Nick Drake – Pink Moon 10.0

When I entered my first relationship, the other person happened to be a folk fanatic. Not the good kind, mind you, but the lame beat poetry can’t play a guitar kind. The kind that can deliver lines like “My soul was black like my coffee” and singing in atrocious free verse.

Nick Drake ended up being the thing that we could agree on. Even now, I adore how this, his sparest album, will never age. Since there’s no period embellishments (like with Five Leaves Left or  Bryter Layter, though I love those as well) you get pretty much the rawest version of Nick’s mind. There’s nothing to hide the fact that this is perhaps one of the most depressing albums you’ll ever hear. He’s singing with nothing else but a guitar, and his voice has this intimate, in the room with you quality.

Unlike a lot of his contemporaries, he seemed interested in having his songs having a more ‘live’ recording. Perhaps it had to do with his aversion to performing live, or his generally distant manner. For even his friends and relatives stated how no one really understood what went on inside his mind, since he was so close-lipped.

“Pink Moon” the title track might be familiar to you as “his VW ad song”. While many discussed how Nick would have handled it, Nick had financial concerns as well so he probably would have been happy with it. Towards the end of his life, he became more interested in becoming popular and felt frustrated about how his talent didn’t translate into actual money or fame. Not that one can imagine Nick becoming a celebrity, but his lack of success definitely ate into him.

Really, the whole album reeks of sadness. If autumn needed a soundtrack, this would be it. Autumn, resigned to death. Each song shows off Nick’s detached personality, how he had a hard time relating to other people. It is like he could only communicate through song, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to maintain the distance he sought between him and others. 

“Things Behind the Sun” ranks as one of my favorite folk songs of all time. Here the guitar and lyrics melt together like little else I’ve heard. Even the attempt for Nick to try and sound cheerful makes it more depressing. He’s trying to be uplifting and cheerful, trying to show that he can be happy. But it arouses not pity, but just more nervousness. “Free Ride” follows a similar theme, of trying to be happy, and seeming like a doomed romantic. 

Only at the end of the album do we get a song that rises above this sadness “From the Morning”. Light appears briefly in its two and a half minutes. Then it’s over. 

Having been to England before, I kick myself for not visiting his part of the countryside. I’m saddened that he left so early, before he could see the positive effect his music has had. For music so universal it brings so many together is a rare thing indeed.

Mama Dada 1919 – Slits, Quick 3.5

               For all those people who state bad music began proliferating after the advent of CDs and MP3s, I present to them, Mama Dada 1919. Released in 1979, it dedicated itself to Comrade Lol. I don’t have any idea what the point of this sort of release is, to show that you had enough gumption to bother having it released.

                Most of the songs on here are extremely brief and possess a tossed-off feeling. The theme in the first song reappears at the end, and there do appear to be some unifying factors despite the mostly improvised nature of the recordings. It feels so random that is near-impossible to enjoy. Sure, I enjoy improvisers like AMM, but they have training and knowledge of what they’re doing. 

                None of the sounds they explore are things that should be mind-blowing to anyone with an even passing knowledge of music. Faust did this, some 60s band did that. It goes on that way for roughly 14 minutes. Even their name, which instantly drew me to them, implied a goofy nature or at least an energetic record. Sadly, neither one of those things is the case. Instead, this comes across very heavily as indulgent music or an inside joke whose answer I’m not privy to. Music like this gives the avant-garde a bad name.

Crème Soda – Tricky Zingers 7.0

Listening to this, you might be confused by the release date: 1975. Yeah, it doesn’t sound at like that. Perhaps they were just nostalgic for the sound a few years prior, who knows. Whatever the reason, they manage to do a fairly good job of making some old-fashioned melodic rock.

                Some of the songs are actually surprisingly wild “(I’m) Chewin’ Gum” has a bunch of crazed vocals. “The Nazz are Blue” shares this same amount of energy, having a warped-out surf sound to the song, along with a hint of 50s rock.

                My favorites from this Milwaukee band are the gems “Deep in a Dream” which is bright and sunny. Here the guitars have a warm twang to them, and show that they actually were fairly competent players. “Roses all Around” is probably the best song on here, it is a gorgeous, sad song.  

                Their more subdued approach works better for them; it feels more natural than throwing too much energy into it. Shame they disappeared after this.

Blinded By the Light – Introduction to Corruption

The Corrupter

              The Manfred Mann’s Earth Band did the movie world a great service. Every single time someone’s about to be corrupted, whether by drugs, sex, alcohol, or some other vice I don’t have enough imagination to come up with, this song plays. I mean this is like the cue to “Boy, things are about to get heavy”. Here are a few pieces of dialogue that sort of introduce the song, with the corrupter and the innocent:

Corrupter: Hey, do you party?

Innocent: What’s that mean?

Cue music.

Corrupter: How’d you like to earn $150,000 in one night?

Innocent: What do I have to do?

Cue music.

Corrupter: You want to get out of here?

Innocent: Yes, show me how.

Cue Music.

Corrupter: Have you ever ground up a human corpse into a sausage?

Innocent: No.

Cue Music.

Corrupter: Is this your first time?

Innocent: Yes.

Cue Music.

Corrupter: Can you feel your face?

Innocent: No.

Cue Music.

Corrupter: Go towards the light.

Innocent: But I’m blinded by it.

Cue Music.

                Somehow the song just screams depravity. I can’t imagine something wholesome occurring on screen as this screams at me (the song always feels slightly louder than it should be). This is probably one of the few songs that can serve as a punch line. Its over-the-top appeal is obvious.

                Even as the song progress beyond its glistening beginning, into more spaced-out sounds halfway through the song, it continues its depraved feel. Perhaps a montage of a strung-out loser might appear. Or you can see our innocent from the beginning descend into night-long orgies, a world of crime, or take your pick.

                This song solidified the idea of a musical cue. Now we have TV shows like “CSI: Miami” which turns the music cue into something of a cliché. Good shows, excellent shows like “Arrested Development” used a various amount of cues to get a point across, whether it was situational or a flashback. So it isn’t simply a cheap trick, it is something that becomes deeply engrained, up to the point where we almost expect it. Even the flashback chime noise has become standard for so many cartoons and sitcoms.

                Now though we know who to thank. These progressive rock pioneers, who forever changed the way we look at the light. Each time I hear someone complain about the light, this song comes in. It isn’t even a good karaoke song, it takes too long. Yet somehow you’ve heard it, scanning through radio stations or shopping at a supermarket. 

                You were blinded by the light.

Red Noise – Sarcelles Locheres 6.6

Some history on these guys: they appeared on the Nurse With Wound list. That’s probably how one even got to hear about them. Otherwise, I don’t know what would attract you attention towards some ultra-obscure krautrockers from France in the early 70s.

                Musically, you have some adventurous rock mixed with jazz influence. They don’t do it badly, but there’s nothing here that would really blow your mind. Honestly, the humor here (exclusively potty-based humor) grates on one’s nerves. I’ve heard that a lot of French humor doesn’t travel well, so here’s an example of that.

                Parts of this go on for far too long. Exploring how to pluck one’s guitar should not go on for 2 minutes. The hallmark for this album (Sarcelles C’est l’Av) probably is the true winner here. All that hoped for-madness is somewhat met on here. 

                Red Noise had all the hallmarks of being a nice, wild, weird French band. Sadly, most of the stuff on here tends to be too focused or unfocused. They were poor editors of their material judging by this release. If you’re familiar with Frank Zappa and his ilk, there’s nothing on here that will really excite you or be new to you.

Gavin Bryars – The Sinking of the Titanic 9.0

Bittersweet would be the best way to describe what’s going on here. There are only two sides to this, “The Sinking of the Titanic” on side A and “Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet” on side B. Both sides are pretty good late night winter listening. Each has its own specific take on various hopes or failings. Neither side is particularly troublesome or tricky, there’s no difficult serialism or extreme avant-garde tendencies to overcome here. Probably the hardest thing to get through is the emotional content.

“The Sinking of the Titanic” comes first and is the bleaker of the two. First composed in 1969, it is sort of a sad piece. Nothing rises out of the sadness associated with the event, and there are some additionally nice drones and other goings-on underneath all the violins. It gives the piece the feeling that slowly the orchestra is about to go down with the ship.

My personal preference is for the B side, “Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet”. A homeless man sings a stanza. Slowly harmonies come in, embellishing the emotional content of the singer. It is a beautiful, optimistic piece. Gavin does it justice by refusing to instantly satisfy the listener, allowing the stanza to be repeated for over 3 minutes before other elements are introduced. The stanza gives the piece rhythm and is its emotional heart. How the words work in the song remind me of Alvin Lucier’s “I am in a room” in that the words give the piece meaning and flow. Unlike that work, this is far more moving, working on an emotional rather than intellectual level.  And while most composers would be okay with increasing the volume of everything, Gavin still makes sure that even at the loudest you can still clearly hear the singer.

I feel really happy that both these pieces exist. Each one adds a little something to my life and helps give me hope.