Terry Riley, Procol Harum, Disco and Nederglam
I’m having a major Terry Riley moment after finding a copy of “Reed Streams” on Mass Art (1966) and have been revisiting the Organ of Corti (now Elision Fields) reissues. “Rainbow In Curved Air” is obviously his best known record – and is an all-time cosmic classic – but I can also recommend “The Last Camel In Paris”, a concert from 1978, and “Les Yeux Fermes / Lifespan”, two soundtracks from the mid seventies. Riley is a true pioneer and visionary: much more organic and less stiff than Philip Glass and, unlike LaMonte Young – another peer – he believes in releasing his music. (Both Riley and Young appear on another recent favourite, two CDs of Pandit Pran Nath’s extraordinary Kiranic vocal ragas, “Midnight” (2002). Jon Hassell played on the famous Columbia recording of Riley’s “In C” (1968), performed in Young’s ‘Dream House’, and was inspired by Pran Nath: he also covered Eden Ahbez’s ‘Nature Boy’ on his “Fascinoma” album (1999). His latest album is “Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street” – his first for four years, and worth the wait.
Disco has been making a comeback of late, for some very good reasons: it’s fun, it’s spacey, it’s sexy and it’s liberating. The two “Dirty Edits” compilations – put together by DJ/ remixer Pilooski – are highly recommended: “Vol. 2″ (2008) contains brilliant reworkings of J.J.Cale’s “Ride Me High” and Del Shannon’s “Gemini”, amongst others. Another dirty crew, Dirty Sound System (Guillaime Sorge, Clovis Goux, and Benjamin Morando) have put together “Dirty Space Disco” (2007), a compilation of the Cosmic Disco style invented by Italian DJ Daniele Baldelli – ‘a blend of percussion solos, samples from classic Operas, progressive German rock, Disco classics, slow Dub pieces’.
For the modern equivalent, I crave the Kompakt label, and am really enjoying “Total 9″ and Gui Boratto’s “Take My Breath Away”. One of the stand-out tracks on the former is a strange, almost gamelan shuffle, “Zouzou” by Hamburg resident, DJ Koze (transl. DJ Vomit: nice!), who has just released a compilation of remixes, “Reincarnations” (2009). In the sleevenotes, he informs his followers that ‘he is no longer DJ Koze. Since 01.01.2009 he is Swahimi (The Unenlightened)’. Also highly recommended is the new Pet Shop Boys, simply titled “Yes”, with great songs like ‘Pandaemonium’, ‘Vulnerable’, and ‘All Over the World’ (with its counter-intuitive quotation from the ’1812 Overture’) as well as an instrumental album ‘Etc’ partially inspired by the Human League’s “Love and Dancing”. There are dozens of great dubs from the early eighties – ‘Rock The Box (Dub Box)’ by Sylvester and the ’1018 Mix’ of Noel’s ‘Silent Morning‘ to name but two – and I’ll be putting up a few on the site in future months.
To my surprise, I’m enjoying the forthcoming Procul Harum reissues from 1967 and 1968, “Procul Harum” and “Shine On Brightly”. Remastering has greatly improved the sound – which has always erred towards piano/ organ stodge (a sound taken from Bob Dylan and the Hawks: “A Christmas Camel” is “Ballad of A Thin Man”) – and revealed a taut internal logic that slowly draws you in: a combination of rich organ tones, Keith Reid’s allusive and intriguing lyrics, and Gary Brooker’s instantly recognisable voice. In true Sixties’ style, they did not include “A Whiter Shade of Pale” – the most played record on radio – on the first album at the time, but it’s on the reissue, even if over-familiarity has dulled its impact.
I much prefer the much less familiar second hit single, “Homburg”, also an extra on “Procul Harum”
“Shine on Brightly” has the great third 45, “Quite Rightly So”, and one of the first 18 minute multi-part epics, “In Held ‘Twas I”. If that’s too proggy for you, then try to hear Brooker in beat/ jump mode, on the Paramounts’ speedy version of “Little Bitty Pretty One” – from 1964, a fantastic pop year. When you think of what the beat musicians went through from 62-66, then the freedoms – if not excesses – of the later sixties and early seventies begin to make more sense.
Compiling 24 ‘Nederglam’ tracks from the early 70′s. “Clap Your Hands and Stamp Your Feet” is one of those compilations that reveals a whole, secret world of pleasure. Silly music can be great entertainment, as well as a great solace, and songs like “Pantherman” by Pantherman (see pic) and “The Rock Goes On” by Bonnie St.Claire really hit the spot. Dutch glam reveals itself as the bastard, andrognynous child of mid sixties’ Freakbeat, late sixties Psychedelia and Heavy Rock, early Seventies’ boogaloo and a healthy smattering of Europop. In the sixties, Holland had a ravening Beat/ R&B scene which has been well-excavated during recent years, and the scene’s pinnacle is Q’65′s “Revolution” album (1966): every track is a winner, but of special note is their perfect Bo Diddley/ Pretty Things’ raver, “Nightmares” – with its killer riff and sneering vocals from Willem Bieler (RIP).
Final inspirational thought, from the sleevenote for “A Rainbow In Curved Air”:
‘and then all wars ended… The Pentagon was turned on its side and painted purple, yellow & green/ All boundaries were dissolved/ The slaughter of animals was forbidden…World health was restored’.