SUICIDE @ 45

 

December 28th marks the 45th anniversary of the release of Suicide’s eponymous debut LP. It’s a singular monument to mutant electronic rock-a-billy, which would become one of the landmark albums of the emerging electronic music scene and give birth to the concept of the “synth duo”.

Prior to recording their debut, Martin Rev and Alan Vega had been slumming it in the ghetto clubs of NYC since the early 1970s. Inspired by seeing Iggy & the Stooges, Alan Vega, who was initially focused on visual arts, decided he could turn his hand to fronting a rock band with the same kind of frightening intensity as Mr. Pop. Vega, who was raised on the hip shaking hiccups of Elvis Presley, had that essence of ’50s greaser delinquent baked into his DNA.

Hooking up with keyboardist Rev, the duo were the first band on record to self-describe their music as “punk” in their hand drawn gig flyers & handbills of the early 1970s. By the time the actual “punk” scene started to bubble up around them in clubs like CBGBs, Suicide found themselves playing alongside contemporaries like the Ramones, Patti Smith, Talking Heads and the rest of the NY underground scene. The difference with Suicide was that they were mostly hated by audiences, though they were deeply loved by certain musicians. People like The Cars’ Ric Ocasek would become stalwart champions for the band, helping to promote and further their career.

Their live performances were notorious for being awkward, confrontational and, on frequent occasions, threatened to break into violence. With Rev holding sternly at his keyboards, offering little beyond a disinterested sneer, Vega turned the sexual intensity of Elvis into a a fun-house mirror distortion, punctuated by psychotic screams amid lyrics that twisted rock & roll iconography into gritty street poetry. During one of these gigs, Marty Thau, who was starting up his own record label, happened to catch their act and took a liking to what he saw and heard. He ended up signing the duo as his first artists for his new label, Red Star Records.

When it came time to record the album, Vega and Rev were so well rehearsed with their material, after having played it live for 5 years, it only took four days in the studio to capture it all. The majority of the songs were basically as done on stage, though the album’s sprawling nightmare centerpiece, Frankie Teardrop, underwent a drastic lyric rewrite after Vega read a newspaper article about a factory worker who murdered his wife and child and then committed suicide. This happened during the mixing phase of production, so there is a version with the original lyrics, which was recently released on a retrospective compilation. Personally, I think Vega made the right decision. While the original has some historical interest, the story of a murderous gangster is far less emotionally triggering than the tale of a downtrodden struggling every-man who’s pushed to his limit. That’s a story that can resonate with anyone who’s struggled to make ends meet. For the production, co-producer Craig Leon had managed to get his hands on an Eventide digital delay unit to use on the vocal tracks, adding dub inspired echo effects to further enhance the alien sounds of the album and bring Vega's guttural screams into deeper resonance.

When the album was released, while it garnered some positive reviews in the UK, the US press were generally unimpressed and dismissed the LP as inconsequential or even stupid, but that shortsightedness would be exposed with time as the band were vindicated by creating one of the most revered and influential albums to come from the punk and new wave movements of the ‘70s. I remember seeing it on the shelves in my local record shop and couldn’t resist my curiosity, so I picked up my first copy sometime in 1980. It immediately blew me away with its stark simplicity and razor sharp edge. Vega’s vocals could be terrifying, mostly due to that inhuman scream he could stab into an arrangement, slicing through it like a switchblade knife. One of our favorite things to do in our senior year of high school was to go in my friends truck and blast Frankie Teardrop over his stereo in the school parking lot at night, when the other kids were parked there, hanging out with nothing to do. Hearing that scream rip across the football field was a real delight.

Since its release, Suicide has gone on to be recognized as one of the most seminal albums to come out of the NYC music scene. They were certainly one of the most unique and distinctive groups of that time. No one else had their sound as they straddled this strange netherworld between punk and electronica. They had one foot in the nostalgia of the 1950s while the other strode into our dystopian future, sounding totally modern, despite their primitive and even antiquated electronic organs & drum machines. Their minimalist approach set them on course to inspire the next generation of electronic musicians, and the effect of that barrier-breakthrough still resonates to this day.

THROBBING GRISTLE - TG24 @ 20

 

Celebrating its 20th anniversary today is the CD reissue box set by Throbbing Gristle, TG24.  It was a completely remastered collection of live TG performances covering the period from their first appearance on July 6th, 1976, at the Air Gallery, to their Goldsmith College performance on March 13th, 1980.

Originally, in 1980, TG released a limited run of cassette box sets called 24 Hours of Throbbing Gristle.  The set included live recordings of their first 25 performances (IRC 03 contained two short shows, one per side).  The set also included two additional tapes of radio interviews, a personalized collage and group photographs.  This was all packaged in a black attache case.  These editions were hand duplicated using facilities at Industrial Records studio, therefore the number of editions issued was extremely limited.  Individual editions of some select live shows from this set were later sold separately by Industrial Records, as well as being licensed to other labels or bootlegged to create various live LP releases over the years. 

Sometime after the turn of the new millennia, Mute Records began negotiating with TG to remaster and reissue their back catalog, which included discussions of their live recording archive.  Eventually, a decision was made to reconstruct the 24 Hrs box set as a deluxe CD limited edition.  The process for doing this meant spending months trying to source the best possible versions of the original recordings which could be obtained, rummaging through the archives of all four band members.  TG recorded all their live performances on regular stereo cassettes, rather than reel-to-reel, some of which were in less than ideal condition by the time Chris Carter got around to trying to identify suitable versions to use for remastering.  In some cases, tapes were damaged and, in others, the actual recording had some technical issues which necessitated seeking out alternates.  For some performances, multiple simultaneous recordings were made.  One may have been direct from the mixing board while the other may have been an open mic recording to capture the sound in the audience.  The members of TG reviewed all alternative recordings to determine which version best captured the show and then selected that, even if it may have been of somewhat lesser quality, technically.  For the mastering Chris only employed minimal processing to adjust some output levels, though avoided using any compression.  Some digital noise reduction was employed in select recordings when the noise level was deemed distracting, but some noise was left in as its removal made the recording sound artificially “clean”.

During the process of putting the set together, Chris Carter initially gave up on including IRC-26 (Scala Cinema) because of insurmountable technical issues.  The ion generator used during TG’s live shows had a habit of discharging unexpectedly at times, throwing off sparks, and was so intense at this particular performance that it effected the cassette deck, ruining the second side of the tape with electronic interference.  An alternative show, IRC29 was selected to substitute.   The set of 24 CDs was already duplicated & packaged when the original master cassette was finally unearthed and found to have minimal issues with the recording.  An additional CD was then rushed into production so that the set ended up coming with a bonus 25th CD, added at the last minute. 

For the packaging of the CD edition, a special cloth bound box was created and embossed with the TG24 logo on the top.  Inside, along with the CDs - each of which was packaged in cardboard slip cases with printed graphics, the set included a large wax sealed envelope.  This was packed with an Industrial News magazine, numerous postcards, photos, badges and patches.  An authentication card was also included and signed by all four band members.  To launch the CDs, Mute set up a special art exhibit of TG memorabilia in a London gallery.  The exhibit featured such items as the original TG designer camouflage uniforms, custom audio equipment like Chris Carter’s “Gristlizer” sound processors and Sleazy’s cassette based “sampler” mini keyboard, along with press cuttings, posters and photographs.

Getting my hands on a copy of this set was one of the big WOW moments of my days of indulging in collectible musical products.  It was rather overwhelming to be suddenly in possession of so much TG music, much of which was completely unfamiliar to me.  Their live shows were never repetitive.  Certainly, as the group matured, some pieces found themselves performed live more than once, but they never sounded the same from show to show. For the most part, each performance from each show was its own entity.  Working through them all for an initial listen was a process that took a couple of weeks of exploring, usually one CD per day, if possible.  Live TG is not an “easy listening” experience, even in their “nicest” of incarnations.  Even with Chris’ remastering, the recordings were still sourced from cassettes, sometimes recorded off a mixing board and sometimes recorded using a binaural microphone system (the infamous “head” on a mic stand in the audience you can see in some TG live photos).  As such, the sound can be harsh, distorted and piercing, so you have to be in a certain state of mind to be able to appreciate what’s there.  Sometimes a TG show can seem like a pot just sitting there simmering on the stove with no real sense of anything happening.  Then, without warning, the BEAST can awaken and start tearing your ears apart.  You can be bored one minute and enthralled the next.  TG live was always like a conjuration of some kind of trans-dimensional entity breaking through with it’s Lovecraftian tentacles grasping at the audience’s perceptions.  Sometimes the spell worked, sometimes it didn’t or lasted only for a brief moment before dispersing.  But that was the magic of it all.

I don’t have the physical version of this set anymore, but I scanned and photographed it all and have digital files of all the audio.  I had to sell it off when money was tight and costs of living took precedence.  But it was a treasure while I had it and I tried to make sure it went to a good home when I did part with it.  I can’t think of many other groups who could release something like this and make it seem essential rather than self-indulgence.  A year after its release, a companion matching box set was issued to collect the remaining 10 live shows TG performed before their 1981 termination after their San Francisco final show.  The two boxes sure looked nice together and I’ll always be happy I had them in my home for the years they were here.

Creating this box set would not only revive interest for fans of TG, it also proved to be a catalyst for the group to reform not long after its release.  The process of putting the set together had managed to thaw the ice which had been long built up between certain members and, though some issues would remain contentious between them, the group did manage to enter into a highly productive second life until December of 2010, when Gen packed it in after their last live show in London and Sleazy passing beyond the veil shortly thereafter.

THE RESIDENTS - SANTA DOG @ 50

Marking their golden anniversary, 50 years since their first official musical product, The Residents were formally born on this day, December 20th, 1972, with the release of their double 7” single, Santa Dog. This four track EP would begin a career which would see this group of mysterious, anonymous artistic outcasts redefine the meaning of independent alternative music and outsider art.

While Santa Dog was their first proper release on their own imprint, Ralph Records, the group had been simmering away in obscurity for a few years before this, notoriously sending a demo to Warner Bros which was unceremoniously rejected, returned to the then nameless act c/o the “Residents”, who promptly turned defeat into victory by christening themselves based on WB’s seal of disapproval. Being dismissed by the majors was enough incentive for the group to decide to go completely independent and start their own label.

The first pressing of the EP was released by Residents, Uninc., with each track credited to a different fake performer: Ivory And The Brain Eaters - Fire, Delta Nudes - Explosion, The College Walkers - Lightning & Arf And Omega featuring The Singing Lawn Chairs - Aircraft Damage. Some copies had the tracks disordered, likely due to production oversights, and the gate-fold covers of many first pressings were stuck together due to the records being packaged before the lamination had a chance to properly dry. Most of these early pressings were given away to friends or mailed to celebrities like Frank Zappa and Richard Nixon, with Nixon refusing to accept his copy.

The EP immediately defined the off-kilter, bizarro aesthetic of the group and has since become a prized collectors item for the group’s ardent aficionados. The group has gone on to issue periodic updated recordings of the first song as a signpost whenever they’ve evolved to a level where they feel like there’s a need to reinstate the theme again to illustrate their evolution. A number of variations and compilations of Santa Dog recordings have appeared over the years and the original 1972 recordings have been added to expanded editions of Meet The Residents, as well as being included in various retrospective collections. Santa Dog is ground zero for The Residents. Everything that they were and are has progressed from this cornerstone little EP.

THE WHO SELL OUT @ 55

 

Celebrating 55 years on the shelves this week is the third studio LP by The Who, The Who Sell Out, which was released on December 15th, 1967. While its high concept made it one of the band’s poorest selling albums, it remains a critical favorite to this day.

The initial plan for the album was to call it “Who’s Lily?” in reference to the single, Pictures of Lily, but band confidant, Richard Barnes, proposed the idea of doing parodies of commercial jingles, inspired by their cover of the Batman theme. It was a suggestion to which the band initially responded with derision, but the band’s management team, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, next suggested the idea of a concept album paying tribute to Britain’s pirate radio stations, a media outlet which was a vital cultural driver for the UK Mod movement. With recent court rulings making it illegal for most of these stations to broadcast, the tribute to the format became even more relevant. The concept neatly accommodated Barnes’ commercial jingle idea too, making them handy connecting pieces between the main songs. Titling it “The Who Sell Out” was an ironic reference to some of the actual legit commercial work the band had done recently.

The album began production in September of ’67 after completing an American tour, with work completed by the end of October. Mixing was done by Kit Lambert and Damon Lyon-Shaw intermittently throughout November. Musically, the album offered an array of psychedelic inspired pop songs with Pete Townsend showing off some Hendrix inspired guitar freakouts. Townsend was responsible for writing the bulk of the songs on the album, though bassist John Entwistle contributed three tracks and one was written by Speedy Keen, guest vocalist on that song. The majority of the connecting commercial jingles were created in the studio by Keith Moon and John Entwistle.

The cover for the album showed the four band members split between the front and back cover, each featured in a different advertisement relating to connecting jingles contained on the album. On the front is Pete Townsend applying Odorono brand deodorant from an oversized stick. Roger Daltrey is shown sitting in a bathtub full of Heinz baked beans (holding an oversized tin can of the same). Daltrey variously claimed that he had either caught pneumonia, the flu, or "the worst cold he’d ever had" after sitting for a prolonged period in the bathtub, as the beans had just come out of the fridge and were "freezing cold". On the back is Keith Moon applying Medac (an acne ointment) from an oversized tube to an oversized pimple. John Entwistle is shown in a leopard-skin Tarzan suit, squeezing a blonde model in a leopard-skin bikini with one arm and a teddy bear with the other (an ad for the Charles Atlas exercise course mentioned in one of the album's fake commercials).

Upon its release, with the Mod scene waning, the concept of the album seemed to miss the mark with the young record buying public, but the critics loved it and offered a great deal of praise for its sense of humor and the cleverness of the concept. Their poking fun at the commercial market ended up causing problems, however. The commercial references mixed real and fake products, which resulted in a slew of legal issues for the band, their management and the record label as various companies filed suit for misrepresentation of their products and unauthorized use of their intellectual property. Despite the legal issues and lackluster fan response, the album has, nonetheless, gone on to sustain a legacy as one of the groups best efforts.

PSYCHIC TV - FORCE THE HAND OF CHANCE @ 40

 

Marking its 40th anniversary today is the debut LP from Psychic TV, Force The Hand Of Chance, which was released on December 11th, 1982. As well as confounding the expectations of Throbbing Gristle fans, the album, along with its accompanying bonus LP of acoustic ritual themes, contains the DNA for at lease a half dozen sub-genres of music which would evolve throughout the ‘80s. It also served as a calling card for the “anti-cult cult”, Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth (TOPY), the pseudo-occult/paramilitary order which Genesis P-Orridge and Monte Cazzazza had been concocting since the late stages of TG.

After the demise of TG, Genesis P-Orridge shifted focus towards the creation of a new kind of intellectual and spiritual network which would focus on personal development through revitalized pagan rituals and magickal techniques largely related to theories & practices developed by Aleister Crowley and his contemporaries. Evidence of this work first surfaced on the 1981 TG 12” of Discipline, which included the phrase “Marching music for Psychic Youth” below one of Sleazy’s photos of a knife holding young lad on the back. The initial conception of the organization included prescribed manners of dress and grooming in order to affect a kind of paramilitary-meets-religious aesthetic, including the grey clothing, priest collars and shaved heads. These were adorned with emblems like the Psychick Cross, designed by Gen, and other arcane occult symbols.

In the immediate aftermath of TG’s “termination”, Gen had little interest in pursuing music and was prepared to give it up in favor of writing and visual arts. It was only through the dogged insistence of Alternative TV band member, Alex Fergusson, that the focus would return to that medium. Alex took some poetry of Gen’s and created music for it and that was enough for Gen to realize there was a new opportunity to do something different from TG. The two combined the names of their individual projects to come up with “Psychic TV”, which would function as the propaganda arm of TOPY. Also, the “TV” component was key to them being more than a “band”. By enlisting Peter Christopherson into the project, thanks to his developing interest in video production while working with the Hipgnosis design firm, they envisioned PTV becoming an actual media outlet and even a proper TV channel at some point, producing not only music, but visual content: from documentaries to music videos to ambient TV. This was rather visionary as it was years before the development of subscription TV services and specialty channels. Cable TV was only just beginning, but the writing was on the wall for where it could go.

Because of the notoriety of Throbbing Gristle, when Psychic TV began looking for a label to release their music and videos, they came to the attention of "Stevo" (Stephen Pearce) at Some Bizarre Records. He offered them a contract and financed the production of their debut LP and its followup, Dreams Less Sweet. It was a relationship which would ultimately result in PTV including "Stevo, pay us what you owe us" comments for years afterwards on their LP liner notes. Apparently he had a habit of not paying bands royalties from record sales.

Regardless of future disputes, unlike TG’s process of doing everything themselves, from running a label to sustaining their own recording studio facility, PTV now had a budget to actually utilize professional recording facilities & engineers and even take advantage of some state of the art experimental recording tools. This included the “Zuccarelli Holophonic" TM recording system, which replicated 3D hearing via a two channel process that emulated how the human body picks up sound. The stereo sound pickup system was housed in an actual body which you could place in any position and then have it pick up the sound precisely as a real person would hear it in the room. Moving around the room would create three dimensional soundscapes for the listener, particularly when monitored over good quality speakers or headphones. This process would be employed for both albums produced for Some Bizarre, with the liner notes boasting that “no microphones” (of a conventional sort) were used for the recording.

Musically, Alex was the key driver of the compositions and arrangements and he was about as far away from Chris Carter’s electronics and technology as you could get. Alex was more rooted in folk and Velvet Underground influences, but was able to go outside these by bringing in elements of “spaghetti western” Morricone style motifs, pop ballads and even a solid funk groove. As a result, the main LP offers up a seeming hodgepodge of superficially disconnected styles, yet somehow they all work together to create a distinct whole.

The opening track, Just Drifting, announces PTV’s intent to separate from the past as distinctly as possible. It’s a gentle, acoustic guitar driven, folksy ballad inspired by Gen becoming father to little Carresse. I can imagine some people simply couldn’t grasp the shift from screeching “WE HATE YOU LITTLE GIRLS” to Gen softly crooning a lullaby for his new baby. And the singing was pretty much on key and melodic, completely upending theories that Gen wasn’t capable of mustering a proper vocal. Though it starts off soft and dreamy, the album is not without its barbs and sharp edges and its construction is thoroughly subversive, once you get over the initial shock of its seductively soothing intro. Terminus is cinematic in its sonic scope with its twanging guitars, but the lyric is deeply disturbing and the piece eventually erupts into a wall of terrifying noise before again subsiding into a gentle coda. Stolen Kisses offers up some genuine pop tunefulness with Soft Cell’s Marc Almond guesting on vocals. The other key album highlight is the booty busting Ov Power, which offers up one of the most solid post-punk/funk dance grooves of the era, verging into PiL territory akin to This Is Not a Love Song. The theme of the tune is more visceral, however, as it extols the virtues and efficacy of the orgasm and its viscus byproduct in relation to magickal rituals and sigilization, a practice promoted by TOPY for manifesting one's true will. The album is wrapped up by a full on recruitment poster of a song featuring muted marching music underpinning a proclamation read by TOPY spokesman, notorious tattoo and piercing artist Mr. Sebastian, defining the motives and objectives of “The Temple”. A video produced for the track shows the spokesman at a podium, but it's not Mr. Sebastian, but rather film maker Derek Jarman acting as body double.

The bonus LP, Themes, which was included with the first 5000 copies of the album, along with a poster of Gen & Sleazy in full TOPY regalia, offered listeners a more singular kind of audio experience as it provided “functional” music to be used in the enactment of personal magickal rituals. A variety of ritual instruments including various hand drums, thigh bone trumpets, bicycle wheels, bells and occasional piano were employed to create an evolving soundtrack for practical ritual application. The text on the back of the poster included instructions for use along with cautions on being prepared for the potentially unpredictable effects of one’s efforts. As a listening experience, it’s a dissociating, transcendental collection of primal sounding improvisations which are completely different from the material offered on the main LP.

Upon its release, reactions were decidedly mixed as many from the TG fan camp were knocked sideways by the album’s complete departure from TG’s wall of noise & use of electronics and synthesizers. Those elements weren’t completely missing, but they were only accents. The main aesthetic of the album was deceptively more conventional in some regards, though undercut by excursions into experimentation. I first bought the double LP version, 2nd hand, in late 1984 after becoming obsessed with TG in the wake of a particularly transformative LSD experience. My initial reaction was like most TG fans, taken aback by the total disconnect, superficially, from what I’d come to expect from P-Orridge. However, I’ve always been partial to having my expectations of an artist challenged and it didn’t take long for me to be able to warp my head around the method to this new madness and fall in love with the album and the Themes bonus LP.

Over the ensuing years, it’s been reissued in a variety of often dubious editions, some lifted from vinyl and even the so-called “official” remasters have failed to comprehend the dynamics of the original masters, normalizing the audio levels on some connective elements and compromising their impact. I’ve yet to encounter an edition which has corrected this error. Themes has been released separately in a number of editions itself, further adding to the confusion over trying to assemble a good quality contemporary edition. Its legacy, however, remains as a remarkable signpost of things to come in the world of alternative music in the years following its release. It defies trendiness and can still hold up to modern listening. It remains, along with its followup, Dreams Less Sweet, some of the best PTV would ever offer, at least from this incarnation and for my preferences.

AEROSMITH - DRAW THE LINE @ 45

 

Today marks the 45th anniversary of the release of Aerosmith’s fifth studio LP, Draw the Line, which was issued on December 9th, 1977. In many ways, it represented the end of the band’s “classic” early era and ushers in their entrance into a dark phase of their career before becoming ‘80s chart toppers a few years later.

At the time the album was recorded, the band were deeply submerged in the mire of drug abuse and this resulted in a markedly compromised level of productivity in the studio. Joe Perry confessed in the band memoir, Walk This Way, "We were drug addicts dabbling in music, rather than musicians dabbling in drugs.” It signaled the beginning of the end for his relationship with the band at that time, a situation which would soon mean his departure from the fold for many years before returning.

Recording of the album took place at The Cenacle in Armonk, New York, which was a sprawling 300 room former convent suggested by the band’s manager in the hopes that the location would help to keep them sober by virtue of its isolation. That strategy proved to be completely ineffective, however, given the fact that, as Steven Tyler later recalled, "Drugs can be imported, …we have our resources. Dealers deliver! Hiding us away… was a prescription for total lunacy." The band’s front men, Tyler and Perry, were so overtaken by their drug indulgences that they simply didn’t care much about what happened with the album, opening up the door for others to contribute a lot more than they had done on previous records. Perry again recalls:

“A lot of people had input into that record because Steven and I had stopped giving a fuck. "Draw the Line," "I Want To Know Why," and "Get It Up" were the only things Steven and I wrote together. Tom, Joey and Steven came up with "Kings and Queens," and Brad played rhythm and lead. Brad and Steven wrote "The Hand That Feeds," which I didn't even play on because I'd stayed in bed the day they recorded it and Brad played great on it anyway.”

The band’s producer, Jack Douglas, offers this insight:

“So I started Draw the Line, and for a while gave it my all. But because they were half-hearted about the record, I was too. Steven wasn't writing at all. The lyrics to "Critical Mass" came from a dream I had at the Cenacle. I never expected Steven to record it, but he didn't have anything else, so he used my lyrics as written. Same with "Kings and Queens." Steven and I wrote the lyrics together, which was like pulling teeth.”

The resulting album was uneven, to say the least. It was trashed by many in the music press. Billy Altman of Rolling Stone called the LP "a truly horrendous record, chaotic to the point of malfunction and with an almost impenetrably dense sound adding to the confusion." Robert Christgau considered the album the product of a band "out of gas”. I bought the record when it came out and it was the last Aerosmith LP I’d ever spend my coin on. However, the title track is still my all time favorite Aerosmith song, hands down. What made me love the band’s early works was their ability to nail the most distinctive riffs and the hook for Draw the Line was so furious and piercing, with that killer slide slicing through the mix, it gave me chills every time I put it on. It was the last incredibly flash of brilliance the band would ever muster, in my opinion. The top ten hits they’d produce throughout the ‘80s were no more than mainstream power pop to my ears and nowhere near the savage intensity of this song.

THE ROLLING STONES - THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST @ 55

Marking its 55th anniversary today is one of the most controversial LPs by the Rolling Stones, Their Satanic Majesties Request, which was released on December 8th, 1967. It was the band’s one and only full blown foray into psychedelic music, a move which resulted in accusations of them creating a “second hand Sgt. Pepper”, while offering some of the band’s most inventive, adventurous music.

Production on the album stared way back in January of ’67 and dragged on throughout the year thanks to a combination of ongoing legal issues and sheer self indulgent chaos. Various band members were regularly being distracted by court appearances and jail time, which meant that it was rare for the entire band to find themselves working in the studio at the same time. When band members did show up, it was often with entourages in tow, further compromising productivity. One of the most level headed band members, Bill Wyman, had this to say about the album’s production:

“Every day at the studio it was a lottery as to who would turn up and what – if any – positive contribution they would make when they did. Keith would arrive with anywhere up to ten people, Brian with another half-a-dozen and it was the same for Mick. They were assorted girlfriends and friends. I hated it! Then again, so did Andrew (Oldham - band manager) and (he) just gave up on it. There were times when I wish I could have done, too.”

Wyman channeled his frustration into the song, In Another Land, which parodied the mayhem and confusion of the sessions. With the band’s manager bailing, the group were left to their own devices to try to cobble together an album in the midst of all the drug addled madness. Retrospectively, the group has recognized the shortcomings of the experience and the effect on the final product. Jagger stated:

“It’s really like sort of got-together chaos. Because we all panicked a little, even as soon as a month before the release date that we had planned, we really hadn't got anything put together. We had all these great things that we'd done, but we couldn't possibly put it out as an album. And so we just got them together, and did a little bit of editing here and there.”

Jagger disavowed the album in 1995, saying: "it's not very good. It had interesting things on it, but I don't think any of the songs are very good. There's two good songs on it. The rest of them are nonsense."

Along with Jagger’s harsh appraisal, critics and fans were sharply divided by the album with some praising its risks while others dismissed it as a rip-off of Sgt. Pepper. Personally, I find it one of the group’s most intriguing albums with some of my favorite songs from the band. Citadel, She’s a Rainbow and 2000 Light Years from Home offer a triptych of psychedelic perfection and are worth the price of admission alone. Yes, there are sloppy indulgences like Sing This All Together and On With the Show, but I think it’s unfair to slag it as a “lesser Pepper”. For me, the two LPs are like sides of a coin. Where The Beatles offer the “lighter” side of the LSD experience, The Stones, as was often their role in the dichotomy between the two bands, lured the listener into the darker recesses of psychedelia. The two should be taken together as offering a complete spectrum of the drug culture.

The album’s title and cover were also sources of controversy, comparison and criticism. The title, which was a play on the "Her Britannic Majesty requests and requires..." text that appears inside a British passport, had to be modified for some markets due to the term “Satanic”. The album was released in South Africa and the Philippines as “The Stones Are Rolling” in order to avoid offense to the more religious public. The original cover concept for the album was to have a photograph of Jagger naked on a cross, but that was scrapped as being too crass. They ultimately settled on an idea which, again, drew comparisons to Sgt. Pepper, but AGAIN, if you understand the friendly rivalry between the bands, makes perfect sense as you find numerous references in each to the other band. The Beatles cover had “welcome the Rolling Stones” written on a doll's jumper while the Stones had photos of The Beatles interspersed among the flowers. It was all done in fun and to make light of the supposed rivalry between the bands. Original pressings of the cover featured a “3D” effect, which was intended to be used for the entire front cover, but had to be scaled back because of the expense. In the end, the group photo got reduced and is surrounded by a psychedelic boarder graphic with the photo affixed to the center.

After this album, the band would turn sharply away from any further dabbling with psychedelia & overt experimentation in their music and return to their raw blues roots. It's a move which would define the rest of their career and contribute to the departure of Brian Jones, who's multi-instrumental prowess was largely responsible for driving the groups more adventurous arrangements. With that being the case, Satanic Majesties Request becomes a bizarre detour in the group’s musical canon. Richie Unterberger of AllMusic summed it up thusly:

“Without a doubt, no Rolling Stones album – and, indeed, very few rock albums from any era – split critical opinion as much as the Rolling Stones' psychedelic outing. Many dismiss the record as sub-Sgt. Pepper posturing; others confess, if only in private, to a fascination with the album's inventive arrangements, which incorporated some African rhythms, Mellotrons, and full orchestration. What's clear is that never before or after did the Stones take so many chances in the studio. In 1968, the Stones would go back to the basics, and never wander down these paths again, making this all the more of a fascinating anomaly in the group's discography.”

PARLIAMENT - FUNKENTELECHY VS. THE PLACEBO SYNDROME @ 45

Marking it’s 45th anniversary today is the 6th LP, under the Parliament banner, from George Clinton’s P-Funk collective. It's Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome, which was released on November 28th, 1977. It is arguably the most hit loaded jam to come from Parliament during their peak. While merely 6 songs take up its track listing, it still boasts some of the gang’s most infectious grooves and one of its biggest hits.

The LP is a loose concept album continuing the story of Starchild’s battle against the Placebo Syndrome and Sir Nose d'Voidoffunk. The narrative is effectively Clinton’s comment on the emergence of disco music in the late ‘70s, which he saw as a “dumb’d down” version of dance music for undiscriminating masses. The original vinyl release contained a 22″×33″ poster of the character Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk, as well as an 8-page comic book that explains the concept behind the LP. Both the poster and the comic book were illustrated by Overton Loyd.

The album is near wall to wall with foot stompin' funk, kicked off with Bop Gun (Endangered Species), about a weapon which makes anything it shoots funky, and then heading straight into another killer, Sir Nose d'Voidoffunk (Pay Attention – B3M). Side two features the singles, Funkentelechy and, what has to be the standout centerpiece of the LP, Flashlight. The latter features a booty bustin’ baseline played on Mini-Moog by Bernie Worrell, who creates an unstoppable groove that defines one of the P-Funk gang’s most iconic songs.

Flashlight was the first P-Funk related single to hit #1 on the R&B chart and peaked at #16 on the pop charts. The song’s distinctive baseline was originally intended for Bootsy, but he turned it down and opted to play drums instead. Worrell decided to take it on by reportedly chaining together three MOOG synths, which he layered to create the bass sound. The song began as a loose jam and eventually evolved through layers of recording, with up to 50 voices being overdubbed to create the complex layers of chanting and choruses.

The song ended up having a legacy far outside its original recording as various members of the P-Funk collective recycled elements of it in future recordings. Outside of the group, it seeped into the collective consciousness of hip-hop culture where it was sampled, quoted and referenced over and over again throughout the ensuing decades. Its message of light radiating from every individual makes this song shine with its own illumination as it inspires generation after generation.

The album was a significant hit, becoming the group’s fourth consecutive gold LP and second platinum, reaching #2 on the R&B charts and #13 on the Billboard top 200. It’s definitely the most consistently thumpin’ dance album from the Parliament Mothership to land on this funky planet.

THE BEATLES - MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR @ 55

 

On November 27th, 1967, 55 years ago today, The Beatles released the Magical Mystery Tour LP in the US. The double 7’ EP variation followed in the UK on December 8th. Following on from their paradigm shifting Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, it continued their exploration of psychedelic experimentation, though for some, it may have been a bit too self-indulgent.

After completing Sgt. Pepper, Paul McCartney conceived of the idea of creating a film for TV along with its accompanying soundtrack. The concept was inspired by the activities of author Ken Kesey’s “Merry Pranksters”, who had become infamous among the "hippie" generation for their roving busload of freaks on LSD, touring the country and turning people on with their “Acid Test” parties. Paul had thought of doing something similar, though giving it a Liverpudlian twist by incorporating John’s recollections of seaside holidays from his youth. It was to be an unscripted, stream of consciousness experience which would be aimed at elucidating the psychedelic experience for the program’s viewers. The band were at the peak of their dalliances with the substance at the time and were also deeply involved with Transcendental Meditation as taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The basic framework for the narrative was to have “ordinary” people having “magical” experiences.

Work on the project began in late April, but was soon sidetracked as the group became distracted by their meditation studies, launching their Apple Records imprint and working on songs for the pending Yellow Submarine animated film project. Things only refocused on on Mystery Tour after the sudden unexpected death of the band’s manager, Brian Epstein, who had given his approval to the project before his passing. Again, it was McCartney who drove the project forward, despite the resistance of the other band members. Paul’s ambitions toward film production and changing the direction of the band were fired up by the project and he soon became an unstoppable force.

Recording of the music and production of the film occurred in tandem and the entire endeavor is reported to have been rather unfocused and undisciplined. Without Epstein’s guidance, the group were largely left to their own devices to motivate themselves and the overall milieu resulting from the frequent “tripping” going on within the group encouraged a state of barely organized chaos as they sought to take advantage of happenstance and spontaneous improvisation. Work on the soundtrack was completed on November 8th and the finished film was aired in the UK on December 26th.

The response to the film was decidedly weak from both fans and critics. The film was intended to be a colorful adventure, but because BBC1 weren’t able to broadcast in color, it was aired in black & white and looked terrible. It was rebroadcast again in color a few months later, but it didn’t make much difference because so few people had color TVs. The lack of any clear story certainly didn’t help. It was the group’s first major critical failure and the poor reviews dissuaded any US networks from airing the special. Fortunately, the music fared significantly better.

In the US, it was released as an LP with the A-side containing all the soundtrack music while the B-side was filled out by all the non-LP singles which had been produced and released during the time of production. This included songs like Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane and All You Need Is Love. The UK release only included the music used in the soundtrack, so there were only 6 songs, not enough for an LP. The innovation here was to issue it as a double 7” EP, which was the first time such a format was used in the UK. Both versions included a booklet with photos and a comic strip. However, when the Beatles LP catalogue was standardized internationally, the US LP version was taken as the standard over the UK edition, the only time this was done for a Beatles LP.

Despite all the muddle from a confused production process, the group were still able to deliver some of their most important music. Though it may have been a misadventure spurred on by artists who were a bit lost in their grief, coupled with ambitions distorted by narcotic indulgences, The music created during this period is nevertheless representative of the band’s genius during one of their most creative and inventive periods.

 

Marking its tenth anniversary today is the final Throbbing Gristle product to emerge from their post-millennial reunion era (2002-2010), Desertshore | The Final Report, which was released on November 25th, 2012. Though Genesis P-Orridge had left the group before completing the project and Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson died shortly after Gen’s departure, it is, effectively, the capstone to TG’s recorded output, albeit under the “X-TG” imprint.

The origin of Desertshore began with Sleazy in 2007. Several members of the group were fans of Nico, but he came up with the concept of creating a complete cover of her 1970 solo album of the same name. The notion of TG covering an entire album was novel enough, but the group also came up with the idea of doing a three day installation residency at the ICA gallery in London. Here, they would set up a mobile recording studio and hold multiple sessions each day with a small audience in attendance, observing the group creating the album. There would be two hour sessions, twice each day (afternoon & evening) over three days. Each session was recorded in its entirety via a binaural live digital recording system and the results were then issued in a 12 CD-R bespoke wallet duplicated in a limited edition of a few hundred copies. The recordings captured mostly group chatter, vocal takes from Genesis and a number of instrumental improvisations from the group. Some of the non-Nico related original “jams” ended up becoming The Third Mind Movements CD, which was released in 2009 to help promote TG’s US tour.

After the ICA installation, Sleazy took the recordings and began doing various experiments, including bringing in new, exotic electronic instruments. The bulk of the work was being overseen by him until TG were about to do a small tour of Europe at the end of 2010. However, after the first London Gig, Gen abruptly packed off back to NYC, cryptically stating S/he’d no longer be performing, but was still “a member of TG”. The remaining trio were left holding the bag for commitments for the remainder of the tour, which they managed to salvage by hastily regrouping as "X-TG". During this time, they briefly decamped to Chris & Cosey’s Norfolk studio and recorded a number of jam sessions. These would form the basis of The Final Report, included in the eventual release. Sadly, however, after completing two X-TG gigs, Sleazy returned to his home in Thailand where he suddenly died before the end of the year.

The fate of the Desertshore project was uncertain at that point. All the materials and gear Sleazy was using for the project were eventually shipped to Chris & Cosey’s Norfolk studio, but Chris had very little understanding of the strange tools Sleazy was dabbling with, nor a clear understanding of his intent. The vocals which Gen had recorded in 2007 at the ICA were deemed unusable at some point after He/r departure and the relationship with Gen was no longer amenable to recording new vocals. Thus, the concept came about to have a selection of guest vocalists come in to contribute to the project. These included people like Anthony Hegarty, Blixa Bargeld, Sasha Grey, Marc Almond and Cosey. Chris & Cosey made every effort to try to realize the project as close to what Sleazy had imagined as they were capable of doing, and before the end of 2012, they’d finally managed to put together a finished production.

Along with the Desertshore album and the jams with Sleazy, The Final Report, a third ambient remixed version of Desertshore was created by Chris and included as a bonus CD in limited editions for friends. This was eventually made available as a digital download, แฝดนรก (Faet Narok). The album was released on CD, vinyl and digital media, with physical media elegantly packaged in special embossed white & grey covers with an integrated booklet included.

Musically, the album not only pays a loving tribute to Nico’s original work, it also stands as a tribute to TG itself as that entity completed its final task. It’s a rich tapestry of atmospherics and textures, all tied together with the kind of attention to detail which had become typical for the surviving duo’s work. The Final Report offers up a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been possible if the X-TG trio had continued to work together and perform. It was somehow liberated without the internal conflicts which had underpinned their relationship with Gen before He/r departure. Yet there’s a melancholy to it as well given that failure to hold the group together long enough to complete the project with all four members still involved. Ultimately, it is an expansive and substantive monument to everything TG was capable of creating.

HAWKWIND - DOREMI FASOL LATIDO @ 50

 

Celebrating its 50th anniversary today is the third studio LP from space rock icons, Hawkwind, with Doremi Fasol Latido being released on November 24th, 1972. With the group experiencing one of its many lineup shuffles it would go through over the years, some changes in sound were afoot along with the new faces.

This album ushered in future Motorhead bassist, Lemmy Kilmister, along with new drummer Simon King. In the case of the latter, he was replacing Terry Ollis, who was more into a flowing jazz oriented drumming style while King was prone to a straight up thrusting rock approach. As for Lemmy, he original thought he was joining the band as a lead guitarist to replace Huw Lloyd-Langton, but Dave Brock had decided to take on the lead guitar bits and wanted Lemmy to play bass. Lemmy had no experience with the instrument and only really considered himself a barely competent guitarist who covered his lack of technique with volume and stagecraft. Nonetheless, Brock tossed him into the deep end and demanded he swim. The results were immediately successful with the Silver Machine single released on the previous album. Ultimately, the new rhythm section certainly gave the band a more driving proto-punk thrash that veered into Germanic "motorik" territory in some cases.

The album was recorded at the then newly opened Rockfield Studios, which proved to be somewhat detrimental to the overall sound. The facilities were in their infancy, so all the bugs weren’t quite worked out and things were a bit spartan in terms of the setup. The end result for the album was a sound that was often lacking depth and bottom end. The band tended to record with the core of bass, guitar, drums and vocals live in the studio, recording great long sessions and then going back to the tapes to hack and slash things together in the editing, using bits of synth to bridge sections along with additional overdubs of synths, sax/flute and effects.

Thematically, the group were continuing their exploration of some pretty heady themes, delving into concepts derived from hard science fiction sources. Michael Moorcock’s poem, The Black Corridor, became the basis for the lyrics in Space Is Deep. The Pythagorean concept of sound was an integral inspiration for the idea of the star-ship and “space ritual”. The title of the album is a reference to the “Sound of the Spheres” where the distance between Earth and the fixed "stars" represents the perfect harmonic interval. These spheres were believed to create a specific tone based on their vibrations as they moved through their orbits and displaced the “ether”. This is expressed thusly…

Do – Mars – red
Re – Sun – orange
Mi – Mercury – yellow
Fa – Saturn – green
Sol – Jupiter – blue
La – Venus – Indigo
Ti – Moon – violet

The cover for the original LP was silver foil printed with black in the form of a shield or crest, which became the principal symbol for the band going forward, being used on numerous future albums and singles. The back cover, inner sleeve and poster depict barbarian-type warriors in futuristic settings. The back cover includes the legend:

“The Saga of Doremi Fasol Latido is a collection of ritualistic space chants, battle hymns and stellar songs of praise as used by the family clan of Hawkwind on their epic journey to the fabled land of Thorasin.”

The legend tells of the Hawklords last and defeated stand against the "tyranny of the corrupt forces for law and evil", but the inner sleeve has redemption in the legend:

“And in the fullness of time, the prophecy must be fulfilled and the Hawklords shall return to smite the land. And the dark forces shall be scourged, the cities razed and made into parks. Peace shall come to everyone. For is it not written that the sword is key to Heaven and Hell?”

Upon its release, the album was well received by critics and peaked at #14 on the UK album charts. The raw edginess of its rhythm section would prove to be inspiration in a few years time for the burgeoning punk scene in the UK, with groups like the Sex Pistols eventually acknowledging Hawkwind as an influence. Though it may suffer slightly from weak production values, its songs and freaked out conceptual landscapes make it one of the band’s most essential albums.

LED ZEPPELIN - CODA @ 40

 

Released 40 years ago today, Led Zeppelin’s final collection of studio recordings was issued on November 19th, 1982. Created partly to satisfy record company obligations and party to thwart bootleggers, the album was a clearing house for the unreleased remnants of the group’s studio activity throughout their career.

Following the tragic death of drummer John Bonham, Led Zeppelin terminated their career, leaving their last LP, In Through the Out Door, as their inadvertent swan song. Yet there were lingering commitments with Atlantic Records, to whom the band still owed one more studio album. While the group were exceptionally economical with their studio time, creating very little that did not get used for their finished albums, there were still a few stray odds and ends which managed to slip the net over the course of their career. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to generate a healthy trade in the bootleg business as poor quality unofficial copies of these tracks circulated among the bands more ardent fans. It was enough to convince Jimmy Page that there would be some interest in curating a proper, sanctioned compilation of these recordings, which would also help him tie up loose ends regarding record label obligations.

The material on the album spans pretty much the entirety of the group’s career, though it can be broken down into two primary sets by LP side. The first side features four recordings spanning 1969 to 1972. We’re Gonna Groove, the LP opener, is actually a live recording, but the audience sounds were removed and guitar overdubs were added in order to be able to call it a “studio recording”. Poor Tom was an outtake from Led Zeppelin III, and I Can’t Quit You Baby was from a pre performance soundcheck rehearsal. Walter’s Walk was a 1972 Houses of the Holy outtake with vocal overdubs added. For the second side, most of the material comes from 1978 In Through the Out Door outtakes with the exception of the 1976 Bonzo’s Montreux drum solo. In 1993, a CD reissue included four additional tracks from various sources including the B-Side from the Immigrant Song single, a couple of live tracks and an outtake from their debut LP.

Critically, given it’s a “leftovers” package, it’s obviously not going to stand up as a cohesive collection in the same way as the groups formal albums. However, it still showcases many of the group's virtues which made them the legends they became. For any serious fan of the band, its a welcome capstone to their illustrious career. The cover graphics were again provided by the Hipgnosis design house, whom had been responsible for several other covers for the band over the years, but this would actually be the prestigious firm’s final design commission before the the company was dissolved and its partners would go their separate ways.

KEITH LEVENE (18 July 1957 – 11 November 2022)

 

Julian Keith Levene was always a challenge to pin down as a musician. He was a peg that never seemed to fit into any hole. There was always an extra angle that stuck out and that’s what made him so innovative and difficult to classify. His deconstruction of guitar playing had a monumental impact on me when I was trying to figure out if I should pursue my interest in music beyond collecting records. Before PiL came into my life early in 1980, I’d dabbled with guitar lessons and halfheartedly tried to muck about with it, but when I got my hands on Public Image Ltd’s Second Edition, the version of Metal Box which was released worldwide after the initial UK film tin pressing sold out, it pulled the plug on every preconception I’d ever had about what you could do with the guitar. 

 

PiL’s musical genius came in a two pronged attack: Wobble’s throbbing bass and Keith’s razor edged guitar. The two complimented and contrasted wildly against each other, but always in immaculate balance, with Lydon’s moaning and sneering surfing and slithering in between them. It was completely alien sounding, unlike anything I’d heard before, yet it was also compellingly inviting. It didn’t intimidate me to think about trying to play something like that. It was like they’d exposed all the plumbing and wiring inside the architecture of music and let you see how it could be put together. And you realized it didn’t have to follow the rules that were shoved down your throat by traditional music theory. The idea of “structure” suddenly had a vastly broadened scope and it wasn’t exclusionary and elitist. It plainly said to any listener willing to hear, “You can make things like this. All you have to do is give it a go!” So I took them at their word and did just that.

 

In less than a year, I got my own band going, scraped together some money from my part-time job and started recording my own music. PiL got me on that path as surely as if they’d come straight over to my house and showed me how to do it in person. But they were so much more than music. They were a whole attitude and lifestyle. They weren’t merely a “band”. The “LTD” wasn’t just for show. They were a COMPANY and they didn’t solely make music. They had plans for all sorts of things. Sure, ultimately a lot of that was unfulfilled at that time, but over the years, the individual members showed that they were willing to go as independent as they could, forming their own labels, creating their own products and pushing their individual boundaries in one way or another. Even the way they looked and dressed was part of it. Despite the Public Image being “limited”, they still managed to be style icons for the reject crowd. I desperately wanted my hair to be as ratty as Keith’s and was always on the lookout for a good ill-fitting old man suit. The “wrongness” became “rightness”, if you understood the language.

 

From 1980 until 1984, my musical world revolved around PiL. After picking up Second Edition, I moved heaven and earth to get a sanctified copy of Metal Box in its requisite tin canister. It cost me about $60 (in 1981 money) and took about 3 months to get a copy shipped over from the UK. Getting their debut LP, First Issue also took some doing as it was not released in Canada, so I had to rely on my local shop to special order the import. I remember hearing Theme for the first time and being knocked sideways by Keith’s insane guitar thrash. It felt like being in a continuous car crash with glass from the windshield constantly flying into your face. Then there was the chime of that incredible riff for the song, Public Image, the sound that launched a thousand post-punk bands. You wouldn’t have U2 without it. Getting back to Metal Box, it was the dissonant screeching of Albatross that first catches your ear as that 10 minute dirge churns away and it sounds like seagulls dying over a stagnant ocean. The other standout is Careering where the synth takes over from guitar and Keith uses his Prophet 5 to unfurl layers of queazy atmospheric drones, all shifting and mutating, never the same, throughout the entire song.

 

After that initial one-two punch of those first albums, the future of PiL became uncertain with the departure of Wobble after the 1980 US tour. He was such a fundamental component of their sound, it was hard to imagine what they’d do to regroup. I could never have guessed that they’d say “fuck it” to the bass and, instead, make the drums the star of their next album, Flowers of Romance. Here, Keith again comes to the table with a set of off the wall ideas which, somehow, manage to work. Really the whole album is an exercise in organized chaos and it’s something of a miracle that it came together at all, let alone to form something so uncompromising and idiosyncratic. Though there was a general movement towards percussion at the time, what with the double drummer format of Adam and The Ants and Bow Wow Wow, nobody saw PiL’s take on it coming. Even Phil Collins was impressed enough by the sound of PiL’s drums to hire their engineer to get him the same sound for his next album. But Keith’s standout track from this set is the instrumental, Hymies Him, a piece composed for potential use in a soundtrack using a Balinese Gamelan Richard Branson had picked up for the Townhouse studio. It’s a remarkably rich sounding piece, full of exotic flair and intrigue.

 

After the album was completed, a promotional trip to NYC resulted in an unexpected opportunity to perform at the Ritz where PiL were invited to make use of the club’s state-of-the-art video projection system. With only John and Keith available to perform, they set about hiring a local jazz drummer and concocting a sort of video installation concept. The idea was ambitious and quite ahead of its time, but Keith was always keen to explore the potential of new media, so they arranged to perform behind the screen while the live video would project them out front. It wasn’t meant to be a live gig like a regular band, but the audience weren’t in any way clued into that. Technical issues with the video resulted in the images of the band not showing up clearly on the screen, which set the whole night into a tailspin. Egged on by John and Keith taunting the audience, it all descended into a literal riot, turning it into what has become PiL’s most notorious live performance ever.

 

Though they briefly returned to the UK after that, John was fed up with the constant harassment by the police, who regularly raided his home in Gunter Grove, along with the constant nuisance of fans and freaks showing up on his doorstep at all hours. With that, John and Keith packed up and moved to NYC, taking up residency in a rented loft. With Martin Atkins on tour with Brian Brain in the US, the timing was right for him to reconnect with PiL, bringing along his bassist collaborator, Pete Jones. In 1982, the group began work on recording their next album, tentatively called “Welcome to the Commercial Zone”, a title inspired by signage they’d seen near where they had their loft. Lydon took a break to go to Italy to work on his first feature film role in Cop Killer, aka The Order of Death, while Keith, Martin and Pete were left in NYC to record the instrumental tracks for the new album. At this point, it was principally Keith who was directing the musical creations going on and the project was going in a vastly different direction from what had been done with Flowers of Romance.

 

The idea of “commercialism” was sort of seen as a challenge to make music that was both accessible while maintaining the sense of innovation which had characterized their first three LPs. In order to help fund recording, once John was done filming in Italy, the group began touring the US, traveling coast to coast to help revive the group’s fortunes and get people talking about them again. It was at this time that they came to Seattle and I had the chance to see the newly reconstituted PiL, and it was glorious! It was one of the most intense live shows I’ve ever seen and I was stoked to be able to see them back in top form again and hear some of the new songs. But the waters were troubled and would hit the boiling point early in 1983.

 

While still working on Commercial Zone, an offer came up to perform in Japan. It was a lucrative opportunity and included the release of the first material from the CZ sessions, a 12” single of This Is Not A Love Song. Somehow, wires got crossed about different mixes of the song being considered for the release and Keith found himself working on a remix while John was off meeting with reps from Japan. Keith’s efforts were, apparently, in conflict with what John wanted and the result was that John told Keith, in no uncertain terms, to immediately stop what he was doing and “get out of HIS studio”. It all blew up into a conflict which was irreconcilable and Levene found himself out of the band while Lydon hired some lounge band session musicians to go with him and Martin to Japan.

 

Keith’s response to being ousted was to take the rough mixes of Commercial Zone and, allegedly with the blessing of Branson, press them into a plainly packaged white label limited edition LP, which Keith released on his own hastily set up PiL Records Inc imprint. Keith would pile boxes of records on his skateboard and deliver them to the local record shops himself. A few copies of the LP managed to find their way to Vancouver and I snapped one up after waiting for ages to see another new PiL release after the Japanese 12” for Love Song finally surfaced. This was all after PiL had made a huge announcement before Keith left that they were diversifying into all these different corporate sub-entities to handle different aspects of the business. There was Public Enterprise Productions and Multi Image Corporation to handle live performances and video/film projects, etc. All of this seemed to be thrown into chaos now.

 

John & Martin continued on with PiL and released This Is What You Want, This Is What You Get, which was an LP that came quickly on the heels of Keith’s Commercial Zone LP in 1984. It had many of the CZ songs, though completely rerecorded with session musicians replacing Keith’s parts. There was also a leftover from Flowers reworked slightly for the new album and a couple of new tracks Lydon recorded with Martin. The two LPs stood toe to toe with each other and reminded me of that Star Trek episode where Kirk has a transporter accident and is split into two people, each with traits of the other, but each somehow incomplete. That’s how these albums felt. They were parts of the same whole and each had its virtues, but they were also both lacking something. One couldn’t help but feel like they’d have made a spectacular whole if they could be fused together.

 

After this, Keith seemed to disappear for a couple of years until the release of his Violent Opposition EP in 1987, which was followed by another EP, 2011 Back Too Black. These were then combined with some additional tracks for the 1989 Violent Opposition album. By this point, he’d moved with his then wife to LA and was doing some session work producing groups like Red Hot Chili Peppers. After that, Keith’s music career became exceptionally sporadic and intermittent. I heard that he’d gone into working in IT/digital media, but there was little information surfacing on his activities. He was effectively silent throughout the 1990s with only a few guest appearance credits showing up throughout the decade.

 

In 2002, Keith emerged from the shadows again with a brand new website and “band”, Murder Global. There was a new EP, Killer In the Crowd, and a video to go along with it. It seemed like he was about to jump back into the music business again after a decade of absence, but the traction from this seems to have been quickly lost as Keith, again, disappeared save for the odd guest appearance until 2010 when he did this bizarre PiL revival gig with Wobble where they hired a Johnny Rotten impersonator to do vocals and they played all the old PiL songs! I remember coming across YouTube clips from the show and wondering what the fuck I was looking at as it sounded remarkably bang-on to what PiL should be, more so than the revived PiL that Lydon was touring around with at the same time. In 2012, Wobble & Levene released an EP and album of brand new recordings, reviving their collaboration and showing themselves off as the true musical innovators of PiL, while Lydon was touring with what felt like a shadow of the original.

 

Keith followed that up with the Search for Absolute Zero album of brand new solo recordings. Suddenly he was all over social media, particularly on Twitter. He’d follow-back anyone who followed him and was always willing to engage with people, responding to every inquiry. Absolute Zero was a standout collection of new songs, showing Keith was still able to put things together in a way that only he could conceive. He was doing music like he’d never done before and it was all sounding great. After completing that project, the ghosts of Commercial Zone began to surface as the 30th anniversary of its release came up. Keith ended up going to Prague where he began recording what would become CZ2014, what he conceived of as his ultimate realization of the ideas inherent in the original Commercial Zone project. This was all part of a larger umbrella project Keith regularly referred to as “2051”. It’s not clear what that all entailed, but it was something Keith enthusiastically talked about in interview as tying together all his work over the years. The mechanics and physical manifestation he intended where never clearly elucidated, but it was obvious he had SOMETHING in his mind.

 

It was around the beginning of CZ2014 production when I was able to establish a personal interaction with Keith. I’d started to exchange messages with him and had commented that I wished I’d been able to contribute to his Indiegogo campaign that was partially funding the project, but that I was unemployed and had no extra income. I was also dealing with health issues. Keith, in an act of great generosity, sent me a complete set of recordings from the new album as a gift. I wrote a review for it all, which Keith loved and shared wherever he could. I also started creating little promotional memes for him to share to help generate publicity for the project. It was all going great until Keith posted a video on his YouTube channel that included a “dedication to Ugo” in the title/description. This inadvertently caused something of a storm with his principal financial backer, who was partially financing the recordings in Prague. They were incensed that they didn’t get a dedication and I did and it all got very weird and awkward and I kinda withdrew from any further direct involvement in the promotion of the project.

 

Subsequently, I kept my distance, but also kept tabs on Keith’s activities as he moved on to doing a series of bespoke “Teenage Guitarist” limited edition art pieces and began publishing biographical texts about his days with the Clash and forming PiL. He was doing original paintings and selling them with CDs and records and copies of his booklets. He had a few different websites up and it seemed like he was all over the place with talk of a film project in the works as well, but then it all turned into a legal nightmare as his relationship with his business partner turned toxic and he was ensnared in a web of lawsuits and litigation. These issues even managed to hold up the release of Keith’s last major recording project, Jah Wobble’s Very British Coup single from 2019. With all that going on, it seemed like Keith vanished from social media and the music business. I only found a couple of interviews with him after that talking about his Bitcoin interests, but nothing relating to any new musical or artistic projects. Until hearing about his death, I had no idea he was ill or suffering from liver cancer. Hearing that hit pretty close to home because it’s what killed my dad back in 1987.

 

Keith was a spiky person in a lot of respects and that’s one of the things I loved about him. I remember seeing him and John on Tom Snyder’s Tomorrow show in 1980 and being in stitches as they made Tom beg for any kind of response to his often inept and obviously uninformed questions. Tom was usually a much better interviewer, but he seemed stumped by these two. Keith was also a bit brutal on social media. After opening up to everyone, he turned the tables and started to block anyone who said anything he didn’t like. I ended up getting blocked when I made a dumb joke about a guitar of his that had been stolen in 1983. It was just a silly comment, but it was enough to get me on Keith’s shit list. The situation with his ex-business partner was a mess and they were seemingly everywhere whenever anyone mentioned Keith, ready to pounce on even the most innocent comments. It’s not surprising he gave up on social media for all practical purposes. I was hoping he might be coming back again after seeing him talking about Bitcoin, but he never responded to my inquiry when I tried to contact the Twitter account he gave out during one of his last interviews.

 

Hearing about him passing at such a relatively young age is a huge shock. Though his output could be sporadic and infrequent, when he did get it together to do something, he managed to make an impression and do something unexpected and innovative. He certainly made an impact on me. I wouldn’t have pursued music as a form of expression had it not been for him and Wobble showing me that I could do it too. I’m sure he did that for a lot of people and that’s a pretty good legacy to leave behind. Oh and there’s all that revolutionary mind blowing music too.

APHEX TWIN - SELECTED AMBIENT WORKS 85-92 @ 30

 

Marking its 30th anniversary today is the debut album from Aphex Twin, Selected Ambient Works 85-92, which was released on November 9th, 1992. Issued in double LP, CD and cassette formats, it became a cornerstone for the next evolution of electronics music, commonly referred to as “IDM - intelligent dance music”.

As the first waves of techno & house/acid house music swept the clubs in the UK through the late 1980s, cresting with the dawn of the new decade, DJs and producers like Richard D. James were looking for ways to evolve the music into more thoughtful, progressive forms. This desire became the impetus for James to found his Rephlex record label. After debuting his Aphex Twin alias the prior year with the Analogue Bubblebath EP followed by the Digeridoo 12”, when it came time to put together an album, James decided to soften his edges, He compiled a set of tracks largely based on input from friends regarding which of his recordings they enjoyed hearing most when they were chilling out.

The material for the album was reputedly all recorded directly to cassette between 1985 and 1992, utilizing a limited set of electronics, synths and drum machines, often modified and customized by James. While still pursuing his academic studies prior to committing full time to a music career, James had been focusing his education on engineering and electronics, so that expertise dovetailed perfectly with his interest in music making.

The genius of the album’s style is that it combines the contemporary electronic rhythms of the dance floor with the layering of subtle, evocative melodic textures which, when infused with the soft-focusing effect of the somewhat “low fi” recording techniques, created the album’s trademark dreamscape effect. Indeed, it’s James’ nuanced and delicate melodic sensibilities that set his music apart and above so many other electronic artists. There’s a compositional cohesion to his use of musical refrains and chord shifts which stamp his work with its distinctive surrealism. While it isn’t technically “ambient” in the classic, "Eno" defined sense of the term, it still rests inside an atmospheric landscape which avoids the jarring edginess of the more brutal material James had been releasing for the clubs.

The album was minimally packaged with the iconic Aphex logo prominently dominating the otherwise blank surface. The logo had been designed by Paul Nicholson under the guidance of James, with the two going through several iterations before they settled on a final form. James’ principal instruction was that it should refrain from the use of any sharp edges, thus the entire design is based on rounded corners with the overall shape vaguely suggesting the letter “A”. James has also suggested it has some significance as a sigil, though he has not elaborated on the specifics of its meaning or intent.

Since its original release, the album has been reissued and remastered numerous times, though its content has remained exact, with no bonus materials ever being added. Its influence and legacy have remained consistent as well. It set a standard for its genre of electronic music and pushed other producers in the field to try to keep up. Listening to it today, though it may have been produced with limited and primitive tools, it still sounds contemporary and even ahead of the times. It’s simply one of the best, most visionary electronic music albums ever created. It is the soundtrack for “dreamers of dreams”.