21 February 2013 (Day 52) - Recent Purchase Update # 2

I’ve ditched the idea of a weekly purchase update because it dawned on me that I don’t necessarily listen to my purchases as soon as I obtain them.  My purchasing has never been dependent upon record company release schedules.  I’ve found that if you’re able to supress the impulse purchase urge they rely upon, you can buy albums at a much cheaper price later on, or when the band inevitably tours Australia, a “special tour edition” with bonus tracks or a DVD. 

(A digression – Tip 1: Beware of whenever the catalogue of a major artist or a highly popular or influential album suddenly becomes available at a bargain price.  In many cases this is usually advance warning that the act’s catalogue is about to be rereleased in a remastered form with bonus tracks and discs or that a Collector’s Edition of the popular/influential album is coming.)

In adding to my collection, I’m unconcerned about when an album was released.  These days my additions are driven by a need to hear something new or different.  Whilst this results in my adding to the catalogue of albums by favourite artists, I’m just as likely to dig into music’s past as well as its present.  By adopting such a mindset, I’ve found that my collection is akin to a never ending jig saw puzzle with me continually finding specific pieces of my picture without ever knowing what that picture is ever going to look like or indeed whether it is complete.

Some of the pieces I’ve recently obtained and played today were:

(140) Burial – Truant/Rough Sleeper

Burial is the performing name for William Bevan, am electronic musician with seemingly a dark, almost malevolent musical vision, sort of like a tuneful version of the sounds that filled the soundtrack to David Lynch’s Eraserhead.   Like that movie, the music evokes black and white imagery in my mind.  His first, self titled, album is awesome, however, this release from last year comprising two tracks lasting a combined 25 minutes is less so.  Both tracks place a greater emphasis on drums and bass and this alone appears to lessen the music’s intensity.

(141) Yoko Ono – Yes, I’m A Witch

So many people appear to hate Yoko’s music and it is sometimes difficult to assess just how much of this is due to her perceived role in the breakup of The Beatles and her influence over John Lennon.  I find her singing hard to take at times but I think it’s fair to say that she was making music that was ahead of its time.  This particular album provides some evidence that the world is catching up.  It consists of a number of Yoko songs that were mostly rerecorded by other acts but with her vocals retained.  The results are marvellous, the new backings providing for the most part sympathetic backing to that most maligned of voices.  Highlights include tracks with Blow Up (Everyman Everywoman), Le Tigre (Sisters O Sisters), The Flaming Lips (Cambridge 1969/2007) and a monumental version of her best known song, Walking On Thin Ice with Jason Pierce of Spiritualized.

(142.1) The Byrds – (Untitled)*

This album was originally a double vinyl half live half studio release by the version of The Byrds comprising Roger McGuinn, Gram Parsons, Clarence White and Skip Battin.  The gatefold cover image shows the band members on steps with either the country (front) or the sky (back) in the background and is a brilliant representation of the mix of psychedelica and country evident in these tracks.  The studio tracks contain Chestnut Mare, one of Parsons’ best known songs and some other really interesting material.  Well Come Back Home appears to address the indifferent attitudes being expressed to Vietnam veterans and the humorous You All Look Alike records the same attitudes expressed towards hippies.  But it is the live material that is the main reason to hear this.  Side 1 of  the original album is a series of classic tracks plus a cover of Dylan’s Positively 4^th Street recorded in this new style but the absolute highlight is the 16 minute version of Eight Miles High that took up the entire original Side 2.  This version features an extremely lengthy music introduction which gave all of the musicians room to shine before the song itself is handled fairly economically.  It’s a measure of The Byrd’s place in American music that this same approach was adopted lock, stock and barrel nearly two decades later when no less a band than Husker Du ran their own lengthy instrumental Recurring Dreams into their mighty cover of the song.  (You’ll find it on the Live From The Camden Palace DVD.)

*My copy is the expanded version with a bonus disc of additional music called (unissued).  I couldn’t get round to playing it but will do so at some point in the future, hence the .1.