12 Likes
Another wildly OTT ZTT production but this one was done by Steve Lipson, not, as commonly assumed, by Trevor Horn. “Dream Within A Dream” is perhaps the greatest epic recorded in the 1980s, it sounds as if there are 300 drummers on it and half a million synths. The way (the gorgeous) Suzanne Freytag “sings” the lines “Oh God! Can I not save one from the pitiless wave? All that we see or are seeing is but a dream within a dream” never fails to get me.
The jazz guitar on “The Murder Of Love” is wonderful, “The Chase” is just dreamy and “Duel”, “Dr Mabuse” and “P Machinery” are simply outrageous, living up to Propaganda’s epithet 'ABBA From Hell"; and that cover of Josef K’s “Sorry For Laughing” is just sooo clever. Steve Howe and David Sylvian are on this album somewhere too.
Japanese vinyl - but I must get the SACD, which is supposed to be the best version.
19 Likes
Bob Dylan - Shot Of Love.
7 Likes
Great recording and piece.
I listened to this earlier today on CD 
Very enjoyable 
2 Likes
Track 2, Kate Bush’s Rocket Man. The rest of these covers are polite tripe.
But Kate takes a great song and makes it in her own image, and elevates it to a higher place. Gaelic-reggae as art!
12 Likes
“We gettin’ old, like the Rolling Stones…”
Lol.
Black Grape
Orange Head
2LP edition
Dgaff
2023
Sounds fab on the Arya.
5 Likes
Don’t think there’s any fire left, these guys are that old and comfortable these days there’s no need to be angry.
Cuddled up by the warm glow of a log fire watching tv is probably as close as they get now.
Think it’s the best he’s done for a while and the lyrics seem a lot more resolved imo. Good but not great.
3 Likes
It’s a gorgeous album, I had tickets to see her play this and her first album The Sound of White but unfortunately couldn’t go.
2 Likes
Came across this - had never known it existed. Precious little footage of Duane with the band so a real treat.
3 Likes
Quite enjoying this. Old 2nd hand CD sounds alright, altho not remarkable. On second thoughts, I take that back, sounds great for 1985!
Ordered the “From Langley Park to Memphis” album too, which I still remember from college days.
20 Likes
A last hurrah before I retire.
Still growing on me, like it better and better with each play…
7 Likes
Wilco’s a great band.
2 Likes
The video of Old Silhillian Stuart Lee’s 2024 improvised stand up comedy evening at the Lowry begins and ends with the sound of a live saxophonist.
Late in the show, Lee discusses the mysterious bassist, Henry Grimes, who early in his career played with Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, et al.
Lee doesn’t mention the fact that in 1967, “Henry Grimes disappeared completely from the jazz scene. Decades passed and he became one of jazz’s most prominent missing persons. He was long presumed dead because no one in jazz heard a word from him. So in 2002, it was a major surprise when Grimes was discovered living in a hotel in South Central Los Angeles, where he had resided for the past 20 years. After becoming frustrated with the music world, Grimes had spontaneously driven to San Francisco with drummer Clarence Becton. He hocked his bass, which had become weathered after being strapped to the car roof and crossing the desert, and was essentially unaware of the musical developments of the past 35 years.”
This inspired me to play the 1963 album ‘Sonny Meets Hawk!’, where tenor sax giants Coleman Hawkins (right channel) and Sonny Rollins (left channel) jam and spar together, backed in part by Henry Grimes.
A highlight of that album for me has always been the piano solo by Paul Bley about 3 minutes into ‘All the Things You Are’ that contains the essence of Bley’s unique approach to the improvisation, pace, rhythm and timing of music, which has been described as a ‘shot that was heard around the world’, a solo that was an inspiration to the young Keith Jarrett.
6 Likes
…which led me to play this delightful 1954 recording, another album which, like ‘Sonny Meets Hawk!’ features two bassists:
- Paul Bley - piano
- Percy Heath (tracks 5 & 9), Peter Ind (tracks 1-4, 6-8 & 10-12) - bass
- Alan Levitt - drums
4 Likes
Love the bit where Lee asks the audience to “imagine” a live jazz band on stage. I won’t spoil it by saying why for those who haven’t seen it but it’s one of his best gigs ever. 
3 Likes