chris Thomas‘ production leaves it still a bit stuck in the 80s.

Standout tracks: The few exciting songs are the energetic Runaway Train with Eric Clapton on vocals and guitar, and the ambitious Sweat it out with very good piano soloing (if only the production was without that terrible glossy, almost plastic, sound, it could be such a great song). The 6-minute title song was a top 10 hit, and The Last Song is rather moving. Mostly solid, but the sound is anything but great.

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(35) Rare Masters (1992) ***

A 2-cd, 37-track compilation of 1970’s b-sides, non-LP singles, alternate versions and rare tracks, including the complete Friends soundtrack album and everything previously released on Lady Samantha twelve years prior. Some nice discoveries for fans in this collection.

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(36) Duets (1993) **

Just like Frank Sinatra did that same year, Elton recorded an album of 15 duets (plus one new solo) with a broad variety of people. Whereas Sinatra did not perform together with his duet partners in the same studios, Elton’s Duets are real collaborations, some new songs by Taupin/John (a duet with Little Richard fro example), a few from his own back catalogue, some old hits by other performers (Teardrops with k.d.lang, True Love with Kiki Dee, Love Letters with Bonnie Raitt etc). Lots of famous people (and less famous ones), but hardly anything worth listening to.

Best of all: A mesmerizing appearance by Leonard Cohen, Born to loose.

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(37) The Lion King (1994) **¼

Yes, the most successful animation film ever. Elton’s Song Can you feel the Love tonight won an Academy Award and initiated another comeback. Half of the music is songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, the other half is score by Hans Zimmer.

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(38) Made in England (1995) ***½

A better comeback album than The One, though commercially a less successful one. A more organic sound (the rare studio album between 1980 and 2001 not produced by Chris Thomas), more memorable songs, more personal songs, not too many keyboards, finally back to the grand piano, mature performances. Ray Cooper and Paul Buckmaster (with four string arrangements) are back as well, after many years. Best album in 20 years.

Standout tracks: Belfast, Latitude, Please – primarily an album for fans, though.

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(39) Love Songs (1995) **½

A Kuschelrock compilation, relying heavily on songs from 80s and 90s radio (only six sections from the 70s included). Most likely a result of new success with The Lion King. Some versions contain a new song. This CD is the place to go if you’re looking for one disc to have all the songs you’ve heard way too often on the radio. Only Rocket Man is missing; doesn’t count as a love song, I guess.

Standout: I guess that’s why they call it the Blues (feat. Stevie Wonder).

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(40) The Big Picture (1997) **

This time it’s not Versace but Julian Schnabel who was invited to make the album cover art. Unfortunately, everything else is quite similar to The One, only more dull. Slick 90s sound. It’s a boring album. I never liked it.

Standout track: Long Way from Happiness (if only the production wasn’t such a terribly uninspired plastic sound)

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(41) Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida (1998) *

As he did not want to compose songs for another animated Disney movie, Elton composed music for a stage version of Aida. This album is not the stage version, but a various artists album with lots of mediocre songs and performances, among them Boyz II Men, Janet Jackson, Sly & Robbie with Sting, Lenny Kravitz, Shania Twain, Tina Turner & Angelique Kidjo, the Spice Girls and James Taylor. I disliked it so much I couldn’t even listen to the CD from beginning to end once. It’s bad. I advise you not to listen to it.

Nothing notable here.

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(42) The Muse (1999) **

As he did neither want to work on another Disney animation nor on another Broadway show, Elton composed the score for Albert Brook’s Sharon Stone comedy The Muse. Nice.

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(43) One Night only – The Greatest Hits (2000) **

The Greatest Hits live in concert at Madison Square Garden. Unnecessary live album without any particular reason of existence. Oh, I almost forgot: There are some guests on stage: Bryan Adams, Mary J. Blige and Kiki Dee. I never owned this album. Can’t even remember ever having listened to it.

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(44) The Road to El Dorado (2000) **

As Elton did not want to compose songs for another animated Disney movie (but had his biggest success in the 1990s with that animated lion), he and Tim Rice decided to compose songs for an animated DreamWorks movie. Though the music is not as specific in the film’s context as it was the case with The Lion King, it’s more of a cohesive EJ album that that previous effort which included Hans Zimmer’s score sections as well. And hey, Randy Newman is here! I remember the album as being pretty boring, so I haven’t listened to it more than a couple of times, many years go.

Standouts: I don’t remember. None, I guess. 

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[continued here]  // previously: part 1 ,  part 2 ,  part 3

Celtic Frost – Morbid Tales. Just stunning. The recording / production have never dated. Like a lot of the best metal, there’s a strong sense of humour here. A towering work of art.

Venom – Black Metal. Arguably (probably) instigated an entire genre. I’ve never read up on the history of Venom, but there has to be a punk rock influence in here – the whole enterprise is gloriously free of the past.

Motorhead – Motorhead. Apologies for the lack of Umlauts. But yeah. From start to finish, just a great record. Love the subtle use of distortion: not overstated, saying „this band is too loud for the recording apparatus“.

Slayer – Reign In Blood. It kind of didn’t get any better than this. The LP is about 24 minutes long – and it’s difficult not to love an LP that does so much in such a short space of time. It’s an exhausting listen, in much the same way as Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is an exhausting read, despite being only covering about 100 pages. I’m pretty sure Seb Rochford has mentioned Slayer in interviews more than once. Maybe that’s why Acoustic Ladyland clicked first time I heard them? Who knows. Fuck knows. But that’s given me an idea. I will do a Jazz Lifers at some point.

Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden. Great tune after great tune. Not sure how metal this is though. I hear elements of prog in it, elements of the genre known as „pub rock“ (which despite the slightly pejorative connotation, was not a bad genre). The intro to Phantom of the Opera – amazing.

Iron Maiden – Somewhere In Time. Tempus fugit. By now there was a different singer, and the band were very much in the metal sphere. Brilliant use of operatic vocal style in the line „tiiime is aaalways on myyy siiiide“. I think this LP is themed around time travel, but I haven’t ever read the lyric sheet so I don’t know for sure. A time travel themed metal record with a track named for an Alan Sillitoe short story. What’s not to like?

There are other records that could conceivably also fit here – 1984 (Van Halen). Surfing With The Alien (Joe Satriani), 1989 (Ryan Adams), Streetcleaner (Godflesh), Diadem of 12 Stars (Wolves In The Throne Room) and others. But where does rock end and metal begin?