FRIPP & ENO - (NO PUSSYFOOTING) @ 50

 

Released 50 years ago this month, the debut LP from Fripp & Eno, (No Pussyfooting), is marking its golden anniversary. As well as being a notable cornerstone in the evolution of ambient music, the album's technical innovations are worthy of appreciation. It's a minimalist approach which primarily used Robert Fripp's guitar as the principal sound source (although Eno does incorporate some synth into the background loops of the second track). The key innovation here is Eno's implementation of a dual reel-to-reel tape system, which linked the two decks in such a way that sounds recorded on one deck were carried over by the tape for playback on the second, which in turn would feed the sound back to the first. The effect was to create a long echo effect with a correspondingly extended decay envelop. The result was a droning sound, which multiplied a single note into near infinite overlapping layers, where subtle variations in playing could create complex harmonic interactions. The album, using this technique, includes two side-long compositions, recorded at discrete sessions nearly a year apart: "The Heavenly Music Corporation" on side one, and "Swastika Girls" on side two. The title for the latter song originated with the discovery of a porno magazine fragment on the pavement, which Eno happened upon while walking towards the studio the night of the mix. The page featured the title phrase, along with a photo of naked girls with swastika emblems on their arms. The fragment was brought to the studio and kept on the mixing desk throughout the production.

While the titles for the album and "songs" offer zero indication of any real connection to the sound of the record, the cover photo is quite a literal interpretation, showing the two artists sitting in a small mirror lined room, with infinite reflections receding off into the distance. They are separated by a small table, upon which are a series of "nudie" cards, displayed in a manner which appears to suggest some sort of perverse Tarot reading.

At the time of its release, the album was very poorly received. The record label was utterly opposed to it, given that Eno was launching his post Roxy Music solo career in parallel with the issuing of this bizarre and inexplicable album. With "Here Come the Warm Jets" featuring mostly radio friendly pop music, they were fretting over fans and critics becoming confused by the non-sequitur nature of (No Pussyfooting). The album did receive some favourable reviews, but most critics ignored it, and commercial sales were minimal enough to ensure the album stayed well away from any charts. Yet in retrospect, and with the benefit of hindsight, the visionary nature of the album has become far more apparent, and subsequent reappraisal has elevated it to a substantive level of influence and admiration. It certainly had an impact on artists like David Bowie, who would soon involve both musicians in some of his most innovative works.

THE THE - SOUL MINING @ 40

 

Released on October 21st, 1983, "Soul Mining," The The's debut album, celebrates its 40th anniversary today. Although Matt Johnson had released a solo album in 1981 that eventually became part of The The's discography, "Soul Mining" remains his formal debut and includes some of his most memorable and iconic songs.

The The began gaining momentum in late 1982 with the release of the single "Uncertain Smile," followed by "Perfect" in early 1983. Both songs gained significant popularity on underground dance floors on both sides of the Atlantic. By the time the album was ready for release, Johnson had cultivated a substantial audience for his work. Initially, Johnson signed with CBS Records after a bidding war, but his relationship with the label soured after the New York recording sessions, which produced the two singles, floundered due to conflicts with producer Mike Thorne. Johnson then relocated back to the UK and switched signed to Some Bizzare & Epic Records.

The initial UK recording sessions aimed to revive Johnson's concept for the album, tentatively titled "The Pornography of Despair." However, those sessions did not meet with Matt's satisfaction, leading him to abandon his plans and start the album from scratch. He renamed the project "Soul Mining" and composed a mostly new set of songs. These were demoed with Johnson using a four-track porta-studio, with Matt handling vocals, guitar, keyboards, and a drum machine. When it came to assembling studio musicians for recording, The The used a residency of live performances at the Marquee club in central London as an audition for potential contributors. From these events, Johnson found talents like Orange Juice drummer Zeke Manyika, DIY synthesizer pioneer Thomas Leer, and the experimental Australian musician Jim Thirlwell, credited on the album under one of his early aliases, "Frank Want." Thirlwell would later achieve significant success with his "Foetus" project, also signed to Stevo's label. The re-recorded version of "Uncertain Smile" replaced the sax solo with a piano solo performed by Jools Holland, who delivered the performance in a single take after only a brief listen to part of the backing track.

For the release of the album, Johnson's brother Andrew contributed another of his paintings, which had also been used for both the "Uncertain Smile" and "Perfect" single covers. Later reissues of the album substituted a photo of Matt on the cover. Album sales were somewhat modest at first, but it has remained a consistent seller over the years and has since achieved gold record status. The critical response to the album was decidedly positive, with Johnson's lyrical complexity and emotional depth well appreciated compared to the banal material that dominated the pop charts of the day.

PSYCHIC TV - DREAMS LESS SWEET @ 40

 

Celebrating its 40th anniversary today is Psychic TV's sophomore studio LP, 'Dreams Less Sweet', which was released on October 21, 1983. While the band's debut LP, 'Force the Hand of Chance', left the sounds of Throbbing Gristle far behind, PTV's second album demonstrated that, even with the radical departures of their debut, they were still finding new structures to explore and could not be confined to any particular genre or strategic approach. Indeed, the album forges entirely new cornerstones for musical exploration, departing from the almost conventional pop song structures of the first album in favour of a near-classical aesthetic, with short movements carefully interconnected to create a narratively intricate sonic suite.

While still signed to Stevo's Some Bizzare Records, they had the luxury of working with a budget that allowed for the use of some state-of-the-art equipment, including the Zuccarelli Holophonics system, an experimental binaural recording process. This technology utilized a complex sound imaging technique which was capable of creating three dimensional effects using standard stereo speakers. Though headphones provided the optimum listening experience, properly phase aligned loud speakers were able to accomplish the illusion as well. The system does not use standard microphones; instead, it relies on a set of sound pickups housed in a physical 'body' designed to replicate human hearing physiology as accurately as possible.

For recording 'Dreams Less Sweet', this device was used in a variety of ways to capture unique acoustic environments, including extensive location recordings in places like The Hellfire Club caves, Christ Church in Hampstead, and Caxton Hall. Even the sound inside a coffin was captured using the device. This experimental recording process also drove the group to pursue different musical directions, combining aspects of folk, ethnic music, neo-classical and musique concrète. The focus was primarily on natural acoustic sounds, with minimal use of amplified instruments such as guitars, synthesizers, or drum machines, as were common on the first album.

Conceptually, the album represents a set of complex layers of themes and symbols, involving every facet of the production, from the composition of the music to the smallest elements of the graphic design. Whether it was the flower on the front symbolizing a pierced genital, the location of the group shot on the back cover, or the subtle wolves hidden behind chain-link fencing, every element was meticulously considered, calculated, and integrated into the whole. Musically, this included a song composed by Charles Manson and another with lyrics derived from the final sermon of Jim Jones during the Jonestown massacre. At its most subtle and sweet, the album's subliminal implications were often at their darkest and most subversive. When it reached its crescendo of chaos with a flurry of honking car horns, it was at the peak of its innocence and optimism.

The album stands as the single most complex and multifaceted work Psychic TV ever produced, and also their most sophisticated, technically. Shortly after the completion of the album, a rift developed between co-founders Genesis P-Orridge and Peter Christopherson, with the latter and his partner, Geoff Rushton (henceforth known as Jhon Balance), splintering off to found their Coil project. PTV's relationship with Stevo also floundered, resulting in the founding of Temple Records, their own independent label imprint. From here, Psychic TV would venture into more traditional rock structures, entering into their "Hyperdelic" phase, exemplified by the Godstar single, before changing course again into the Acid House electronica vein, which would define their work in the latter half of the 1980s and beyond. While PTV would occasionally get experimental with their music throughout the remainder of their career, nothing they did after 'Dreams Less Sweet' came close to the sophistication and complexity achieved on that album.

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD - PUBLIC IMAGE b/w THE COWBOY SONG @ 45

 

Released on October 13th, 1978, Public Image Ltd's debut single, Public Image b/w The Cowboy Song, turns 45 years old today.  It's a single which could arguably be positioned as the cornerstone of post-punk.

After the chaotically spectacular implosion of the Sex Pistols on their first US tour in January of 1978, the music world was eagerly awaiting to see what frontman Johnny Rotten would conceive of as an encore.  Few could have foreseen that he had far more in mind than merely "business as usual".  The seed for that next step had actually been planted nearly two years earlier during a gig where the Pistols were playing with The Clash, when they were still a five piece with Keith Levene on guitar.  During that gig, Levene and Lydon struck up a chat and vowed that, should they find themselves without their respective bands at some point in the future, they'd hook up for their own musical adventure.  Sure enough, they were true to their word and, after John went on a sojourn down to Jamaica for Richard Branson to scout for reggae bands, the two started to put their new band together before the summer began to bloom.  Finding the next piece of the puzzle was easy, with close friend John Wardle, renamed "Jah Wobble" by a slurring and drunk Sid Vicious, eagerly stepping up to play bass.  The only thing left was to get a drummer, which they did via a music press advert where they eventually unearthed young Canadian jazz drummer, Jim Walker, to round out the quartet.  

All four of these disparate souls were on the same page about one thing at least, and that was the kind of music they wanted to make wouldn't be a continuation of standard punk three chord thrashing.  Keith had very different ideas about what a guitar could do and Wobble was very much looking to bring the depth of dub into the mix.  Combined with the flexibility of Walker's drumming, it didn't take long for the fission of their talents to spark and the first flame they ignited was the song, Public Image.  Lyrically, it was a snarling backlash aimed at his former band and manager, decrying their inability to appreciate what he was offering and only being concerned with his superficial presence.  "You never listen to a word that I said, you only seen me for the clothes that I wear.  Or did the interest go so much deeper, it must've been the colour of my hair."  

The song is propelled by the subsonic throbbing of Wobble's insistent bass, bouncing off the gunshot impacts of Jim's powerhouse drumming.  Filling out the space between the rhythm section and the searing vocals was a wall of harmonic chiming, shimmering and glistening guitar, as Keith shredded out myriads of harmonics from his Veleno aluminum special.  It's a sound that was light years away from the "chug-chug" of punk bar chords, inspiring the later sounds of dozens of guitarists in bands like U2 and The Banshees.  It was a clarion call, a siren, a great bell ringing and declaring a new approach to the instrument.

While the A-side of the single was laying foundation stones for musical futures, the B-side was content to be a prickly prank, demonstrating that PiL were not shy about spending Virgin Records money on a bit of nonsense.  The Cowboy Song takes a galloping western drum & bass rhythm and then slathers it with incomprehensible caterwauling and the irritating noise of a record skipping and scratching, ending it all on a locked groove that repeats that noise indefinitely until the needle is ripped off the record.  It's a juvenile joke which shows how young the band were, but I've always found it rather a good laugh, in the grand scheme of things.  It showed that PiL didn't take themselves too seriously and could have a sense of humour about themselves and the music business.

That sense of humour was also reflected in the packaging, which featured the 7' single being wrapped like a piece of fish in a custom printed sheet of newspaper.  The paper was a parody of the salacious gutter press, which had been stalking Lydon's career from the get-go.  It feature lurid made up stories of the band members, with sensational photos and suitably garish typesetting.  The whole package worked together brilliantly with the band's name, creating a meta-commentary on the music press while ripping its guts out in the song's lyrics.  

The single was a significant hit in the UK, peaking at number 9 in November of that year.  A promotional video was created for the song as well, recreating the PiL live set of the time with its green lighting and draped backdrop.

DEVO - Q: ARE WE NO MEN? @ 45

 

Released on August 28th, 1978, DEVO's debut LP, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, turns 45 years old today. After incubating their music and philosophy over the course of some 5 years, the world was introduced to the concept of "De-Evolution", the principal that humanity had peaked as a species and was now backsliding into primitivism and ignorance.

Inspired by the Kent State Massacre of 4 students on May 4th, 1970, co-founder Gerald Casale began to formulate the basic principals of DeEvolution into the band, DEVO, back in 1973. Along with co-founder, Mark Mothersbaugh, brothers Bob 1 & Bob 2 and Alan Myers, the band spent three years developing songs, stagecraft and iconography in order to represent their vision of a degraded, displaced and disjointed dystopian future. By 1977, the group were ready to record and their demo was causing the likes of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Robert Fripp and Brian Eno to be in the running to produced the album. The job ultimately landed with Eno, who flew the band out to Conny Plank's studio near Cologne, Germany.

Production of the album ended up being something of a battle of wills, as the band held steadfastly to conceptions about how the songs should be produced, while resisting potentially beneficial suggestions from Eno. In later years, band members would express regrets over their stubbornness and refusal to collaborate more openly with Brian. But despite the friction, they managed to produce an album of tight, angular and innovative music, which would prove to be deeply influential as upcoming young artists sought something more than the three chord slash of punk.

I know my own reaction to the band and the album was a sense of revelation. I saw them perform on Saturday Night Live and was immediately won over by their quirky, alien idiosyncrasy, which was counterbalanced by an uncanny sense of nostalgia for mid century modern aesthetics. Parts of it reminded me of music from Warner Bros cartoons, while other aspects left me feeling like I'd stepped into a '50s science fiction B-movie. Coupled with their hazard suited, herky-jerky robotic stage antics, you had the perfect formula for fanatical DEVOtion!

While some critics at the time of its release couldn't quite grasp what the band were doing, the album has still managed to secure a solid position as essential listening from that era, in the ensuing years since its release. It's an album I can still listen to at any time and enjoy its strangeness, while marvelling at its ability to resist sounding dated.

CABARET VOLTAIRE - THE CRACKDOWN @ 40

Celebrating its 40th anniversary today is the fifth studio LP from Industrial music pioneers, Cabaret Voltaire, with The Crackdown being released on August 18th of 1983. It's the album which saw the band take a decisive turn away from overt experimentation and fundamentally lay the cornerstones of what would become known as "EBM" (electronic body music). Its funky electro-grooves became the signposts for bands like Font 242, Front Line Assembly and countless others.

Recorded late in 1982 at Trident Studios, London, England, the band were now paired down to a duo, with Chris Watson having left part-way through the recording of their previous album, 2x45. With Watson's "Musique concrète" contributions now absent, the group leaned more into the latent groovy essence which resided in its remaining members. It was also the era when MIDI based electronic drum machines and sequencers were making their mark on the electronic music scene and the Cabs were on the bleeding edge of incorporating that tightly synchronized syncopation into their music. The wobbly sync of analogue gear was gone and the rhythms subsequently became tough and tense.

The album was produced by the band themselves, along with Mark Ellis (aka, Flood), who would become a stalwart producer in the genre of electronic pop, working with artists like Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, New Order and Orbital, among many others. The result was a genre defining shift from a band which had come from oblique avant-garde obscurity into now setting themselves up to lead a new revolution on the underground dance floors of the UK, Europe and North America. Taylor Swift would never be the same!
 

NWA - STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON @ 45

Marking its 45th anniversary today is the debut LP from NWA (N****s With Attitude), Straight Outta Compton, which was released on August 8th, 1988. For many, this was the album which announced the arrival of "gangsta rap", giving the fledgling genre a sense of danger and risk which it had only flirted with up to this point.

Prior to the release of Straight Outta Compton, the rap music scene of the mid 80s was commercially dominated by mostly innocuous "party" music, built on electro-funk grooves and principally concerned with fairly non-threatening subjects. While the genre had debuted in the mainstream with a sense of social conscience on tracks like The Message and White Lines, the mainstream of the time was mostly filled with themes of hanging out, and having a good time. With NYC as the birthplace of the sound, the West Coast scene was largely overlooked as inconsequential. That all changed with NWA.

Formed in 1987, NWA brought together MCs Ice Cube, Dr Dre and Eazy-E. Relative unknowns at the time, they'd go on to become iconic names after the release of this album. Musically, driven by DJ Yella and the Arabian Prince, the sound slowed the groove and dragged it away from the Kraftwerk inspired thrust of Planet Rock, into a downtempo heaviness, built on sampled R&B & jazz records and anchored by the booming kick of Roland's TR-808 drum machine. Lyrically, the album pierced the furiously raw nerve of urban black alienation, dispensing with any restraint or politeness and thrusting expletives into the faces of unsuspecting listeners. Unlike the controversies around something like 2 Live Crew and their focus on vulgar sexuality, NWA's outrages came from a sense of revolution against authority, no more perfectly vocalized than by the album's most notorious track, Fuck the Police.

The sheer audaciousness of Fuck the Police became one of the driving factors in making this record such a notorious hit. The song even merited a stern warning from the FBI to the group, and police were refusing to work security at their shows. All of this blow-back from the authorities, however, only served to intensify the group's notoriety and publicity. While radio stations flatly turned away from the album, it still sold in the millions thanks to the shock factor that was unleashed by that track. I can clearly recall the sense of awe that swept my own social circle as this record hit our turntables. We'd never heard anything like it. It was so stark, so angry and so firmly footed against its oppressors. Someone had finally given voice to the deep outrage that was fuming in the guts of the disenfranchised urban cores of North America. It was a moment when you realized it should have been said so much sooner, but that it was about fucking time that it finally hit the mainstream.

While this new breed of rap uncovered the harsh realities of city life, it also unleashed a kind of misogyny which would form the unfortunate alternate thrust of this double edged sword. Women became "bitches and 'ho's" and subjects of abuse. It's only one of the more uncomfortable aspects of the genre which only became exaggerated in later years as the culture became less concerned with communicating the social injustices of the disenfranchised and more focused on the braggadocio of wealth, sexual prowess, violent confrontations and social status.

Yet at its best, NWA and Straight Outta Compton offered a desperately needed reality check for a culture which has continued to decline as disparities between classes continue to be aggravated. Along with Public Enemy on the East Coast, they brought rap music into the '90s with a sense of danger and urgency that has not been equalled since those heady heydays. This was likely the last time, in my recollection, when music was able to upset the establishment in a way which had any real impact. There hasn't been a musical movement since then which has threatened the mainstream in such a tangible and visceral way. However, such rage and determination has since been co-opted into mere consumerism for the 21st century, with artists assessed based on the quality of the footwear they put their names to instead of the validity of their message. That's not to say there aren't those still speaking truth to power, but those voices seem more pushed to the fringes rather than occupying the culture's central ranks.