©2003 EDDIE FLOWERS, PO BOX 7034, VAN NUYS CA 91409, USA /

ABBA
Waterloo
ABBA [second LP; 1975]

MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS
Levels and Degrees of Light [Delmark Records CD; recorded 1967] In 1965, Richard Abrams (piano/clarinet/composer) co-founded the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), the Chicago free-jazz co-operative that brought the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, and many others to the public's attention. Their conceptions of freedom were broader than what had come before, basically encompassing all of African-American music (and far beyond) but presented in the context of contemporary jazz. To these musicians, composition and improvisation are equally important, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the work of Abrams. This is his debut, and among the first important works from the AACM. The title tune is spacious, starting formally with Abrams' clarinet, Penelope Taylor's soaring operatic voice, Bob Cranshaw on vibes, and percussionist Thurman Barker. The mood is melancholy, but flows outward as the three instrumentalists interact. Abrams moves to piano next, his left hand in the barrelhouse while the right hammers out note clusters a la Cecil Taylor; and then each musician does his turn; Anthony Braxton solos madly on alto saxophone. "The Bird Song" is a 23-minute statement of purpose: poet David Moore's evocation of jazz, the music standing tall and blowing proud in the ashes of America; a slowly building communal shout, with AACM mainstay Leroy Jenkins prominent on violin; clarinet slowly mumbling, clanging percussion, a bird call, eventually launching into squawking sax and bursts of piano notes.
Young at Heart/Wise in Time [Delmark Records CD; recorded 1969]
Things to Come from Those Now Gone [Delmark LP; recorded 1972]
Spiral [Novus/Arista LP; recorded 1978]

MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS FEATURING MALACHI FAVORS
Sightsong [Black Saint CD; recorded 1975]

AC/DC
'74 Jailbreak
High Voltage
Let There Be Rock
Highway to Hell

JOHNNY ACE
Memorial Album

ADC BAND
"Long Stroke" [Cotillion 7-inch]

HASIL ADKINS
Out to Hunch [Norton Records LP]

ADOLESCENTS
Adolescents [Frontier Records LP]

ADVERTISING
"Stolen Love"/"Suspender Fun" [EMI Records 7-inch; England]

THE ADVERTS
"Gary Gilmore's Eyes"/"Bored Teenagers" [Anchor Records 7-inch; England]

AEROSMITH
Toys in the Attic
Rocks

AFRIKA BAMBAATAA & JAMES BROWN
Unity [12-inch remixes]

THE AFRIKA KORPS
Music to Kill By

AGON ENSEMBLE
Czech New Music of the 1960s [ARTA Records CD; Czech Republic] Nice comp of various Czech composers played by an awesomely broad ensemble. Jan Rychlík was doing Neo-Classical compositions and film scores in the 50s, when he was turned around by the New Music of the period. His "African Cycle" uses African polyrhythms to build on, mutating and twisting melodic lines and rhythms; sometimes it sounds like minimal music, and sometimes it sounds like Sun Ra's Arkestra! Another step was taken by Rychlík's student, Josef Berg; "Dreaming" is a beautiful, nightmarish piece (originally intended as part of a multimedia experience including porn film!), with Classical structural techniques upended by his non-standard scale; lots of big drums, dramatic strings, clanking percussion, and a kinda funny electronic keyboard. Rudolf Komorous's "aesthetic of curious things" was much more radical, stripping the music of its Classical clichés and many of its instruments. His fascination with China and Taoism comes through clearly: it's a music of moments, almost static but fully energized, very much like American minimal music. "Olympia" is reminiscent of an AACM-style composition with "little instruments" and toys; "Chanson" uses viola, guitar, and clock spiral (?) to create a delicious four-minute drone, and "Sweet Queen" does something similar with harmonicas, piano, and bass drum. Definitely like to hear more of Komorous. Finally, Zbynek Vostrák was a successful Neo-Classical composer in the 50s, who became a jack-of-all-New Musics in the 60s; his entry here is a complex 30-minute work, using a degree of randomness--four instrumental groups work with and against each other--but it's not an especially chaotic piece. For me, the least satisfying music here.

PEGGY AHWESH & BARBARA ESS
Radio Guitar [Ecstatic Peace CD] E. Peace press release: "Nine tracks of fantastic music and noise utilizing radio sound and electric guitar as realized by Peggy Ahwesh and Barbara Ess respectively. Filmmaker Peggy Ahwesh came of age in the 1970's with feminist politics and the experimental film underground. She started working with Super-8 film in her teens and went on to make feature films, including Splice This (1999) and Girls Beware (1997). Barbara Ess has been performing music in NYC since the 1970s w/ such famed no-wave groups as The Static and Daily Life as well as The Glenn Branca Ensemble and Y Pants, a trio of women playing music on toy instruments. Most recently she has been a member of Ultra Vulva. She has also worked as a publisher of Just Another Asshole--a series of anthologies of artists works in various formats." Good stuff. Recommended.

AIR
Air Time [Nessa CD; recorded 1977]
Open Air Suit [Novus LP; recorded 1978]
Air Lore [RCA CD; recorded 1979]
Air Mail [Black Saint CD; recorded 1980]
Air Song [India Navigation LP; recorded 1982]

FRANKLYN AJAYE
Franklyn Ajaye--Comedian [A&M LP]

TEXAS ALEXANDER
Volume 1 1927-28 [Matchbox/Flyright]

RASHIED ALI/LEROY JENKINS DUO
Swift Are the Winds of Life [Survival LP; recorded 1975]

ALICE COOPER
Pretties for You
Love It to Death
live at the Avalon Ballroom 3/30/69 [unreleased tape]

WILLIE ALEXANDER
"Kerouac"/"Mass. Ave." [Garage Records 7-inch]
"Hit Her Wid De Axe"/"You Looked So Pretty When" [Garage Records 7-inch] This was the second single by long-time Boston rocker Willie Alexander, who had been in bands as far back as the Lost in 1965 or '66, and was in the touring version of the post-Lou Reed Velvet Underground. Released in 1976, this followed up his '75 pre-punk classic "Kerouac"/"Mass. Ave." As pure sound, this is even better. After the "Kerouac" 7-inch, he formed the Boom Boom Band, who played an inspired cross between T. Rex/Alice Cooper metal-isms and sweaty regular-dude bar-band rock. Combined with Willie's whooping vocals and old-school boogie-bangin' keyboard, it all burst forwrad for a brief moment (before the MCA contracts were signed) on this bit of plastic. "Hit Her Wid Dex Axe" is a chaotic hard-rocker, with Willie mumble-slurring silly sex lyrics: "Gonna lay some pipe tonight / Gonna do it all right"; "Got my great big johnson, boy!" The flip side is a great early "power ballad," with Spector drums and sentiment fused seamlessly to mid-70s rock guitar.
"Dirty Eddie"/"She Wanted Me" [Somor Records] This 1978 single (released as Willie Loco) by Boston's legendary Willie Alexander and his Boom Boom Band turned out to be the last great gasp of the artist's early garage ga-ga. Released shortly after Willie's first badly over-produced MCA LP, these are outtakes from those sessions deemed far too raw for general consumption. So, Willie released it himself in small quantities, and it quickly disappeared. This completed the great Loco 7-inch trilogy that began with "Kerouac"/"Mass. Ave." in '75 and continued in late '76 on "Hit Her Wid De Axe"/"You Looked So Pretty When." Highly recommended to diggers of the early American (pre-)punk thing.
Loco Live 1976 [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] Primo ga-ga pre-punk wa-wa bar-band beatnik glamour from the legendary Willie "Loco" Alexander and his very rockin' Boom Boom Band, recorded at the Rat in Boston and the Club in Cambridge in '76. You get groovy live versions of "Kerouac," "Mass. Ave.," "Hit Her Wid De Axe," "You Looked So Pretty When, and "Dirty Eddie" plus loco live classics like "Garbage Man," "Rock'n'Roll Lick #76," "Pup Tune," and more! Great sound quality too. Also includes Willie's "Dirty Eddie"/"She Wanted Me" single.

THE ALI BABA REVUE
Let It All Hang Out [Otis Records CDR] Unh! Reissue of private-press LP by a super-groove mid-60s lounge band of integrated players: black dudes on organ, drums, and sax; white cat on guitar. They roar through a wide range of crowd-pleasers, including "Walk Don't Run," "Harlem Nocturne," "Mr. Pitiful," and "Yakety Sax." They also have great originals (I think!) like the title tune (not the Hombres' song but in the same spirit) and the psycho garage rocker "Rats in My Room." For some bizarre reason, an unidentified female vocalist steps up for two country tunes--out of character but mighty damn effective. Great sounds all 'round. And don't let the "lounge" tag scare you away; this is soul music, my friends, not "incredibly strange music" for geeks who collect records instead of listening to 'em. Yeh!

DAEVID ALLEN
Banana Moon

THE ALLEY CATS
Nightmare City [Time Coast Records LP; 1981]

MOSE ALLISON
Back Country Suite [Prestige]

THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND
At Fillmore East
The Fillmore Concerts
Eat a Peach
Live at Ludlow Garage 1970
Dreams [box set]
Fillmore East 1/70 [Grateful Dead Records CD] All right! Thanks to the archival acidheads at the Grateful Dead corporation, we get this wonderful set by the Allman Bros just as they were approaching their peak, opening for the Dead (the Dead's set is available as Dick's Picks Volume Four,a glorious triple-disc testament to psychedelic excess and country dreams).  Maybe because the Allmans were just the opening act, all the numbers are kept under 10 minutes, except the final "Mountain Jam," which sounds a bit hesitant, until the flow settles in. They hadn't quite achieved that jaw-dropping ability to leap from the seeming middle of nowhere into ridiculously tight ensemble passages, or at least not with the ease they achieved in the coming year. "Elizabeth Reed" is a beauty, and there's a real tuff version of Muddy Waters' "Trouble No More." Very nice stuff, and probably essential if you love the band with Duane Allman and Berry Oakley the way I do. Recorded by Owsley Stanley himself (his liner notes too).

DUANE ALLMAN
An Anthology Volumes 1 & 2 [Capricorn LPs; mostly session work]

ALTHIA & DONNA
"Uptown Top Ranking" [Sire 7-inch]

ALAN BISHOP
Alvarius B. [Abduction LP; the first one] Sun City Girl on "wooden guitars, etc." gives us 28 little instrumental sketches that sound like maybe a "lo-fi" approach to old-style John Fahey or a less gloomy Loren Mazzacane. Really pretty great.

ALLUN
Et Sise [Bar La Muerte CD; Italy] Inspired, fun-filled no-wave/free-rock/noise by four-piece gal band from Italy. Their aesthetic is all-over-the-place. When they relax and work up an approximation of rock-groove, the results are almost too comfy. But the vocals keep you attentive, with wild, leaping, giddy voices that sound like a cross between Yoko, the Residents, all the 70s/80s no-wave women, Caroliner, and a precocious toddler. Then violin scrapes and toys eek together like an Incus Records duet--except there's a young woman telling a story at the same time. Bike horn, off-key recorder, and organ back up whisper-giddy nervous-shakedown vocals. Found sounds, lysergic circus music, moody instrumentals. The band explodes in a post-Harry Pussy manner, without the bad American attitude--and with toys!  Much other stuff happens. Happily sadly.

THE AMAZING RHYTHM ACES
Stacked Deck [ABC Records LP; 1975]

THE AMERICAN BREED
"Private Zoo"/"Keep the Faith" [Acta 7-inch]

AMERICAN GORILLA
"Forsaking All Others"/"Masters of War" [U.S.A. Records 7-inch; Pasadena, California, 1982]
The Zeros Are Always Texans [U.S.A. Records 12-inch EP; Pasadena, California, 1983]

AME SOM
Ame Som [BYG Actuel LP]

AMM
AMMusic 1966

AMON DÜÜL
Psychedelic Underground Classic hippie tribal stomp, furious strummin' poundin' chaos, tape fuckery, brain-damage R&R. This is one of the essential Krautrock albums, sprawling and prophetic in scope: psychedelic, of course, but also an early "noise" staple, and certainly proto-punk in intensity and do-it-yourself attitude.
Para Diewärts Düül [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] Second Amon Düül LP, from 1970. Drippy, melodic, acoustic-based folk/rock glow, much more "musical" than the communal free-for-all and noise of other AD recordings. Like, actual songs--surrounded by a warm blanket of psychedelic jam, groove, and space. This CD reissue also includes the single "Eternal Flow"/"Paramechanical World."
Disaster More Düül tribal stomp, noise events, and bliss-out repetition from late-60s sessions. Includes a brief caveman take on an early Beatles tune. Originally a 2LP set released in 1971 as the fourth AD album.
Experimente Originally released in '84, way after the fact, this consists of 24 chunks of primo late-60s strum'n'drum Düül chaos-trance. Listen for the spot where they start playing "Louie Louie"! Um . . . tasty!

AMON DÜÜL II
Phallus Dei Amon Düül II's debut is one of the first great Krautrock LPs. The proceedings begin with the dense rockin' anthemic "Kanaan," Middle-Eastern rhythms driving the short psychedelic jam through the sort of loosely complex arrangements ADII did so well. John Weinzierl and Chris Karrer's guitars move like spaceships, male (Weinzierl and/or Karrer) and female (Renate Knaup) vocals float about, Falk-Ulrich Rogner's horrorshow Floyd-in-Transylvania organ appears, future Hawkwind member Dave Anderson is on bass, and the messy dual-drum attack of Peter Leopold and Dieter Seferas is heightened by bongo player/singer Shrat, and guest players Holger Trulzsch (from Popol Vuh) on percussion and Christian Burchard (from Embryo) on vibes.What follows this first burst of Düül gets a lot stranger, and goes in many different directions. "Dem Guten, Schonen, Wahren" is a druggy march that breaks down into Krautblues and then a Stooge-like distorto freak-out, plus occasional femme shrieks that sound as much like Tiny Tim as Yoko. "Luzifers Gholom" uses a Gypsy-like melody that develops into a crude symphonic lushness before crazed male vocals burst in and flip the tune into an angular basement-prog stomp. "Henriette Krotenschwan" is a short operatic chugger that ends up in a loopy bass/guitar place. Finally, the 20-minute title piece (translated: "God's Cock") seems to have a bit of everything: deep space, avant/concrete, prog-like rhythmic complexities, total guitar abandon, somber Euro-classical, Velvety rockin' out.
Yeti
Dance of the Lemmings The sound of the original communal-cosmic ADII falling apart over the space of what was originally a double LP. There are more blatant "prog" moves from the keyboards, and guitar noodling that's very Grateful Dead, but the violin, deep space bass, bongos, and Renate Knaup's vocal moments signal this is indeed Düül-II-delica. And it does sound very dosed. And dense.
Carnival in Babylon The fourth album by ADII is one of their best, and one of the last great hippie ROCK records not touched by heavy-metal sounds, glam-rock postures, or pre-punk visions. Stripped down to a five-piece rock band (two guitars, bass, two drum kits) + Rene Knaup's vocals and occasional keyboards, this is focused and fiery music, but still very psychedelicized. "All the Years 'Round" sounds like fattened a Jefferson Airplane, complete with inspired jam outro. "Ballad of the Simmering Sand" (and most of the other tunes) has a similar 'Frisco vibe, hooked onto a Euro kinda folkiness (which also permeates the disc), although the Düüls change mood so often that's a pretty inadequate description. The final ten minutes of "Hawknose Harlequin" positively reek of gypsy-campfire pass-the-pipe free float: beautiful.
Wolf City Amon Düül II's arrangements had always been more complex than most psychedelic bands, and their sense of drama more traditional than fellow Krautrockers, so their step into something like full-blown prog on Wolf Citywas very organic. The constant wash of acidic chaos that had always dominated their music is pushed to the background, and the arrangements come into much sharper focus. The guitars also get heavier in a Crimson-like way. The expected prog synth sounds are present, but generally used sparingly. "Green Bubble Raincoated Man" and "Jail-House Frog" are superb Anglo-style prog-rockers, with everything but the kitchen sink tightly balled up into four- or five-minute pieces. Even shorter, the title tune packs the wallop of Hawkwind's mid-70s singles: heavy, druggy, distorted, and concise. "Wie Der Wind Am Ende Einer Strasse" uses an Eastern groove to develop a short piece full of lovely electronic surges and psychedelic melt. This is a really solid album; it allworks! Although Amon Düül II's rep is connected mostly to their early work, this one of the best ADII albums.
Vive La Trance ADII's 1973 foray into something akin to glitter-prog is still a stoner groove beneath the decadent sheen. Renate Knaup cops a coy femme-fatale attitude one minute, and the next thing you know guitars and bass start doing these Jorma-and-Jack-Airplane things. Their pop attempts are still so convoluted and confused that they miss the whole point of Bowie, Sparks, Mott, etc. while continuing to rock your head nicely. But these glam-rock dreams gave them one last great gasp of inspiration before they sank into generic mid-70s rock mediocrity. If you dig Hawkwind's 1977 "punk" record Quark Strangeness and Charm,here's an earlier thing with a similar vibe.
Lemmingmania Collection of early singles by the more "rock" half of the two bands that resulted from the magical split of the Amon Düül commune. ADII show their heaviest side here, with nods in the direction of Black Sabbath, the MC5, Quicksilver/Bo Diddley, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band, and kindred Anglo spirits Hawkwind. Mellow rockin' too that brings to mind a twin-universe merge that might've happened 'tween Pentangle and Jefferson Airplane. Wow!

THE ANAKSIMANDROS
Life Is a Skullbow [Veglia LP; Belgium] Finnish folk-improv-drone-squawl group featuring members of Kemialliset Ystävät. The comparisons to VibraCathedral Orchestra are fair enough, but the Anaksimandros also got a caveman thud that's equally reminiscent of the early Amon Düül I. Drums and ancient reeds and low electronic eeks--violin drones, sax blats, she'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she falls down--heh-he-hehhh-eeehh, marchin' in giddy circles, jumpin' 'round the may plow. A real good 'un, and available in a ridiculously small edition of 200. Released 2001.

BRUCE ANDERSON
Brutality; Brutality II [Quadruped cassettes]

BRUCE ANDERSON/DALE SOPHIEA
Strict [Family Vineyard CD] Bruce and Dale, guitar and bass from MX-80, make what could almost be called an anti-MX album. No freight-train avant-rock and no obvious sarcasm, but Bruce still sounds like himself, even if it's usually a mellowed self. But not mellow like soft-headed. This is the MX-80 chill-out album, "ambient" and "drone" and all those non-rockin' approaches. But better, because it's much more knowing, and unafraid to veer outside any supposed boundaries. Like, there are passages much closer to Sonny Sharrock freakin' than Brian Eno nappin'. Besides Bruce's axe-mospherics and Dale's samples, bells, bass, etc, fellow MX-80/O-Type members Marc Weinstein (drums) and Jim Hrabetin (guitar) sit in on a few tracks. Essential listening for fans of the MX-80 crew.

ANGEL CORPUS CHRISTI
White Courtesy Phone [Almo CD] Andrea Ross has been a long-time MX-80 co-conspirator, as well as Rich Stim's equally long-time galfriend/wife, and has since the 80s sporadically released recordings as Angel Corpus Christi. This is her first really full-blown full-length effort, and it's sooo groovy sweet swingin' pop dreamy. Lots o' hooks, nice combination of live musicians and programming (produced by Craig Leon), tongue only occasionally in cheek (you wish, bubba!), sometimes downright sad and often sentimental. "Way Out West" is a gorgeous tune, shades of Ray Davies and Brian Wilson. John Cassavetes gets remembered deeply in a song bearing his name, and Herb Alpert (?!) plays trumpet on "Lazy," a breathy, bouncy ode to stayin'-in-bed. Rich Stim plays guitar and co-wrote all but one song. Legendary Hollywood session-man Hal Blaine is on skins. Oh, Angel---!

THE ANGRY SAMOANS
Inside My Brain
Back from Samoa

THE ANIMALS
In the Beginning [Wand LP]
Animal Tracks [MGM LP]
Animalism [MGM LP]
The Best of Eric Burdon & the Animals Vol. II [MGM LP]

ANNA PLANETA
Anna Planeta [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers 2CD; England] Phil Todd (Ashtray Navigations) and friends surrounded by their collaborator, a decaying Catholic school house. As the building creaks and echoes, flutes and footsteps break the dusty memories. Listen as they drag equipment across the floor. Battery-operated electronic devices trigger drones that bounce and mutate around the building. Jaw harp jumps out of the grinding electric field, somebody scraping something on the walls. A few nice LOUD moments in wonderful explosions of echo . . . and then it gets very quiet as the microphone is moved away from the players. Wind on microphone covers the music. Listen. Where are the school children now? Ghosts. Stilled voices. Grown old and creaky, like the building. But  their presence still hums and vibrates somewhere, always fainter and fainter.

ANSCHLUSS
The Mobile Plumb Bob

THE ARCHERS
The Green Ray [Shagrat 12-inch EP]

ARMAGEDDON
Armageddon [A&M] Keith Relf's band after the Yardbirds, and after Renaissance, and right before he died (electrocution!). Non-macho hard-rock/metal with a surprisingly deep feel. Like, not very teenage; no Mark Farner here!

ARMPIT
Birth I Squat [Celebrate Psi Phenomenon; New Zealand CDR] "Bad music played badly on bad instruments by bad people and recorded badly onto bad tape for other bad people to listen to and say 'thats fuckin bad man'. A reissue of a white-hot C/Psi/P cassette that never really got the exposure it deserved. Armpit for president! Absolutely essential 'songs', man-handled onto tape, then cut and spliced with an axe from 300 feet. Jawdropping." Ha-ha! Nice description there from Campbell Kneale (Birchville Cat Motel), but what you got's a raucous drone-heavy free-rock thing that's similar in all the right ways to them good ol' Birchville Cats. But the 'Pits also throw in little bits of song, percussion grooves, overload "rock" jams, grumblemumblin', and just about everything else they can think to do. At least for a moment. Another good'un. I mean, uh, bad'un.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG
The Hot Fives Volume 1 [Columbia]
The Hot Fives and Hot Sevens Volume 2 [Columbia]

BILLY BOY ARNOLD
Crying & Pleading [Charly LP]

ART BEARS
Winter Songs
The World As It Is Today

THE ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO
The Art Ensemble 1967/68 [Nessa 5CD; recorded 1967/1968]
A Jackson in Your House [Affinity CD; recorded 6-23-69] Reissue of BYG Actuel LP.
Tutankhamun [Black Lion CD; recorded 6-26-69] This Paris session starts with a funny, mumbled intro in some unknown tongue, and quickly finds its way on a long bass-driven road to Egypt and back up the years to jazz. Strange and frightening, but then enlightening, like Sun Ra's ESP-Disk sessions. Malachi Favors' bass starts walking, propelling the drummerless quartet through another long tune, playful and exploratory. Which leaves a final scattered blow from Roscoe Mitchell and Favors. The future is being mapped here.
The Spiritual [Black Lion CD; recorded 6-26-69] From the same sessions as Tutankhamun.The opening "Toro" seems to pay tribute to Mingus' Tijuana Moodsand Miles'Sketches of Spain,and also mock the 1960s American commercialization of Spanish/Mexican themes. The next two tracks are strange, rhythmically free explorations, featuring prominent harpsichord, little toys, conversation, brief improvised themes. The side-long title cut written by Roscoe Michell is an amazing dreamlike performance, with bitterly funny dialogue recalling slave days, a nod to Coltrane's "Spiritual," surrealistic jug-band music, police whistles and violence, the space of jazz offering freedom. Very emotional music.
People in Sorrow [EMI/Jazztime CD or EMI/Oden CD; recorded 7-7-69]
Message to Our Folks [Affinity CD; recorded 8-12-69] Reissue of BYG Actuel LP.
Reese and the Smooth Ones [Affinity LP; recorded 8-12-69] Reissue of BYG Actuel LP.
Eda Wobu [Jazz Music Yesterday CD; recorde 10-5-69]
Live [Affinity 2LP; recorded 10-5-69/8-13-70] Reissue of BYG Actuel 2LP.
Certain Blacks [Inner City LP; recorded 2-70] "Certain Blacks groove on love/Certain Blacks dig their freedom," goes the end of the opening chant. Then a wonderfully loose, chaotic 20 minutes of horns, flute, percussion. Sitting in with the Art Ensemble are William A. Howell (drums), Chicago Beau (tenor sax, harmonica), and Julio Finn (harmonica). Intense, scraping, eruptive, bluesy, screaming, babbling, jumping from improvised theme to theme--these are indeed "Blacks who dig their freedom"! After all the joyous madness, "One for Jarman" is a subdued flute tune; and they close with a mutant Dixieland-blues romp. A marvelous set of loose, deep, fun music.
The Art Ensemble of Chicago With Fontella Bass [Musicdisc CD; recorded 8-70]
Phase One [Prestige LP; recorded 2-71]
Live [a.k.a. Live at Mandel Hall] [Delmark Records CD; recorded 1-15-72] For their return to America after almost three years in Paris, the Art Ensemble gave the hometown folks 76 minutes of uninterrupted music, and it starts in the eye of the hurricane, drums pounding, horns urgent, bass coming into the fray with a desperate thump. It all halts suddenly and we hear voices: "All aboard! All aboard!" Whistles and shakers, scrapers and toys come in; the trip has begun. Four long tunes blur together, moving through just about every imaginable permutation of jazz up to that point.
Bap-tizum [Koch Jazz CD; recorded 9-9-72]
Fanfare for the Warriors [Koch Jazz CD; recorded 8-73/9-6-73] One of the very best AEC albums, with AACM co-founder Muhal Richard Abrams guesting on piano. There's African mythology with floating percussion; Lester Bowie's "Barnyard Scuffel Shuffel," a hilarious send-up of R&B clichés; Roscoe Mitchell's amazing "Nonaah," very strange rhythms with sax leaping in unexpected directions; Joseph Jarman showing off his Dolphy roots on the intense title cut; mutated Caribbean rhythms; a minimal-style piece with saxophones playing long, low notes while trumpet blows wind and piano wavers quietly; and a final straight-ahead statement with silly vocals.
Nice Guys [ECM Records CD; recorded 5-78] Another excellent AEC album, kicked off by Lester Bowie's "Ja," an out-of-kilter reggae tune with tongue-in-cheek autobiographical vocal. Don Moye's "Folkus" is an incredible sea of floating gongs, percussion, whatever. They swing a bit; then they dig out their array of toys and bicycle horns for a bit of self-deprecating fun; and on the closing number, "Dreaming of the Master," they pull off an amazing tribute to the late-50s Miles Davis Quintet with John Coltrane.
Live from the Jazz Showcase video [Rhapsody; recorded 11-1-81]
The Third Decade [ECM Records CD; recorded 6-84] The band that does everything does a little more: Malachi Favors pulls out a bass guitar for the ultra groovin' "Funky AECO"; lovely and scary synthesizer textures are tossed off in a way 90s electronica never managed; a mock-serious-maudlin weeper from Lester Bowie--not a wrong turn is taken. Is it jazz? Way beyond! They called it Great Black Music. Maybe the last great Art Ensemble album, although none are bad.

ASCENSION
'LP' [Fusetron] Two explosive side-long improvisations by Stefan Jaworzyn (guitar) and Tony Irving (drums), recorded in '94. Hot shit!

ASH CASTLES ON THE GHOST COAST
Ash Castles On The Ghost Coast [Fleece Records/Wholly Other CD] Haven't heard much of the alleged Texas improv scene, and the Charlambides didn't really nudge my noggin, but here we got something that sinks in like I haven't sunk now for far too long; it's on the same label as the Charlambides, so it might even be the same people, I dunno. But I do know it tastes very good. They start somewhere near Sun City, and rocket directly into Somewhere Else, wallowing around in a big area you might call rock (or maybe not), finding themselves in places that had a friend complaining, "That sounds like something I could do myself!" Exactly! Except his wouldn't sound this happenin', because he doesn't believe it would. Got me?

ASH RA TEMPEL
Ash Ra Tempel [first album]

ASHTRAY NAVIGATIONS
Four Raga Moods [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers CD; England] The low clank of high-minded boys, from Crewe, over yonder England way. Sounds like--? Synth plays an itty bitty melody, guitar hums drones crackles, voices somewhere deep in the mix occasionally say things we'll never know, the abundance of tape hiss slowly reveals itself as another instrument. The build is slow, and depending on your bent, very pleasing or infuriatingly "pointless." I side with pleasure in sound, of course. But make no mistake: this is as much music as it is so-called noise. The melody worming about throughout could be North African, or Peruvian, or Irish; the guitar scratch and warm electronic hum responds to its call, like child imitating adult, like percussionists reacting freely to a singer. Did the synth become a recorder somewhere along the way? What other sound reared its head? Low-flyin' stuff, whatever the mode of transport. That's the first mood anyhow. What follows is similar, except different, and even gets around to industrial-strength umph. Meditation music made for chaotic reality instead of pastoral dreams.
Live at Tehuacan Harvest Festival [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers cassette; England]
Plastic [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers cassette; England]
Those Are Pearls That Were His Eyes [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers CDR; England] 48 minutes of Mr. Phil Todd deep in the swirl. Machines shimmer, metal moves elegantly against metal, birdies tweet, guitar gestures rock-like, electronics move and repeat. Recommended. Reissue of a 1998 Solipsism CDR.
Tristes Tropiques  [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers CD; England] More excellent sounds from Phil Todd's one-man tape-layered band. Old records open the first 19-minute chunk, before freak-out guitar and cardboard-drum (?) eventually take over the proceedings. The next 18 minutes couldn't be more different: High-pitched insect synth wiggles in a low fever against a second tone that seems to move across a barely discernible short-wave knob-twist, while over in the corner a mechanical pigeon coos an occasional comment, can't decide whether you're nervous or relaxed. Then it's all blown out again with a shorter ride, shimmering through the hum and static. The remaining pieces, mostly brief, explore a wide range of sounds, rhythms, and Ashtray moods. Yeah. Recorded 1998/1999.
A Mayflower Garland [Outer Orbit 12-inch EP]

ASHTRAY NAVIGATIONS/UNIVERSAL INDIANS
split CD [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers]

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL
Comin' Right at Ya [United Artists Records LP; 1973]

ATARI TEENAGE RIOT
Burn, Berlin, Burn!

AXIOM FUNK
"If 6 Was 9" [12-inch remixes]

ALBERT AYLER
Witches and Devils [a.k.a. Spirits] [Freedom/Black Lion CD; recorded 1964] The first great recordings of the tenor-saxophone shaman's mature peak period. Earlier, he was hampered by unsympathetic musicians and a lack of material, while his later years veered towards banal rock and pop "experimentation." But here his intense spiritual frenzy is in full bloom. The bluesy intros to the title tune and "Saints" are deep moans that open onto undreamed freedom. Drummer Sunny Murray, an important element in the development of Ayler's music, is present and demonstrates beautifully how he took jazz drumming even further away from its time-keeping role than Ed Blackwell with Ornette Coleman and Elvin Jones with John Coltrane. Norman Howard's trumpet provides perfect complement to Ayler's squall;  bassists Henry Grimes and Earle Henderson play together and separately.
Albert Smiles With Sunny [InRespect 2CD; recorded 1964] Ayler, drummer Sunny Murray, and bassist Gary Peacock live at the Cellar Cafe in 1964, recorded a month prior to the landmark Spiritual Unityalbum. The first of these two CDs was originally released on ESP-Disk as Prophecy,and includes all the tunes from Spiritual Unity,plus the tune "Prophecy." They sound looser and even more emotional than the studio versions, soulful and deep. The second disc includes an additional 44 minutes from the same night. There are two jams called "Sweet Variation," a third variation of "Ghosts" (two on the other disc), an early version of "The Truth Is Marching In," and a seemingly spontaneous gem called "No Head."
Spiritual Unity [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD; recorded 1964] Essential. Devastating in its sadness and intense spiritual yearning. It's here that Ayler took the freedom advanced by Coltrane and Coleman, and hurdled it back to the simplest New Orleans jazz marches and dance numbers, hymns and children's songs, a music stripped to its core but imbibed with new meanings of literally universal proportions, the simple tunes exploding in cosmic fury. "Ghosts" is one of the key Ayler tunes, often re-recorded and very influential.
New York Eye and Ear Control [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD; recorded 1964] Recorded a week after Spiritual Unity,the trio of Ayler, Sunny Murray, and Gary Peacock went in the studio with Don Cherry (trumpet, cornet), John Tchicai (alto saxophone), and Roswell Rudd (trombone) to record this music as a film soundtrack. They spend the first long jam sensitively feeling each other out, making room for one another--and then mix it up furiously on the next 20-minute improvisation.
Vibrations [a.k.a. Ghosts] [Freedom/Black Lion CD; recorded 1964] Ayler, Don Cherry, Sunny Murray, and Gary Peacock recorded in Copenhagen in a good studio. There's a playful confidence at work here as the band moves easily through beautiful, farily straight readings of six songs. A rare glimpse of a relatively calm, balanced Ayler at his peak. Great stuff.
The Hilversum Session [Coppens CD; recorded 1964]
Bells [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD; recorded 1965] Ayler and drummer Sunny Murray joined by Don Ayler (trumpet), Charles Tyler (alto saxophone), and Lewis Worrell (bass) for 20 minutes of intensity at Town Hall in New York City. The rhythm section is buried in the murky recording, but the horns are explosions as clear as mid-60s America erupting. Originally released as a one-sided LP, this is on CD with Prophecy.
Spirits Rejoice [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD; recorded 1965] Albert and Don Ayler, Sunny Murray, Henry Grimes and Gary Peacock doubling on basses, the debut of Call Cobbs' strange harpsichord on one cut. Albert's sax and Don's trumpet connect in eerie melodies. The folk themes Ayler always relied on become very downhome here--and home is ecstatic communion with your personal god--or whatever.
At Slug's Saloon Volumes 1 & 2 [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CDs; recorded 1966] Albert and Don Ayler, Lewis Worrell on bass, Dutch violinist Michel Sampson, and Ron Jackson replacing Sunny Murray on drums. The power, rage, and beauty of universal love demonstrated wonderfully on long takes of five songs.
Lörrach/Paris 1966 [hat Hut CD; recorded 1966] Live in Germany and France with Don Ayler (trumpet), Michel Sampson (violin), Beaver Harris (drums), William Folwell (bass). Scraping, moaning, nicely recorded performances of typical Alyer themes and tunes, with the violin adding a surreal, melancholy barnyard feel to the holy freedom of Albert's quest.
Albert Ayler [Philology LP; recorded 1964/1966] The Vibrationsquartet in a Copenhagen club, sounding much more anxious and sketchy than their studio sessions--a strange inversion of spirit that maybe hints at Albert's internal struggles. Side two at the 1966 Berlin Jazz Festival, with the same lineup as Lörrach/Paris,is a celebratory country-fried march, another mood swing as Ayler sings songs of heavenly joy. Quite a wail!
Albert Ayler in Greenwich Village [Impulse Records LP; recorded 1966/1967] Back from Europe, the Lörrach/Parislineup plus Henry Grimes on second bass, at the Village Vanguard. From the liner notes, Ayler talking about the song "Truth Is Marching In": " . . . now the truth is marching in, as it once marched in back in New Orleans and that truth is that there must be peace and joy on Earth. I believe music can help bring that truth into being." Two months later, a new group at the Village Theatre: Ayler, William Folwell (bass), and Beaver Harris (drums) joined by Alan Silva on second bass, and Joel Friedman's cello adding another layer of emotional complexity to the brooding fury.
The Village Concerts [Impulse Records 2LP; recorded 1966/1967]
Love Cry [Impulse Records CD; recorded 1967] From the last great Ayler period, the music is sometimes even simpler than his earlier work, like the mad-sounding two-note "Universal Indians." The band is the best since Sunny Murray left, with the great Milford Graves on drums and Alan Silva on bass. Plus Don Ayler (trumpet) and Call Cobbs (harpsichord) on most of the songs. Three years after this was recorded, after a final period of musical confusion and unfortunate commercial gestures, Albert Ayler was found drowned.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH; MARIE-CLAIRE ALAIN (organ)
The Great Bach Organ Favorites Volume 1

BADFINGER
"Come and Get It"/"Rock of Ages" [Apple Records 7-inch]
No Dice [Apple Records LP]

DEREK BAILEY/CYRO BAPTISTA
Cyro

DEREK BAILEY/GEORGE LEWIS/JOHN ZORN
Yankees

THE BAND
Music from Big Pink
The Band [2nd LP]
Real Old Time Band [Rubber Dubber 2LP bootleg; live at the Hollywood Bowl 1970]

BILLY BANG
Live at Carlos 1 [Soul Note CD, recorded 1986]

LESTER BANGS
"Let It Blurt"/"Live" [Spy 7-inch]

GATO BARBIERI
In Search of the Mystery [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD; recorded 1967]

THE BAR-KAYS
"Soul Finger" [Volt 7-inch]
Gotta Groove
Black Rock
The Best of the Bar-Kays [Mercury/Funk Essentials series]

JOHNNY BARNES
"Angel of Inspiration"/"Steel Rail Blues" [Nightcrawler 7-inch]

MARC BARRECA
Twilight

SYD BARRETT
The Madcap Laughs
Barrett

DAVE BARTHOLOMEW
"The Monkey"/"The Shufflin' Fox" [Imperial 7-inch]

MASAKI BATOH
Collected Works 1995-1996 [The Now Sound CD] This collects and re-sequences two LP by the mainman behind Ghost. The first, A Ghost from the Darkened Sea,includes a short, mutated take on Can's "Yoo Doo Right" and a mellow, pretty version of Cream's "World of Pain." The remainder, all original, is instrumental and includes shimmery layers of acoustic guitars; marimbas repeating simple melody over and over low keyboard hums, hovering 'twixt Africa and minimal shindiggery; low whistle whoops, groans, and trills like forest nighttime, oozin' into voodoo drum and concrete organ ; finally the dark sea itself risin' in hurdy-gurdy wavin' wonder. The second LP, Kikaokubeshi,picked up on the same flavor: dark, repetitive, percussive neo-minimal and neo-psych with a flow way more natural than you expect from "second-hand" music--AHA! could it be that this is the true Esperanto, music-language that is truly beyond word-language, common ways that propel psychedelia and minimalism (repetition)--jazz/blues, rock in its broadest sense, funk/hiphop, all true multicultural sonic expressions--into workable forms for anybody to use, no more "second hand" than any other language. Whatever--Masaki's rhythms sounds pulses noises--all them cycling keyboards and liquid thrumps, taped voices looped--can't tell if he's comin' or goin' coz he's already there--it's a marvel, it's radiant, you would like it if you heard it.

THE BEACH BOYS
All Summer Long
The Beach Boys Today!
Beach Boys' Party!
Pet Sounds
Smiley Smile
Wild Honey
20/20
Sunflower
Surf's Up
The Beach Boys Love You
Good Vibrations [box set]
Smile [various bootlegs, LP cuts, and dreams]
Rarities [Australian EMI comp; mostly non-Beach Boys productions by Brian Wilson]

BEARCE
"We're All on the Hill"/"Willow Tree" [7-inch]

BEASTIE BOYS
Licensed to Ill
Paul's Boutique
Check Your Head
Ill Communication

THE BEATLES
Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962 [Ariola 2LP]
Introducing the Beatles [Vee-Jay LP]
Beatles for Sale [Parlophone LP]
A Hard Day's Night [Parlophone LP]
Help! [Parlophone LP]
Rubber Soul [Parlophone LP]
Revolver [Parlophone LP]
Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour [Capitol LP]
the white album
The Lost Pepperland Reel [bootleg CD]
Unsurpassed Demos [Yellow Dog bootleg CD; white album demos]

THE BEAU BRUMMELS
Introducing the Beau Brummels [Autumn Records LP]
The Beau Brummels Volume 2 [Autumn Records LP]
Triangle [Warner Bros. Records LP]
Bradley's Barn [Warner Bros. Records LP]
The Best of the Beau Brummels 1965-1968 [Rhino Records LP]

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN; GEORGE SZELL (conductor) & THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
The Nine Symphonies [Columbia 7LP]

SANDRA BELL
Dreams of Falling [Turbulence Records CD; Belgium]

HAN BENNINK/DEREK BAILEY
Company 3

ROD BERNARD
Rod Bernard [Jin LP]

CHUCK BERRY
One Dozen Berrys
Rockin' at the Hops
Chuck Berry's Greatest Hits
New Juke Box Hits

HARRY BERTOIA
Space Voyage/Echoes of Other Times [Sonambient LP]
Swift Sounds/Phosphorescence [Sonambient LP]

THE BIG BOYS
Lullabies Help the Brain Grow

BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING CO.
Cheap Thrills
Joplin in Concert [Big Brother half of Columbia 2LP]
Live [Rhino] [a.k.a. Cheaper Thrills]
Live at Winterland '68 [Columbia/Legacy CD]
Live USA [bootleg CD; live Monterey, L.A., S. F. 1967]

BIG STAR
#1 Record
Radio City
3rd

BIG STICK
Drag Racing [7-inch EP]

BILGE PUMP
The Eternal Qu'est que c'est for Barry [Barry Records 7-inch; Leeds, England, 1997] Hard-drivin' English avant-rock that flashes on the same kinda cocky, energized attack as the early lineups of the Magic Band, MX-80, Pere Ubu, and the Fall. Hot shit.

BIRCHVILLE CAT MOTEL
Cranes Are Sleeping [Ecstatic Peace LP] Layers of feedback, electronics, percussion, etc. tweaked into shimmering, often intense drones and free noise by New Zealander Campbell Kneale.
Creeping Frost Onset [Celebrate Psi Phenomenon CDR; New Zealand] Campbell Kneale: "The latest installment of sacred hush from hedge-trimming, cake-baking, suburban New Zealand. Walking on the mild side, this introduces the formation of a new concentration on negative space within the Birchville 'thing'. Special." Long stretch of solo Campbell twitchin' in a very static zone before it comes apart nicely into a toy jam 'twixt Campbell and his kids Caspar and Winter. This develops into a somber clarinet section and then does some other things, etc. Campbell on oscillators, turntables, toys, clarinet, bowed roof, violin, and motorised acoustic guitar. Another tasty Cat treat. Released 2001.
We Count These Prayers [Corpus Hermeticum CD; New Zealand] More than an hour of feel-good hip-gnosis 'n real-life haze 'n deep-thought gong-a-naught from BCM. Campbell Kneale says: "The fleeting harmonisation of many hazy fragments that orbit the core of the Birchville 'thing'. Planets align in silence and only the gentle strain of magnetic fields celebrate the occasion... but for an anonymous instant, things were 'right'. Birchville Cat Motels crowning glory... the best thing I ever did... everybody says so... and so will you." Released 2001.
 

THE BIRDS
These Birds Are Dangerous [Edsel 12" EP]

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
"Release the Bats"/"Blast Off"/"The Friend Catcher"/"Mr. Clarinet"/"Happy Birthday" [4AD 12-inch]
Prayers on Fire
Mutiny!

BITTOVÁ & FAJT
Bittová & Fajt [Panton LP; Czech Republic; 1987]

IVA BITTOVÁ/DUNAJ
Iva Bittová/Dunaj [Panton LP; Czech Republic; 1988]

IVA BITTOVÁ
Divná slecinka [BMG Europe CD; Czech Republic] Amazing solo work from the Czech singer and violinist. Best known (to me) from her work with percussionist Pavel Fajt, this is less experimental but hardly commercial or pop in any sense. The 1987 album Bittová & Fajtis a striking, individualistic approach to improvised music with that great quality of West-meets-East that permeates music from Eastern Europe. On this solo CD, with a 1996 copyright, her vocal gymnastics tend to be folk-music beautiful instead of jazz-angular. The folk quality is much more pronounced--and I mean folk as in Gypsy (or Romany) and related folk. Because that is her ethnicity, something made more obvious by Divná slecinka.The lyrics are a mystery to me; in fact, it's often hard for my American ears to discern where the lyrics end and her tongues begin. And that's fine; the emotion, grace, fire, and spontaneity are all well beyond language, and her violin sings as fiercely as her voice.

BITTOVÁ/VÁCLAVEK
Bílé Inferno [Indies Records CD; Czech Republic] Iva Bittová and Vladimír Václavek played together in the 80s Brno rock band, Dunaj. Since then, Bittová (vocals, violin, etc) has worked in many different musical settings, often with husband Pavel Fajt, an incredible percussionist. Václavek (guitar and other stringed instruments) was in the avant-rock power trio E, and is part of Rale. This double CD is similar to the Rale CD, in that it has varied musical approaches played on acoustic instruments, but on this project the net is cast much wider. Iva Bittová's amazing breadth of musical abilities and styles is always uniquely electric and irresistible. But also listen for the distinctive pluck of Vladimír Václavek's muted guitar strings, and his unusual sense of rhythm. Most of the music is written by both musicians, with most of the lyrics from outside writers. No translation of the lyrics, but the emotional content of the songs is very up front, even if its literal meanings are for Czech listeners. Lots of incredible vocals by Iva, as well as gorgeous harmonies that include her sister Ida Kelarová and a group of children. The music draws largely from Czech folk music, and the Gypsy-Jewish ancestry that lies behind much of this music, but there's also 50 years of American pop-jazz-rock crouching in the corner, along with European classical and avant garde. Amazing music. These kinds of sounds are fast disappearing as "globalization" demands either product or resistance. Straight forward and beautiful but nonetheless uncompromised in vision; art music made for everybody (not just record collectors); folk music that doesn't feel bound by tradition. If you seek it out and open your ears, I can almost guarantee your heart will be very close behind.

Vladimír Václavek & Iva Bittová

THE BIZARROS
The Bizarros [Gorilla 7-inch EP; 1976]

CILLA BLACK
Cilla Sings a Rainbow [Parlophone LP; England]

BLACK FLAG
Nervous Breakdown [7-inch EP]
Jealous Again [12-inch EP]
"Louie Louie"/"Damaged 1" [7-inch]
Damaged
Everything Went Black
The Process of Weeding Out

BLACK OAK ARKANSAS
Black Oak Arkansas [first LP]
Keep the Faith
Raunch 'n' Roll

BLACK PEARL
Black Pearl [Atlantic LP]

BLACK SABBATH
Black Sabbath
Paranoid
Master of Reality

BLACK SHEEP
"Similak Child" [12-inch single remix]
A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

BOBBY BLAND
The Best of Bobby Bland [MCA]

CARLA BLEY/PAUL HAINES
Escalator Over the Hill

PAUL BLEY QUINTET
Barrage [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD, recorded 1964]

PAUL BLEY/JOHN GILMORE/PAUL MOTIAN/GARY PEACOCK
Turning Point [Improvising Artists CD; recorded 1964/1968]

BLOOD ON THE SADDLE
Blood on the Saddle [New Alliance LP; 1984]

BLOW FLY
Blow Fly on TV
Zodiac
Disco

BLUE ASH
No More, No Less [Mercury LP]

BLUE CHEER
Vincebus Eruptum
Outsideinside
New! Improved! Blue Cheer [side 2 with Randy Holden only!]
Live & Unreleased 2: Live at San Jose Civic Center 1968 + More [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] The sound of hurricane mudwalls squished down and compressed through a no-fi fan-recorded tape of six songs by the original Blue Cheer live in San Jose, California. Don't worry, though, just lay back and imagine you're sweating through a 12-hour speed-laced acid trip where EVERYTHING sounds like there's a tin can wrapped around your head. The "bonus tracks" are much better sound quality, just a bit of hiss: "Summertime Blues" gets an extra-heavy treatment, with added guitar noise at the end, from what seems to be a rehearsal take recorded at the Matrix in '68. Then another version of "Summertime Blues" and six minutes of "Second Time Around" recorded at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A., also '68, but with the added weirdness of being unfinished board mixes without vocals and very little bass. Leigh Stephens' guitar is awesome!

THE BLUE HUMANS
Live N.Y. 1980 [Audible Hiss CD] Ferociously free Arthur Doyle on tenor sax (and occasional flute); Rudolph Grey's spazzbo guitarisms; the great drummer Beaver Harris providing a solid but open base on which to take off!Made right in the middle of the punk explosion, hovering at the edges of the NYC No Wave scene, this could just as well be from '69 or '96 as '80: true freedom is timeless.
Incandescence [Shock CD]

BLUE OYSTER CULT
Blue Oyster Cult [first LP]
Tyranny and Mutation
Live Promo EP [a.k.a. In My Mouth or On the Ground bootleg] [10-inch]

BLUES IMAGE
"Ride Captain Ride" [Atco 7-inch]

THE BLUES PROJECT
Projections
The Best of the Blues Project [Rhino]

COLIN BLUNSTONE
One Year

BLURT
In Berlin
Blurt [Red Flame]
Smoke Time
"The Fish Needs a Bike" [7-inch]

BOB B. SOXX & THE BLUE JEANS
Phil Spector Wall of Sound Vol. 2

DOCK BOGGS
Country Blues [Revanant CD] Back before there was bluegrass and C&W, when Jimmie Rodgers himself was just gettin' started, when the blues was perceived as commercial radio music, when the gap between country and blues wasn't so wide, there were lots of crazy White guys in the South starting to imitate the deeper Black music around them. One was Virginia coal miner and bootlegger Moran Lee "Dock" Boggs. His family's self-entertainment provided a rudimentary musical framework at the same time Dock was being exposed to local Black music, and he got the itch to do it himself. He chose banjo as his instrument, but instead of playing in the down-stroked country style of the day, he imitated the plucked-string approach of Black guitarists, unconsciously bowing to the banjo's own African origin. The eight songs he recorded in 1927 for Brunswick Records are among the deepest, craziest, most cross-pollinated of raw American music. Dig his first 78-RPM release: "Sugar Baby" is like prehistoric rockabilly, and "Deep South Blues" borrows heavily from the popular Black women singers he dug on the radio. Although his playing remains much the same, his other Brunswick sides tend to be based on more obviously Anglo sources and White concerns, like the casual murder of "Pretty Polly" and the masochistic longing of "Danville Girl": "I don't see why I love that girl / For she never cared for me / But still my mind is on that girl / Wherever she may be." And typical Puritan fetishism, with a kinda hipster attitude: "Oh, you bet your life she's out of sight / She wears those Danville curls." There are also four songs (including alternate takes) he recorded in 1929 for the small Lonesome Ace label. These tunes, with lyrics provided by label-owner W. E. Meyer, are very different; the results are entertaining, but much closer to pop music of the time, mostly stripped of Boggs' backwoods inclinations. Also included are two songs each from brothers Hayes Shepherd (banjo) and Bill Shepherd (fiddle), contemporaries of Boggs who pointed straight at the bluegrass revolution just around the bend. Like most blues and country artists who didn't hit in the 1920s, the Depression destroyed Dock's ambition; he quit music in 1930 and didn't return until the folk revival of the 1960s.

BONGWATER
Double Bummer +

JUKE BOY BONNER
The Struggle

THE BONZO DOG BAND
Gorilla
Urban Spaceman
Keynsham
The History of the Bonzos [UA 2LP]
Unpeeled [Peel sessions]
The Peel Sessions [12-inch EP; different Peel stuff]

BOOGIE DOWN PRODUCTIONS
Criminal Minded
Man and His Music [remix album]
By All Means Necessary
Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop
Edutainment
Sex and Violence

BOOKER T. & THE MG's
The Best of Booker T. & the MG's [Atlantic]

BOOKER T. & THE MG's/THE MAR-KEYS
Back to Back

B.O.R.B.
Trailer Full of Smoke [Twisted Village LP] The Twisted Village collective's Wayne, Kate, and Tom--Bongloads Of Righteous Boo--bring us big lungfuls of deep-space boo-gie on their '92 debut. Psychedelic rock, the alleged genre, is little more than a mask for what turns into more of a sound-based trance-out. The drumless format they use creates much rhythmic freedom for the guitars, organ, recorder, and occasional voice to develop outside the usual, um, rock boundaries. Etc. Sure does sound good while yer stoned (but what doesn't!).
Blast Off With B.O.R.B. [Twisted Village LP]
B.O.R.B. in Orbit [Twisted Village CD]

BORBETOMAGUS & SHAKING RAY LEVIS
10-inch picture disc [Agaric] The Levis (Dennis Palmer and Rob Stagner) meet Borbetomagus (saxophonists Don Dietrich and Jim Sauter, guitarist Don Miller). The Levis' "ole timey avant-garde" softens up the usual Borbetomagus assault; snatches of primal melodies even bubble up out the storm, as is apt to happen with the Levis. Great art by Dennis Palmer from the Levis on both sides of numbered edition of 1000. Kinda may be some sorta "classic." Yee-heee!

THOMAS BORGMANN/WILBER MORRIS/DENIS CHARLES
Organic [The Lotus Sound CD; recorded 1997] Heaviness from three musicians riding different crests of the free-jazz wave, reveling in the moment at a show recorded in Germany. The great drummer Denis Charles played with Cecil Taylor and Archie Shepp in the 60s; Morris (bass) has done time with later free-jazz eccentrics Arthur Doyle and Frank Lowe; and I don't know saxophonist Borgmann's background (he's the blonde guy). The playing is relaxed, confident but searching. Morris is subtle and fluid, with Charles' explosions breaking things up. Somewhere in the middle, Borgmann demonstrates his European precision while yearning for the spiritual release of Ayler and Coltrane. And not a single indie-rock sideman in sight!

DAVID BOWIE
The Man Who Sold the World

LESTER BOWIE
The Great Pretender [ECM CD; recorded 1981] Nostalgia, AACM style: the Platters' title song is mocked and extended into a noisy jam; a 1950s childrens TV theme is taken apart mirthfully; and there's "When the Doom (Moon) Comes Over the Mountain," sort of Sun Ra meets Spike Jones. The originals: a mutant rhumba; laid-back Miles-style jazz, with drummer Phillip Wilson's impressive solo spot; and a final statement from deep space. Very likable album

TOMMY BOYCE & BOBBY HART
"Out & About" [A&M 7-inch] This is the number they lip-synched on I Dream of Jeannie,with Phil Spector as himself and Barbara Eden "playing" drums.

RONNIE BOYKINS
Ronnie Boykins [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD; recorded 1975]

JOHANNES BRAHMS/ANTONIN DVORAK; HANS SCHMIDT-ISSERSTEDT (conductor) & THE HAMBURG RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Brahms: Hungarian Dances/Dvorak: Slavonic Dances [Ace of Clubs LP; England]

KJETIL D. BRANDSDAL
Kjetil D. Brandsdal [Ecstatic Peace LP] Great bunch of  rock-sized minimal musics banged out in a hazy phased garage that floats over the world's 'burbs like a swarm of flies threatening to engulf the bloody carcass below. The fourth LP, I think, by one of the most interesting sound-based music-makers I've heard in awhile, from Norway. Electronics samples feedback clang scrape moan into dense swirls layers squashed down until hitting zones of satisfactory stuckedness. Proof that Kjetil's far from stuck, though: the second side starts with an Eastern-flavored acoustic-guitar trance that deviates completely from what might've seemed like a formula. And then does other things too. Nice? So much so, it's downright nasty.

ANTHONY BRAXTON
3 Compositions of New Jazz [Delmark CD; recorded 1968] The saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist/composer came through the AACM, but is really quite something else. Equal parts African-American jazz and European art music, presented in ways guaranteed to distance the average listener, Braxton emerged as a musician with obscure academic attitudes that endeared him to white intellectuals. Although his methods sometimes seem cold, his playing is typically of searing focus and energy. "We're on the eve of the complete fall of Western ideas and life-values," claims Braxton in the liner notes to his first album, even as he gives compositions mathematical formulas instead of titles! There is a very sly, and very dry, humor at work here, although he starts his career as bandleader with plain silliness: the childlike voices that begin the piece, Leroy Jenkins playing out-of-tune harmonica against Braxton's alto sax, a voice bellowing as Jenkins picks up the violin and Braxton cracks his horn open. The mood is giddy and exploratory. Besides Braxton and Jenkins, trumpet player Leo Smith and pianist Muhal Richard Abrams are also present. All four play percussion instruments, as well as bottles, kazoo, slide whistle, etc. How much of this is planned is hard to guess; it sounds as if each player wanders freely from instrument to instrument, creating new sound events as the piece progresses. On the second piece, Braxton and Jenkins solo over Abrams' clustered piano rhythms. Leo Smith's "The Bell" comes closest of all to European avant-garde, with violin somberly stating most of the scratchy theme.
B-XO/N-O-1-47A [Affinity Records LP; recorded 1969] Reissue of a BYG Actuel LP.
This Time . . . [Affinity Records LP; recorded 1970] Reissue of a BYG Actuel LP.
Creative Orchestra Music 1976 [Bluebird/RCA CD; recorded 1976] If Braxton's early music lacked the propulsive quality typical of even free jazz, here's a good example of him working, often playfully, with different rhythmic devices in improvised orchestral settings. The approach is basically Ellington-like; written sections lead to individual improvised solos. The opening number especially has the feel of a swing band gone haywire, and "Piece Five" was directly inspired by Ellington. "Piece Three" is full-blown marching-band, but Sousa would no doubt be stunned by the solos. The other pieces are closer to maybe Stockhausen or Cage, although the final cut moves beyond sound events to produce something closer to linear song form. The orchestra includes Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, Leo Smith, Dave Holland, and George Lewis, among many others.
Six Compositions: Quartet [Antilles CD; recorded 1981] Braxton on a variety of woodwinds is joined by Ed Blackwell (drums), Mark Helias (bass), and Anthony Davis (piano) for quartet numbers that start out sounding like a loopy version of the John Coltrane Quartet. And "Composition No. 34" has the feel of Ornette Coleman's madly repeating hamolodic themes, except it comes apart at the end in a classical/European way. A couple of the compositions rely exclusively on tonal qualities, instead of jazz rhythms, as a base to build on.

ANTHONY BRAXTON/DEREK BAILEY
Duo 1; Duo 2 [Emanem LPs; recorded 1974]

THE BREEDERS
Last Splash

BREWER & SHIPLEY
Tarkio

BRIDES OF DR. FUNKENSTEIN
Live at the Howard Theatre, 1978 [Sequel CD]] A real hot surprise from the P-Funk archives: Dawn Silva and Lynn Murray git it all sticky while the Horny Horns (with Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley) provide tight, slammin' grooves. This has got way more deep stank than their sweeter studio stuff. Ooh mamas!

GEORGE BRIGMAN
Jungle Rot

JAIME BROCKETT
Remember the Wind and the Rain

BIG BILL BROONZY, MEMPHIS SLIM, & SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON
Blues in the Mississippi Night

CASPAR BRÖTZMANN MASSAKER
Der Abend der Schwarzen Folklore

PETER BRÖTZMANN/BILL LASWELL
Low Life [Celluloid CD, recorded 1987] Eleven pieces of maximum molten power from half of the Last Exit free-metal-jazz group. Laswell overdubs bass guitars which work as foundation and complement to Brötzmann on the big bass saxophone. In the hands of Brötzmann, the unwieldy horn becomes fluid and fearsome. Heavy! MotherFUCK!

JAMES BROWN
Live at the Apollo Vol. 1
I Got You (I Feel Good)
I Can't Stand Myself When You Touch Me
I Got the Feelin'
It's a Mother
Ain't It Funky
It's a New Day So Let a Man Come In
Sho Is Funky Down Here
Super Bad
Sex Machine
Hot Pants [Polydor CD] CD reissue includes the incredible previously unreleased unucut 19-minute version of "Escape-ism."
The Payback
Hell
In the Jungle Groove [Polydor CD]
Love Power Peace: Live at the Olympia, Paris, 1971 [Polydor CD]
Startime [box set]

MARION BROWN
Marion Brown Quartet [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD; recorded 1965] Earlier in 1965, Marion Brown (alto saxophone) had already played on classic albums with Coltrane (Ascension) and Archie Shepp (Fire Music). His debut as leader falls somewhere between the two earlier bandleaders. The "quartet" itself, actually five including Brown, all worked with Archie Shepp at various times: the great drummer Rashied Ali who played with Coltrane during his last years; Ronnie Boykins (from Sun Ra's Arkestra) and Reggie Johnson on basses; Alan Shorter on trumpet. The long "Capricorn Moon" has a bossa-nova beat not unlike Shepp's version of "The Girl from Impanema" (Fire Music), but Brown decides to extend the piece a la Coltrane. The back-and-forth sax runs Brown develops are nice little chunks of groove thrown into the freewheeling improvisation
Porto Novo [Freedom/Arista LP; recorded 1967] Recorded in Holland with Han Bennink on drums and bassist Maarten van Regteben Altena. Unusual for this music, everything is thick with echo, and Bennink's drums sound especially ominous. The opening "Similar Limits" is much indebted to Ornette Coleman, with whom Marion Brown studied, although the free space is more aggressive. But one of the strengths of Brown's music is his refusal to stay put. There's also an introspective solo improvisation, a subdued group number, and plenty of room for the other players to express themselves. The title track features solo tablas and a sparse bass section, before slowly building to a group explosion and fragmented resolution.
Afternoon of a Georgia Faun [ECM LP; recorded 1970]

ROY BROWN
Good Rocking Tonight [Route 66 LP; England]

BROWNSVILLE STATION
A Night on the Town
Yeah!

JACK BRUCE
Things We Like
Songs for a Tailor

LENNY BRUCE
The Story of Lenny: What I Was Arrested For [a.k.a. To Is a Preposition; Come Is a Verb]
The Midnight Concert [United Artists LP]
The Law, the Language and Lenny Bruce [Warner-Spector LP]
The Berkeley Concert [Bizarre/Reprise 2LP]

THE BUBBLE PUPPY
"Hot Smoke and Sasafrass" [International Artists 7-inch]

LORD BUCKLEY
A Most Immaculately Hip Aristocrat

TIM BUCKLEY
Starsailor

BUCHANAN & GOODMAN
"The Flying Saucer" [Luniverse 7-inch]

BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD
Buffalo Springfield [first LP]
Buffalo Springfield Again
Last Time Around
Buffalo Springfield [Atco 2LP with long version of "Bluebird"]
Stampede [bootleg]

SANDY BULL
E Pluribus Unum

ERIC BURDON & WAR
"Spill the Wine"/"Magic Mountain" [ MGM 7-inch]

SONNY BURGESS
The Legendary Sun Performers [Charly LP; England]

JOHNNY BURNETTE ROCK 'N ROLL TRIO
Tear It Up [Solid Smoke LP]

BURNING SPEAR
Marcus Garvey
Garvey's Ghost [dub version of Marcus Garvey LP]

WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
Call Me Burroughs [ESP-Disk]
Break Through in Grey Room
Dead City Radio
Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales
The Elvis of Letters [with Gus Van Sant]

THE PAUL BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band [Elektra]
East-West
East-West Live [Winner CD] Walkin' into the kitchen, my roommate Bob yells at me in the living room, "Is that Television playing 'The End'?" Nope, but it kinda sounds like it, huh? It's the Butter band with Mike Bloomfield extendin' at the Whisky '66. It goes on for 12:37; the version at Poor Richard's, '66, is 15:55; the Golden Bear, '67, staggers at 28:06. You can hear so much of the future here: Quicksilver, Dead, Allman Bros, Television.

BUTTHOLE SURFERS
Butthole Surfers [Alternative Tentacles]
Psychic . . . Powerless . . . Another Man's Sac
Rembrandt Pussyhorse
Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis
Locust Abortion Technician
Hairway to Steven

BUZZCOCKS
Spiral Scratch EP
Time's Up [Mute CD]
Singles Going Steady

BWANA
Bwana [Acid Symposium CD; Greece] Hot Latin-groove psychedelia from Colombia 1970--blazing guitars, heavy organ, feel-good percussion, deep visions--the trip's all-the-way-open and the funk is floatin', no half-assed garage-band stuff here. Real nice, y'all. Muy caliente.

THE JOHN BYRD BAND
"Earth Man Blues"/"Friend at a Very Good Time" [Power Play Records 7-inch] 1977 Memphis thing with Alex Chilton on vocals.

THE BYRDS
Fifth Dimension
Younger Than Yesterday
The Byrds' Greatest Hits [Columbia LP]
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
The Original Singles Volume 1 (1965-1967)
The Original Singles Volume 2 (1967-1969)

JOHN CAGE
Roaratorio [Wergo CD]
Bird Cage [EMF CD]

THE CAKE
The Cake [Decca LP]

JOHN CALE
Vintage Violence
Paris 1919
The Academy in Peril
Fear
Slow Dazzle
Helen of Troy
Animal Justice
Sabotage/Live
"Mercenaries (Ready for War)"/"Rosegarden Funeral of Sores" [Spy Records 7-inch]
"Loop" [Aspen magazine flexi-disc billed as the Velvet Underground; I've got it on the bootleg LP The Velvet Underground and So On]
Sun Blindness Music [Table of the Elements CD] First volume of early drone and noise from John Cale, recorded '65-'68. From Tony Conrad's archives.
Dream Interpretation: Inside The Dream Syndicate Vol. II [Table of the Elements CD] Second volume of early drone and noise from John Cale, recorded circa '64-'69, with appearances by Tony Conrad (who also produced this CD series) and Angus MacLise. The opener "Dream Interpretation" ('69) is 20 minutes of Cale's viola and Conrad's violin splashin' huge hunks of sound like an overfed hippo ruttin' into a mud hole. Viola and violin also meet in "A Midnight Rain of Green Wrens at the World's Tallest Building" (1968), but this time the results are fragile and lovely--slowly heart-rending instead of brutal."Ex-Cathedra" (late '67 or early '68) shimmers with droning Vox-organ tones, bringing in a noodlin' Eastern-ish melody that gives it a pop-like hum. From that same period, "Carousel" is a tasty slice of early glitch-rock, with two layers of opposing Vox-generated rhythms repeating. "[untitled] for piano" (early/mid-60s) comes from an unproduced Warhol ballet, and  is closer to John Cage's sound-based piano manipulations than the minimal-type sounds that otherwise dominate this disc. Finally, from '64 or '65 comes nine minutes of early-Velvets-era madness called "Hot Scoria." With Cale on hyper-strum guitar and original VU drummer Angus MacLise matching him on cimbalom (an Eastern European hammer dulcimer), this piece is filled with a pure form of the kinda spazz-rock that would later drive songs like "I'm Waiting for the Man" and "White Light/White Heat." Killer.
Stainless Gamelan: Inside The Dream Syndicate Vol. III [Table of the Elements CD] Third volume of early drone and noise from John Cale, recorded circa '65-'68, with appearances by minimal composer Tony Conrad (who produced this CD series), Velvet Underground guitarist Sterling Morrison, original Velvets member Angus MacLise, and composer-saxophonist Terry Jennings. "Stainless Steel Gamelan" (circa '65) is Cale and Morrison at opposite ends of a fretless guitar, hammering and droning away gamelan-style. Next is 26 minutes deep inside the storm of the dream syndicate: "At About This Time Mozart Was Dead and Joseph Conrad Was Sailing the Seven Seas Learning English" ('67) has Sterling Morrison still playing his gamelan-guitar, but Cale alters the mood radically, using the pause button on a tape recorder to create chaos and his viola to crack open the whole thing. "Terry's Cha-Cha" ('67) features Terry Jennings on soprano sax, playing a snakey modal-jazz thing against Cale's roller-rink organ and Angus MacLise's hammering percussion; it's not unlike Sun Ra at his most jovial, and by far the most "musical" thing on this disc. "After the Locust" (circa '68) has Cale's electric piano fed through Tony Conard's "thunder machine," a homemade reverb unit using a Vox amplifier; the reverb-drenched notes slowly dissolve into a torrent of distortion and alien shrieks. Finally, from circa '65, "Big Apple Express" finds the young Cale at the early Velvets' loft, located over a firehouse, ripping apart a viola performance via tape manipulation; finally, the firemen downstairs can't stand it any more, and you can hear one of them threatening Cale if he doesn't stop making noise!

JOHN CALE & TERRY RILEY
Church of Anthrax

NEIL CAMPBELL
Excerpt from the Never-Ending Bowed Metal Song [Fencing Flatworm CDR; England] 37 minutes of thick high-quality drone 'n' scrape from Mr. VibraCathedral. Sweet.
The Hearing Force of the Humanverse [Fencing Flatworm CDR; England] "Not-songs, layered vignettes, and tiny jewels made out of strings, bows, and radios." If pop music could get lost inside itself--where the Spector string section is forever tuning to one key, or electronica gurgles freely like a velvet fountain, or horror-movie mood music goes top 10--then it might sound something like this. Or not. Another feather in Campbell's cap; another Flatworm winner.

NEIL CAMPBELL & RICHARD YOUNGS
How the Garden Is [HP Cycle LP; Canada] This first official collaboration 'tween these two long-time UK sound-makers is everything you'd hope: droney, dreamy, hoverin', squeakin', trance 'round the circle dance. Mostly acoustic strings 'n percussion 'n tinklers churn it up for a good hearty stroll into yer head's garden. Nine pieces; forty minutes; edition of 300; cover art by Mr. Youngs. This is a goodie. 2001 release.

RAY CAMPI
Rockabilly [Rollin' Rock LP]

CAN
Prehistoric Future
Delay 1968
Monster Movie
Soundtracks
Tago Mago
Ege Bamyasi
Future Days
Unlimited Edition
Soon Over Babaluma
Peel Sessions
Can Box
Free-Concert 1972 [TV appearance, video with Can Box]
Radio Waves [bootleg CD; live, outtakes, broadcasts, B-sides 1969-1972]
Mother Sky [bootleg CD; live in Berlin 1971]

CANNED HEAT
Boogie With Canned Heat
Living the Blues
Hallelujah
Future Blues

CANNED HEAT & THE CHIPMUNKS
"The Chipmunk Song" [Imperial Records 7-inch]

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & THE MAGIC BAND
"Diddy Wah Diddy" [A&M 7-inch]
The Legendary A&M Sessions
Safe As Milk
Mirror Man
Strictly Personal
Trout Mask Replica
Lick My Decals Off, Baby
The Spotlight Kid
Clear Spot
Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
Doc at the Radar Station
Ice Cream for Crow
Light Reflected Off the Oceands of the Moon [Virgin 7-inch or 12-inch]
I May Be Hungry, but I Sure Ain't Weird [Sequel CD; this material is available on current U.S. CDs of Safe As Milk and Miror Man]
Grow Fins [Revanant box set]
Another Chapter from the Lives and Times of Captain Beefheart [bootleg]
The Early Years 1959-1969 [bootleg]
What's All This Booga Booga Music? [bootleg; live at the Roxy, probably 1973]
Electric Poetry Volumes 1 & 2 [bootleg; live in Holland 1980]
live at La Cave, Cleveland, 1971 [unreleased tape]
live at the Keystone, Berkeley, 4/21/77 [unreleased tape]

CAPTAIN LOCKHEED & THE STARFIGHTERS [Robert Calvert]
"Ejection" [United Artists 7-inch]

THE CARETAKER
Selected Memories from the Haunted Ballroom [V/VM Test Records CD; England]

GEORGE CARLIN
FM & AM
Occupation: Foole

CAROLINER
Rear End Hernia Puppet Show [Nuf Sed LP]
Rise of the Common Woodpile [Nuf Sed LP]

JOE "KING" CARRASCO & EL MOLINO
Tex-Mex Rock-Roll [Lisa Records LP; 1978]

THE CARTER FAMILY
The Original and Great Carter Family [Pickwick]
The Carter Family on Border Radio [JEMP]

THE CASCADES
"Rhythm of the Rain" [7-inch]

ALVIN CASH & THE CRAWLERS
"Twine Time"/"The Bump" [Mar-V-Lus Records 7-inch]
"The Philly Freeze"/"No Deposit--No Return" [Mar-V-Lus Records 7-inch]

JOHNNY CASH
Original Golden Hits Volume 1 [Sun]
Get Rhythm [Sun]
Greatest Hits Volume 1 [Columbia]

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS
From Her to Eternity

THE CELIBATE RIFLES
Sideroxylon

EUGENE CHADBOURNE
Volume One: Solo Acoustic Guitar [self-released CDR] The first Chadbourne LP, recorded 1975 during his draft-dodging stay up yonder north of the border in Calgary, Alberta. This is seriously great "serious" music, before the advent of Eugene's comedic hoedowns and noise excursions. His mid-70s guitar-pluck style seems to be very much in the Derek Bailey "tradition," but with a melodic element that's drenched in jazz and blues. The playing is fluid and intense; even in this all-acoustic setting, his rock-like aggressive side shines through. The Chadbourne humor is already present too, but in subtle instrumental form. With thirteen minutes of extra music recorded in U.S. clubs in '76.
LSD C&W
The Lost Eddie Chatterbox Session [self-released cassette]
Guitar Freakout [self-released CDR] From Dr. Chadbourne's archives comes this beauty: solo recordings, 1982-84, originally released by Eugene on cassette in the 80s. The title track is a brilliant fugged-up 24-minute mostly-guitar collage, with bits of TV, household conversation, radio interview, etc. Plus the sounds of Jimi and dogs and noise and Fab 4 and guitars and more guitars and harmonicas and etc. on "Secret of the Cooler" (18:12), "The Bird Cage" (10:57), "The Porthole" (10:21), and of course,"The Rake II" (9:09).
Dinochicken 198666 [self-released cassette]

EUGENE CHADBOURNE WITH SUN CITY GIRLS
Country Music in the World of Islam Volume XV [self-released CDR] Much-needed homemade Chadbourne reissue of classic 1990 Fundamental LP, with something like 20 minutes of extra music! "Big John Loves His Dick" celebrates the death of Richard Nixon, featuring fiery guitar action 'twixt Eugene and Rick Bishop. Sun City Girls vibe up "Perfume of the Desert," and Alan Bishop's Moroccan chanter leads us to "The Man Who Made Off With the Money," an anti-music-biz rant. Then comes one of them great Chadbourne country tunes, "Hippies and Cops," which seeps into Gram Parsons' "Luxury Liner." New-agey metaphysics get rung dry on "I'm Not You." And Buck Owens' "I Wouldn't Live in New York City" says something too. Not to mention the conspiracy behind Castro's secret surgery. The p-rockin' "The List Is Too Long" (of the things Eugene hates) breaks down chaotically and Charles Goucher's drums lead the boys through a thrashing that ends up with Charles crooning "I Cover the Waterfront." Plus the again-relevant "Don't Burn the Flag, Let's Burn the Bush." Finally, it all ends with a long passage of guitar-shred psychedelia and Goucher Xmas-song brain damage. Also features Elliot Sharp, and Matt Groening cover art.

THE CHAMPS
"Tequila"/"Train to Nowhere" [Challenge 7-inch]

GENE CHANDLER
Duke of Earl

THE CHARLATANS
Alabama Bound [Eva]

RAY CHARLES
Ray Charles [Atlantic; first LP]
Ray Charles in Person [Atlantic LP]

CHEECH & CHONG
"Earache My Eye" [Ode Records 7-inch]

CLIFTON CHENIER
Bayou Blues [Specialty]
Black Snake Blues [Arhoolie]
Bogalusa Boogie [Arhoolie]
Bayou Soul [Crazy Cajun]

DON CHERRY
Symphony for Improvisors [Blue Note CD; recorded 1966]
Mu (The Complete Session) [Charly CD; recorded 1969]
Brotherhood Suite [Flash Music CD; recorded 1968/1969/1971/1974]

DON CHERRY

DON CHERRY/ED BLACKWELL
El Corazón [ECM CD; recorded 1982]

CHIC
"Le Freak" [Atlantic 7-inch]

THE CHIFFONS
Everything You Always Wanted to Hear by the Chiffons [Laurie Records LP]

ALEX CHILTON
Like Flies on Sherbert
Bachs Bottom

THE CHOCOLATE WATCH BAND
Forty Four [Big Beat LP; England]

CHARLIE CHRISTIAN
The Immortal Charlie Christian [Laserlight CD; live at Minton's Playhouse 1941]
The Genius of the Electric Guitar [Columbia CD]

CHROME
The Visitation
Alien Soundtracks
Half Machine Lip Moves

CHURCHMICE
"Babe We're Not Part of Society"/"College Psychology of Love" [House of Guitars 7-inch] Armand Schaubroeck and crew, Rochester NY, '65. Bang-on-the-trash-can Dylanesque alienation. Only Dylan reallydown in the basement, with the Godz backing.

ÇIGRISIM/BUNALIMLAR
Çigrisim/Bunalimlar [no label CDR; Turkey] First up: four wild-ass tracks by Çigrisim, a fuzzed-out heavy trio circa 1970. Except for the Turkish lyrics, this band could just as well be from, say, Holland or Michigan. Never mind, though, they offer up inspired distorto 'delica. Even better is Bunalimlar, an awesome heavy-acid ethno-rock group who recorded from 1969 to 1972. Their eight tracks, all in Turkish, start off with a couple tunes that come on like a heavier, wilder version of the Creation or the Troggs! Then they shift gears, re-focus their lysgeric energy, and begin to add Turkish elements to their heavy rock. The complexities keep stacking up and interweaving until the songs start to resemble the prog-like approach of Mogollar. But with heavy-rock format intact: bass lines looping thickly, medieval organ tones, Floyd-ish guitar solos, high-energy rock being tugged eastward by melancholy Middle-Eastern melodies.

THE CIRCLE JERKS
Group Sex [Frontier LP]

CLAUDINE CLARK
"Walking Through the Cemetery"/"The Telephone Game" [Chancellor Records 7-inch]

DAVE CLARK FIVE
25 Thumping Great Hits [Polydor LP; England]

GENE CLARK
Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers [Columbia LP; 1967]

THE CLASH
The Clash [CBS LP]
"White Riot"/"1977" [CBS 7-inch]
"Complete Control"/"City of the Dead" [CBS 7-inch]
"Clash City Rockers"/"Jail Guitar Doors" [CBS 7-inch]
"(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais"/"The Prisoner" [CBS 7-inch]

CLAW HAMMER
Poor Robert [Grown Up Wrong 7-inch EP; Australia]
"Candle Opera"/"Drop" [Sympathy for the Record Industry 7-inch]

LEE CLAYTON
Naked Child [Capitol LP; 1979]

JACK CLEMENT
All I Want to Do in Life [Elektra LP]

CLIMAX GOLDEN TWINS
Climax Golden Twins [Fire Breathing Turtle double 7-inch] Starts with kinda like an early 70s Miles riff (no horns, though) and then does many other things with results you might wanna call "psychedelic" or "experimental." The ambience of the "location recordings" squeak buzz rattle is only enhanced by the surface hiss of the vinyl. Comes in a nice, simple package.
Mystery Tape [cassette; one side is CGT and the other is unidentified exotica, ethnic pop, etc]
Climax Golden Twins [Fire Breathing Turtle 3-inch CD] Minimalist structural techniques are used to build short, quickly shifting pieces, with their own music as well as a wide range of other sounds, voices, musics, noises. Trance, yeah, but with sudden awakenings, as well as substantial space, at least considering the little disc only runs 20 minutes. This is dream music, and fortunately, they leave the blanks for us to fill in (or not).
Imperial Household Orchestra [Scratch CD] Plink plunk roar 'n soar, give us more Climax, just shy of an hour. Imagine a room filled with instruments, mostly wooden, and percussive or stringed, with your objective being to ignore the pre-set patterns of American pop-blues-country-rock (jazz can't be ignored in this context), but in an outward all-embracing fashion that eventually references even those styles obutside their usual patterns. Imagine music that my silly words won't and can't describe. "Essential," sez the zine-boy sittin' in front of stereo; "Quintessential," sez the intellectual, looking at his environment. The twain has met and fused into great beauty.
untitled [Road Cone 7-inch]
Climax Golden Twins [a.k.a. Locations] [Fire Breathing Turtle CD] The globe-trottin' field-recordin' Twins virtually wipe themselves out of their own music, with an incredible behind-the-curtain edit job of layer upon layer of street sounds and music, strangers' conversations, radio dialin', crickets chirpin', kids at play, just about everything except their usual kitchen sink. What do you get when you fall in love? Deeper and deeper in shit. But then again, there's sound.
Climax Golden Twins [Fire Breathing Turtle CD] The Twins' "rock record," released 2001.

PATSY CLINE
The Patsy Cline Story [Decca/MCA 2LP]

GEORGE CLINTON
"Atomic Dog" [12-inch remixes]
The Best of George Clinton [Capitol]
George Clinton and Family Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 [productions, unreleased stuff, etc]

GEORGE CLINTON/PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC
The Mothership Connection: Live from Houston [Capitol LP; live P-Funk + G. Clinton singles]

CLUSTER
Cluster [a.k.a. Cluster '71]
Cluster II
Zuckerzeit
Sowiesoso

CLUSTER & ENO
Cluster & Eno [Sky]

THE COASTERS
Their Greatest Recordings [Atco LP]

EDDIE COCHRAN
Never to Be Forgotten [Liberty LP]
Legendary Masters Series #4 [United Artists 2LP]

HANK COCHRAN
With a Little Help from His Friends [Capitol LP]

JOE COCKER
Joe Cocker! [second LP]

DAVID ALLAN COE
For the Record: The First 10 Years [Columbia 2LP]

BRUCE COLE
Venusian Plateaus [Bobby J 7-inch] The more public half of the Screamin' Mee-Mees unleashes his basement-rock guitar on the so-called avant-garde and the results are impressive. "Angel's Carcass" sounds not unlike Loren Mazzacane--until the video games and telephones start sounding! Then a strange St. Loo time-warp is achieved. He also moans a little Jandek-style blues, psyches out with work-related accidents, and does a kinda minimal-into-space-into-noise thang. Dang good listenin'!

SONNY COLE & THE RHYTHM ROAMERS
"Robinson Crusoe Bop"/"I Need a Lotta Lovin'" [Rollin' Rock 7-inch]

ORNETTE COLEMAN
Something Else!!! The Music of Ornette Coleman [Contemporary CD; recorded 1958]
Tomorrow Is the Question [Contemporary CD; recorded 1958]
The Fabulous Paul Bley Quintet [a.k.a. Live at the Hillcrest Club] [Musicdisc CD; recorded 1958] The earliest recordings of the classic Ornette Coleman Quartet with Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgins; with pianist Paul Bley fronting. At the time it was a gig, and not a well-received one. In retrospect, Bley's name was a mere facade, a way to present what was considered unpresentable music. A fascinating, wholly diggable document!
The Shape of Jazz to Come [Atlantic CD; recorded 1959] Perhaps the most controversial jazz musician of his time, Ornette Coleman's music has so permeated what has come since him that much of his early music now seems far from radical. His first major contribution was really a return to the earliest New Orleans jazz ensembles, where group improvisation was emphasized over individual solos. He also began to eliminate traditional chord changes and classical (European) ideas about melody. His music was at once more simple than Charlie Parker's bebop, but also far more complex in its improvisations. Listening now, Ornette's early music sounds sincere, bluesy, beautiful, and full of introverted longing. But his desire for change has more to do with finding a place of one's own than tearing down the castle walls. His first two LPs (Something Else! and Tomorrow Is the Question) are full of fine music, but this is the first where everything really came together, and the first with his own quartet: Ornette (alto sax), Don Cherry ("pocket trumpet," actually a small cornet), Charlie Haden (bass), and Billy Higgins (drums). The classic opener "Lonely Woman" is positively elegant! Coleman and Cherry stick close to the melody, but listen to Haden and Higgins churn, rhythms within rhythms moving urgently beneath the song itself. On "Eventually," an overfed bop melody gets intensely deconstructed. There were important developments to come, but this is still essential jazz.
Change of the Century [Atlantic CD; recorded 1960] The heads to the songs are still mostly bop-like, but the band had started to expand dramatically on what would come to be known as Coleman's harmolodic approach to improvising, each musician stating the tune in his own way and in his own time, resulting in chaotic melodic interplay and lots of freedom for the players. Plus the whole linear swing of jazz often comes completely undone as the rhythm section, especially Charlie Haden, finds free space. The title cut uses a long, ridiculously complex horn theme to jump off the deep end: Don Cherry's trumpet and Coleman's alto sax finding fresh places to play, bass coming in like deep thunder, only drummer Billy Higgins anchored in the rocky waters. "Una Muy Bonita" moves to a sweet extreme, Ornette's contribution to Latinized jazz themes. "The Face of the Bass" features Haden in an amazing piece, with cracked, swinging passages from the full band dropping in and out like a hiphop DJ remixing! And the pounding non-swinging section of "Free" sounds mighty close to the rhyhtmic approach of early-70s heavy metal! A remarkable achievement for Ornette and company.
This Is Our Music [Atlantic LP; recorded 1960] The music takes on another dimension as drummer Billy Higgins' precise jazzisms are replaced by Ed Blackwell's propulsive R&B-based attacks. The opening "Blues Connotation" is a perfect introduction to Blackwell, with the drums given extra space up front. "Beauty Is a Rare Thing" moves into places worthy of Sun Ra, leaving notes and chords behind in search of deep space, sparse and exploratory; again, Blackwell is especially impressive. "Humpty Dumpty" and "Folk Tale" presage Albert Ayler's approach to folk themes, albeit with far more formal complexity. "Poise" is fiery, skittering recklessly. Gershwin's "Embraceable You" is given a strange, somber reading. Another great Coleman album.
Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation by the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet [Atlantic CD; recorded1960] The reeds are Coleman (alto sax) and Eric Dolphy (bass clarinet); Don Cherry on his pocket trumpet and Freddie Hubbard on the full-size model; bassists Scott La Faro and Charlie Haden; drummers Billy Higgins and Ed Blackwell. The format is simple: play! For this first document of lengthy free jazz improvisation, all rules that can be broken are broken. Solos are taken and dialogue appears, but this is so far away from swing rhythm, or pop-song format, or European classical, or what most people think of as music, that it stills gets shunted aside by some with timid ears. But what happens here is real and exciting, men doing something contemporary musicians almost never do any more: completely abandoning the rent-paying approach to playing music for something more important than security or stability. This is the reason Coleman has always recorded sporadically. And the truth is, if you really listen, there are phrases from jazz of the past, spontaneous memories, even a brief written passage used as a taking-off place within the piece, old feelings being stated in new ways. For the CD issue, a shorter warm-up has been added, and is very enlightening, as the very loose form becomes more obvious. You need to hear this album, and even if it takes you the rest of your life to "get it," keep listening!
Ornette! [Atlantic CD; recorded 1961] Coleman, Don Cherry, and Ed Blackwell are joined here by bassist Scott LaFaro. More precise than Charlie Haden, he also isn't as immersed in jazz. He's still brilliant, though, as is the album. Following Free Jazz,Ornette doesn't seem to feel comfortable with the shorter, more composed numbers that had been his mainstay. The opening "W.R.U." is 16 minutes, with the barest theme stringing together a series of solos; "T. & T." is short but really a showcase for Blackwell's drums; "C. & D." is 13 minutes of exploration. Only "R.P.D.D." has the sweet, cracked swing of his earlier work.
Ornette on Tenor [Atlantic LP; recorded 1961] Much like Coltrane borrowed Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell for his experiments with Coleman's music (The Avant-Gardeon Atlantic), Ornette switches from alto sax to Trane's normal horn, and brings in Trane's bassist Jimmy Garrison to play with Ed Blackwell and Don Cherry. There, though, the similarities end; this is all-original material, fresh, kicking, his most song-oriented album since The Shape of Jazz to Come,but hardly conservative; check out his solo runs on the amazing "Cross Breeding." Garrison sounds especially inspired.
Beauty Is a Rare Thing [Rhino  6CD; recorded 1959-1961] This box set contains all of Ornette's original Atlantic LPs mentioned above, as well as other material that was released in the 1970s on the albums The Art of the Improvisors, Twins,and To Whom Who Keeps a Record.Most important, there are quite a few unreleased tracks. More than half of the first session with Ed Blackwell was never released before, including the incredible "The Tribes of New York" (no bop here!). If you can afford it, this is almost all great stuff.
At the Golden Circle Volume 1 & Volume 2 [Blue Note CDs; recorded 1965] High energy! Dig Coleman, bassist David Izenzon, and drummer David Moffett on "Faces and Places." When Ornette suddenly drops out for a Moffett solo, it sounds like the drummer demanding space; but in comes the alto saxophone again, pushing things even faster. "European Echoes" and "Dee Dee" are a bit slower, close to Ornette's early bop-influenced tunes. Volume 2opens with the great "Snowflakes and Sunshine," the most out piece from these two nights in Stockholm: Ornette alternates between child-like see-saw violin and slightly rusty-sounding trumpet, while bass and drums maintain a nervous pulse beneath. There's a ballad and a high-energy jam, plus "Antiques," which twists along at a cheerful, lazy tempo. [Blue Note Records CDs; recorded 1965]
New York Is Now! [Blue Note CD; recorded 1968]
Love Call [Blue Note CD; recorded 1968]
Friends and Neighbors: Ornette Live at Prince Street [Flying Dutchman/BMG CD, France; recorded 1970]
Science Fiction [Sony CD, Japan; recorded 1971]
The Belgrade Concert [Jazz Door CD; recorded 1971] O. C., Dewey Redman (tenor sax), Charlie Haden (bass), and Ed Blackwell (drums) stormin' in Yugoslavia towards the end of Ornette's acoustic quartet days. It sure doesn't sound old, though. The tunes are from Science Fictionand Broken Shadows,plus Haden's "Song for Che" and the unreleased (I think!) "Who Do You Work For?" "Rock the Clock" is a wonderful thunder, with Ornette's Cherry-like trumpet and Dewey Redman astounding on musette, sounding like he just made a musical pilgrimage to Morocco (which Ornette himself would do a couple years later).
Skies of America [Sony CD, Japan; recorded 1972]
Dancing in Your Head [A&M Records CD; recorded 1973/1976] The cut from '73 in Morocco with the Master Musicians of Joujouka and journalist/musician Robert Palmer (clarinet) is an interesting meeting, but Coleman and Palmer seem out of place at times. Otherwise, this contains two long takes of "Theme from a Symphony" (from Skies of America), the debut of Coleman's electric band, Prime Time. Based on "Summertime, Summertime" by the Jamies (a goofy 1958 R&R song), the simple riff is extended in melody and then taken apart by each musician playing his own interpretation simultaneously. It's a perfect example of Coleman's harmolodic theory, wherein the players improvise around the same theme but aren't bound by rhythm, time, or harmony. The playing is funky, fiery, ecstatic, and sounds just short of plain crazy. The band includes guitarists Bern Nix and Charlie Ellerbee, the great drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson, and Rudy McDaniels on bass. Essential.
Body Meta [Harmolodic/Verve Records CD; recorded 1976] The first full album by Prime Time, recorded at the same sessions as Dancing in Your Head.According to Ornette, it's also the first full harmolodic album, and it does indeed accomplish its creator's goal of moving beyond musical category. There are funky pulsating rhythms, fuzzy jagged electric guitars, muscular drums, and Ornette's alto sax always making a strong melodic point. For full harmolodic effect, listen on headphones; you can hear each of the doubled instruments playing the same song differently. "European Echoes" is notable for a wonderful Ayler-like sing-song melody. Probably the best Prime Time album. A must for fans of New York's late-70s no-wave scene and modern post-rock/skronk.
Opening the Caravan of Dreams [Caravan of Dreams CD; recorded 1983] Harmolodic party goin' on! Recorded live at the opening for a performance center in Ornette's former hometown of Forth Worth, Texas, the Prime Time band is in good spirits. The opener even has somebody blowing a disco whistle! The music is real, ragged, and sweaty, the most visceral of Prime Time recordings. "Sex Spy" deconstructs Howlin' Wolf ("Shake for Me"), while "City Living" and especially "Harmolodic Bebop" are complex melodies revved up to happily absurd speeds. Things do run out of steam during the last couple numbers, but otherwise this is a solid groove.
Prime Design/Time Design [Caravan of Dreams CD; recorded 1984]

ALBERT COLLINS
Love Can Be Found Anyhwere (Even in a Guitar) [Imperial LP]
Trash Talkin' [Imperial LP]

BOOTSY COLLINS
Stretchin' Out in Bootsy's Rubber Band
Ahh . . . the Name Is Bootsy, Baby!
Ultra Wave
Back in the Day: The Best of Bootsy [Warner Bros.]

DAVE & ANSIL COLLINS
Double Barrel [Big Tree LP]

THE COLLINS KIDS
Rockin' Rollin' Collins Kids [Bear Family LP; Germany]

ALICE COLTRANE
Universal Consciousness

JOHN COLTRANE
My Favorite Things [Atlantic CD; recorded 1960] After tenor-sax giant John Coltrane's brief time with Thelonious Monk in the mid-50s, he went on to record a long series of albums with Miles Davis, including the two modal breakthroughs Milestone and Kind of Blue(see Miles Davis section for more info). After this, he officially broke with Miles and recorded Giant Steps,really more of a throwback to 1950s hard bop. Coltrane's real breakthrough came with his introduction to Ornette Coleman's music; documented on The Avant-Garde,an interesting but not altogether succesful album of mostly Coleman music recorded with Coleman's band of the time. He then formed the first John Coltrane Quartet with McCoy Tyner (piano), Elvin Jones (drums), and Steve Davis (bass). The influences of Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and East Indian music mix with his own huge sound for Coltrane's unlikely huge step into something else on My Favorite Things.He deconstructs Gershwin's "Summertime," and on the schmaltzy title tune by Rodgers and Hammerstein, switches from tenor sax to soprano for his first serious flirtation with Indian music. The way he grabs hold of a phrase and then relentlessly explores its component parts, seeming to allow the music to unfold naturally, influenced everybody from disciples like Albert Ayler and Pharoah Sanders, to early minimalists La Monte Young and Terry Riley, to the Allman Brothers Band (their long jams were often modeled on early-60s Trane). McCoy Tyner turns in one of his finest performances; the delicate, hypnotic repetition, again, is reminiscent of what the minimal-music crowd would soon be doing. There's also a romantic, straight-forward reading of Cole Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye."
Olé [Atlantic CD; recorded 1961] When Eric Dolphy began collaborating with him, Coltrane's music took another step towards expanding the conventions of American music. The first efforts are on this superb album. Dolphy is on flute and alto sax, with McCoy Tyner (piano), Elvin Jones (drums), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), and Art Davis and Reggie Workman doubling on basses. Coltrane plays his usual tenor, but begins on soprano sax. The title cut, with its Latin rhythm, starts to sound Middle Eastern when the soprano snakes into the sound. Hubbard is a great trumpet player, and really works well with Coltrane, but the instrument was soon dropped from Trane's music. The long jam opens up especially nicely for the two bowed basses. "Dahomey Dance" has alto sax by Dolphy that points straight in the direction that Coltrane would take: leaping from note to note in seemingly illogical ways, remaining true to the song by exploring and changing the song. The other two tracks are lovely ballads, not to be ignored.
The Complete Africa/Brass Sessions [Impulse 2CD; recorded 1961] Trane's last great nod to jazz formalism, and his first LP on the forward-looking Impulse label, was quite a last hurrah. This double CD contains the original Africa/BrassLP, as well as the posthumously released Africa/Brass Sessions Volume 2,and two cuts from Trane's Modes.The dense, whooping title tune features a small orchestra including the usual jazz instrumentation as well as french horns, tuba, and euphonium. The feel is somewhere between Mingus and Sun Ra. Eric Dolphy did the arrangements, and plays reeds; among the other musicians are Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, bassists Paul Chamers and Reggie Workman, and trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Booker Little. Even in this conceptual setting, with material like "Greensleeves" and "Blues Minor," the brass section is the biggest anchor to the traditions Coltrane was questioning. Volume 2,unissued until the 70s, included alternate takes and the urgent, incredible "Song of the Underground Railroad."
The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings [Impulse 4CD; recorded 1961] This includes all the recorded material from four nights at the Village Vanguard in NYC: the classic Live at the Village Vanguardand The Other Village Vanguard Tapesalbums, the live parts of Impressions,other more obscure releases, and three unreleased cuts. Coltrane expanded the line-up to include pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, Reggie Workman and Jimmy Garrison together and separately on bass, Eric Dolphy (alto, bass clarinet, flute), Roy Haynes (drums), Abdul-Malik (oud), and Garvin Bushell (oboe, contrabassoon). There are nine songs, in various versions: "India" with intense snake-charmer exploration on soprano sax, and rhythms from Elvin Jones that sound North African and ecstatic; the uptempo blues "Chasin' the Trane," a vehicle for intense tenor workouts; the traditional "Spiritual" reworked into a haunting piece for soprano sax and Dolphy's bass clarinet; the classic tour-de-force "Impressions"; "Miles' Mode" connecting Trane to his mentor; Tyner's piano up front and magnificent on the standard "Softly As in a Morning Sunshine"; a modal jam called "Brasilia"; Coltrane's lovely "Naima" and the traditional "Greensleeves" providing a few minutes of gratuitous beauty while all around the walls are shaking. If you're on a budget, the original Live at the Village Vanguardis available as a single CD, but the most intense material, especially with Dolphy, was not included there.
Ralph J. Gleason's Jazz Casual [Rhino Video; recorded 1963] This half-hour TV show has been plundered for a number of Coltrane documentaries, but for the first time the complete show is available, and it's a very heady experience. With just a bit of pontification by the earnest-but-intellectual Gleason separating two tunes, this allows Coltrane, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison, and McCoy Tyner to play their music, sans bullshit. They do Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue," the heart-wrenching "Alabama," and "Impressions." Supposedly Coltrane's only American TV appearance!
A Love Supreme [Impulse CD; recorded 1965] Now with bassist Jimmy Garrison a permanent part of the Coltrane sound, the Quartet moved onto something deeper. Trane's visions of God and readings of the Kabbala inspired the devotional music here, probably the best known Coltrane work. The opening "Acknowledgement" is stunning and moving, the repetition speaking strongly up from Africa, the band chanting "A Love Supreme" like Sun Ra's Arkestra. Solo space is open for each player, and there's plenty of great music throughout, but this album was as much about Coltrane's spiritual development as his aesthetic movement. Both were crucial to the amazing developments the music took in 1965.
Ascension [Impulse; recorded 1965]
Om [Impulse; recorded 1965]
The Major Works of John Coltrane [Impulse 2CD; recorded 1965] This contains both versions of the classic AscensionLP; the very intense Om; "Kulu Se Mama"; and "Selflessness." Ascensionused Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz,from five years earlier, as template for this album-length free improvisation. But the free format is where the similarities end, as this develops into a visceral, intensely yearning frenzy--so-called Western Civilization evaporating in ecstatic chaos, a spiritual cleansing that makes paradise seem a mere physical step away. Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones are joined by Archie Shepp and Pharoah Sanders on tenors, John Tchicai and Marion Brown on altos, tumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Dewey Johnson, and Art Davis on second bass. By comparison, Om,recorded four months later, sounds even more radical! The Quartet is augmented by Sanders, Donald Garrett (bass clarinet, second bass), and Joe Brazil (flute). Allegedly recorded under the influence of LSD, the 29-minute piece uses the primal word or sound "om," found in Eastern spiritual traditions, as the beginning of human consciousness, the sound that begat everything else. The music starts with an eerie calm of African/Asian percussion and flute; then a spoken invocation from the group (much like Sun Ra's Arkestra) before the cataclysmic sounds of humanity being born. It certainly sounds like the overwhelming death/rebirth experience common to the LSD experience and enlightenment in Eastern religion: all of the universe condensed into half an hour of sound! Is it any wonder it sounds so "violent," chaotic, uncontainable? Sanders' squealing sax approximates an infant's indignant yelp at an ugly, hostile world; and among a caterwauling array of whoops and cries, one instrument manages to sound exactly like a goat! Only McCoy Tyner's piano pulls it back to jazz and blues. Really incredible; this is the one Coltrane that most "serious" jazz scholars still have trouble accepting, so you know it's important! The other two pieces in this set were originally released on separate LPs with other material, and feature the Quartet, Sanders, Garrett, Frank Butler (drums), and Juno Lewis (percussion, vocal). "Kulu Se Mama" is written and sung in an African-Creole dialect by Lewis, who contributes a variety of African percussion. The sound is dense, and the piece has the feel of magic and ritual. "Selflessness" is more typically Coltrane, but fattened by the added percussion. Ascensionand Omare available on separate discs, but the second take of "Ascension" is available only here, as are the other two less "major" works.
Live in Seattle [Impulse 2CD; recorded 1965] The expanded Quartet, with Pharoah Sanders (tenor sax) and Donald Garrett (bass clarinet) recorded at a long, loose, freewheeling club date. Along with two originals and a Garrison bass solo, Johnny Mercer's "Out of This World," Mongo Santamaria's "Afro-Blue," and the standard "Body and Soul" are turned inside out by Coltrane, often on soprano sax. This features some of his most intense, exploratory work; even the high-energy Sanders gets left behind at times! Check out the three reed players intersecting on "Out of This World," or Tyner's piano space working into bursts of energy, or Jones' consistently amazing drum work. "Evolution," with its stuttering reeds and pulsing bass is a real treat, as the players re-state the theme with growing ferocity until, eight minutes in, space is established by a yearning solo bass section; the reeds re-enter, along with drums and piano, for 25 minutes in the outer regions. Incredible!
Meditations [Impulse CD; recorded 1965] Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophones and percussion, Elvin Jones and Rashied Ali doubling on drums, with McCoy Tyner and Jimmy Garrison rounding out the sextet. "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost" opens and builds into a singular pulse that seems about to implode from the sheer force of the players. The extra percussion and double drummers fill up the bottom in a way that seems exotic and innovative next to Coltrane's usual rhythmic approach. The two saxophonists engage in shrieking cosmic conversation and over-blowing on "Consequences." Sanders' solo in the upper register, pushing the instrument beyond its supposed limitations, becomes an incredible winged animal in flight, squawking and singing proudly. Even the closing "Serenity" finds its beauty nearly overwhelmed by the music's new-found freedom.
Interstellar Space [Impulse CD; recorded 1967] Where was Coltrane headed during his last days? The title and music here say it all: space. These posthumously released recordings offer a certain kind of purity that is found almost nowhere else in the man's recorded work. On tenor sax, and occasional bells, Coltrane is joined by Rashied Ali on drums. The CD contains six duets, five-to-twelve-minute bursts of rhythmic infinity; notes and chords mean very little here. Coltrane sounds confident, clear, and energized. Ali is every bit his cosmic equal. The beauty and logic of chaos has never been better demonstrated. Coltrane died not long after these recordings at the age of forty.

JOHN COLTRANE/ARCHIE SHEPP
New Thing at Newport [Impulse split CD; recorded 1965]

COMMANDER CODY & HIS LOST PLANET AIRMEN
Lost in the Ozone
Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites

TONY CONRAD WITH FAUST
Outside the Dream Syndicate
"The Pyre of Angus Was in Katmandu" [7-inch]

THE CONTOURS
Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance) [Motown LP]

RY COODER
Ry Cooder [Reprise; first LP]

RY COODER & VISHWA MOHAN BHATT
A Meeting By the River

COPERNICUS
Nothing Exists

LARRY CORYELL
Fairyland

COSMIC JOKERS
Planeten Sit-In

COSMONAUTS HAIL SATAN
Mortuary Sorcery [Suggestion Records 7-inch; Germany] Horror-movie dialogue + synth freakin' + trance drums = side A. But side AA ("The Last Vibration of the Seventh Eternity") is where the action= really is. Electronics and drums explode freely for a few minutes in a way that reminds me of Coltrane and Rashied Ali on Interstellar Space.1996 recordings by this English group.

COUNT FIVE
"Psychotic Reaction" [Double Shot 7-inch]
"Teeny Bopper, Teeny Bopper" [Double Shot 7-inch]
"Mailman"/"Pretty Big Mouth" [Double Shot 7-inch]

COUNTRY JOE & THE FISH
Collectors Items: The First Three EPs
Electric Music for the Mind and Body
I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die
Together

DON COVAY & THE GOODTIMERS
"Mercy, Mercy"/"Can't Stay Away" [Rosemart 7-inch]

THE COWSILLS
"The Rain, the Park and Other Things" [MGM 7-inch]

KEVIN COYNE
Marjory Razor Blade
Millionaires and Teddy Bears
Babble
Sanity Stomp
Peel Sessions

KEVIN COYNE & DAGMAR KRAUSE
Babble

CRABBY APPLETON
Crabby Appleton [Elektra Records; first LP]

CRASH CRADDOCK
"Right Around the Corner"/"Betty, Betty" [King 7-inch]

THE CRAMPS
Gravest Hits
Songs the Lord Taught Us
Psychedelic Jungle
"Drug Train"/"Love Me"/"I Can't Hardly Stand It" [Illegal Records 7-inch; England]
"The Crusher"/"Save It"/"New Kind of Kick" [I.R.S. Records 12-inch; England]
"Hurricane Fighter Plane"/"I'm Cramped" [Famous Lux 7-inch] Live at Max's Kansas City, 1977, with Miriam Linna on drums.

CRAWLING WITH TARTS
Voccianna [Asp cassette]
Lavendar Bobby [Asp 7-inch EP]
Operas [Asp LP]
Operas 3 and 4 [Asp CD]
Mayten's Throw [Asp CD]
I Am Telephoning a Star [Asp CD] Suzanne Dycus-Gendreau and Michael Gendreau have been doing CWT for a long time now, and I won't pretend to know all of their discography. What I will tell ya, though, is everything I've heard is special, and that's something, huh? Their techniques and stylistic references vary, but with a few exceptions, they work in experimental, non-song forms.  If there's a common thread on this CD, maybe it's repetition. Whether the sound source is percussion, scratchy hissy records, guitar and drums, electric motors, or radio manipulation, things seem to be moving in circles, or at least looking for some kinda symmetry. This is broken mostly at the end, with two "Text Kernels," bits of "found" conversation jumbled about. At the very end, though, like a very unsubtle tease, the beginnings of a pretty folkie pop tune rise from the mix, only to abruptly break down like a rehearsal tape (probably is).

CRAWLSPACE
Click here and make your own choice!

CRAZY BACKWARDS ALPHABET
Crazy Backwards Alphabet [SST]

CRAZY ELEPHANT
"Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'"/"Dark Part of My Mind [Bell 7-inch]

CRAZY HORSE
Crazy Horse [Reprise; first LP]

CREAM
Disraeli Gears
Wheels of Fire
Goodbye

THE CREATION
How Does It Feel to Feel [Edsel LP; England]

CREATIVE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
Creative Construction Company [Muse LP; recorded 1970]
CCC Vol. II [Muse LP; recorded 1970]

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL
Pre-Creedence [as the Golliwogs]
Creedence Clearwater Revival [first LP]
Bayou Country
Green River
Willie and the Poor Boys
Cosmo's Factory
Pendulum

CREME SODA
Tricky Zingers

CROMAGNON
Cromagnon [a.k.a. Cave Rock] [ESP-Disk]

GENERAL CROOK
"Fever in the Funkhouse" [Wand 7-inch]
"What Time It Is" [Down to Earth 7-inch]

STEVE CROPPER
With a Little Help from My Friends [Volt LP]

R. CRUMB & HIS CHEAP SUIT SERENADERS
Number 2

THE CRYSTALS
Phil Spector Wall of Sound Vol. 3: The Crystals Sing Their Greatest Hits

CULVER
Plastic Surgery [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers CDR; England] BWCD catalog: "First digital-format release by this under-appreciated participant in the UK home-made drone circus (and occasional Total/Sunroof employee). Strangely self-contained electronic/percussive hover. First edition of 50 copies in packages hanmade by the artiste." I sez: lovely, sparkling, often more "pure" and less "rock" than a lot of his (?) English contemporaries.

THE C*NTS
"Chemicals in the Mail" [Disturbing 7-inch]

DICK CURLESS
The Drag 'Em Off the Interstate, Sock It to 'Em Hits of Dick Curless [Razor & Tie CD] Dick was a backwoods boy from Maine, near the Canadian border, raised on Acadian music and C&W. Like Jerry Lee Lewis, Dick was a song stylist, not a song writer. But what a stylist! His deep bass bellow moves easily up and down the scale, sometimes embellished by little whoops and yodels. Imagine David Thomas or Nick Cave crossed with Dave Dudley and Jerry Reed! Sorta. In the 60s and early 70s, Dick was known as a trucker's singer, at a time when trucker songs made up a weird sub-genre of country music. His biggest hit was "A Tombstone Every Mile" in 1966, an ode to a dangerous stretch of road. Like trucker songs in general, most of Dick's records were long on both novelty and tragedy. His other small-time hits include "Drag 'Em Off the Interstate, Sock It to 'Em J. P. Blues" (about small-town speed traps), "Travelin' Man" (not Ricky Nelson!), and the notorious "Chick Inspector," an unashamed and good-natured celebration of chasing pussy on the road. But he also does solid versions of Merle Haggard's "All of Me Belongs to You," Mel Tillis's "Stonin' Around" (yeah!), and Merle Travis's "Nine Pound Hammer." The '73 cuts from Live at the Wheeling Truck Drivers Jamboreereveal a casual, confident performer singing blues for an enthusiastic audience. Lotta goodies here. The fun and folly of hard-livin'.

CURLEW
Bee

CYPRESS HILL
Cypress Hill [first CD]
Latin Lingo [CD EP]

ANDREW CYRILLE
What About? [Affinity LP; recorded 1969] Reissue of BYG Actuel LP.

ANDREW CYRILLE/PETER BRÖTZMANN
Andrew Cyrille Meets Peter Brötzmann in Berlin [FMP LP; recorded 1982]

HOLGER CZUKAY
Canaxis [with Rolf Dammers]
Movies

THE DAILY FLASH
I Flash Daily [Psycho LP]

DICK DALE & HIS DEL-TONES
Surfer's Choice [Del-Tone/Capitol]

THE DAMNED
Damned Damned Damned [Stiff LP; England]

THE DANCING CIGARETTES
The School of Secret Music [Turnstile Media/OR Records CD] From Bloomington, Indiana, the Dancing Cigarettes were a fine art-damage combo following in the footsteps of Bloomington's earlier avant-rock greats MX-80 Sound. Maybe closer in sound and attitude were Akron, Ohio's Tin Huey. Pere Ubu comes to mind too, as well as early English post-punk, NYC new wave/no wave, Eno, Beefheart, etc. The songs are tight, the lyrics obtuse, and the spirit energized. Recorded 1980-1983, about half the CD is unreleased (but fully realized) studio material, with the remainder from a radio apperance in Missouri. And don't turn it off too soon, or you'll miss the great space jam at the end! (Does NOT include their Gulcher 7-inch.)
"Puppies in a Sack"/"Mr. Morse"/"Pop Doormat"/"Best Friend" [Gulcher Records 7-inch] Indiana art-damage punk, 1981. Somewhere between the garage weirdness of early Tin Huey and the first couple Wire LPs, with free-jazz urges in the form of blatting sax riffs a la Blurt. There's also a nifty Eno-xerox ("Pop Doormat").

MILES DAVIS
Birth of the Cool
Milestones [Columbia CD; recorded 1958]; Kind of Blue [Columbia CD; recorded 1959] Milestonesand Kind of Blue are the official beginnings of so-called modal jazz: the simplification or elimination of chord progressions in order to give maximum freedom to soloists and ultimately the band as a whole. "Milestones" is the first conscious example of this way of playing in jazz. Stripped down to a simple back-and-forth riff, with no chorus or bridge to worry about, the tune opened up new musical possibilities. John Coltrane, who plays tenor sax on these sessions,  used these possibilities to begin constructing a new approach to American music. The Miles version of Thelonious Monk's "Straight, No Chaser" is also an important indicator of what was about to happen. A year later, Kind of Bluecemented the idea of modal jazz. "So What" became the first modal prototype for musicians who were paying attention. A repeating theme is used to launch the jam. "Flamenco Sketches" is even less tied to past jazz forms, with shifting melodic approaches over a spacey rhythm section (bassist Paul Chambers and drummer James Cobb) that seems about to float away. Even the blues of "Freddie Freeloader" and "All Blues" are informed by new melodic possibilities, new openings. Kind of Blueis essential listening, full of great playing by Miles, Coltrane, and Julian "Cannonball" Adderly (alto sax).
Sketches of Spain [Columbia CD; recorded 1959/1960]
Nefertiti [Columbia CD; recorded 1967]
Filles de Kilimanjaro [Columbia CD; recorded 1968]
In a Silent Way [Columbia CD; recorded 1969]
A Tribute to Jack Johnson [Columbia CD; recorded 1969/1970]
Voodoo Down [Moon Records CD; recorded 1965/1966/1969/1972] Live, mostly in Italy. The later "electric" stuff has no guitar, oddly enough, so there's a certain tension missing, but that only makes the fragile power of Silent Way/Bitches BrewMiles to come across even more dreamlike, at times getting mighty close spacewise to the Saturn of Sun Ra.
On the Corner [Columbia CD; recorded 1972] This is Miles' attempt to reach black kids the way he reached white kids with Bitches Brew.Commercially, it flopped; aesthetically, it was shit on by everybody (except Lester Bangs!). And what is it? Nothin' less than a bona-fide psych-o-delic FONK-MONSTER! With slippery licks "borrowed" from James Brown and Sly, Miles and band cook wickedly through a dense, soupy storm of popping bass and gurbling electronics, sitar and tablas and percussion weaving in and out the mix, guitars dreamin' of Jimi, and the man himself playing trumpet like the genius of space he was. Absolutely essential shit.
"Molester" (parts I & II) [Columbia 7-inch; recorded 1972]
In Concert: Live at Philharmonic Hall [Columbia  2CD; recorded 1972]
Dark Magus: Live at Carnegie Hall [Columbia 2CD; recorded 1974]
Agharta [Columbia 2CD; recorded 1975]
Pangaea [Columbia 2CD; recorded 1975]

THE DEAD BOYS
Young Loud and Snotty

THE DEAD C
Harsh 70's Reality

THE DEAD KENNEDYS
"Holiday in Cambodia"/"Police Truck" [7-inch]
"Too Drunk to Fuck" [7-inch]

DEAD MAN'S GRAVEL
The Cuckoos Sang in Their Appropriated Nests [Fencing Flatworm CDR; England] Neil Campbell (reed organ, tapes, cymbals, voice), Phil Todd (piano, voice, computer), and Bob Lewis (sequencer) hover gorgeously above the nest for 25 minutes.

DEATH OF SAMANTHA
Strungout on Jargon [Homestead Records LP]

DEBRIS'
Static Disposal [Anopheles Records CD] Highly recommended reissue of the lone 1976 LP by these Okie outcasts + 10 unreleased cuts from '75/'76. Under the influences of Beefheart and Zappa, Roxy Music and Eno, "serious" experimental music and "fun" glitter pop, Debris' was an oddball pre-punk experience that got buried even deeper in recent history than kindred spirits like MX-80 and Simply Saucer--or the early line-ups of Pere Ubu and Chrome. What's it sound like? Panic-strangled melodramatic vocals that sometimes resemble Richard Hell before the fact; rock guitar freed of rock clichés and full of fluid possibilities; synthesizer swooshes and swirls; sax blats; tight little songs full of strange ideas and musical adventure. With extensive notes and lots of photos. A real hum-dinger, y'all.

DEEE-LITE
World Clique

DEEP PURPLE
Fireball
Machine Head

DESMOND DEKKER & THE ACES
Israelites

DE LA SOUL
3 Feet High and Rising

THE DEL-VETTS
"Last Time Around" [Dunwich 7-inch]

DEREK & THE DOMINOES
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

JACKIE DeSHANNON
New Arrangement

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS
"Introduction"/"Assassination Photograph"/"Dream Song"/"Destroy A.M."/"There Is No End" [Black Hole 7-inch]

EDDY DETROIT
Immortal Gods [Majora  CD] Reissue of Sun City Girls guru's ultra-rare 1982 LP, including Alan Bishop and Charles Gocher from SCG. Like his more recent Jungle Captive,the music is "exotic," the mood is ritualistic, the gods are pagan, and a good time was had by all. Folk-rock a lá Sandy Denny is evoked on "The Vampire"; "Talkin' to My Cat" walks your camel through midnight-movie hallucinations; "Run to the Sun" drips from all five walls; and the calling of demons ("Beelzeebub," "I Am Pazuzu") has never sounded so doggone fun! A classic of the non-genre.
Jungle Captive [Majora LP] Mr. Detroit takes us on a panethnic ritual ride, sticky jungle floor rock-a-hula baby, act out so that we do not act, anthems for neo-pagan record collectors, evocations of tiki sun babes and punishing goddesses, the sitar and the fiddle ran away with the poon. "Mucous mandala /You can drive my Impala/And learn the Kabala too." Smiley Smilesounded real keen right after.
"Seed of the Oyster"/"Pyxymphony"/"Jungle Captive"/"For You" [Majora 7-inch]
"Mephisto Cigars"/"Molecule" [Majora 7-inch] Another little peek into the world of pagan adventurer Eddy Detroit. "Mephisto Cigars" uses a Gypsy fiddle (played by Brandon Curtis) as the backbone for one of Eddy's great desert-demon ethno-boho songs. On the flip, the master does a non-cornball spoken-word routine from the perspective of an "evolving" molecule. "I was happy being a molecule," he mourns. The music is lovely psychedelic murk that breaks into a North-African hoedown somewhere in between the words. All hail the one who hails!

THE DEVIANTS
Ptooff! The debut by Mick Farren's Social Deviants is one of THE primo freak-hippie-underground ROCK records. Hear their Stones-based "I'm Coming Home," with crazed distorto guitar and yelped vocals sounding so Stoogely two big years before Elektra unleashed Iggy and the Asheton boys on the world. Dig how completely they had absorbed Zappa and the Fugs into their own very English working-class acid stomp and dark humor. There is a real way of life described on songs like "Garbage," "Nothing Man," and "Charlie"--a way of life that still survives, "white" Injuns passin' the peace pipe, it's all still there underground. Which is why this disc seems more important as the years roll by.
Disposable Second and probably best of the three Deviants LPs. Mick Farren's late-60s street-action R&R band from London, with the core of the band being Sid Bishop (guitar), Duncan Sanderson (bass), and Russ Hunter (drums). Equal parts acid and beer, there are a few genuinely inspired rock songs, plus plenty of stoopid stoner humor and a casual attitude that assures a good time to the like-minded. Includes a re-write of "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow"/"Surfer Bird" as "Papa-Oo-Mao-Mao," and the original give-beer-a-chance choral version of "Let's Loot the Supermarket" (later rewritten by Farren during his punk days).

DEVO
"Jocko Homo"/"Mongoloid" [Booji Boy 7-inch]

DG 307
(1973-5) [Globus International LP; Czech]
1979-80 [Globus International 3CD; Czech] When the Czech government decided to crack down on the underground rock scene in 1976, two of the four jailed were members of the Plastic People of the Universe, Ivan Jirous (18 months) and Vratislav Brabenec (8 months). Solo singer Svatopluk Karásek got 8 months. And DG 307 leader Pavel Zajícek got 12 months. The four were charged with using "vulgar" and "anti-socialist" texts in their songs. Czech TV alleged Pavel Zajícek had encouraged young people to "take LSD and sell their souls to the devil." Can't go wrong with a guy like that, now can you? What's weird about our belated American investigation into this music is that even the more recent 3CD set has none of the lyrics translated; this still seems to be for local consumption. The LP (1973-75),released in 1990, is a classic: raw, angry, mid-tempo marches and screaming dirges, pounding drums, Velvety guitar drone and feedback, loopy bass, lyrics sung/chanted with the snarl of a trapped animal. Primitive DIY political action pushed into intense art through sheer force of pissed-off will. The more recent 3CD box, recorded after Pavel Zajícek's time behind bars, is much more somber and controlled. Like the earlier music, most of the songs are based on very simple repetitions, but here the repeats come closer to minimal music than tribal stomp or p-rock. A simple three-note piano lick repeated for awhile paints a stark, depressed picture; percussion and voices mix it up for what might sound pretty if it weren't so nervous; violins scratch like stuck-needle Gypsy loops. Yeah, the approaches vary, but the dark, anxious repetition keeps returning. DG 307's collected work stands as a unique, powerful statement to humanity's desperate urge TO BE FREE!

THE DICTATORS
The Dicators Go Girl Crazy!

BO DIDDLEY
Bo Diddley [Chess; first LP]
Bo Diddley & Company
Bo Diddley's Beach Party
"She's Fine, She's Mine"/"Diddley Daddy" [Checker 7-inch]
"Before You Accuse Me"/"Say! (Boss Man)" [Checker 7-inch]
"Oh Yea"/"I'm Sorry" [Checker 7-inch]
"She's Alright"/"Say Man, Back Again" [Checker 7-inch]
"Signifying Blues"/"Gun Slinger" [Checker 7-inch]

THE DILS
"I Hate the Rich" [What 7-inch]

DIGITAL UNDERGROUND
Sex Packets [cassette version with extra material]
This Is an EP Release
Sons of the P

THOMAS DINGER
Für Mich [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] Düsseldorf make-out music, Neu!-like grooves, playful decadence, piano grandeur with birds singing, and silly sounds are all prominent features on this 1982 album by Thomas (brother of Klaus) Dinger (ex-Neu!/La Düsseldorf). Plus two groovin' unreleased tracks by Dinger's post-La Düsseldorf group 1-A Düsseldorf.

DINOSAUR
You're Living All Over Me

DION & THE BELMONTS
Everything You Always Wanted to Hear by Dion & the Belmonts [Laurie Records LP]

DISLOCATION
Coyote's Call [Fusetron LP] Way-above-average improv from Japan. Electric strings (guitars?), saxophones, electronics, and samples move with unexpected ease from meditative passages to intense blow-outs to free scatter. Sax player Yoshinori Yanagawa plays with the same sort of depth and passion as Albert Ayler--no fakin', no academic rendering. But he's only part of a much larger whole. The wash of precision rumble and sound-tweaking that surrounds everything creates chaos from an intensely ordered technology. Strange (not "weird"), exciting music.

DISTORTED LEVELS
"Hey Mister"/"Red Swirls" [Nowhere 7-inch; Buffalo, NY, 1978]

THE DIXIE CUPS
Chapel of Love [Red Bird LP]

WILLIE DIXON
Willie Dixon box set [Chess Records; with Muddy, Wolf, Bo, etc.]

DJ SHADOW
Endtroducing [Mo Wax CD] "This album reflects a lifetime of vinyl culture." Post-postmod illbient hiphop whatever, barely a whiff of irony, stoned to the motherfuckin' bone! Even though it does sometimes do these funny tricks that sound like Mike Oldfield in the studio withTerminator X, it's also defitively old-school DJ roots music, simply expanded by spacetime and mellowed by S.F. Bay Area. Not really too far from Saturday-night mid-80s KDAY mix shows after the reefer been passin' awhile. Mostly instrumental with a few "found" vocals--"elevator music for the stoner elite," as Tony Rettman sez--ambient for people whose big toes still work. "All Respect Due to James Brown and his countless disciples for inventing modern music."

DJ SPOOKY
Songs of a Dead Dreamer [Asphodel CD] May be some sorta masterpiece. Paul D. Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky a.k.a. That Subliminal Kid is a self-styled illbient / hiphop/artcore agent fighting the Nova Mob through the medium of sound. When the beat finally drops on track 4, "Galactic Funk," after six minutes of dusty phasin' and spacin', it's shattering. When Stevie Wonder's clavinet shows up, looped into intercourse with an unrecognized female vocal, it feels like home. Not for long, though, as a quick snippet of Joujouka pan pipes hurdles us outward/ inward. Cut/paste. Again/again. Foreground recedes, and we are left grasping for meaning. I don't know about answers, but a lot of the questions are here. Beautiful, babies, beautiful.

DMZ
DMZ [Sire LP]

MICKY DOLENZ
"Don't Do It" [Challenge 7-inch]

DOLL BY DOLL
Remember

ERIC DOLPHY
Outward Bound [New Jazz CD; recorded 1960] Dolphy (alto sax, bass clarinet, flute) had been playing professionally for a little over ten years, most notably with the Chico Hamilton Quintet, when he recorded this first album as leader. And the title is appropriate: he was just starting his journey. The approach to the music, except for Dolphy's own solos, is mostly straight forward, although Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Roy Haynes (drums), Jaki Byard (piano), and George Tucker (bass) are a solid, inventive group of musicians. "Les" has rhythmically leaping changes that hint at Dolphy's further movement outward, while "245" is a gorgeous Mingus-like blues that would fit perfectly in a low-budget film noir. Mostly, though, the mood is light: a Rodgers and Hart tune on flute; the standard "On Green Dolphin Street"; even the bellowing bass clarinet is warm and swinging.
Out There [New Jazz CD; recorded 1960] Joined by bassist Ron Carter switching to cello, George Duvivier on bass, and drummer Roy Haynes, this music sounds energized, so full of new ideas. Dolphy's solos are overflowing; the unusual cello-bass-drums combo offers lots of room for him to move. The title tune, "17 West," and "The Baron" (Dolphy's portrait of Charles Mingus) use intense, angular, complex heads for the musicians to explore and then take off. Mingus' "Eclipse" gets a disturbingly sedate reading; bass clarinet, cello, and bass play off each other in odd ways. The original "Serene" is also very Mingus-like, a loping, romantic blues. The other two tunes are blues too. One of the best discs you're likely to hear.
At the Five Spot Volume 1 [New Jazz CD; recorded 1961] Dolphy joined by Booker Little (trumpet), Mal Waldron (piano), Richard Davis (bass), and Ed Blackwell (drums). The arrangements are pretty standard--very much in the Miles/Coltrane modal groove--so the horns solo a lot. Dig the interaction between Dolphy's bass clarinet and Little's trumpet on "Bee Vamp." Dolphy finds it hard not to overwhelm, but the younger player's voice is steady and sweet. The piano solo that follows hits hypnotic, cyclic spots that tell us exactly why hard-bopper Waldron was so friendly with the "new thing" of the early 60s. The 20-minute version of "The Prophet" gives Dolphy a very extended period to ever so gently tear his alto saxophone apart.
In Europe Volume 1 [Prestige CD; recorded 1961] Dolphy's early European recordings always suffer from the pick-up bands and the necessity of performing cover material. The selection here works around those problems nicely: Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child," played solo on bass clarinet, is completely amazing, one of Dolphy's finest moments. Then American bassist Chuck Israels sits in for a duet with Dolphy on flute. The European band works furiously through Sonny Rollins' "Oleo," with brilliant bass-clarinet work. Only a Rodgers and Hart number falls flat.
Iron Man [Westwind CD; recorded 1963] Although this seems a bit of a hodge-podge, the material is solid. The musicians include Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), Clifford Jordan (soprano sax), J. C. Moses (drums), Richard Davis (bass), and Woody Shaw (trumpet)--with the band expanded for "Burning Spear," which works in similar ways to what Dolphy did with Coltrane on Africa/Brass.The other cuts are equally impressive, especially "Iron Man," one of Dolphy's best alto performances. "Come Sunday" is a lovely, fragile duet for bass clarinet and bass. The other duet, for flute and bass, is a bit dull; otherwise, a flawless album.
Out to Lunch! [Blue Note CD; recorded 1964] His last official album found Dolphy at his creative peak. His solos are as amazing as ever, and his compositions are better. Drummer Tony Williams is perfect: muscular and dynamic, yet rhythmically free. Richard Davis is on bass, Bobby Hutcherson vibes, and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. The title tune and "Something Sweet, Something Tender" are bluesy swinging numbers. "Hat and Beard" (for Monk) and "Straight Up and Down" play with odd time signatures in an easy, flexible way that belies their complexities. "Gazzelloni" is maybe Dolphy's best flute work, urgent, yearning, with Hutcherson's vibes the ideal complement. Essential.
Last Date [Fontana CD; recorded 1964] Recorded shortly before his death (not his final gig, though), this is by far the best of Dolphy's European bands: the great Han Bennink (drums), Misja Mengelberg (piano), and Jacques Schols (bass). The opening version of Monk's "Epistrophy" is one of Dolphy's most amazing moments, and one of the best Monk covers you'll hear. "Miss Ann" and two other Dolphy originals are performed, along with pianist Mengelberg's uptempo "Hypochristmutreefuzz." Excellent set.

FATS DOMINO
Legendary Masters [United Artists 2LP]

DON AND DEWEY
Don and Dewey [Specialty LP]

DONOVAN
Donovan's Greatest Hits [Epic]
"Goo Goo Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)"/"Trudi" [Epic 7-inch; with the Jeff Beck Group]

THE DOORS
The Doors [first LP]
Strange Days
Morrison Hotel
L.A. Woman

DORAMAAR
Terra Incognita [Fusetron LP] Fine free-rock garage-drone from New Zealanders Kim Pieters, Adria Morgan, and Sara Stephenson.  Guitars feedback strum clang--drums pound freely--an occasional melody blossoms and quickly wilts--a few other sounds are employed. This music is noisy in its imprecision, but not really "noise." It's full of focused energy and grace, feels good, a nice play to visit.

LEE DORSEY
The New Lee Dorsey [Amy LP]
Yes We Can [Polydor LP]
"Behind the 8 Ball"/"Eenie Meenie Mini Mo" [Fury Records 7-inch]
"Why Wait Until Tomorrow"/"My Old Car" [Amy 7-inch]
"Wonder Woman"/"A Little Dab a Do Ya" [Amy 7-inch]
Wheelin' and Dealin': The Definitive Collection [Arista CD]

ARTHUR DOYLE
Arthur Doyle Plays More Alabama Feeling [Ecstatic Peace one-sided LP; recorded 1990]
Plays and Sings from the Songbook Volume One [Audible Hiss CD; recorded 1992]
The Songwriter [Ecstatic Peace CD; recorded 1994] As great as his group work is, it's in this solo setting that the artist shows the full spectrum of his intensely personal, "eccentric" approach to so-called free jazz. "Ancestors" opens loose and stark, taking all possible chances, as Arthur breaks down and begins again, the simple melody stated by tenor sax before sing-song vocals make clear various messages ("long live Sun Ra/long live Sun Ra"). "African Express" blazes! A few vocal interjections set up an African rhythmic pattern which the sax takes apart with a growing intensity of repetitions and alterations. Doyle pays tribute to late-60s collaborator Noah Howard on "Noah Black Ark," but he keeps chanting, "Arthur Doyle yeah/Arthur Doyle oh"! The melody is pretty, even sentimental, but still cracks apart with imprecise perfection. For his version of the children's song "Are You Sleeping" ("Frere Jacques"), he plays flute in an ancient style that sounds very much like Othar Turner's cane fife, while the vocals approximate a free-jazz scat singer alternating with American-Indian chants. Wild! Back to tenor horn for "Prophet John C," ever shifting themes reflecting the infinite sides and endless possibilities of Coltrane's music. Finally, "Chemistry of Happiness" uses Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts" as a joyous reference point, but adds many other ingredients to the final formula. This has gotta be one of THE listening experiences of the 1990s--open ALL yer ears, my friends.
The Arthur Doyle Quartet Live @ the Cooler [The Lotus Sound CD; recorded 1995] Oh yes! Doyle's "voice-o-phone" tenor-sax technique begins this like yer tweeters are blowin', and then you start to hear individual tones comin' out horn and mouth. Just as that settles in, a low rumble finally registers as Rudolph Grey's guitar. Underneath, bassist Wilbur Morris and drummer Tom Surgal swing it pretty tight, even understating their solos, although Morris moves out a lot quicker when he gets the chance. And  Doyle reveals a romantic side at the end. That's the first 20 minutes. Next, a flute gets Doyle's double-voicing, evoking early-mornin' song birds before cracking open other dimensions, the rest of the band providing a skittering pulse that leads to a fuzzy dance between guitar and bowed bass. The final selection, based on a Noah Howard composition, offers up the most straight-forward free-blowin' of the night. Great stuff. No shit.
Do the Breakdown [Ain Soph CD; recorded 1997] In which our free-jazz hero ever so sweetly blows the demons up and out his soul, and blows apart your mundane world in the process. His solo tenor saxophone is raw and intense, the approach deeply personal and rooted in spiritual yearning. The themes are simple, but the improvisations vary wildly from screaming, overblown jazz to childlike explorations. The vocals very much fit this proud "Street Player" ("He's a street player known all over the world"), with scattered, slightly crazed, repetitious scatting, mumbling, and singing. Dig the odd complexities of the acapella "Alabama Feeling," followed by a flute version of "Battle of Jericho" using the same melody! Self-recorded (sounds like a boom box being switched on and off), but clear enough.
Arthur Doyle & the Electro-Acoustic Ensemble Play The African Love Call [Father Yod/Ecstatic Peace LP; recorded 1999] Freedom-loving musical giant Arthur Doyle combines his unusual sax, flute, and voice work with backing from a younger group of post-rock underground noise-makers (Dave Cross, Tim Poland, Ed Wilcox, John Schoen, R. Nuuja) from bands like Coffee, Pengo, Sheet, Temple of Bon Matin, V3, and Strapping Fieldhands. This sort of cross-pollination doesn't often make for a happening, but Doyle's time in the Blue Humans with no-wave guitarist Rudolph Grey proves he's always an exception to any "jazz" rule. The loose, mostly sparse backing from the ensemble creates a space that's as open as Arthur's solo work, but with a bit of extra cushion added to the listening experience. Nice package: white gatefold jacket with silver sticker of Arthur's face on the front, a bumper sticker stuck to the inside of the gatefold, an extra bumper sticker for your car, and 4-page booklet with info, notes by Byron Coley, and Doyle discography. As John Lee Hooker would've said, this is a natural-born good'un. Oh yeah!
"Love Ship"/"Mama Love Papa Love" [Audible Hiss 7-inch]

NICK DRAKE
Five Leaves Left

THE DREAM SYNDICATE
The Dream Syndicate [Down There 12-inch EP]
The Days of Wines and Roses
"Tell Me When It's Over"/"Some Kinda Itch"/"Mr. Soul"/"Sure Thing"[Rough Trade 12-inch]

DREAM WARRIORS
And Now the Legacy Begins

JULIE DRISCOLL, BRIAN AUGER & THE TRINITY
"This Wheel's on Fire" [Atco 7-inch]

DR. JOHN
Gris-Gris
Gumbo

DR. OCTAGON
Dr. Octagonecologyst

DRUNKS WITH GUNS
Drunks With Guns [Behemoth CD] A collection of 80s singles from semi-legendary Missouri sludge-punk band. The simplest elements of the Stooges and Black Sabbath--riffs and plodding drums--are used to construct a stubbornly single-minded approach to punk-rock. So, you know, it could've just been another take on the Ramones, but fortunate for our ears, it sounds like their kitchen was well stocked with beer and downers. Like they just couldn't move very fast! One of the interesting methods they use for dynamics, where you might expect a guitar lead, is to suddenly introduce another guitar playing the same riff with different-sounding distortion. Some of the recordings also have bizarre stereo separation, with none of the instruments mixed to the middle; all of it's crudely recorded. Vocals and lyrics seem to be genuinely moronic, instead of ironic (note: this is guy vox, before the arrival of teenage Melissa). There's some mighty ugly beauty goin' on here!
Drunks With Guns [Behemoth Records double 7-inch] Super slabs of fuzz-overload guitar-bass-drums riffing away at medium tempo punk-metal stomps that spit in the eyes of such dainty labels. Every once in awhile, adorable 12-year-old Melissa yells a few words. She was 15 when it was released, though, which accounts for the drool-inducing photo on the back cover. 1992 release (at least that's the copyright).

THE DUG-DUG'S
Smog
El Loco

NORMAN DURKEE
Plastic Radio

IAN DURY
New Boots and Panties

DUST
Dust [Kama Sutra; first LP]

FRANK DYCUS
"The Visit" [Loco 7-inch]

BOB DYLAN
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits [Columbia; 1967]
John Wesley Harding
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II [Columbia]
Live at the Royal Albert Hall 1966

E [Czech band]
Alive!

EATER
"Thinkin' of the USA"/"Space Dreaming"/"Michael's Monetary System" [The Label 7-inch; England]

THE (EC) NUDES
Vanishing Point [ReR/Cuneiform CD] Amy Denio (bass, alto sax, accordion, vocals); Wädi Gysi (guitars); Chris Cutler (drums, radios, electrics). This '94 project gits my yea!for best rock-trio of recent years (not counting Sun City Girls!). Intelligence and adventurous turns you expect from Cutler, and I have recently discovered Denio's humor, grace, and vocal-workouts, but this moves with the kind of power and energy I usually expect from ROCK groups (be it Pere Ubu or Jefferson Airplane or the Saints). Not that this doesn't have its calm moments, and much outright gorgeousness, but dig: the opening cut, "Opening," rumblin' ferociously; the great breakdown during Amy's "Salvatore"; Wädi rippin' them jaggy notes out his head on "Yippee!"; the chuggin' "Radio" (almost sorta "Tequila"!) swirling through a hectic middle to a close of collaged radio-chaos; the way-too-brief fuckedup "Afterture"; etc (13 cuts in 53 mins.). Texts, all but two by Cutler, are excellent; I especially like "The 1003rd Tale of Sheherezade." Did you ever wake from a dream where the Art Bears were a San Francisco acid band? Did you . . . ?

EDDIE & THE SUBTITLES
"American Society" [7-inch]

DUANE EDDY
The Vintage Years [Sire 2LP]

DAVE EDMUNDS
Get It

DAVE EDMUNDS & LOVE SCULPTURE
Singles A's & B's [Harvest LP]

801
Live

ELASTIC OZ BAND
"God Save Us"/"Do the Oz" [Apple Records 7-inch]

ELEKTRO NOVA/ELECTRO NOVA
Trans.Inter.Ference [Smalltown Supersound 10-inch; Norway] When static turns to beauty. Warm, seductive, slowly moving layers of electronics and samples by Kaare Dehlie Thorstad. Spiral. Slow. Down. Sleepy bye . . . byyyyyyyyyy. . . .
Elektro Nova/Electro Nova [Smalltown Supersound 2CD; Norway] More sounds from Norwegian composer/performer Kaare Dehlie Thorstad. 2 hours and 15 minutes of seeming non-movement. Pure tones--no obvious variations, no pulse or beat--are stacked high, not quite shimmering but lovely. Eventually, what sounds like a single distant guitar note is added in a slow loop. You notice the air in the room doesn't feel the same; the tones have inched their way along the slow road to nowhere; things have changed. Then you relax. And then you . . . and then you. . . .

THE ELECTRIC EELS
Their Organic Majesty's Request

DUKE ELLINGTON
Flaming Youth [RCA; recorded 1927-1929]
Jazz Party
Beyond Category [Smithsonian/RCA CD]

DUKE ELLINGTON/CHARLES MINGUS/MAX ROACH
Money Jungle [Blue Note CD] 57 minutes of trio music from '62 LP sessions, lots of previously unreleased stuff. Although Ellington wrote all the tunes and is in excellent form, this comes off like a stripped-down version of Mingus' Blues & Roots.Mingus gets most of the hot solos and is insanely inventive; that more rock bassists haven't come to this man is a cryin' shame. Roach smokes too. This is way more intense than you might think, but there are also a couple very pretty tunes with long Duke intros that might make you start cryin' for real--especially check "Solitude" with its slow, fragile build to the entrance of Mingus and Roach.

YVONNE ELLIMAN
"I Can't Explain" [MCA Records 7-inch] 1973 with Mr. Townshend on guitar.

ELLUFFANT
Release Concert [Pigshit Records LP] Originally released as a benefit for a Dutch rehab program, this is a homemade treat from 1972 recorded live in Rotterdam. There are two side-long untitled numbers by Ernst Kersting (organ with various effects, including plenty of wah-wah) and Cees P. de Visser (drums). De Visser keeps a pretty constant beat, kinda like Kraut drummers of the time, but Kersting feels free to freak as he pleases. He manages sounds that are synth-like, guitar-like, and occasionally wholly other. Although very much of its time, I can't think of anything quite like this. Free rock that points in the direction of the outside 90s.

JOE ELY
Joe Ely [first LP]
Honky Tonk Masquerade
Musta Notta Gotta Lotta

ENO
Here Come the Warm Jets
Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Another Green World
Before and After Science
Dali's Car [live 1974 & 1976]
"R.A.F." [7-inch; with Snatch]

ENO/MOEBIUS/ROEDELIUS
After the Heat

EPIKURS EUFORIE
Heart Sounds [Smalltown Supersound CD; Norway] 14 chunks of delicious sound dressed up in odd-fitting rock-band duds. From Oslo, Norway. Imagine the more outside areas of Beefheart, Ubu, Residents, the Fall, Birthday Party . . . but still clinging (at least) to the idea of songs. Tribal cave-stomp drums crash happily against detuned guitars--voices look to effects and distortion for camouflage--cello, trumpet, piano, tapes, etc. are added to the guitar-bass-drums line-up--high-end shrieks balanced by loopy repetitions--(post-)punk/no-wave energy and attitude burst all about. Brilliant stuff.

EPMD
Strictly Business [Fresh Records LP]
"You Gots to Chill" [Fresh Records 12-inch; with 5 different mixes]
"Strictly Business" [Fresh Records 12-inch; with 4 different mixes]

THE EQUALS
Baby, Come Back [RCA LP]

ERIC B. & RAKIM
Paid in Full

ROKY ERICKSON
"Red Temple Prayer (Two Headed Dog)"/"Starry Eyes" [Mars 7-inch]
"Bermuda"/"The Interpreter" [Rhino 7-inch]
"Mine, Mine, Mind" + 3 [Sponge 7-inch EP]
"Don't Slander Me"/"Starry Eyes" [Dynamic 7-inch] Classic cool-out rockin' from the man hisself. Away from the punk-rock ghouls who have too often gnawed at his bones over the past 20 years, with the Sir Douglas Quintet's bass player Speedy Sparks producing and leading the band (and releaseing the record!). This is the original '84 release of "Don't Slander Me." On the flip, "Starry Eyes" is a great re-recording of the song released nine years earlier as the B-side of Roky's first solo single, "Red Temple Prayer (Two-Headed Dog)" (on Sir Doug's Mars label).
Roky Erickson & the Aliens [CBS LP; England; 1980]
The Evil One [415 Records LP] U.S. version of the Aliens' CBS LP, with a few different songs.
Gremlins Have Pictures [Pink Dust LP]

ESQUERITA
Esquerita! [Capitol]

THE EVERLY BROTHERS
The Fabulous Style of the Everly Brothers [Cadence]
Cadence Classics: Their 20 Greatest Hits [Rhino]
Roots [Warner Bros.]

EVERY MOTHER'S SON
"Come on Down to My Boat" [MGM 7-inch]

FACES
Long Player
A Nod Is As Good As a Wink to a Blind Horse

JOHN FAHEY
The Legend of Blind Joe Death
Volume 2: Death Chants, Breakdowns, & Military Waltzes
Guitar Vol. 4: The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party and Other Excursions
The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death

FAIRPORT CONVENTION
Heyday
Unhalfbricking
Liege & Lief

MARIANNE FAITHFULL
Broken English

TAV FALCO'S PANTHER BURNS
"Drop Your Mask"/"Train Kept a Rolling"/"She's the One to Blame"/"Dateless Night" [Frenzi 7-inch]
Behind the Magnolia Curtain [Rough Trade LP; English and U.S. versions are different]
"Train Kept a Rolling"/"Red Headed Woman" [Frenzi/Rough Trade 7-inch; England]
Shake Rag EP/Live [New Rose double 12-inch; France]

THE FALL
Live at the Witch Trials
Early Years 77-79

FAMILY
Music in a Doll's House
Family Entertainment
A Song for Me
Best of Family [Reprise LP; England]

MICK FARREN
Mona (The Carnivorous Circus) [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] Reissue of the first post-Deviants LP by Mick Farren. Sounds like Mick digested the Mothers and the Fugs, San Francisco and Detroit rock, and the great legacy of 1950s R&R--along with too many beers and too much speed-laced street acid--before spewing out this lovely ugly confusion of rock'n'roll, stoner ramblings, heavy guitar'n'bass, radio collage, revolutionary dreams, and stoopid. Besides the heavy rockin' cover of Bo Diddley's "Mona," there's a pretty bad verison of "Summertime Blues." Or should I say "bad"? For some reason, many folks find this album hard to take, but it sounds like my own 12-year-old bedroom visions of the world, so I dig a lot! The band includes Twink and Steve "Shagrat" Took. "Never are Tyrants born of Anarchy." Right on! Rock on!
Vampires Stole My Lunch Money [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] Perhaps the ultimate drunk-hippies-at-the-pub R&R experience! Produced by Larry Wallis, who also co-wrote several songs and plays guitar or bass throughout. Plus Wilko Johnson plays guitar on a few cuts, and Chrissie Hynde (!) is on background vocals. Besides the drinking anthems, there's a groovy version of the Mothers' "Trouble Coming Every Day," pseudo-beatnik puke-in-the-gutter spoken word, and a song about Bela Lugosi before the goths started chewing on his unfortunate carcass. Originally released in 1978.

ZUSAAN KALI FASTEAU
Worlds Beyond Words
Prophecy

FATBACK
The Fattest of Fatback [Rhino]

FAUST
Faust
So Far
The Faust Tapes
Faust IV
Seventy One Minutes of . . .

FEAR
The Record

CHARLIE FEATHERS
"Tongue-Tied Jill"/"Get With It" [Meteor Records 7-inch]

THE FEELIES
Crazy Rhythms

MICHAEL FENNELLY
Lane Changer [Epic LP] Ex-Crabby Appleton singer-songwriter's 1974 LP is loaded with riffin' hard-rock, hippie-FM-70s vibe, introspective pop, and Neil Young-like pathos. Produced by ex-Zombie Chris White, and featuring members of the post-Zombies band Argent.

FERIAL CONFINE
The Full Use of Nothing [Fusetron LP] Reissue of 1985 cassette-only debut by English sound-manipulator Andrew Chalk. The six numbered pieces are packed full of different rhythms and pulses, moving very rapidly, but the overall structures are mostly static, not moving towards conclusion or with any particular dynamic in mind. Minimal noise, if you like: visceral but a long way from rock (or whatever). Yep.

AL FERRIER & HIS BOPPING BILLIES
"No No Baby"/"I'll Never Do Any Wrong" [Goldband Records 7-inch]
"Let's Go Bopping Tonight"/"What Is That Thing Called Love" [Goldband Records 7-inch]
"Honey Baby"/"Why Doubt My Love" [Goldband Records 7-inch]
"78 to Birmingham"/"I'll Sin Until I Die" [Goldband Records 7-inch]
Let's Go Boppin' Tonight [Flyright LP; England]

FIBO-TRESPO
Ez Az Elektromos [Smalltown Supersound LP; Norway] Norwegian experimenter Kjetil D. Brandsdal in sort of a rock setting, joined by Sindre Bjerga and Kurt Bolianatz. Samples and synthesizer sounds loop, while drums and guitar show up occasionally as if to remind us this is a "band." The use of loops with live band interplay is effective in unusual ways; even with prog-like dramatics and traditional "synth"  soundings prominent among the repetitions and "noise," there's no mistaking this for those earlier approaches. Although the pieces are cut up into song-length sections, the amount of freedom allowed creates freshness and energy that somehow approach early punk-rock instead of obvious art music. Except, of course, punk had no room for things like melancholy keyboard interludes, or instrumental music in general.  This is a very convincing over-reach; keep on grabbin'!
Fibo-Trespo [Gold Soundz CD; Norway]

FIFTY FOOT HOSE
Cauldron [Weasel Disc CD] The oh-so-bright light of chemistry and technology, San Fran '67--way more advanced than the rest of that scene at that time. Only Zappa, down in L.A., comes to mind as being this adept at odd changes and weird sounds this early. Beeps whirls crescendos of electronics from Cork Marcheschi, inspired lysergic guitar and songwriting by David Blossom, Nancy Blossom's vocals more assertive than Grace was till a couple years later. In fact, the very radical politics ("Gather the patriots, like days of old/Have no regrets when the bodies are cold"), underlying dark vibe, the depth of this shit is kinda startling. One of the very best psychedelic LPs.

FINKBEINER
Washed Up [Carbon Records CDR] 14 minutes with Finkbeiner (and a few guests) doing swelling, expanding free-rock; exploratory string damage; and big strums. "You've got yr chocolate in my ratweed!"
I Touch Myself, I Touch the World [Carbon Records CDR] Brilliant, mostly one-man guitar-and-sound madness from this mainstay of the Rochester outsider scene. Dig as he finger-picks Fahey-style with records of ethnic music and environmental sounds, or noisy loops (?), as backing; this is Finkbeiner's "real-time overdubbing." Lots of interesting glitches, twitches, and manipulations throughout. He also rocks out on a couple "tunes" with a band. Limited edition of 74, packaged insanely in heavy picture frame, each with unique artwork; CD in white sleeved affixed to the back of frame.

THE FIRESIGN THEATRE
Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him
Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers

WILD MAN FISCHER
An Evening With Wild Man Fischer

PAUL FLAHERTY/CHRIS CORSANO
The Hated Music [Ecstatic Yod CD] From Byron Coley's liner notes: "While bucketheaded fascists continue to try and stop the progressive roiling of the essential ecstatic impulse that lurks in us all, Flaherty and Corsano negate their every thrust w/ gorgeous parries of sheer emotional intellect. Listening to 'The Hated Music' one is struck by the implicit brilliance of art crafted in opposition to the status quo. The beauty of their turmoil--at times resolved, always questing--buggers any argument that calls for tightening the clamps." Right on. Saxophonist Flaherty and drummer Corsano blow up several storms that are as old as the hills and as new as this '01 CD release. Freedom. Can I get a second on that? FREEDOM!  Cover art by Mr. Gary Panter.

THE FLAMING LIPS
The Flaming Lips [Lovely Sorts of Death LP]

THE FLAMIN' GROOVIES
Studio '68 [Eva LP; France]
Sneakers [Snazz 10-inch]
Flamingo [Kama Sutra LP]
Teenage Head [Kama Sutra LP]
Grease [Skydog 7-inch EP]
Alive Forever! (More Grease) [Skydog 7-inch EP]
"Slow Death" [United Artists 7-inch; England]
"You Tore Me Down" [Bomp 7-inch]
"Shake Some Action" [Sire 7-inch; England; original non-LP Groovies-produced version]

FLATT & SCRUGGS
Columbia Historic Edition

FLEETWOOD MAC
The Pious Bird of Good Omen
Then Play On
Kiln House
"The Green Manalishi" [7-inch]

THE FLESH EATERS
A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die
A Hard Road to Follow

FLIPPER
"Sex Bomb"/"Brainwash" [Subterranean 7-inch]
"Get Away"/"The Old Lady That Swallowed the Fly" [Subterranean 7-inch]
"Love Canal"/"Ha Ha Ha" [Subterranean 7-inch]

FLOWER TRAVELING BAND
From Pussys to Death in 10,000 Years of Freakout [Apex Records LP] Liner notes: "These were crazy sides recorded before the golden dawn of the Flower Traveling Band. Extreme suites of lead-molten guitar, poured with pain and beautiful psychedelic wonder into the mouth of the round eye cow." From the Apex archives comes this early-70s Japanese LP of wide-open guitar-freakin' free-form 'delica. The real thing--no half-way-there garage stuff--pure and highly intense, true-fine blot-fry sonic apparel. Plus versions of Jimi's "Stone Free" and Zep's "How Many More Times." Edition of 400.

THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS
The Gilded Palace of Sin

THE FOUNDATIONS
"Build Me Up Buttercup" [Uni 7-inch]

THE FOUR SEASONS
Edizione D'Oro [Philips 2LP] Fab collection of hits 'n stuff by Frankie Valli and his Italo-Amerikan singin' crew. Check their crazed version of Dylan's "Don't Think Twice" (originally released as the Wonder Who!).

KIM FOWLEY
Outrageous [Imperial LP]

ARETHA FRANKLIN
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
The Best of Aretha Franklin [Atlantic]

STAN FREBERG
The Best of Stan Freberg [Capitol LP]

JOHN FRED & HIS PLAYBOY BAND
"Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)" [Paula 7-inch]

FREE MUSIC QUINTET
Free Music 1 and 2 [ESP-Disk]

FRIENDSOUND
Joyride [RCA LP]

FRIGHTWIG
Cat Farm Faboo

FRED FRITH/RENÉ LUSSIER
Nous Autres

LEFTY FRIZZELL
Columbia Historic Edition

FROLKHAVEN
At the Apex of High [Apex Records LP] Before he embarrassed himself by playing drums behind a man called Sting, drummer Stuart Copeland played behind a man called Charles Hugo Nowak Ostman II (a.k.a. His Royal Highness the Grand Zilch of Ozone). This here's a reissue of the self-released LP these two young men made in Berkeley, California, sometime in the early 1970s. Charles plays guitar, bass, clarinet, sings (except one tune with vocal by Bailey Pegasus Pendergrass III), and wrote the tunes. The sound is something like Country Joe & the Fish at their most acidic, but with a great homemade quality and a looseness approaching free jazz. The clarinet solos are "primitive" in ways similar to both Beefheart and the Godz. Deeply tripped stuff.

FRANK FROST & THE NIGHT HAWKS
"Crawlback"/"Jelly Roll King" [Phillips International 7-inch]

THE FUGS
The Fugs First Album [ESP-Disk LP]
The Fugs [ESP-Disk; second LP]
Virgin Fugs [ESP-Disk LP]
Golden Filth [Reprise LP]
Live from the 60s

THE FUGS/THE HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS
Fugs 4, Rounders Score [ESP-Disk LP]

THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR
Best of the Bobby Fuller Four [Rhino LP]

THE FUN AND GAMES
"The Grooviest Girl in  World" [Uni Records 7-inch]

FUNKADELIC
Funkadelic [first album]
Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow
Maggot Brain
America Eats Its Young
Cosmic Slop
Let's Take It to the Stage
Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
Tales of Kidd Funkadelic
Hardcore Jollies
One Nation Under a Groove [LP + live 7-inch EP]
Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan 12th September 1971 [Westbound/Ace CD; UK]
Home of the Funk [bootleg CD; live in Detroit 1978]
By Way of the Drum [12-inch EP]

FUNKADELIC/PARLIAMENT/GEORGE CLINTON & THE P-FUNK ALL STARS
Live Greatest Hits 1972-1993

FUSHITSUSHA
double live [PSF 15-16]
Allegorial Misunderstanding

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