I had taken a bunch of CDs along with me that I’d yet to
play and my selection from them was done on an ad hoc impulsive basis. Yet when I sat down to write this post, it
dawned on me that I had selected albums for which I had a clear expectation
which influenced why I had taken so long to get around to playing them and which
also coloured my eventual response.
I guess my mind is strange that way. I spend a bit of time, effort and money each
week in seeking out new music that I would like to hear and then, having
obtained it, become quite lackadaisical in wanting to actually hear it. Depending on the specific album, a
variety of questions will go through my mind before I decide what to play. Here are some examples:
(# 276) Danger Mouse
and Jay-Z – The Grey Album (released and withdrawn 2004)
Expectation: Is this album really as good as everyone says?
This is the “legendary” album Danger Mouse put together when
he took the raps off Jay-Zs The Black Album and then added them to new
instrumental backings based on samples from tracks from The Beatles White Album. (The White Album mixed with The Black Album
produces The Grey Album.) He did not seek authorisation from either Jay-Z or
The Beatles and it appears that lawyers for the latter insisted that the album
not be released despite his intention of releasing only a few thousand copies. Fair
enough, but the problem is that the end result is so damned good there was no
chance of the genie ever being completely returned to the bottle. The best tracks are those where The Beatles
connection is most obvious. This applies
especially to What More Can I Say which is placed over While My Guitar Gently
Weeps and Encore’s placement over a brilliantly constructed sample utilising Glass
Onion and Savoy Truffle. Other tracks
employ more subtle Beatles colouring – 99 Problems’ set to Helter Skelter and
Dirt Off Your Shoulder’s placement over Julia, for example – but are none the
worse for it.
(# 277) Jimi Hendrix –
Valleys Of Neptune (2010)
Expectation: Oh no.
Not ANOTHER bottom of the barrel scraping exercise?
This is easily the most intriguing of the albums released in
the decades of Jimi’s death given that the majority of tracks are either covers
or alternative versions of material recorded with The Experience. Opener Stone Free employs interesting back up
vocals, I suspect by The Experience, and appears to sound slightly slowed down. A cover of Elmore James’ Bleeding Heart
has some nice funky guitar work of the type I suspect Jimi would have
pursued had he lived. Hear My Train A
Comin’ is fascinating because he uses a strum that is exactly the same as that subsequently used by Stevie Ray
Vaughn. An epic instrumental version of
Cream’s Sunshine Of Your Love demonstrates why Eric Clapton always bowed to him
and an alternate version of Fire is just strange.
(# 278) Hawkwind –
Masters Of The Universe (1977)
Expectation: Surely these studio recordings cannot possibly
be better than those I heard live?
Finally I get one correct!
This is a compilation drawn from the great British space rockers catalogue
of 1971 – 1974. (Motorhead’s Lemmy was a
member of the band during part of this period.)
This period coincides with their epic live performances that were brilliantly
captured on their Space Ritual album, one of the best live recordings ever
captured. 4 of the six tracks on this
compilation feature on Space Ritual; all four – Master Of The Universe,
Brainstorm, Sonic Attack and, especially Orgaone Accumulator – are highlights
on that set and pale in comparison here. Of the two remaining tracks
one, It’s So Easy, is represented by a live track and is this album’s
highlight. If there was ever a occasion
to have heard the studio versions of tracks by an act first, this was probably
it.
EXPECTATION: What did you expect?
When I got home, I started hearing about the controversy generated
by John Lydon’s appearance the previous night on The Project. (No doubt footage of this is now all over
YouTube.) Whilst there is no excuse for
sexist language anywhere, what needs to be said that anyone who decides; to a) interview
him, b) do this on the night of Thatcher’s death, c) ask inane questions, and
then d) cut across him talking to ask what he thought about Thatcher’s death,
is probably deliberately courting controversy and should be better prepared for
it when it inevitably emerges. Let me
put it this way; if you stand on the edge of a crocodile infested river, hold a
slab of meat dripping in blood and call out “Come here boy”, should you blame
just the crocodile if it bites off half your arm?
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