DAVID BOWIE - LOW @ 45

 

January 14th marks the 45th anniversary of David Bowie’s 11th studio album, Low, which was released on this date in 1977. It marked the beginning of his “Berlin” period, an era of his work which would come to be considered the most challenging and ambitious of his career.

This phase didn’t actually begin with Low, however and didn’t start in Berlin, but rather in France where he and Iggy Pop had relocated with the intention to dry out. Bowie had spent the previous few years in LA, becoming a serious cocaine abuser and living the rock star lifestyle to the point that it nearly took him down. After becoming the emaciated “Thin White Duke”, complete with questionable politics, he recognized his trajectory was purely self-destructive and that he needed a major course correction. Pop was in the same boat with his heroine habit, so the two set about cleaning themselves up and working on Iggy’s first solo album, The Idiot, on which Bowie would co-write most of the songs and contribute significantly to the music. Tony Visconti came in to help with production and the stage was set for Bowie to start working on his own new album after The Idiot wrapped.

Some of the foundational work for Low started in 1976 when Bowie was working on the film, The Man Who Fell to Earth, for which he was initially planning to provide the score. That plan failed to come to fruition as director Nicholas Roeg didn’t like where he was going with the demo music and Bowie abandoned the idea completely. But the direction he was going was something he still wanted to explore, which is where Brian Eno comes into the picture as a collaborator for the new album. They’d both become enamored with the German “Krautrock” scene and bands like Tangerine Dream, NEU!, Kraftwerk and Harmonium, whom Eno had worked with. This influence became central in guiding the direction for Low as it lead them in the direction of experimentation with electronics and new compositional approaches which would become central in creating the sound for the album. One of the key ingredients, technology wise, was a bit of gear brought in by Tony Visconti, the Eventide H910 Harmonizer, which became a vital tool for achieving the album’s bizarre, electronic drum sound.

While most of the album was recorded in France before eventually moving to Berlin for final production, overdubs and mixing, the general mood was easy going. There were no schedules or deadlines looming over their heads, so the musicians could relax, try out unusual ideas and explore fresh approaches. That wasn’t immediately appealing to some, like guitarist Carlos Alomar, but even he eventually got onboard with the vibe and started to appreciate the creative freedom. But things in France were not all peachy as the skeleton crew staff at the studio were often neglectful of their guests and the cooks were bad enough to give the band food poisoning on at least one occasion. This made the move to Berlin something of a welcome change, one which would find Bowie rooted there for both Iggy’s next solo album, Lust for Life, and two more albums of his own, “Heroes” and Lodger. Collectively, that set of five albums by Pop and Bowie can be seen as the complete arc of the Berlin period. The album cover for Low, which was also a modified still from The Man Who Fell to Earth as was the Station to Station cover before it, was something of a visual pun as it showed Bowie in profile as he appeared in the film. The gag being that Bowie was being “Low profile” (insert rim-shot).

Once the album was completed and presented to RCA records, their executives were pretty much horrified by the results. After the massive success of Young Americans and Station to Station, the label had hopes for more in that vein and were not expecting the level of experimentation nor the emphasis on instrumental tracks that was integral to Low. They were so taken aback by it, they delayed releasing it for 3 months and, even when it did come out, refused to promote it. Bowie didn’t help as he wouldn’t tour to support the album and, instead, went on the road to support Iggy as his keyboard player. The miraculous thing about all this was that the album STILL managed to be a hit! It peaked at #2 in the UK charts and #11 in the US and remained on the charts for a considerable number of weeks.

Critically, the album split the press into a fragmentary array of those who didn’t understand it, those who thought it was an insult or a move of desperation or those who thought it was sheer genius. In terms of its legacy, it became a launchpad for virtually the entire post-punk scene as bands from Joy Division to Human League to Cabaret Voltaire read the signposts Bowie had planted in his music and duly set course for the strange waters he’d charted for them to explore. The confusion it inspired upon its release has since given way to the recognition that it represents a turning point, not just for Bowie as an artist, but for pop music as a cultural component as it set the standards for pushing boundaries and setting examples which others have used for their own ends.

NON - BLOOD & FLAME @ 35

 

Released on January 12th, 1987, the first proper full length studio album by NON, Blood & Flame, was published by Mute Records on this day, 35 years ago.

Though Boyd Rice had released several records prior to this, including his “black” album under his own name, a live NON LP, a collaboration with Fad Gadget’s Frank Tovey and a few EPs and oddball singles, Blood & Flame would become his definitive statement on "noise" music for the latter half of the 1980s. In the same way that Dick Dale became the “king” of surf guitar or Martin Deny the “king” of Exotica, Boyd claimed the noise crown on the basis of offering up one of the most uncompromising, yet listenable entries into this rapidly expanding genre. Whereas many stuck to piercing, shrill cacophony for pure shock value, NON offered up something that had far more nuance, harmonic complexity and textural variety. Culling his sounds from a selection of homemade devices, destroyed tapes or butchered vinyl, Rice was able to craft his music with a degree of artistry that was elusive for most other practitioners of the art.

I remember when the album was first released, it quickly became a staple of my library and a go-to whenever I needed something cleansing to grind away the detritus of life as it accumulated on my mind’s hull, like barnacles on a boat. Its abrasive brutality, tempered with a kind of fuzzy warmth, was always a perfect antidote. It was also inspirational in terms of my own creative endeavors as it was one of those rare records that triggers an epiphany insofar as revealing new worlds of possibilities and approaches. I still find myself drawn to this music, despite the often controversial nature of its author. Nobody else has ever managed to make “noise” sound so “nice” to my ears. For that, I can ignore the social-Darwinian indulgences of the man and focus solely on his “music”.

RAMONES - LEAVE HOME @ 45

 

January 10th marks the 45th anniversary of the release of the sophomore Ramones LP, Leave Home, which was issued on this day in 1977.

After the somewhat hurried and low budget production standards for their eponymous debut LP the previous year, Sire Records decided to loosen the purse strings and invest in some next level production for the boys for their follow up album. The result was a major step forward in sound quality, an improvement that was matched by advancements in songwriting which were underway at the same time. In fact, the band decided to record the songs in the same order they’d written them in order to showcase their progression. Most of the songs were written by the individual members at their homes. Johnny, lacking an amp, recorded his guitar demos directly to a cassette deck to bring into the studio to play for the guys. Production duties were shared by drummer Tommy & hired gun, Tony Bongiovi, who’d previously worked with disco queen, Gloria Gaynor as well as on some posthumous Jimi Hendrix releases. The sound quality they achieve certainly put them head & shoulders above their “punk” peers, and the accelerated tempos left the others even further in the dust. The group also sought to broaden their musical palettes slightly with a few more pop oriented songs.

One of the best songs from the album had to be scrapped for some years due to legal concerns over copyright infringement. Carbona Not Glue was originally included on the album as a follow up to Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue from the first album, but concern over possible legal trouble because Carbona was a registered trade mark meant that subsequent pressings of the LP replaced the song in the US with Sheena Is a Punk Rocker and, in the UK, Babysitter was used. The song eventually returned to the album on reissues years later, though it was unofficially released as a single in 1991.

Once the album was released, all the investment and effort paid off with the critical response, but the album failed to generate the kind of buzz in sales they'd hoped. The Ramones were always cursed in some weird way with being masters of crafting these catchy, iconic anthems that only their hardcore fan base listened to, at least until most of the band were in their graves. It was a constant source of frustration that the band could put out songs like Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment & I Remember You, songs that screamed for radio airplay, and then have the masses simply ignore it all. Yet here we are today and people think these songs were always ubiquitous hit singles when nothing could be further from the truth.

Albums like Leave Home remain essential to the legacy of the Ramones, however. You can’t put it on without feeling yourself vibrate with energy as the songs rip out of the speakers. But it will always be a shame that this music wasn’t embraced right out of the gate so that the band could have enjoyed the success they were so desperate to achieve.

THE MONKEES - MORE OF THE MONKEES @ 55

 

Released on January 9th, 1967, The Monkees sophomore LP, More of the Monkees, is celebrating 55 years on the shelves today. It marked both the peak of the band’s popularity and the turning point for them as a “manufactured image”.

With the wild, unprecedented success of the TV show and their debut eponymous LP in the latter half of 1966, their record company was eager to get more product to market as soon as possible. The whole processed was so rushed, in fact, that the band themselves were not even aware of the 2nd album’s release until they stumbled on it in a record shop while on tour in Cleveland, Ohio. Not only were they taken aback by being so completely left out of the loop, but they were also horrified by the cover. It used a photo take of them wearing some decidedly unhip JC Penny clothing from a shoot they thought was only for an ad campaign for that store. And again, Don Kirshner, then musical director of the show, had exercised his control in picking the songs for the album, out of a batch of some 34 titles they’d recorded late in 1966, without consulting any of the members of the band. Nesmith had still been granted a couple of token tracks for his original compositions, but only one of which where he sang lead vocal.

The frustration at being so disconnected from the music production process ate away at Mike in particular, more so than the others, but he was still able to rally support for his concerns from the other guys as well as series creator, Bob Rafelson, and producer, Bert Schneider. This frustration all came to an infamous head during a meeting with Mike, Kirshner and his lawyers where Nesmith put his fist through a wall right next to the head of one of the lawyers after being presented with a rather large cheque they assumed would buy him off. They got their answer from Mike in the form of a dent in the wall. The final straw came when Kirshner released a single without consulting anyone and he was formally dismissed from his position and the group were finally able to secure control over their musical output.

Despite the contentions, lack of input and the godawful album cover, the record still contains a host of songs which would become classics and it became a massive hit record. Their debut was still in the #1 album spot on the Billboard charts when More… pushed it off the top. Collectively, the two records spent a whopping 31 consecutive weeks in that position, with More of the Monkees taking up 18 of them. The album has since been certified quintuple platinum. In addition to the smash hit single, the Neil Diamond penned I’m a Believer, the album features such other favorites as Nesmith’s Mary Mary, the Boyce & Hart proto-punk of (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone and a second Diamond gem, Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow).

Though the group would assume significant control over their music on subsequent albums, and those efforts would initially prove commercially viable for album sales, their singles were never quite as popular after the departure of Kirshner. The man simply had an ear for infectious pop hits. However, what they lacked in commercial savvy, they more than compensated for with artistic merit as they took full advantage of their access to studios, musicians, songwriters and recording time to create a massive catalogue of beautifully crafted pop confections, exploring a sprawling array of styles and techniques. While they were certainly a coherent band on the Headquarters album that followed, where they played all the instruments themselves, the albums that came after that reverted to a sort of mixed usage of session players and undermined their cohesion, turning them into four concurrent solo artists pooling their songs on the same albums. At least they were each, individually, able to pursue their own vision of what they wanted to do as artists. While More of the Monkees may mark the high water mark for the band commercially, it was only a stepping stone for them creatively. Yet with so much prolific output to come, it’s still shocking to consider that it would all be over in the span of a few short years. At least for the first chapter of their story.

THE DOORS @ 55

 

Released on January 4th of 1967, The Doors eponymous debut LP is marking its 55th anniversary today. It is often considered one of the greatest debut albums of all time by any rock band, a level of acclaim that may well be exaggerated (and there are certainly those who have called the band “overrated”). However, any objective examination of the album reveals it to be sustained by a host of iconic songs which have become emblematic of their time, influential in their legacy and remain relevant in the modern era.

The album is also considered one of the cornerstone releases of the psychedelic era, though it manages to achieve that association without any of the usual production indulgences which typified so many of the records associated with that label. In fact, producer Paul A. Rothchild forbade Robbie Krieger from using a wah-wah pedal on his guitar because he didn’t want to “date” the album. The same went for the rest of the production which eschews the excessive use of feedback, echo, phasing or backwards recording which were often trademarks of other LSD inspired LPs. Yet it still manages to find a surreal plain to inhabit by virtue of the song writing and the inventive arrangements, which straddle a variety of musical styles, from jazz to classical to vaudeville and more, in order to create a pastiche of influences that give it a somewhat dreamlike disposition. It’s a mood that could also slip into the realm of nightmares as the album climaxes with the apocalyptic, nearly 12 minute dirge, The End, a brilliantly conceived ode to termination that still allows for a multitude of layered interpretations, from failed romance to global Armageddon.

Of course, the centerpiece of the album is the hit single, the second from the album after Break On Through failed to chart significantly, Light My Fire. Along with The End, it has a certain kind of nihilism to it that made the listener want to immolate their inhibitions on the band’s sacrificial alter as they invoke a rather Pagan animism of the power of the flame. The sexual charge of the song was provocative enough on its own, but the allusion to drugs with that “girl we couldn’t get much higher” lyric proved enough to send poor Ed Sullivan into a rage. When the band refused to change the lyric when they performed on his show, especially after they'd agreed beforehand to do so, it resulted in them being banned from returning.

Overall, it’s pretty much the band’s most consistent and potent album. There are other classic songs on other albums, but the full weight of perfection on their debut was basically impossible to surpass and, as Morrison slipped deeper and deeper into the hazy lifestyle of drugs and booze that eventually took his life, his ability to deliver the goods became increasingly compromised, preventing him from hitting the same highs. For me, it’s the one album of theirs that I can play from start to finish and enjoy the entire ride. I think it occupies a significant and vital place in the puzzle that is the intricate tapestry of the late 1960s and the cultural revolution which swept the western world at the time. It’s also an album that has gone on to influence generations of subsequent experimental and alternative bands who have looked back to The Doors as exemplars of adventurers daring enough to travel in strange lands.

KRAFTWERK 2 @ 50

Released in January of 1972, Kraftwerk 2 celebrates its 50th anniversary this month. The album was recorded entirely by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in late 1971 as “Nobody wanted to play with us because we did all kinds of strange things ... feedbacks and overtones and sounds and rhythms. No drummer wanted to work with us because we had these electronic gadgets.”

Despite the above statement, the album is rather uncharacteristic for its lack of synthesizers, with the instrumentation being largely electric guitar, bass guitar, flute and violin. The electronics on display mostly belong to the realm of 1960s tape-based music with heavy use of tape echo and reversed or altered speed tape effects. The overall mood of the album comes across as more muted as the group explored certain auto-mechanical techniques for their music. They were gradually moving away from formlessness into more structured arrangements, but were still some distance away from the machine-like precision of their classic albums.

Along with their eponymous debut and the follow-up to this, Ralf & Florian, the group have yet to embrace this trio of early works into their acknowledged “catalogue” of classic LPs. All three remain without official reissues or remastering attempts. Though some discussion of such has taken place, it is obviously not a priority for the group, or at least for Ralph Hütter, the only remaining founding member who would be responsible for spearheading such a project. The result is that these sometimes lovely, quirky experiments continue to live in a twilight of unofficial “bootlegs”, only pursued by the bands most ardent fans.

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART - THE SPOTLIGHT KID @ 50

 

Released in January of 1972, Captain Beefheart’s 6th studio album, The Spotlight Kid, celebrates its 50th anniversary this month.

After pushing the blues to the outer edges of recognizable music with Trout Mask Replica (1969) and Lick My Decals Off Baby (1970), the empty bank accounts of Don Van Vliet and his Magic Band convinced him that music fans needed something “to hang their hats on”. Occupying the outer fringes of the avant-garde for the previous two years had left his band living off of welfare or handouts from parents, so musically, and he set course for the band to pursue a slightly more accessible sound. To this end, evenly metered beats were given greater prominence and tempos were slowed down, which also served the purpose of helping Don fit his vocals into the music since he was notorious for not rehearsing with the band and struggling to cope with the faster tempos.

As they had done before with Trout Mask Replica, the group lived communally again during the pre-production & rehearsal phases of Spotlight Kid, a situation which ultimately resulted in the return of the same abuses and deprivations which had characterized the previous experience. At one point, the worst of it was when Zoot Horn Rollo (Bill Harkleroad) was literally thrown out into the trash, an all too cruel commentary on his value to the band. Overall, the change in direction didn’t sit well with the band and many still consider the album one of their least successful, citing the sluggish, slow tempos and simplistic arrangements as disappointing compared to the achievements of the previous records. Interestingly, the album is the only one that is credited to Captain Beefheart alone with no inclusion of The Magic Band like all the other albums.

Critically, the album wasn’t badly received with many considering even a weaker Beefheart album better than good albums by lesser artists. Personally, it’s not one of my favorites by far, though there are a couple of notable songs, the best of which are actually the live performances of I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby and Click Clack from a TV appearance in Germany on Beat Club. The band looks and sounds in top form and rips through these songs with a focused fury that isn’t apparent on the studio versions.