THE BENEDICTINE MONKS OF SANTO DOMINGO DE SILOS
CHANT
1994 – ANGEL RECORDS
Produced By MARIA FRANCISCA BONMATI
1. Puer Natus Est Nobis: Introit (Mode VII)
2. Os Iusti: Gradual (Mode I)
3. Christus Factus Est Pro Nobis: Gradual (Mode V)
4. Mandatum Novum Do Vobis: Antiphonal & Psalm 132 (Mode III)
5. Media Vita In Morte Sumus: Responsorio (Mode IV)
6. Alleluia, Beatus Vir Qui Suffert: Alleluia (Mode I)
7. Spiritus Domini: Introit (Mode VIII)
8. Improperium: Offertorio (Mode VIII)
9. Laetatus Sum: Gradual (Mode VII)
10. Kyrie XI A: Kyrie (Mode I)
11. Puer Natus In Bethlehem: Ritmo (Mode I)
12. Jacta Cogitatum Tuum: Gradual (Mode VII)
13. Verbum Caro Factum Est: Responsorio (Mode VII)
14. Genuit Puerpera Regem: Antiphonal & Psalm 99 (Mode II)
15. Occuli Omnium: Gradual (Mode VII)
16. Ave Mundi Spes Maria: Sequenza (Mode I)
17. Kyrie Fons Bonitatis: Trope (Mode III)
18. Veni Sancte Spiritus: Sequenza (Mode I)
19. Hosanna Filio David: Antiphonal (Mode VII)
Of all the odd musical trends we went through during the 20th century, perhaps none was stranger than the brief popularity in the 1990’s of Gregorian chants. In 1994, Angel Records, which had specialized in classical recordings since 1953, put together this compilation of chants and marketed it as music to help deal with the stresses of everyday life. It worked. This album, which is nothing but chants recorded during the 1970’s and 1980’s, actually reached number three on the Billboard charts and gained double platinum status in America. It sold 4 million copies worldwide, and there were monks making appearances on American late night TV talk shows. All of this while bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were at the height of their careers.
The thing is…if you want to put yourself into a meditative state, this is not bad. It even works for chilling around the house. It’s pretty impossible to be in a bad mood while these unknown monks are doing their thing. The recordings and performances are flawless. And this really is a beautiful collection of music. There was a holiday album that followed, then Chant II and Chant III…but by 1996, Chant fever was over, and the monks could go back into solitude and chant the way they were meant to. The original Chant album is worth listening to if you find this kind of music interesting…it’s older than classical, and predates pretty much everything we might listen to. As for Angel Records…they became defunct in 2006 when acquired by Blue Note. Amen. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
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DEPECHE MODE
BLACK CELEBRATION
1986 – MUTE
Produced By DEPECHE MODE, GARETH JONES & DANIEL MILLER
1. Black Celebration
2. Fly On The Windscreen – Final
3. A Question Of Lust
4. Sometimes
5. It Doesn’t Matter Two
6. A Question Of Time
7. Stripped
8. Here Is The House
9. World Full Of Nothing
10. Dressed In Black
11. New Dress
12. But Not Tonight
One of the greatest bands of the eighties, Depeche Mode could do no wrong for the entire decade. Despite this, they didn’t really catch on in America outside of a few singles until the nineties. Black Celebration is their fifth album, and it’s a pretty dark affair. It’s also a really terrific album. The songwriting from Martin Gore was growing by leaps and bounds, and the band was perfecting their pop electronic sound. And as dark as they may have tried to be, the hits just kept coming. Because a great hook is a great hook, and Depeche Mode had them in spades. And they have never run out of gas…the band has released fifteen studio albums, the latest being from 2023 that was a top twenty seller almost everywhere in the world. They have still got it.
Black Celebration is just that…a celebration of dark music. The one-two punch of the title track and “Fly On The Windscreen” should have you hooked right away. “Stripped” was the lead single, followed by “A Question Of Lust” and “A Question Of Time”. “Sometimes” ends with a beautiful flurry of harmony. The band here is adventurous and thinking outside of the pop box, and the results are great. The nineties would really be the decade of Depeche Mode, but don’t sleep on their first few albums from the eighties. Especially the trio of Some Great Reward (1984), Black Celebration and Music For The Masses (1987). It’s a band that is just getting warmed up for bigger and better things. And they were about to prove that they were very much up to the task.
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RENAISSANCE
A SONG FOR ALL SEASONS
1978 – SIRE
Produced By DAVID HENTSCHEL
1. Opening Out
2. Day Of The Dreamer
3. Closer Than Yesterday
4. Kindness (At The End)
5. Back Home Once Again
6. She Is Love
7. Northern Lights
8. A Song For All Seasons
When The Yardbirds broke up in 1968, guitarist Jimmy Page formed Led Zeppelin. Also, when The Yardbirds broke up in 1968, singer Keith Relf and drummer Jim McCarty formed Renaissance. They were started as a folk rock band with elements of classical music, and became a mainstay of progressive rock in the seventies. By the time their second album was released in 1971, none of the original members remained, and their ties to The Yardbirds were over. The new band was quite prolific in the seventies, releasing eight studio albums. A Song For All Seasons is their eight album overall, and it was their most successful release. After years of using only acoustic guitars, the band reintroduced electric instruments to their sound, and had their only hit on this album (“Northern Lights”).
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra plays the classical parts, giving Renaissance its similarities with bands like The Moody Blues and Electric Light Orchestra, who also included classical elements. What has always set Renaissance apart are the vocals of Annie Haslam, who has one of the most pure voices in rock music. The centerpiece here is the title track, an almost eleven minute piece that seems only a few inches away from a full blown opera. Renaissance ran out of steam in the eighties, releasing just a pair of albums before breaking up in 1987. There have been reunions, and a couple of releases since the turn of the century, but the important period of the career of this band remains the seventies, with A Song For All Seasons being their best work.
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KRAFTWERK
THE MAN-MACHINE
1978 – CAPITOL
Produced By RALF HUTTER & FLORIAN SCHNEIDER
1. The Robots
2. Spacelab
3. Metropolis
4. The Model
5. Neon Lights
6. The Man-Machine
In 1978, electronic music most definitely existed. It was just nowhere near being popular yet. But out in Germany, in the midst of classic rock and disco and punk was Kraftwerk, an electronic quartet that had an unlikely hit with “Autobahn” in 1974. The Man-Machine (released as Die Mensch-Maschine) is the group’s seventh album. It was not a hit by any means, but it was surprisingly successful. This quartet of electronic musicians (two keyboards and 2 electronic drummers) are as mechanical as it gets…as mechanical as the album cover would suggest. And yet, the music here is smart and entertaining, foreshadowing the coming new wave of the eighties and showing a whole generation that you really don’t need all of those guitars after all.
The Man-Machine is a tribute to all things mechanical. Starting with the opening track, on which Ralf Hutter repeatedly and gleelessly announces that “We are the robots”. “The Model” could have been a new wave hit about seven or eight years later, and “Neon Lights” is surprisingly warm. Kraftwerk deserves a lot more credit than they get: they pretty much invented synth pop, they refuse to ever compromise, and they have been at it non stop for well over fifty years now. The Man-Machine is probably their best work. It remains a joy to listen to after so many years, and it doesn’t seem nearly as out of place as it did 45 years ago. This is an electronic classic, and it’s a perfect blueprint for anyone who wants to know how to get this music right.
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FLYING LOTUS
COSMOGRAMMA
2010 – WARP
Produced By FLYING LOTUS
1. Clock Catcher
2. Pickled!
3. Nose Art
4. Intro / A Cosmic Drama
5. Zodiac Shit
6. Computer Face / Pure Being
7. …And The World Laughs With You (Feat. Thom Yorke)
8. Arkestry
9. MmmHmm (Feat. Thundercat)
10. Do The Astral Plane
11. Satelllliiiiiiteee
12. German Haircut
13. Recoiled
14. Dance Of The Pseudo Nymph
15. Drips / Auntie’s Harp
16. Table Tennis (Feat. Laura Darlington)
17. Galaxy In Janaki
Jazz is a music that defies boundaries. Electronic music has limitless possibilities. So, why don’t we hear more electronic jazz? What would it sound like? Steven Ellison, who records as Flying Lotus, has the answer. He has jazz in his blood…he’s a relative of jazz pianist Alice Coltrane, who was married to saxophone legend John Coltrane. But he also thrives on modern music: hip hop is part of who he is as well. The music he makes has been defined as IDM (intelligent dance music), and he pushes the lines between jazz and electronica as far as anyone. Cosmogramma is the high point of his career so far. It’s dazzling, dizzying, confusing and beautiful…all at the same time. He cites J Dilla as a big influence as far as his beats are concerned, which is a very good thing.
But what makes Cosmogramma special is his jazz connection. This is modern music that channels the minds of Miles Davis and Charles Mingus and Coltrane. Without the limits that instruments like the trumpet, bass and saxophone present. Of course, his audience is limited as this is most definitely not pop music. But there will come a time when people will look back at Ellison, and especially Cosmogramma, and see just how special this music is. Electronic music has limitless possibilities, something that not a lot of modern musicians have yet to grasp. There is access to any sound, any rhythm, and any type of structure that one can imagine. The best thing about Cosmogramma is that it shows you how we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of what music can do. Take that, all you “it’s all been done before” folks.
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AC/DC
IF YOU WANT BLOOD YOU’VE GOT IT
1978 – ALBERT / ATLANTIC
Produced By HARRY VANDA & GEORGE YOUNG
1. Riff Raff
2. Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be
3. Bad Boy Boogie
4. The Jack
5. Problem Child
6. Whole Lotta Rosie
7. Rock ‘N’ Roll Damnation
8. High Voltage
9. Let There Be Rock
10. Rocker
If you want ROCK? One of the finest and most underrated live albums of all time, this most definitely rocks. With no apologies, and no frills. If You Want Blood is one of only four live albums from AC/DC, and it’s the only one featuring original lead singer Bon Scott. All of the songs are from before they made the big time with Highway To Hell the following year, and unlike a lot of live albums that are culled from the best of multiple shows, this was from a single concert in Glasgow on April 30, 1978. The only thing you need to know about this album is that it absolutely kicks ass. Only two songs from the setlist that night are missing…”Dog Eat Dog” and a traditional song called “Fling Thing”. So what you get here is one of the greatest rock bands ever letting it all hang out. And it’s glorious.
Bon Scott was a beast of a singer, and he’s on top of his game here. He died less than two years after this was recorded…his loss has been softened a lot by the vocal abilities of his replacement, Brian Johnson. Make no mistake…Bon Scott was the real deal. It’s on full display here. But also, Angus Young shows what a fine lead guitarist he is (his solo on “The Jack” is worth having the album for alone), and the band simply owns the audience throughout. It’s unfortunate how this a record has been lost in the discography of AC/DC over the years. But it’s not too late…If You Want Blood is still out there waiting for you to love it. AC/DC in the later years (post seventies) were all about the big hits. The early years were all about rocking, and they were as good as anyone. Ever. Underrated, and excellent.
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SOPHIE B. HAWKINS
WHALER
1994 – COLUMBIA
Produced By STEPHEN LIPSON
1. Right Beside You
2. Did We Not Choose Each Other
3. Don’t Don’t Tell Me Mo
4. As I Lay Me Down
5. Swing From My Limb (My Home Is In Your Jungle)
6. True Romance
7. Let Me Love You Up
8. Only Love (The Ballad Of Sleeping Beauty)
9. I Need Nothing Else
10. Sometimes I See
11. Mr. Tugboat Hello
In 1992, Sophie B. Hawkins released her very promising debut album, Tongues And Tails. The electronic pop album included a unique version of Bob Dylan’s “I Want You”, as well as a couple of other hits. Her second album, 1994’s Whaler, did not fare as well. Her brand of pop music wasn’t making a dent with the younger listeners, and she was finding herself swimming closer and closer to the black hole of adult contemporary. She tries experiments with other genres, most of which fail vividly (her rap at the end of “Right Beside You” is…uncomfortable). That track also tries to sound like an Irish folk tune, but the keyboards she uses to do it aren’t fooling anyone. Bless her heart, she tries hard to make Whaler work. But it simply does not.
Much of Whaler is danceable, which is the only real saving grace here. But there are simply too many moments that leave you shaking your head. By far, the low point is the end of the single “Don’t Don’t Tell Me No”, which pounds the last line of the song into your head so many times that screaming “enough, already!” at your speakers becomes a very real option. The album was enough of a miss that Hawkins hasn’t so much as sniffed a hit since then, despite releasing four more albums and ten more singles. A pretty tough road for a pop artist, for sure. This is a reminder that the sophomore slump in music can be a very real thing. She had her whole life to write the first album, and only a matter of months to come up with the second one. I’d skip this one if I were you.
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JEFF BECK
TRUTH
1968 – EPIC
Produced By MICKIE MOST
1. Shapes Of Things
2. Let Me Love You
3. Morning Dew
4. You Shook Me
5. Ol’ Man River
6. Greensleeves
7. Rock My Plimsoul
8. Beck’s Bolero
9. Blues De Luxe
10. I Ain’t Superstitious
Jeff Beck left The Yardbirds in 1966 and began his solo career with a trio of singles. He then formed the Jeff Beck Group and recorded his debut album, Truth. The band was most impressive, including Ron Wood on bass and guitar, and Rod Stewart on vocals, along with keyboardist Nicky Hopkins. Truth is kind of a story of two completely different albums, thrown together for one of the most memorable yet strange records of the late sixties. Of course, Beck is the main star here…his guitar playing is amazing, and it’s one of the last times you get to hear him actually rocking out. This version of the band would last only one more album before splitting up in 1969, but for a moment in time, they were right there with Beck’s former Yardbirds bandmate Jimmy Page’s new group, Led Zeppelin, as the leaders of heavy rock going into the seventies.
The best tracks here are the rockers. “Shapes Of Things”, “Let Me Love You”, and “I Ain’t Superstitious” show just how good Beck could be as a rock guitarist, while Stewart shows his vocal prowess on some of the best material he ever had to work with. But there are strange song choices as well. “Ol’ Man River” and the acoustic instrumental “Greensleeves” are woefully out of place, and Beck’s decision to add crowd noise to “Blues De Luxe” was not a good one, and one he later regretted. Of note is “Beck’s Bolero”, an instrumental recorded in 1966 and credited to Page and including John Paul Jones, Hopkins and Keith Moon in what was considered to be the first try at a Zeppelin lineup. Truth is a cool look at a band that could have been great one day, with some memorable smoking blues rock tracks…but it falls short of being perfect.
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TAME IMPALA
INNERSPEAKER
2010 – MODULAR
Produced By KEVIN PARKER
1. It’s Not Meant To Be
2. Desire Be Desire Go
3. Alter Ego
4. Lucidity
5. Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?
6. Solitude Is Bliss
7. Jeremy’s Storm
8. Expectation
9. The Bold Arrow Of Time
10. Runway, Houses, City, Clouds
11. I Don’t Really Mind
I have come to really like the music of Tame Impala more and more as the years go by. There are not a lot of modern bands that have done psychedelia as well as this project from Australia has. There are a trio of Tame Impala albums that I would say are must haves: the best album, 2012’s Lonerism is a masterpiece. Currents, from 2015, is not far behind. And the debut album from 2010, Innerspeaker. This isn’t just a cool sounding psychedelic album. From the beginning, they knew what they wanted to be, and had the songs already in place. Innerspeaker sounds like the work of a band that has been making records for ten years. But even more impressive…Tame Impala is mostly a solo project. Innerspeaker is, with the exception of a few instrumental tracks, the work of Kevin Parker.
Parker has just the right touch of psychedelia in his bones. Tracks like “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?”, “Lucidity”, “Expectation”, and “Solitude Is Bliss” make this a winner of an album, but there’s no letup from Parker. The solid wall of noise, the tripped out rhythms, and his spacey vocals along with his assured songwriting make this a real must have. After hearing this, you’ll want more of Tame Impala…the mark of a job well done. Parker doesn’t rush his work…since 2010, there have been just four Tame Impala studio releases (plus a pair of live albums), and he takes a little more time between recordings. Which would indicate that there may not be another one for about another three years or so. But the fact is, if you have to wait for a Tame Impala album, it’s okay. The wait is always worth it.
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DAVID CROSBY
VOYAGE
2006 – ATLANTIC / RHINO
Produced By GRAHAM NASH & JOEL BERNSTEIN
1. Eight Miles High (The Byrds)
2. Renaissance Fair (The Byrds)
3. Everybody’s Been Burned (The Byrds)
4. Wooden Ships (CSN)
5. Guinnevere (CSN)
6. Long Time Gone (CSN)
7. Déjà Vu (CSNY)
8. Almost Cut My Hair (CSNY)
9. Tamalpais High (At About 3)
10. Laughing
11. Music Is Love
12. Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)
13. What Are Their Names?
14. I’d Swear There Was Somebody There
15. Where Will I Be (CN)
16. Page 43 (CN)
17. Critical Mass (CN)
18. Carry Me (CN)
19. Bittersweet (CN)
20. Naked In The Rain (CN)
21. Dancer (CN)
1. Shadow Captain (CSN)
2. In My Dreams (CSN)
3. Delta (CSN)
4. Compass (CSNY)
5. Tracks In The Dust
6. Arrows (CSN)
7. Hero
8. Yvette In English
9. Rusty And Blue (CPR)
10. Somehow She Knew (CPR)
11. Breathless (CPR)
12. Map To Buried Treasure (CPR)
13. At The Edge (CPR)
14. Through Here Quite Often (CN)
15. My Country ‘Tis Of Thee
1. Long Time Gone (Demo) (CS)
2. Guinnevere (Alternate Mix)
3. Almost Cut My Hair (Demo)
4. Games (Demo)
5. Déjà Vu (Demo) (CN)
6. Triad (Demo)
7. Cowboy Movie (Studio Version)
8. Kids And Dogs (Unreleased)
9. Have You Seen The Stars Tonight? (Alternate Mix) (Paul Kantner & Jefferson Starship)
10. The Lee Shore (Live) (CN)
11. Traction In The Rain (Live) (CN)
12. King Of The Mountain (Demo)
13. Homeward Through The Haze (Alternate Mix) (CSNY)
14. Samurai
15. Climber (CSNY
16. Dream For Him (Live) (CSNY)
Graham Nash got particularly inspired back in 2006 and put together a trio of box sets. One for himself, one for Stephen Stills, and one for David Crosby. Voyage is something really quite special. It covers Crosby’s career not based on the songs that were hits, but on how special they are in the artist’s body of work. Voyage begins with Crosby’s tenure with The Byrds, then picks his best songs from his days with Stills, Nash and Neil Young, together and separately. Songs from his later group, CPR (which included his son James Raymond) and his solo career are here as well. It ended up being a three disc monstrosity, and well worth every track of it. Crosby was never the star of the groups he was in, but they wouldn’t have been the same without what he brought to the table.
These are the songs where it’s Crosby who shines. His special touch as a vocalist, and his unique songwriting are on full display here. The first two discs are true highlights from 40 years of recording, showcasing why he has always been a legend in the business. The third disc is all previously unreleased material, and it’s all just as good. Everyone knows who Crosby is, but his actual contributions sometimes go unnoticed. Voyage takes care of that. Crosby’s body of work is amazing and yet, somehow, subtle and under the radar. He was always, unapologetically, exactly who he was, and he didn’t compromise in his music. So, if you want to hear one of the greatest in the rock era at his best, check this one out. It’s pricey, but it’s also worthwhile in every way.
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