JOHN LENNON - IMAGINE @ 50

 

Celebrating its 50th anniversary today is John Lennon’s second proper solo album, Imagine, which was released on September 9th, 1971. Along with his previous release, Plastic Ono Band, Imagine has come to be considered the peak of his solo career. Where the previous album had gone for a stripped down simplicity, Imagine embraced a richer, more layered sound. The album was co-produced by Phil Spector and featured numerous contributions from former Beatles comrade, George Harrison.

The album was recorded at various times throughout the spring & summer of 1971 with sessions beginning in the UK in May at Lennon’s Tittenhurst Park estate before moving on to Abbey Road and then The Record Plant in NYC for final recording and production. The entire process of producing the album was extensively documented on film with the objective being to produce a documentary on the album, but that film project was eventually abandoned, though footage from the sessions would survive and surface in various other documentaries over the years, most notably the 2018 film, John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky.

While Imagine is often put in second place within Lennon’s solo catalogue behind Plastic Ono Band, it’s still bursting with iconic musical moments, not the least of which is the album’s title track, which has gone on to become Lennon’s signature theme. It’s a little less confessional than its predecessor and maybe a little heavy handed on some of its social and political messaging, but Lennon somehow manages to channel enough sincerity to avoid utter pomposity and pretense, though he skirts those edges rather closely at times. Part of his success at avoiding the worst of those sins rests on the times it was created. I don’t think anyone would dare try to write songs like this now, likely because we consider ourselves so much more jaded and cynical than a celebrity of his stature could get away with on the heels of the “peace and love” movement of the 1960s.

Since it’s release, the album has undergone a number of remastering and remixing variations, some more successful than others, but the power of the album has remained and it has continued to exemplify John Lennon’s essence throughout its half century of existence. It certainly deserves to be positioned, if not at the top, then very much just a shade below that high water mark of his career.

BUNNY WAILER - BLACKHEART MAN @ 45

 

Celebrating 45 years on the shelves, Bunny Wailer’s debut album, Blackheart Man, was released on this day, September 8, in 1976. It remains one of the most brilliant, important reggae albums ever released.

The album is a mystical marvel of top notch songwriting used to support messages of profound power, all the while maintaining a kind of quiet humility that refuses to allow those messages to come across as “preachy”. It’s an honest expression of faith and love that never feels anything less that 100% authentic. It’s an astounding achievement to be able to communicate with such force while never raising the amplitude above a hush.

The album kicks off as it means to go on with the magnificent title track, a story pulled from Wailer’s childhood where he was warned of the Jamaican equivalent of the “bogie man”, a figure who would often align with perceptions of the Rastafarian movement among the general population. As the song progresses, Bunny recounts his shedding of those fears and the way that process eventually put him in the place of the Blackheart Man he’d been warned against. In doing so, the song masterfully illustrates the process of enlightenment changing perception where the “evil” seen by the ignorant becomes the “good” of the illuminated. Darkness becomes light.

The remainder of the album accomplishes similar feats of inspirational insight, touching on concepts of repatriation (Dreamland), justice (Fighting Against Conviction) and various other manifestations of Rastafarianism. The music is all delivered by a who’s-who of the eras best players like the flawless rhythm section of the Barrett brothers and guest appearances by Wailers cohorts, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Everyone and everything on this album seems to be working towards a singular, perfect manifestation of roots reggae music that ends up as a near flawless album of timeless beauty.

This was one of the first reggae albums I ever purchased, right alongside Peter Tosh’s Equal Rights LP, both of which I picked up early in 1982. I couldn’t have picked a better pair of albums to start my exploration of this vast genre. Nearly 40 years after being introduced to my music library, Blackheart Man remains an album I can put on just about any time and marvel at its effortless perfection. It emanates from the speakers like a deeply exhaled breath of freshness every time I play it and it always retains its power to inspire with its heartfelt messages.

THE APHEX TWIN - ANALOGUE BUBBLEBATH @ 40

 

 

In September of 1991, the world of techno music would welcome the debut release from The Aphex Twin as the Analogue Bubblebath EP hit the shelves for the first time.

Richard D. James wasn’t initially interested in releasing his music. He was content to hand out cassettes to friends and play his tracks occasionally during his DJ sets, but the idea of putting out records didn’t hold any real interest for him. It wasn’t until James was tripping on LSD during a rave at the Academy in Plymouth that he was cornered backstage by Mighty Force record shop owner, Mark Darby, and Rich’s friend, Tom Middleton, that he was browbeaten into submission as they dangled money and contracts in front of him until he relented to have his music become the debut release on Darby’s newly minted indie label. Middleton had been playing Darby cassettes at his record shop and the two were amazed that James wasn’t bothered about putting anything out officially, so they set up this ambush to convince him to change his mind and it finally worked. If not for this acid trip, the world may never have heard of Aphex Twin!

It didn’t take long for the EP to take on cult status as the initial pressing of 1000 while label copies sold out within a week and demanded immediate subsequent re-pressings. Critical response was also instantly positive as people recognized an entirely new breed of UK techno had been birthed by the record. James had put a distinct personal stamp on the world of electronica, one that would soon catapult him to legendary status within the span of a few short years. The release of Selected Ambient Works 85-92 a year later would quickly consolidate his status as the premier producer of the most original and advanced form of techno in the country, or the world, for that matter. The music on this EP was so far ahead of the curve that it still sounds fresh and current some 40 years after its release.

The impact of James’ music is incalculable at this point. So many people have been influenced by him and so many of his releases have achieved iconic status over the years. He’s still able to stir up excitement and controversy with his releases as he’s continued to carve his own path through the record industry. He’s remained enigmatic and aloof from the business while securing his stature for the foreseeable future. It all started with this one most exceptional collection of four tracks. Music that set new boundaries and then broke them just as quickly.

THE RESIDENTS - MARK OF THE MOLE @ 40

Released in September of 1981, The Residents’ Mark of the Mole is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month.

After taking some time to decompress with something relatively “light” in the form of The Commercial Album in 1980, The Residents were ready to dig back into some serious conceptual ground again, similar to what they’d done with their epic and exhausting Eskimo LP from 1979. For this new project, they set their sights on something far more ambitious than a single album. The concept for this new project was to create a “six part trilogy” of releases to tell the tale of two vastly different fictional civilizations and their complex conflict with each other. Thus, they embarked on the creation of the infamous “Mole Trilogy”.

Mark of the Mole was the first chapter in this story, which told the terrible tale of the “Mole” people, a subterranean society who were driven from their underground homes by catastrophic flooding. The Moles were known for their work ethic and valued their labors above all else. As refugees, the Moles found themselves searching for new lands until they came across the aquatic “Chubs”, a race rooted in their hedonistic leisurely lifestyle. The Chubs initially welcomed the Moles as workers, but then rejected them when automation technology rendered them obsolete. Thus the conflict ensues.

The scale of this project proved to be rather more than the eyeball headed four had anticipated, but the project proceeded with some struggle. These efforts eventually resulted in The Residents mounting their first ever live tour after only ever having performed a couple of times in the prior decade of their existence. The complexity and expense of these endeavors would eventually take their tole on the group and there are rumors that these conflicts caused the eventual departure of at least one founding member of the group during this period. However, the touring and promotion of this release and the albums that followed on its heels raised the profile of the Residents to the higher echelons of “cult” status. Still, it didn’t make them rich, by any means.

Though Mark of the Mole was followed by releases such as The Tunes of Two Cities, Intermission and The Big Bubble, the narrative of The Mole Trilogy became very confused and fragmented and it was never made particularly clear if any of these releases was actually part of the “trilogy” proper. In that respect, the story of the Moles and Chubs never seemed to come to any resolution and the group moved on to other projects soon enough, abandoning the threads they’d woven thus far. Ultimately, it seems the Mole Trilogy proved to be a lesson learned as the group matured and became far more consistent when developing their larger conceptual works and bringing them to some kind of completion. In hindsight, however, the Mole story and the tours that were connected to it remain a high water mark for The Residents as far as creative depth and cultural impact are concerned.

CABARET VOLTAIRE - RED MECCA @ 40

 

Released in September of 1981, Cabaret Voltaire’s third full length studio album, Red Mecca, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this month.

Before becoming dance floor staples in the mid 1980s Industrial/EBM club scene with their breakthrough album, The Crackdown, Cabaret Voltaire were pursuing a strange brand of discordant pseudo-free-jazz funkiness that drifted between fractured syncopated grooves and flat out noise. The pinnacle of that strand of their early career is centered on the Red Mecca album. It’s where they managed find the perfect balance between accessible grooves and atonal dysphoria. While their earlier efforts had their moments of genius, they also had experimental misfires or moments that just came across as merely academically interesting, though not necessarily “enjoyable” or emotionally engaging. Red Mecca offers up a much more consistent collection of tracks that straddle the eccentricities while clinging firmly to the rhythmic core driving the music forward.

Thematically, the group were very much influenced by their recent tour of the US and the looming totalitarianism evident in the American Christian Evangelical movement which formed a counterpoint against the erupting fundamentalism of Islamic states like Afghanistan and Iran. How prophetic is it that, here we are, four decades later, and we’re still witnessing these ideologies thrashing against each other on the world stage with the US even more threatened by religious fundamentalism than ever before. In that sense, the album’s themes have remained just as vital and relevant as ever.

This was the last full album to feature the founding trio of Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk and Chris Watson. Though Chris would be around for the beginning of the 2x45 sessions, he’d be gone half way through working on that album, which was a record where the first steps towards more conventional dance floor grooves would be emphasized. As such, Red Mecca is the natural end point for the evolution of the band from its early experimental roots to their fullest sophistication within the avant-garde musical arena. It’s an album of spiky beauty and razor sharp charms.

PARLIAMENT - THE CLONES OF DR. FUNKENSTEIN @ 45

 

July 20th marks the 45th anniversary of the release of Parliament’s fifth album (their fourth with Casablanca Records), The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein, which was issued this day in 1976.

The album is the 2nd in a series of releases which built out the “Funkenstein” mythology that was begun on the previous album, Mothership Connection, and would continue through the remainder of Parliament’s output up until 1980’s Trombipulation. These albums would lay out the epic tales of space funk and the battles of Starchild to bring the groove to the groove-less, thwarting the unfunky machinations of the dastardly Sir Nose'd D'Voidoffunk! They represent the P-Funk gang at the peak of their powers during the heyday of the ’70s, when massive funk bands roamed the land like great prehistoric beasts.

The album’s creative core consisted of George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Garry Shider & former James Brown horn man, Fred Wesley, handling the brass arrangements. Together, they fashioned some of the great funk albums of the era and the P-Funk axis. They were firing on all cylinders at this point and were benefiting from the financial support of their label, which sought to put the same kind of epic showmanship into them as had proved so successful with label mates KISS. You can see the influence in terms of the elaborate costuming and makeup on the cover and the massive stage show they’d been touring with, complete with an actual spaceship for George Clinton to emerge from during the intro to their sets. These were the glory days of the record industry when money seemed to be no object and the sky was literally the limit!

FUNKADELIC - MAGGOT BRAIN @ 50

 

July 12th marks the 50th anniversary of Funkadelic’s third album, and last with its original lineup, Maggot Brain, released on this day in 1971.

The P-Funk axis is fundamentally known for it’s party anthems and their upbeat attitude infused with social conscience woven into intricate narratives. Within that landscape, Maggot Brain, a title believed to reference George Clinton’s discovery of his murdered brother, stands as the darkest, dankest, deepest well of apocalyptic despair and anger ever put forth by Clinton and his cohorts. Not that it doesn’t bring the grooves when it wants to, but those moments are book-ended by two mammoth slabs of sound that anchor the album in the very earth that buries the screaming head on its cover. From its music to its graphics to its themes, the “funketeers” never got heavier than this LP. It even featured liner notes lifted from the pseudo-Satanic religious cult, The Process Church of the Final Judgement. This is psychedelic acid-funk where you’re gonna need some counseling after your trip.

The album opens with a brief narration from Clinton where he states, “…I knew I had to rise above it all or drown in my own shit”, setting the stage for a 10 minute dirge of an instrumental title track focused squarely on Eddie Hazel’s mournful guitar histrionics. For most of the song, Clinton drops out nearly all of the backing instruments so that Hazel is left in the void of his grief, encouraged by Clinton to imagine how he’d feel to learn of his mother’s death. It’s a lonely, desolate beginning to the album, but also one of the most profoundly emotive pieces of music ever put to tape.

From there, the album kick into gear with some furious funky grooves until we get to the other end of the spectrum with the closing track, Wars of Armageddon, another near 10 minute epic which layers breakneck rhythms with a collage of sounds effects and voices, creating a cacophony of chaos. From beginning to end, it’s almost as if the album is a run through the “stages of grief”, with the finale reveling in the madness, and accepting our doom with one final apocalyptic explosion. The journey from there to here is fraught with anger, revulsion and frustration and perfectly reflects the cultural state of the times while still remaining relevant to current issues.

It’s an album of outrage and desperation and it’s not surprising that it marked the end of Funkadelic’s first phase of existence. Three of the core members ended up departing after it’s completion for various reasons. Some financial, but drugs were at the root of others. In the case of guitarist Tawl Ross, he reportedly got into an "acid eating contest, then snorting some raw speed, before completely flipping out" and has not performed since! What was left behind with their first three albums: Funkadelic, Free Your Mind… and Maggot Brain, is a legacy of psychedelic funk that remains a watershed canon of music for Clinton & crew and R&B music in general.