Family Album

Dorian:

We’re Only In It For The Money - The Mothers Of Invention (Verve VLP 9199 1968)

In the early nineties, accompanying my discovery of psychedelics, this album was a big wakeup call appealing to me as a perfect mash of political dissent, psychedelia, comedy, parody. Inquisitively balancing wide eyed naive idealism and sinicism.

Zappa’s lovingly anal experimental tape edits and production compliment the tightness of The Mothers, interrupted by multi layered improvised comedy character dialogues, sped up and slowed down, interspersed with backwards piano. Far out!

The use of tape echo contributes to making this album an excellent sonic companion to psychedelic visuals, spinning color fractals etc! Check out the last song on side one, ‘Discorporate!’

The World Of David Bowie - David Bowie (Decca Spa58 1970)

One day in the mid nineties in Rob's Records, Nottingham, I picked up a vinyl copy of The World Of David Bowie.

This album includes remixed material from Bowie’s first album. This album is beautifully produced with full brass and strings and an amazing line up.

Bowie's extraordinary dynamism, creativity and childlike exploratory approach to his performance and song writing on this record, will always be an important source of inspiration for me.

No other record more snugly accommodates my desire to dare to be naïve.

Pish:

Dr John (The Night Tripper) - Gris Gris (ATCO SA 33-234 1968)

I would love to see some footage of them making this one! Pure hypnotic vibes all the way. The first time I listened to it I made the mistake of doing it on headphones - A tad unbalancing due to the hard panning of the bass & vocals on the opening tune. Nevertheless it’s an amazing combination of swampy grooves and haunting, gospelly female backing vocals that make this a killer, must have LP. Dr John isn't bad either. Gumbo Ya Ya!

US 69 - Yesterdays Folks (Buddah BDS 5035 1969)

Hard to pick a favourite on this album as every track is winner. Just the right amount of psych and jazz to keep you in there with some nice sonic subtleties and lushful cinematic arrangements, especially on 'I'm On my Way' and '2069: A Spaced Oddity'. A true one off. A fantastic and unique record.

Adam:

Various Artists - Tropicalia Ou Panis et Circencis (Philips/Universal Music Brazil 512 089-2 1968)

I bought this on the strength of the cover knowing nothing about it, years before the Soul Jazz reissue. I love the detail and the colours, and the way the musicians are arranged; it’s a great composition in itself. It has a real utopian spirit that comes through.

The title track ‘Panis et Cirencis’ is incredible, the best pop song ever written! A transcendent orchestral psyche swell saturated in distortion and reverb with strangely beautiful off key harmonies. The track insanely breaks down and speeds up in the middle, before crashing into sounds of breaking glass.

Overall the album is as dense as the favelas; Western psyche filtered through samba, bossa nova and baio rhythms, musique concrete cutting techniques and a strong element of vaudeville, creating a surreal juxtaposition of styles like the concrete boulevards of Brasilia in the depths of the Amazon.

It has that ‘other’ that’s more than its elements, creating the overtones necessary for all great music: throwing you out and taking you back in at the same time. Impossible to recreate or copy but extremely inspiring.

Kraftwerk - The Man Machine (Capitol EST 11728 1978)

Neon Lights! Shimmering Neon Lights!

I love the melodies. They always sound very folk to me, images of pristine pine forests and lakes as much as autobahns and computers. The music has no destination, no centre, everything unnecessary is taken out, but it’s still very human. Like trying to draw the straightest possible line without a ruler.

Leonore:

Cocteau Twins – Treasure (4AD CAD412 1984)

I first heard Elizabeth Fraser's voice on Massive Attack's album 'Mezzanine' when I was in my last year at secondary school, and it would send me into a day dream trance every time I’d listen to it. It wasn't until a few years later in my second year at uni that I was introduced to the Cocteau Twins. They consisted of the 1980's sound with the overly reverberated drum machines, driving basslines and the tinny guitars, however, the haunting vocal which could be powerful as it could be delicate was something which couldn't be avoided or merged with any other band of their time. To find out that Elizabeth Fraser had sung on both Mezzanine and with Cocteau Twins, and with such diversity, I was in complete awe. I was studying music at the time with voice being my main instrument, and 'Treasure' encouraged me to experiment with different styles and vocal techniques, especially on the track 'Persephone'. To create her own language and her own unique style of singing has been a lesson in itself.

Kings of Convenience - Quiet is the new loud (Source SOURLP019 2001)

Such an understated album, often labelled a bit corny or 'wet', I had spent many hours of my late teens listening over and over again to the harmonies of both vocals and guitars, with the occasional trumpet. It is such a simple set up of instruments and basic recording, however, Oye's and Gambek Boe's ability to layer their sounds have such an instant soothing effect, and their outro to ' I don't know what I can save you from' is purely divine. All in all, this album reminds me of a simpler time, when the biggest thing to worry about was the colour of my hair.

Martin:

Tim Rose – Tim Rose (Columbia CS 9577 1967)

The fact that the cover of this LP features a shadowed portrait of the artist in an ink blue T-shirt against a black back-drop truly sets the precedence for the journey on which the listener is about to embark. Even with such titles as Morning Dew and Eat, Drink And Be Merry, there is an overall predominance of darkness to this LP. Contrived, it’s not. True, raw and deep, it is. Tim’s pained, unapologetic vocals are just ‘so’ in the mix, allowing the wooden clunk of the Fender bass, and the reverb-drenched drums of Purdie, to dance together in the front row, more akin to a jazz or soundtrack record than a singer-songwriter LP. (Without prompting, Bernard Purdie informed Pish that this recording was his all-time favourite session.) Never have I heard such interplay between vocals and drums than on Tim’s arrangement of folk-song groove Hey Joe (the blueprint for Jimi Hendrix’s versh, but let’s not go there); and Morning Dew, almost a 60s standard, builds under tension cemented by a constant stream of unique rhythmic fills. My wife hates it.

Various Artists – Jazz Dance Classics Volume One (Luv N’ Haight LHLP 010A 1993)

About fifteen years ago there was a golden age for comps; records compiled by, often anonymous, true music lovers all with a seemingly sole intention to declare: there’s a whole world of groove out there! The cream tracks off uber rare jazz/soundtrack/funk/psyche/way out records became accessible; without having to hunt (before the internet was a viable tool) for the originals; in many cases only to realise the killer track was already on a ten pound comp! Some of these comps remained truly underground: Baad Stuff, Dealer’s Choice, Sack Of Soul, ACME, Nuggets; some gained cult status: Sound Gallery, KPM, Blow-Up Exclusive Blends, Mojo Dancefloor Jazz, Mood Mosaic, Themes From The Blackforest. Then came along Keb Darge and Shadow’s followers, and it all went scratchy funk. The best were often not much more than white labels in stickered generic sleeves, compiled from a time when jazz wasn’t a four letter word, and five seconds of ‘break’ wasn’t important. Luv N’ Haight released a whole series of jazz dance comps of such quality that they themselves now demand high prices. Volume One creeps and crawls through the Fantasy vaults, digesting growling Hammond, protest jazz, New Orleans stomps and snares funkier than dirty socks. The monster full-length Fire Eater by Rusty Bryant – alone, worth the price of admission.