Brian Eno – "Before And After Science"

(U.K., Polydor, Art Rock, 1977)

This is an album I often come back to for it's ever fresh core and accomplished form. Besides Eno (voice, synth, guitar, piano etc.), "Before And After Science" also features among others Phil Collins, Jaki Liebezeit of Can, Robert Fripp, even painter and artist Karl Schwitters as sampled voice from his "sound poetry" Ursonate.
At the same time Disco, Rock, Anteclassical music and sinisterly and comfortable apocalyptic, this album depicts a technological failure of society providing the listener an experience of both mechanical and emotional ending. The tracks are diverse as the musical styles that are blended together by Eno's genius, at the time on his way to invent Ambient music. The songs roll one after another in a natural fashion, dynamic, with powerful beats, catchy choruses, but also with elevate and delicate organ and electronics introducing the shadows of premonitions and finalizing in acceptance of fate.
Always a great listen due to the concept, form and the great artists involved.

Joy Division - "Unknown Pleasures"

(U.K., Factory Records, Post Punk, 1979)

"Unknown Pleasures" is Joy Division's legendary debut LP, where they first managed to show their potential and present some really classic material. They would reach their creative peak in 1980 with their haunting finale "Closer".
The first thing that strikes you when listening to "Unknown Pleasures" is how sparse it all sounds. Rather than be a "wall of sound", every instrument sounds totally separate to one another. This was apparently all very intentional, since producer Martin Hannett even went to such lengths as to record each part of the drum kit separately, so the sounds didn't "bleed" into each other. It does give the sound an eerie, expansive feel, but many people (including some members of the band) feel it lacks power and directness.
Tracks like the hypnotic "Disorder", the taut "She's Lost Control" and the ethereal "New Dawn Fades" are balanced out by the dreary "Day Of The Lords" or the lethargic "Candidate". This album is by no means perfect, but it does have some beautifully crafted songs, and Ian Curtis' vocals are as sombre and heartfelt as you could wish for on a melancholic Rock album. This is the sound of a band just about finding their stride, before reaching perfection with "Closer".
As minimalist and otherworldly as the wave patterns that decorate the cover, "Unknown Pleasures" is as brooding as it is uplifting and still makes for a enthralling listen nearly thirty years later.

Mahavishnu Orchestra - "Apocalypse"

(U.K., Columbia Records, Jazz/Rock/Classical Fusion, 1974)

"Apocalypse" sees the second incarnation of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra. This album blends together Jazz, European Classical music and Rock to an extent that was not preceded by any band until this point. The Jazz/Rock fusion style that was pioneered by Miles Davis's 1970 album "Bitches Brew" (on which McLaughlin took part as a band member) or Jimy Hendrix's "Electric Ladyland" has with this release touched a higher point in its evolution.
"Apocalypse" is almost every time seen as a minor follower of the epitomes of Jazz/Rock fusion which this band released earlier in their career. "The Inner Mounting Flame" from 1971 and "Birds Of Fire" from 1973, partly because the ingredients that the band is using in the blend for this album are going in a direction that was not foreseen, a collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Tilson Thomas Michael), the result being exceptional but in the same time an abomination for the purist listeners of Jazz and Classical music. The Jazz/Classical music met way back, in the first place we have "Rhapsody In Blue" which incorporates many Jazz undertones and we have Duke Ellington's "Creole Rhapsody" for example, but none of these do go to the extent of blending the two genres together but more like taking influences from one another.
The opener "Power Of Love" with its gently piano tones continued by the electric violin's wah wahs in direct conversation with the acoustic guitar overtoned by the orchestra sets the pace; the atmosphere is calm, serene but with "Vision Is A Naked Sword" you understand why the album's name is "Apocalypse". A dark tone is set up by the orchestra and as the song evolves the atmosphere is more and more intense until it breaks in the middle of the song where the orchestra fades, leaving space only to the drum, and then as the guitar enters the apocalyptic feel is back there again, only this time much more intense, the dialogue between the standard band and the orchestra being of top quality, you are not suffocated by fake-dramatism, nor it sounds sweet and by no means this is no kitsch. With "Smiles From Beyond" you get also vocals by Carol Shive (solo), and by the middle of the song even McLaughlin and other band members join the pace vocal-wise, the song is complex ranging from New Age-like melody up to Rock driven guitar solos (faster and faster!). "Wings Of Karma" is more classical oriented with a dramatic melody, McLaughlin proving that he can perfectly use the orchestra as an "instrument" blending it into a complex Jazz/Rock track. "Hymn To Him", the one that ends the album, also the longest from here clocking at about 20 minutes has again all the above mentioned ingredients and a new ingredient, Funk!
Maybe too pretentious, "Apocalypse" was by no means recorded to be a major Pop hit album, but more an album that do demands from the listener one of those things that many of us forget: attention, and repetitive listening, as with a classical music opus "Apocalypse" reveals with every listen new dimensions.

Pink Floyd - "Live At Pompeii – The Director's Cut" DVD

(U.K., EMI/Universal, Psychedelic Rock, 1971)

OK, I will NOT introduce this band to you, if anyone of you doesn't know what this ingenious band has recorded in the past 40 (!!!) years... shame on you! No matter if you listen to any kind of Rock/Metal or any other (good) music... this band has the most various fans on this planet, this band has established nearly any possible record (for example "Dark Side Of The Moon" peaked 1973 at #1 on The Billboard 200 and spent a total of 741 consecutive weeks (over 14 years, think about it!), that album sold about 45.000.000 copies until now...) I don't think there will be another one, never! ...thanks to fucking mp3 and global warming ;)
Anyway, unfortunately they have released only six video tapes in their career (one of them being a video EP), that's a little sad when you think of this kiddie bands nowadays, who release a dvd before the second album is finished.
"Live At Pompeii" was first released in 1971 (duration: approx. 90 min.), at that time it was cool to film bands plying on big festivals, crowds going crazy listening to the music and things like that for the cinema... so Adrian Maben, the director, wanted to do an anti-Woodstock film, something special, like Pink Floyd used to be since their beginning and, more or less accidentally, he found the perfect location to let this happen, the amphitheatre of Pompeii. By the way, here is a link for those of you who don't know, what Pompeii is.
Pink Floyd played some classics from their masterpiece "Meddle", like the 24 minutes long "Echoes" or "A Saucerful Of Secrets" (it gives me the creeps every time I watch it... I think Fantomas, one of my favourite bands, should put this into their thankslist... undescribable!) or "Mademoiselle Nobs", imagine the band playing a song with Lassie on vocals, and I mean it! A Rough Collie howls pretty good along with the mouth organ... "One Of These Days I'm Going To Cut You Into Little Pieces" is also one of my favourites, it's more brutal than any grind band... (and I don't mean the speed, of course!)
The director's cut on this 2003 re-release is strange, it's modern, I don't like it that much, too much images have been replaced, it's filled with computer graphics, space images and studio footage of the members recording the vocals... but fortunately there is the original film in the extras section, along with other nice features like an interview with the director, lyrics, covers and facts about Pompeii... and an incredible great menu and design by Storm Thorgerson!
Also, there is some footage of the famous Abbey Road Studios, where Adrian was invited to film some recordings for "Dark Side Of The Moon", and some short interviews with the band, all in all very interesting! Enjoy this great release, it's not very expensive, by the way, I've paid 10 Euros for it (13 $)!!!

Suicide - "Suicide"

(U.S.A., Red Star Music, Electro-Punk, 1977)

Formed in late 1970, Suicide (Martin Rev – electronics and Alan Vega – vocals) were one of the first bands to use only keys, a drum machine and vocals to create their sound. Despite electronic music being very "tame" nowadays, mainly thanks to the terrible Synth Pop explosion of the 1980s, back in the day Suicide were a very extreme and confrontational act who faced a lot of hostility; many of their gigs deteriorated into violence, a few becoming full blown riots.
This is the band's debut album, recorded in 1977. The music consists of thumping drum machine rhythms and a distorted Farfisa organ playing minimalist, harsh Rock'n'Roll riffs. This is topped off by Vega's jittery, nervy vocals; sometimes vulnerable, sometimes aggressive and confrontational, with a distinctive Rockabilly feel to them. Think a paranoid, drug fuelled Elvis Presley having a psychotic episode and you're almost there. Highlights include "Ghostrider", "Rocket U.S.A." and "Frankie Teardrop"; the latter is a droning, ten minute monument in which the song's protagonist murders his family and then turns the gun on himself.
The second disc in this two CD set features Suicide in the live arena. The first half was recorded at CBGB's in 1977 and features the band in their element; drum machines and synths shudder with power and Vega's whoops, screams and "ooohh!'s" sound utterly enthralling, disorientating and intoxicating. Unbelievably, this set wasn't previously released before this deluxe CD re-issue from 1998 but is probably the finest example of the Suicide live experience. The second half of this disc has a live set recorded in Brussels, where Suicide were playing as a support for Elvis Costello. Suicide were booed offstage with a barrage of abuse and the gig later resulted in a riot! The sound quality on this one is poor (tape recorder), but it's really funny to hear the crowd's reaction to Suicide's music, even more so when Alan Vega taunts the angry mob with insults and jibes. It all ends in chaos, of course, but that's almost part of the appeal.
Love them or loath them, there have been few bands like Suicide. This is certainly one of my favourite albums, so I guess I fall into the first category!

Uriah Heep - "Very 'Eavy ... Very 'Umble"

(U.K., Mercury Records/Sanctuary Records, Hard Rock, 1970)

"Very 'Eavy ... Very 'Umble" is U.K.'s based Hard Rock and early Heavy Metal band Uriah Heep. The band which started as Spice in 1967 changed its name in 1969 prior to the release of this album. The reviews that this album got at its initial release date in the media were plain negative, almost every major publication "killed" the album saying that the release is at best mediocre, or too heavy and cacophonyc (is that a bad thing anyway?), the height of this negative reviews comes from the "Rolling Stone" magazine, where a reviewer started his "impressions" upon the album like: "If this group makes it I will have to commit suicide", and they indeed made it, releasing a load of albums and having in mind that they are still active after 38 years from the release of the above mentioned album.
The musical offering is quite diverse from the shear intensity of "Gypsy" to the ballad "Come Away Melinda", to Jazz Rock ("Wake Up (Set Your Sights)") to traditional Blues Rock ("Lucy Blues"), you can hear a mixture of all the ingredients of the Rock music from the era, Uriah Heep can be labeled as a Crossover band of the era, or more fairly Progressive Rock, even tough the traces of that genre not being too evident here in the basic terms of the genre, the songs as individualities not crossing from a genre to another nor having epic or virtuoso passages (maybe excepting the solo from "Gypsy" or the psychedelic passage of "Wake up").

Some notable songs:
The opener, "Gypsy" - a heavy Hammond organ driven track, with a very powerful solo (organ) by the middle of the song, maybe one of the best songs that this band produced in terms of heaviness, for that era this for sure was quite extreme.
"Come Away Melinda" - a powerful anti war song with calm/dramatic atmosphere. (A poetic dialog between father and daughter about what was "before they've had the war")
"Dreammare" - the first song in which you can hear one of Uriah Heep's trademarks, the repetition of the silabe "la" in the refrain.

The version that I own and review here is the 2003 Sanctuary Records re-release expanded deluxe edition which adds to the original album another 8 non-album songs, the most interesting from them being "Born In A Trunk" (two versions), almost a Southern Rock song resembling a heavier Creedence Clearwater Revival and alternate takes of "Gypsy", "Come Away Melinda", "Wake Up" and "Dreammare".
Not being the best album in the genre but more an above average with sparks of geniality this debut album will not be forgotten, that is for sure.