Retro Album "of the week" 50 - Lamb

We've not managed to get our 52 in within the year so we will finish the series with this one. This is Lamb by Lamb and it came out in 1973. It was an album I bought a little later in my local Christian Bookshop in the days when I was trying to listen to more "Christian music". I made the purchase on the basis of how the album looked, having no other knowledge of the band. I did like it, although I was painfully aware of the inadequacies evident in several places. Lamb it turns out was a two man combo, Joel Chernoff (lead singer/songwriter) and Rick “Levi” Coghill (producer/guitarist).

Both would call themselves Messianic Jews and the flavour of the music is contemporary Jewish with plenty of Hebrew words sprinkled here and there. Lamb have apparently sold over 600,000 albums, having produced 14 recordings. I never got beyond this album and I currently have only the best of the tracks on my ipod. HaTeeshKach, BaruchHaShem and DraChaiCha have Hebrew titles. The other tracks are The Judge, The Sacrifice Lamb, Time is running out, The Least I could do and The night is far spent. So not only very Jewish but pre-millennial too. The singing can be a bit languid at points.

Retro Album "of the week" 49 - Aranjuez

In 1978 a very sophisticated collaboration between Jan Akkerman and Claus Ogerman appeared. The incredibly laid back album features the legendary guitar playing of Dutchman Jan Akkerman and the lush strings of German conductor and arranger Claus Ogerman. The programme is dominated by classical pieces. First, we have the adagio from Rodrigo's 'Concierto De Aranjuez', a piece Akkerman would play in the early Focus days but that there were some copyright issues with hence the preference for Le Clochard on Moving Waves. Other classical pieces are by South American composers Heitor Villa-Lobos and Gaspar Sanz. Ogerman himself contributes Nightwings and Akkerman a very subtle Love Remembered. The other track is Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte by Ravel. The album is not that easy to get into but once you do it is excellent stuff. The album was mostly recorded in Holland.

Retro Album "of the week" 48 - Heaven and Hell

We have a had a Vangelis before in this series and I could add more but I'm limiting it to two selections. This second one appeared way back in 1975 and was the fifth solo album. Sensibly instead of trying a heaven section and a hell one, the themes are mixed. The LP contained one part on each side but originally track titles were included. These were "Bacchanale" – 4:40; "Symphony to the Powers B" (Movements 1 and 2) – 8:18; "Movement 3" (from "Symphony to the Powers B") – 4:03 "So Long Ago, So Clear" – 5:00; "Intestinal Bat" – 3:18; "Needles and Bones" – 3:22 (a favourite of mine); "12 O'Clock" (in two parts) – 8:48 (also brilliant); "Aries" – 2:05 and "A Way" – 3:45.

Apparently the album gained worldwide recognition through the use of "Movement 3" as the theme for the TV documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The album was the first composed and recorded by Vangelis in his new Nemo Studios in London, the studio he used until 1987.

The album has classical overtones, in contrast to the progressive rock of other albums. Vangelis would return to classical style work ten years later, on Mask (1985). He dabbles with choral sections (featuring the English Chamber Choir conducted by Guy Protheroe; Vana Veroutis also features on "12 O'Clock") joined with his now typical electronic washes of sound, a concept he would again return to in the nineties with Conquest of Paradise and Mythodea. The album marks the first collaboration between Vangelis and Jon Anderson, on "So Long Ago, So Clear" (it came about when Yes tried to recruit Vangelis as their keyboard player and continued more fully a few years later). Heaven and Hell reached number 31 in the UK album charts in January 1976.

Retro Album "of the week" 47 - Sing lustily and with good courage

I was first aware of Maddy Prior as a youngster when Steeleye Span would occasionally breach the British charts. Later on a friend of mine saw them in concert and was thrown an artificial flower by the aforesaid Maddy. People offered him ridiculous amounts for it which he later wished he had taken. Anyway a few years later and I'm in Alan Davey's car and he is playing on the tape deck a wonderful set of hymns sung in an approximation of the 18th century Methodists. On enquiry I got hold of the details and was able to track it down somewhere on cassette. I'm not sure if I ever got it on CD. I now have it on the old iTunes (along with some few similar albums) and still enjoy although that initial impact has become a little muted. The album is By Maddy and the Carnival Band and the title refers to something John Wesley once urged on his followers.

The technical term for this is gallery songs or West Gallery music. This is sacred music (often metrical psalms but hymns and anthems too) sung and played in English parish churches and nonconformist chapels c 1700 to 1850 until church organs took over. The term comes from the wooden galleries constructed at the west end of churches during the 18th century upon which the choir would perform. Victorians did not like these Georgian galleries, and most were removed in the 19th century.

The best known precedent for this is apparently The Waterson's "Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy" (1977). This album has 16 items that were all known to me before. Indeed, these were my favourite hymns as a nonconformist teenager. As pants the hart (N Tate) and Watts's Rejoice ye shining worlds and Lord in the morning are pretty much psalms and O worship the king a more developed psalm. Monkland is an instrumental most often used to Milton's version of Psalm 136 (played here with the music to the 19th century hymn All things bright). Nearly half the hymns are by the gifted Charles Wesley (O Thou who camest from above, Lo He comes with clouds descending, O for a thousand tongues to sing, Light of the World, Away with our sorrow and care, Christ the Lord is ris'n today and And can it be?). There is also Thomas Oliver's wonderfully Jewish God of Abraham praise. As for the Baptists, there is Bunyan's Who would true valour and How firm a foundation which they attribute to Richard Keen. Also, All hail the power by Perronet and Rippon.
The album makes few pretensions to authenticity or spirituality but it is a very enjoyable album well worth a listen.

Retro Album "of the week" 46 - We Three Kings

I wasn't going to include any Christmas albums in this retro list but I'm still in the Christmas mood so how about this wonderful 1990 recording from The Roches, We Three Kings. The Roches are three Irish-American sisters from New Jersey (Maggie, Terre and Suzzie) from one of those musical families (like the Corrs, the Carters or the Brennans). They pack 24 tracks on to this album (helped by the fact seven of the tracks are under two minutes) - all traditional favouritGod rest hye merry, Adeste FIdeleses. We have carols like Away in a manger, We three kings, The first nowell, etc; Christmas songs like Frosty the snowman, Winter Wonderland, etc; and some Bach and Bach, Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light and For unto us a child is born. Christmas passing through looks to be an original track. Nine of the tracks are done a capella and these make an excellent album within an album. They are Angels we have heard on high, Here we come a carolling, Star of Wonder, Winter Wonderland, Joy to the World, Jingle Bells, The First Nowell, God rest you merry, Adeste Fideles.

Retro Album "of the week" 45 - Les Deux Amis plays Focus Classics

In 1985 Les Deux Amis (German classical guitarists and teachers Ansgar Krause and Thomas Müller-Pering) released a collection of 15 tracks arranged by themselves taking Focus tracks (sometimes more than one track) and giving them an attractive classical treatment. This sort of approach always holds the danger of producing muzack but that does not really happen here with quite inventive arrangements and brilliant music to draw on. You can hear Sylvia here.

The LP cover includes these words:

We have ... long been excited by the ideas of the Dutch group FOCUS which has succeeded in creating a symbiosis of classical and rock music. Ansgar Krause's adaptations prove the vagueness of the borderline between so-called U and non-U music. This is partly due to the fact that Krause makes use of the opportunities offered by polyphony and harmony (imitation, canon, repetition of themes, augmentation, etc.) created some 500 years ago in the Low Countries and further developed in the so-called Franco-Flemish School.

FOCUS has always fallen back on the use of classical or Renaissance themes and forms for their compositions. This gave us the idea of re-adapting their works back into classical guitar music. This musical encounter of various eras and styles, reaches its high point in the "Variations on Happy Nightmare". This amusing title encouraged us to include in our arrangement the well known Bourréé in E-Flat of perhaps the greatest composer of all time: Johann Sebastian Bach. We did this during the recording session which happened to coincide with the 300th anniversary of Bach's birthday, 21 March 1985. So FOCUS REMEMBERED is also a tribute to the great composers and to their world of sound, and for whom every living composer feels gratitude.

It also includes a comment from Jan Akkerman and Thijs Van Leer

"When we first heard our two friends playing FOCUS we were touched by this discovery. No superlatives are good enough to describe their virtuosity, their musicianship and their arrangements. It sounds so easy but we know what hard labor went into these microphones. We are extremely proud that they have chosen our songs which more than ten years ago were able to move millions of people around the world. This digital recording will get a place of honor in our homes."

Retro Album "of the week" 44 - Revolver

Revolver is the seventh studio album by The Beatles and my favourite. It was released in August 1966 when I was 7 years old. It marks a progression I guess from the previous year's Rubber Soul also a favourite. It was followed by the allegedly seminal Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (not a particular favourite). On release, it was widely recognised by critics as innovative. Certainly "Tomorrow Never Knows" and its tape loops, the strings on "Eleanor Rigby" and the Indian instruments used on "Love You To" are quite trendsetting (although Yesterday had strings too). What makes it strong really is the diversity it exhibits, even stretching to include the children's novelty song "Yellow Submarine" with Ringo's vocal and various sound effects.

The cover art was quite progressive for its time and the punning title very clever. Apparently the sessions led to the invention of automatic double tracking (ADT), a technique soon adopted throughout the recording industry. The sessions also produced the non-album single, "Paperback Writer" backed with "Rain".

Revolver spent 34 weeks in the UK Albums Chart, for seven of which it held the number one spot. Three tracks were missing from the American release. This was the last time that policy was followed. The US release coincided with the Beatles' final concert tour, during which they refrained from performing any of the songs live. In the USA it still topped the Billboard Top LPs listings for six weeks.

Good day sunshine and And your bird can sing are two of my favourite songs of all time. I also love I'm only sleeping and For no one.

Retro Album "of the week" 43 - All that you can't leave behind

I wanted to include a U2 album here. I like some of the early albums (War, Boy, etc) and especially The Joshua Tree which nearly got the vote. Instead I've gone for the 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind the tenth studio album. Produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, it gets back to what they do best afte rhaving lost themselves for a while. The critics and the fans liked this album and it sold over 12 million copies. Four successful singles were taken from the album, the superb "Beautiful Day" plus "Walk On", "Elevation" and the classic "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of". It 2won seven Grammy Awards. It is the only album in history to have multiple tracks win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year: "Beautiful Day" in 2001 and "Walk On" in 2002.

Early versions of the cover released to the press show a departure sign that reads "F21-36", however, this was changed to J33-3 in reference to the Bible verse Jeremiah 33:3, "Call unto me and I will answer thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." Bono referred to it as "God's phone number". Grace is an interesting song and Peace on earth a sort of alternative Christmas thing.

Retro Album "of the week" 42 - Tracy Chapman

A single and radio airplay are traditional ways of finding an audience for an album and that is how in 1988 I discovered the first album by the American artist Tracy Chapman. The single was Talkin' 'bout a revolution the second single from her self-titled debut album. Like most of the albums I have been listing, I bought this initially on vinyl. Apparently, many were not keen to record this album but it eventually got done in Hollywood, California in only eight weeks.

The lyrics are pretty political or to do with social issues but it is the music itself that is the attraction. people generally liked the album, especially its simplicity and her vocals. The socialism is noted too. It was a Number 1 in the UK, the US and many other places. Millions of copies were sold.

Three singles were eventually released from the album, the most commercially successful being the first Fast Car (one of the last songs recorded for the album). It was performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute. The third single was Baby can I hold you?

I always thought Revolution sounded rather dated and it is no surprise to learn that it was written in the seventies. If not now... is a favourite track as I think this is a universal question applicable to all sorts of areas.

Retro Album "of the week" 41 - Eli

Eli is a 1976 post-Focus studio album by the Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman featuring the Dutch singer Kaz Lux. Akkerman and Lux had previously collaborated in the band Brainbox. Pierre Van Der Linden, also ex-Brainbox and ex-Focus also plays on the album, along with other top artists - Jasper van 't Hof and Rick van der Linden (keyboards) Warwick Reading (bass) Richard DeBois (drums) Neppie Noya (percussion) with backing vocals from Margriet Eshuis, Maggie MacNeal and Patricia Paay. It is something of a concept album telling part of the story of the mysterious Eli. Not all of Lu'x lyrics get sung and there are several instrumental tracks in varying styles. The most famous of these is Tranquilizer (performed on the OGWT at the time) with one or two other tracks I recall. It won the Netherlands' Edison Award in 1976 for Best Album and is a sophisticated collection featuring rock, jazz and classical styles. It took me quite a while to get into. Things were not helped by a rather unimpressive UK tour that gave the fans no easy rides.

Retro Albums - The story so far (3)

Retro Abum "of the week" 40 Me Myself I

Me Myself I by Joan Armatrading was released in 1980, and this studio album became her most successful in terms of chart success, reaching No 5 in her native UK and No 28 in the USA. It was certified "Gold" in the UK by the BPI in July 1980. The title track became one of her most successful singles, peaking at No 21 in the UK (It was also used as the soundtrack to an Australian movie of the same name in 1999). One of the nice things about the track Me Myself I is that you're never sure how much irony there is in it. Maybe she is Greta Garbo redivivus. Other stand out tracks are All the way from America, Turn out the light and Feeling in my heart (for you). I need you performed with a string quartet is quite powerful and very sad.

Retro Album "of the week" 39 Ekseption 3

We have referred before on this blog to Dutch band Ekseption's third album Ekseption 3 again from 1970 but not discovered by me until some time after that. The album is based around Le Petit Prince a brief allegorical work by Antoine de St Exupery.
It includes both instrumental and vocal tracks. The tracks are Peace Planet/B 612/Morning Rose/Piece For Symphonic And Rock Group In A Minor (A) Part One: Passacaglia (B) Part Two: Painting/Lamplighter/Bottle Mind/On Sunday They Will Kill The World/Another History/Rondo.
The band draw on Bach, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff as well as the skills of leader the late Rick van der Linden. It is the rich classical vein plus the use of St Exupery (who I knew nothing of prior to finding this album) that leads me to rate this album so highly. The use of a vocalist was a one off for Ekseption and it worked well.

Retro album "of the week" 38 A Beard of Stars

A Beard of Stars by Tyrannosaurus Rex came out in 1970 but I didn't discover it until three or four years later after Marc Bolan had found commercial success with T Rex (beginning with Ride a white Swan that same year). I really discovered all four Tyrannosaurus albums at more or less the same time. Beard of Stars the fourth of them is different to the other three in that it was the first to feature Bolan with Mickey Finn as percussionist rather than Steve Peregrine Took and is the transition album in that electric guitars and drum kit feature for the first time. (On the this front, there was an electric guitar first featured on the 1969 single King of the Rumbling Spires/Do You Remember)

One writer (Mark Deming of AllMusic) says that A Beard of Stars "was the turning point where Marc Bolan began evolving from an unrepentant hippie into the full-on swaggering rock star he would be within a couple of years, though for those not familiar with his previous work, it still sounds like the work of a man with his mind plugged into the age of lysergic enchantment." The truth about Marc Bolan I think is that he was willing to do whatever it took to get musical fame. It was the times that were achangin' (and Bob Dylan especially) rather than Bolan himself. 

Four tracks from this album, including "Great Horse", were apparently salvaged from Spring 1969 sessions for a fourth album with Took in the wake of "King of the Rumbling Spires". These four tracks were overdubbed for release by Finn, Bolan and Visconti. A further four tracks from the Took sessions were rejected for the final album and only surfaced later on compilations, three ("Once Upon the Seas of Abyssinia", "Blessed Wild Apple Girl", "Demon Queen") in Bolan's lifetime, the fourth ("Ill Starred Man") posthumously.

I have always found the two instrumental openers (Prelude and Beard of Stars) particularly pleasing. Elemental Child is pretty much an instrumental and goes on far too long. Bolan is sometimes classed with the progressive music makers and these tracks give part of the reason why. Meanwhile A Daye Laye, By the light of the magical moon, Lofty Skies, Dove, etc, are all great numbers. The simple Organ blues was long a favourite.

Retro album "of the week" 37 Pictures at an Exhibition

I love the idea of this record, perhaps more than the album itself. A live album, it originally came out in 1971 but I didn't get a copy until some years later, first on vinyl then CD. What I like is the fact that this is classical music played live in the rock idiom to a raucous northern crowd.

Recorded at Newcastle City Hall the opening track of the album is played on a pipe organ installed in the City Hall in 1928. The drum roll connecting the opening track to the next was apparently there to give Keith Emerson time to get back to the main stage to perform.

The record company was understandably reluctant to release a classical suite as an album, and at first insisted it be released on their classical music label instead. For this reason it was shelved a little while but after the success of their second album, the label agreed to release it as a budget live album. There was also a video, which I've not seen but must check out. This is of another live performance in 1970 in the Lyceum (see here).

Being a live album, sometimes Emerson's voltage-controlled Moog oscillators went out of tune, due to humidity and temperature. The vocals are sometimes a bit shaky too.

The original album cover, commissioned William Neal who designed and painted every canvas, used a gatefold sleeve (much beloved of big seventies albums), depicting on the outside blank picture frames labelled with the titles of the pieces: "The Old Castle", "The Gnome", etc. The paintings were huge oil paintings full of ELP symbolism, like the Tarkus background in the "Hut" and the white dove embossed into the titanium white oil paint in "Promenade" (visible only on the original painting). On the inner sleeve, all of the paintings were revealed, but one remains blank: "Promenade". The musical piece by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky is not about a picture but represents a walk through a gallery. ELP do only four of the original 10 pieces.

All of the paintings were later hung at the Hammersmith Town Hall, London, and photographed by Keith Morris and Nigel Marlow.

I knew a boy in school, a Londoner who pronounced his surname Proe-bert. He was such an ELP fan he called his cat Emerson!

Retro Album "of the week" 36 The Crossing

I tend to think of myself as seventies man when it comes to rock music though the truth is that there's plenty of seventies music I have no time for (Elton John for example). On the other hand, there is plenty of eighties stuff I like. Another example of that is Big Country.

The Crossing is their first studio album and was released in 1983. The album reached #3 in the UK and #18 in the US. It went on to be certified platinum in the UK and Canada. It contains the song "In a Big Country" their only US Top 40 hit single. The music has a pleasing Celtic feel (the band is Scottish). Apparently the guitar effects were achieved this through the use of the MXR Pitch Transposer 129 Guitar Effect. They also apparently used the e-bow, a device which allows a guitar to sound more like strings or synthesizer.

The album has been remastered and reissued on three occasions. The latest version released by Universal in 2012 in advance of the album's 30th anniversary includes (as is de rigeur these days) a second disc of previously unissued demos.

The chief genius behind the band was Stuart Adamson who sadly committed suicide in 2001.

Retro Album "of the Week" 35 Stratosfear

The instrumental album Stratosfear was first released in 1976. It followed Ricochet (also a great album). It is by the German group Tangerine Dream. Critics say it marks the beginning of the band's development away from their uncompromising early '70s synthesizer experiments towards something more melodic. It certainly must mark the band at its height with the classic line-up of Froese, Baumann and Franke doing their last album together. Critics also say it combines the band's acoustic and electronic influences more tightly than before. They instance, the deep piano/flute tune at the end of the last track, "Invisible Limits". The LP reached No.39 in the UK, in a 4-week chart run, and eventually reached silver status for selling in excess of 60,000 copies. Great cover. I owned the album but parted with my first copy as a joint birthday present for a school friend, the man who is now Bishop of St Asaph. (If someone has a google search on that phrase may be it will pick up. Hi Greg.)

Retro Album "of the Week" 34 - Upstairs at Eric's

What happened to the retro album of the week feature asked no-one. It's tailed off rather. The original idea was to do one a week for the year. We sometimes got behind and then on 33 we stalled. What I will try to do then is try to do two a week until the end of the year and see if we can catch up.

I begin with Upstairs at Eric's the debut of electronic duo Yazoo. (The reference is to the studio where it was recorded). I've long had a minor penchant for electronica (Tangerine Dream, OMD, etc). The sound can be a bit tinny so when Vince Clarke left Depeche Mode and joined up with Alison Moyet I was willing to be drawn in. This is one of those albums I bought in vinyl back in the eighties some time. I probably heard the superb single Only you first (it preceded the album) and perhaps Don't go. It's an excellent pop album (except for i before e - such experiments never really work). It came out in 1982. The album did well.
The cover was tasteful, an early work by photographer, Joe Lyons.
Thirty years on Clarke said "Part of the charm of that album is a naivety. There really wasn't a profound concept that was running through the recording. I didn't really know what I was doing in the studio and Alison hadn't much experience of being in a recording studio, so everything was new. We'd make one sound and we'd think it was great and just stop there and wouldn't make any more sounds. It wasn't like we were continually honing or over-producing songs because everything at the time sounded fresh. That's why a lot of the tracks only have eight or nine elements to them."

Retro Album 33 - In Another Land

In Another Land is an album recorded by Larry Norman and released in 1976. It is apparently the third album in a "trilogy". It contains some of the most well-known work by the controversial American artist. Norman claimed it was censored by the "mother company" which insisted on removing any music they felt was "too negative" or "too controversial." Commercial pressure forced him to remove four songs as they believed that Norman had included too many songs, and that the deleted songs could be released on his next album.

One of the songs on the album is The Sun Began to Rain. "Knocked out ... in just over a minute" it involved the British comedian Dudley Moore on piano. Righteous Rocker #3 is a reprise of a song which originally appeared on Only Visiting This Planet. The album also contains a souped-up version of Why Don't You Look Into Jesus, another song which made its first appearance on Only Visiting This Planet. In the later version the controversial second verse from the original ("Gonorrhea on Valentine's Day/You're still looking for the perfect lay," etc.) is conspicuously absent. Song For A Small Circle Of Friends is a piece written for Norman's famous friends in the music industry. The song includes allusions to Randy Stonehill, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney. He only knew Stonehill.

Retro Album 31 32 - Guitars, Guitars

I'm not sure how many guitarists have produced albums called Guitar or Guitars but I have two albums called Guitars in my collection.

The most obscure of these is Guitars by the Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine. This came out in 1975 and is a nine track Jazz album with songs mostly composed by Catherine himself. I was only aware of the album because it came out shortly before Catherine became guitarist for Dutch rock band Focus. In fact, this album includes the delightful Sneezing Bull later recorded by Focus and part of the largely disappointing Focus Con Proby album. Live versions are also about. It took a little while to get into but is an album I still listen to and is worth checking out. Catherine has had a long career. His web page is here.

Less obscure is Guitars by Mike Oldfield, which came out in 1999. This is a very enjoyable album in and of itself. What adds to that enjoyment is not only that Oldfield plays all the music on the album himself, as usual but that he also only uses guitars of various types (strummed, plucked, struck, sampled, etc.). The most remarkable usage is that of his Roland MIDI-equipped guitars, which he uses to trigger drum samples and produce string-like sounds. Guitars used include the following (as pictured on the accompanying packaging of the CD: José Ramírez Classical guitar
Fender Stratocaster, salmon pink (1962)
Martin O-45 Parlour Guita
PRS Custom 24 with Roland synth pickup
Fender Stratocaster, sunburst (1972)
PRS Custom 24
José Ramirez Flamenco guitar
Wal 4 string bass guitar
PRS McCarty Thinline