CABARET VOLTAIRE - MICRO-PHONIES @ 40

 

Marking its 40th anniversary today is the sixth full length studio LP from Cabaret Voltaire, Micro-Phonies, which was released on October 29th, 1984. It's the album that effectively marks the bands full transition from avant-garde industrial provocateurs to EBM dance-floor domination.

Cabaret Voltaire had started out their career in the early 1970s as an exploration of electronic music created using non-musical tools. Their early works were primarily abstract tape loop experiments and forays into hand made electronics, like custom oscillators. Gradually, however, they began to incorporate more traditional instrumentation into their sound, especially the use of percussion, drum machines and actual drum kits. A sense of rhythmic awareness soon started to indicate a penchant for making music that people could actually dance to. This latent funkiness would start to manifest from their first LP release, Mix-Up, in 1979, but by 1982's 2x45, the focus on rhythm had become explicit. The departure of co-founder, Chris Watson, during the middle of that album's production was a key point of departure for the band to shed their experimental skin and move into something entirely more dance-floor friendly.

The release of the John Robbie remixed version of Yashar as a 12" single in July of 1983 was the first proper disco salvo from the group, as their intention of invading the alternative dance-floors of the club scene became explicit. This was soon followed by the release of The Crackdown LP in August of that year. That album offered up an entirely revamped version of the group. Their "glow-up" came courtesy of some key innovations in the realm of electronic music making. A new generation of drum machines, sequencers and synthesizers, along with the introduction of digital sampling, had caused a C-change on the landscape of electronic music, supplanting the wobbly inaccuracies of voltage controlled step sequencers and synchronization architecture with the precision of digital interfaces, MIDI, that offered pin-point accuracy when it came to creating percussion and drum patterns and the attendant bass and melodic sequences that accompanied them. The Crackdown was a solid step into that arena, while Micro-Phonies was the group fully making themselves at home in their new domain.

The album features the single, Sensoria, which thanks to a particularly innovative promotional video, became an MTV staple in the mid '80s. The video incorporated some particularly impressive camera work, which involved the use of a pivoting camera mount that created some gravity defying camera movements, baffling viewers who tried to figure out how the effect was achieved. It was voted Best Video of the Year by the Los Angeles Times in 1985, and was later procured by the New York Museum of Modern Art. By this point, Cabaret Voltaire had invested a lot into video production, even launching their own company, Doublevision, for releasing their works and those by others, like Chris & Cosey, who released the live VHS, European Rendezvous, and the video art ambient compilation, Elemental 7.

The group would remain dedicated to the creation of electronic dance music for the duration of their active career, up to their final group effort, The Conversation, in 1994. With The Crackdown and Micro-Phonies, Cabaret Voltaire set the template for the underground dance music of the era, providing the foundation stones for countless artists who came in their wake.

THE PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE @ 50

Celebrating the golden jubilee of its big screen premiere half a century ago, on October 31st, 1974, it's that wild rock 'n' roll fantasy, Phantom of the Paradise. Combining elements of the 16th century Faust legend, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, the film is a mind bending satire that rips into the soul destroying corruption of the music industry, pitting its protagonist against Satan himself, in the guise of Paul Williams, no less! Written and directed by Brian De Palma, the film occupies a similar cult status to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with its exaggerated characters, wild sets and iconic musical numbers.

The production of the film involved a few notable incidents that are worth mentioning. For one, the record press in which the character Winslow Leach is disfigured was in fact a real pressing plant (it was an injection-molding press at an Ideal Toy Company plant). William Finley was worried about whether the machine would be safe, and the crew assured him it was. The press was fitted with foam pads (which resemble the casting moulds in the press) and there were chocks put in the centre to stop it from closing completely. However, the machine was powerful enough to crush the chocks so that it gradually kept closing. It is commonly believed that Finley pulled his head out of the press just in time to avoid being injured, and that his scream in that scene was genuine, but this is an exaggeration. Finley was in fact quickly pulled out by grips, and the record press scene, along with most scenes in the movie with little dialogue, was filmed without sound, and the talking and sound effects were dubbed in later, meaning any screaming that may have taken place went unrecorded.

Another investing anecdote involves the name of Swan's media conglomerate "Swan Song Enterprises", which had to be deleted from the film prior to release due to the existence of Led Zeppelin's label Swan Song Records. De Palma actually held a private screening of the film for Led Zeppelin's imposing manager, Peter Grant, so that he could ensure that all necessary references to the name were removed. During the scene where Beef is electrocuted, Grant broke down in tears. The scene reminded him of the onstage electrocution death of Les Harvey, lead singer of Stone The Crows, a band managed by Grant. The producers had to explain to the visibly distraught Grant that it was unlikely that Brian De Palma would agree to remove the death scene.

Among the crew for the film was a young set dresser by the name of Sissy Spacek. She was assisting Jack Fisk, the film's production designer. The two would later marry, and Spacek would end up staring in De Palma's next feature film, Carrie. Also, the electronic room in which Winslow composes his cantata, and where Swan restores his voice, is in fact the real-life recording studio The Record Plant. The walls covered with knobs are in reality an over-sized custom-built modular synthesizer, famously known as TONTO.

Production of the film was financed independently, but the film was then screened for various studios and sold to the highest bidder, 20th Century Fox, for $2 million plus a percentage. But during its initial theatrical release, its box office was pretty disappointing, and critical response was predominantly negative. Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars out of four, writing that "what's up on the screen is childish; it has meaning only because it points to something else. To put it another way, joking about the rock music scene is treacherous, because the rock music scene itself is a joke." A notable exception to the naysayers of the time was respected film critic, Pauline Kael of The New Yorker, who wrote, "Though you may anticipate a plot turn, it's impossible to guess what the next scene will look like or what its rhythm will be. De Palma's timing is sometimes wantonly unpredictable and dampening, but mostly it has a lift to it. You practically get a kinetic charge from the breakneck wit he put into 'Phantom;' it isn't just that the picture has vitality but that one can feel the tremendous kick the director got out of making it."

The film's true impact, however, would require some time to ferment among the cult movie crowd. Strangely enough the first wave of cult fandom took root in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which remains the epicentre for the film's fandom to this day. A fan-organized festival, dubbed Phantompalooza, was held in 2005 in Winnipeg. That event featured appearances by Gerrit Graham and William Finley, in the same Winnipeg theatre where the film had its original run in 1975. A second Phantompalooza was staged on April 28, 2006, reuniting many of the surviving cast members and featuring a concert by Paul Williams. Additionally, Daft Punk have proclaimed the film an integral inspiration for their band, claiming to have watched the movie more than 20 times, and even inviting Paul Williams to guest on their album, Random Access Memories.

After 50 years, the movie has long become established as a cherished cult masterpiece, with die-hard fans remaining steadfast in their dedication to its bizarre charms.
 

BRIAN ENO - TAKING TIGER MOUNTAIN (BY STRATEGY) @ 50

Marking half a century on the shelves this month is the sophomore solo LP from former Roxy Music electronics wizard, Brian Eno, with Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) being released in November of 1974. The album continued his trajectory into the "art-pop" genre, though his focus was more refined, even opting for a very tight group of musicians for the album, rather than the large list of guest musicians credited on his solo debut.

One of the key innovations in Eno's process came about during the recording of this album, as he and artist Peter Schmidt developed their first iteration of their Oblique Strategies card system. The initial version took the form of a deck of 7-by-9-centimetre (2.8 in × 3.5 in) printed cards in a black box. Each card offers a challenging constraint intended to help artists (particularly musicians) break creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking. Examples of suggestions include: Honour thy error as a hidden intention, Use an old idea, Try faking it, etc. The deck would eventually include over 100 cards, with some later web editions topping 200. The system would end up becoming integral to Eno's creative process, for both his own works and all his collaborative projects, throughout his career.

Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) is a loose concept album that references themes of geopolitical intrigue ranging from espionage to the Chinese Communist Revolution. The album was inspired by a series of postcards depicting a Chinese revolutionary opera titled, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy. Eno described his understanding of the title as referring to "the dichotomy between the archaic and the progressive. Half Taking Tiger Mountain – that Middle Ages physical feel of storming a military position – and half (By Strategy) – that very, very 20th-century mental concept of a tactical interaction of systems."

The core musicians for the album include former Roxy Music band-mate, Phil Manzanera on guitar, Robert Wyatt on percussion, Freddie Smith on drums, and Brian Turrington on bass. Guest musicians include Phil Collins playing drums on Mother Whale Eyeless, which came about as repayment for Eno helping produce the Genesis album, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

The lyrics for the album introduce another technique that would become a regular tactic, not only for Eno, but for people like David Bowie during their work together in subsequent years. Eno would begin developing lyrics by singing nonsense words along with the music, focusing on the phonetic qualities of the sounds before attempting to evolve them into recognizable words. It's a process that, like the Oblique Strategies cards, could often reveal unique and unexpected word couplings that might not have otherwise become apparent. By the time they took their final forms, the lyrics, inspired by the aforementioned theme, took on a decidedly darker and more sinister tone than his previous album.

While the album failed to chart on either side of the pond, it received widespread critical acclaim, and has since become considered essential listening as far as Eno's solo releases are concerned. As it was instrumental in introducing certain key processes for Eno, its influence has been significant, far beyond what it may imply by its limited commercial success.

JOHNNY CASH - BITTER TEARS @ 60

 

Released on October 26th, 1964, Johnny Cash's concept album, Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian, turns 60 years old today. Though some of the language may be arcane by today's standards, the sentiments and the purpose of the album remain significant in an age when first nations peoples are still seeking justice and reconciliation for abuses they've suffered at the hands of colonialists.

Cash felt a particular kinship with first nations due to his belief that he had Cherokee ancestry in his family. He was primarily of English and Scottish descent, but his paternal grandmother claimed Cherokee ancestry. However, a DNA test of Cash's daughter, Rosanne, in 2021 on the program, Finding Your Roots, found she has no known Native American markers. Regardless of genetic heritage, Cash's concern for and appreciation of first nations people and culture was sincere and heartfelt.

The 1960s was a time of social awakening, with activism towards racial injustice being one of the first frontiers of cultural revolution. With the folk scene rapidly raising awareness within the pop music landscape, country music stars like Cash were seeing an opportunity to deal with real issues, effecting real change. Peter La Farge wrote five of the songs, two were by Cash, and the final track was by Cash and Johnny Horton. The first song, "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow", by La Farge, concerns the contemporary loss of Seneca nation land in Pennsylvania and New York (the Cornplanter Tract) due to condemnation for federal construction of the Kinzua Dam in the early 1960s. "The Ballad of Ira Hayes", tells about Ira Hayes, a young Marine of Pima descent, who participated in the flag raising on Iwo Jima during World War II. After becoming an instant celebrity because of the iconic photo of this event, Hayes struggled with life in the postwar years. He returned to his native Gila River Reservation, where the government had built a dam that diverted critical water supply. Hayes died of alcoholism and in poverty. La Farge's song "Custer" mocks the popular veneration of General George Custer. He was overwhelmingly defeated, in part due to his own errors, by Lakota warriors at Little Big Horn. "The Talking Leaves" is about Sequoyah inventing written words in 1821, which increased Cherokee literacy.

At the time of the album's release, public sentiment towards native peoples was mostly ambivalent or actively opposed to indulging their concerns. "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" was released as the sole single from the album, reaching #2 on the country singles chart, while the album reached #2 on the country chart and #47 on the pop chart. But initial success for these was soon dampened as radio stations refused to play the songs and record buyers began to turn away from Cash's social activism. Facing censorship and an angry backlash from radio stations, DJs and fans for speaking out on behalf of Native people, Cash decided to fight back. He paid for a full-page ad that appeared in the August 22nd, 1964, issue of Billboard magazine, calling some DJs and programmers "gutless" for not playing the Ira Hayes song, and asking why they were afraid to do so. He left the question unanswered. Cash began a campaign to support the single by buying and sending out more than 1,000 copies to radio stations across America. By September 19, the song had reached number 3 in Billboard. In 2010, the Western Writers of America chose "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

This would not be the first time Cash would court controversy. He would frequently tackle social issues in his music, most famously using an invitation from President Nixon to perform at the White House in 1970 to play his song, "What Is Truth", a tune specifically aimed at supporting the young "hippie" generation of so-called "long-haired weirdos". Its sentiments of acceptance and understanding of the young generation were anathema to Nixon's stance, and the evening went down in history as notorious for its statement against authority.

Bitter Tears may suffer somewhat in that its use of certain terms has become archaic in modern times, but the sincere concerns for the abuses suffered by first nations people is without question.

CABARET VOLTAIRE - MIX-UP @ 45

 

Released on October 23rd, 1979, the debut LP from Cabaret Voltaire, Mix-Up, turns 45 years old today. While it is often crude and difficult listening, it provides a critical intersection between post-punk and the emerging Industrial music scene that was happening with bands like Throbbing Gristle.

Taking their name from the short-lived Dadaist nightclub in Zürich, Switzerland, founded in 1916, The band had begun to take shape around 1972, with Chris Watson, a fan of Brian Eno, looking to explore the creation of electronics based music without the use of traditional instrumentation. His training as a telephone engineer enabled him to work on building home made gear, like oscillators and modified tape machines for creating loops. He soon encountered fellow Eno devotee, Richard H. Kirk, and the two began working together on their sound experiments, many of which can now be heard on the retrospective box set, Methodology '74 - '78: Attic Tapes. Kirk also began to introduce some traditional instruments, like guitar and clarinet. With the addition of Stephen Mallinder in late 1973, who contributed bass guitar and vocals, the trio began to move gradually towards something almost resembling regular music, incorporating drums and drum machines, and electronic organs.

The trio also began performing live, with their initial gigs being not much more than sonic pranks. The trio would deploy to various parts of Sheffield with their portable tape recorders and play their experimental compositions in places as diverse as public toilets and on the streets from loudspeakers on the top of a friend's van. This raucous attitude followed the band onstage to great effect; their first live concert in May 1975 ended in a fight between the band and the audience that sent Mallinder to hospital.

As the band began to settle into a more conventional onstage presentation, performing actual songs with identifiable structures, they found themselves frequently opening for bands like Joy Division or TG. This got them enough exposure that they were approached with a few different offers for record contracts. Factory Records had come knocking, and TG had approached them about being on their Industrial Records imprint, where they would actually release a cassette of early works in 1980. But it was Rough Trade who sealed the deal by offering the band a 4 track Revox tape recorder in lieu of an advance.

In 1977, Watson financed the establishment of the band's own recording studio on the second floor of a building called the Western Works on Portobello Street in Sheffield. The "Western Works" studio served as the band's studio for many years as well as providing a social gathering spot for the local Sheffield scene. Western Works produced some of the earliest recordings of pioneering local bands including Clock DVA, The Human League, and New Order.

By the time the group got to the point of recording Mix-Up, their most extreme experiments were somewhat behind them, but what they were creating was far from mainstream, incorporating atonal sounds against their often broken sounding rhythms. Like Kraftwerk before them, their early sound is entirely separate from the slick electronic dance music that would ultimately become their stock-in-trade. But while they retained a sharp experimental edge, there were always clear indications that the group had a funkiness buried in their DNA that was just waiting to come to the fore.

With the release of Mix-Up, the band were met with mostly negative criticism, with their sound being a tough cookie to swallow for most folks. Its brittle distortion and intensity made for some challenging listening, offering punters little respite from its grind and grit. The group's Nag Nag Nag single, released prior to the LP, had managed to sell remarkably well, and despite the overall critical aversion to the group, journalists like Andy Gill still saw their potential. He wrote of the band in the June 27th, 1978, edition of NME, "I firmly believe Cabaret Voltaire will turn out to be one of the most important new bands to achieve wider recognition this year. Wait and see". Subsequently, "Nag Nag Nag" sold 10,000 copies.

Of course, this was just an early chapter in the story of a band that would go through some striking evolutionary changes over the years of its existence, from abstract experimentation to dominating the dance floors of alternative nightclubs throughout the next decade. Connecting those dots may not seem intuitive at first glance, but when you put it all together, it's a fascinating story, one which essentially beings with Mix-Up.

LED ZEPPELIN II @ 55

 

Released on October 22nd, 1969, Led Zeppelin II is turning 55 years old today. After the smash success of their debut, its follow-up would be the first album by the band to crack the #1 slot on the charts in both the US and UK, as well as Canada, Australia, Spain and several other markets.

The album came together in bits & pieces, and fits & starts, while the band were on a breakneck touring schedule throughout both the US and UK. Songs were mostly developed during jam sessions while setting up for gigs, and recorded at whatever studio could be secured wherever the band happened to be at the time. As such, a wide variety of facilities were used, from high end, to what the group would describe as "a hut" when they used a ramshackle 8 track facility in Vancouver, BC. With this disparate range of studios being used to record the album, it was something of an achievement that producer, Jimmy Page, managed to attain a sense of cohesion with the album's sound and mix. Eddie Kramer engineered the album and was quoted as saying, "The famous Whole Lotta Love mix, where everything is going bananas, is a combination of Jimmy and myself just flying around on a small console twiddling every knob known to man." Kramer later gave high praise to Page for the sound that was achieved: "We cut some of the tracks in some of the most bizarre studios you can imagine ... but in the end it sounded bloody marvellous ... there was one guy in charge and that was Mr. Page."

The music on the album was predominantly original compositions, with a selection of interpretations of classic Chicago blues pieces. "The Lemon Song" was a re-arrangement of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor", "Bring It On Home" was a cover of a Willie Dixon song originally performed by Sonny Boy Williamson II. Of the originals, Whole Lotta Love is the most well known, especially being that it was released as a single outside the UK, against the band's wishes, I might add. Zeppelin never released singles, as a matter of policy, so this was a rare instance where the label edited down a track and put out a single without the group's approval. The song would become a hit, charting in many markets, and becoming a concert staple as well.

The album sleeve design was from a poster by David Juniper, who was simply told by the band to come up with an interesting idea. Juniper was a fellow student of Page's at Sutton Art College in Surrey. Juniper's design was based on a photograph of the Jagdstaffel 11 Division of the German Air Force during World War I, the Flying Circus led by the Red Baron. Juniper replaced four of the flyers' heads with photos of the band members, added facial hair and sunglasses to some of the flyers' faces or replaced some with the faces of other people. The blonde-haired woman is French actress Delphine Seyrig in her role as Marie-Madeleine in the film Mr. Freedom, a leftist anti-war satire by William Klein. The cover also pictured the outline of a Zeppelin on a brown background (similar to the cover of the band's first album), which gave the album its nickname "Brown Bomber". The cover was nominated for a Grammy award for best LP graphics in 1970.

Despite the commercial success, at the time of its release, the album was largely panned by critics, who simply weren't ready for an interpretation of the blues that was so heavy and so dark. Many found the album monotonous and overbearing. But it wouldn't take long for reassessments to start aligning with the position that this was, in fact, an album of unique distinction, setting a new tone for rock 'n' roll that would become integral to the development of heavy metal music in the decade to come. Today, you'd be hard pressed to find a Zeppelin fan who doesn't rank this as one of their greatest records. The fact it was created in such demanding circumstances, necessitating spontaneity and ferocity, is what makes it stand out for many as the band's most intense outing.

With the success of the album, the band's touring began to ramp up in terms of the venues they were playing, beginning in smaller clubs, then larger theatres, and ultimately, coliseums. The band were truly on the map as the biggest band in rock 'n' roll, and the coming decade would see them enshrined as truly legendary performers.

KISS - HOTTER THAN HELL @ 50

 

Marking half a century on the shelves, it's KISS' sophomore LP, Hotter Than Hell, which was released on October 22nd, 1974. While it wouldn't be the ticket to superstardom the band were desperate for, it did pack a bunch of solid songs that were concert staples throughout much of the band's prime career in the 1970s.

Hotter Than Hell followed fairly quickly on the heels of their eponymous debut, released earlier in the year. While that record hadn't made much of a dent in the charts for the band, it did give them enough momentum to keep touring and building their fan-base. The task, however, was still to capture the excitement of their live shows on record, an ambition that would prove elusive through their first trio of albums. The production team of Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise were again retained for the second album, after fairing well enough on the first.

With Richie Wise recently relocating to California, the band were convinced to set up shop in The Village, an LA studio, rather than recording in NYC. Moving out to the west coast proved to be an unpopular decision, however. All four members of the band were hardcore New Yorkers, so they were entirely uncomfortable with the vibe on the opposite side of the country. The fact one of Paul's guitars got stolen the first day they were out there didn't help with the mood either. Richie Wise has since taken responsibility for the lacklustre sound of the album overall, stating that the big move across the country, for him, was an entirely distracting affair, and his head just wasn't in the game when it came to recording the album.

Though the intention was to try to emulate the band's live sound, the production team still indulged the group in a lot of overdubs, far more than on the first album. They felt that the they were familiar enough with the studio by now to be able to manage the process, which was maybe another distraction from the goal at hand. While the murky production added to a sense of darkness on the album, that vibe was further intensified by the subject matter of the songs themselves. "Goin' Blind", which details a doomed, creepy romance between a 93-year-old and a 16-year-old girl, was a song written by Simmons and Stephen Coronel during their days with Wicked Lester. The original title was "Little Lady", and the song's original second verse lyric, revived by Simmons for their MTV Unplugged appearance, as well as on Alive IV, suggests that the song's narrator is a sea captain addressing a mermaid.

Though the album features three songs with Ace Frehley's writing credit, he was still gun-shy about singing lead vocals, opting only to provide backup on a few songs. Instead, he had Gene Simmons take the vocal for Parasite, while Peter Criss took on Strange Ways. And while his voice may not be on display, his guitar solo for Strange Ways is often cited as one of his best.

For the album's artwork, a striking Japanese themed design was conceived, with Japanese characters surrounding the group photo on the front, and the back cover featuring photos from a wild party where there was, apparently, a great deal of intoxication going on. Of course, this wasn't the case for Simmons, a confirmed tea-totaler, but the photos still indicate a debauched affair all round. The Japanese character on the bottom of the album cover (力) is chikara, which means "power". It would later be used on various forms of Kiss material during the 1970s and 1980s, most prominently on Eric Carr's drum kit. The Japanese characters on the top-right corner of the album cover (地獄 の さけび) are Jigoku no Sakebi, which means "shout/scream of hell" or "hell's shout/scream". There are also member names on banners, but the transliteration of the English into Japanese is pretty flawed in terms of representing the phonetic expressions accurately.

While the group toured extensively for the album, sales were actually far worse than for their debut release. Part of the problem was that Warner Bros were involved in distributing the first LP, but that deal had ended by the time the second album came out. This also meant the publicity push was substantially less as well, though there was a TV commercial aired for the album. Only one single was released, Let Me Go Rock 'n' Roll, but sales were dismal and it failed to chart. Four months into their tour to promote the album, Casablanca pulled them off the road and got them back in the studio to record another album, what would become Dressed to Kill, another misfired attempt to break the band. Hotter Than Hell would still end up certified gold, but it would not happen until June, 1977, but it would take an actual live album to truly capture the band's energy and turn them into superstars, and that was something that was more than a year away. Still, they would ultimately make the break and hit the top of the charts, but not with this record.