Regular como o Vitor Gaspar a anunciar más notícias, os Flaming Lips publicam um / dois trabalhos por ano. Desta feita é a banda sonora do musical (!) que a banda criou, "yoshimi battles the pink robots", a partir do (excelente!) álbum de 2002 do mesmo nome. Pena o musical estar em exibição em La Jolla, California... (será algum festival da cerveja?).
Enfim aqui fica um bom endereço para apreciar a obra:
Sex is one of the main drivers of the world (some say "THE" main driver), and has been very frequently associated with rock music. This could be the subject of an entire book given the numerous examples we can easily find. The image of rock is the "macho" image usually associated with Rolling Stones and the likes.
The cover of the albums (in a time when they were meant to be seen) reflected frequently hot topics, centered on the woman body. But man has also been presented in some covers, usually exploring the penis as a symbol. This 1974 Wishbone Ash (a rock / hard rock band from the seventies) album that I bought recently is a particularly good one, that could go along with the Stones' "Sticky Fingers". The cover is by the famous Hignosis firm.
We start today a review of some of the works that have pushed the envelope in 2012. No special criteria, no attempt to make definitive choices, it's basically sharing some of the music that caught our attention.
Paul Buchanan is better know as Mr. Blue Nile; after four albums and eight years of silence, Paul returned this year as if nothing happened; even more, as if Blue Nile was him and him alone. The spirit is here, but reduced to the essence. Songs of loneliness that scarcely arise from silence. Voice, piano, occasional synth and a faraway orchestra.
This is not for everyone, as Blue Nile wasn't. But for those who is, is a lot
The BSS are a portuguese glory, one of today freshests sounds. Full stop.
They are very, very good and luckily they have been getting the recognition they deserve, indoors and outdoors. Their last "komba" it's a prodigy of rythm and invention.
Now they come out in a box, ready to use... Their previous work, new versions, remixes and unreleased tracks. A feast for the senses.
Já algum tempo que não havia O Canto das Gatinhas, a nossa secção de apreciação do Belo Sexo aqui no Perú. Pois bem, há que manter as boas tradições. E para que não nos acusem de andar a promover alguma lambisgóia mal acabada, desta vez é uma verdadeira senhora, que ainda este ano passou pelo Gouveia Art Rock - nada menos que Sonja Kristina, dos Curved Air.
Sonja é da respetável colheita de 49 e deve o seu nome pouco inglês à mãe sueca. A sua fama veio de se ter juntado à banda Curved Air em 1970, permanecendo sempre como vocalista ao longo dos 9 álbuns da banda.
Como curiosidade, o seu segundo marido foi Stewart Copeland, baterista dos Police. Divorciaram-se em 1991.
De uma beleza indisfarçável, numa altura em que a imagem não era o principal argumento para vender a musica, muito ajudou a afirmar os Curved Air. Mas foi a sua voz que os ajudou a permanecer até hoje como uma banda de culto do progressivo inglês.
O Peru está a fazer um shift para o inglês... Não é total, mas o número de visitantes do blogue que vem de países não lusófonos (Estados Unidos, Alemanha, Japão, Reino Unido...) leva-nos a pensar que pode haver uma oportunidade de nos fazermos entender de forma mais global.... Esperamos que os fãs peruanos não emigrem e continuem connosco!
After so many full concerts shared here on "Perulandia", I've decided to start a new line of posts that shall be called from now on Great Gigs in the Cloud and what better way to start than with a music video that reminds us somehow the proposed title. Would you agree?
Although it would take them after this film two years before they would publish an album with a music that had a title that resembled in any way the title of these new line of posts (despite this video being an edited release in 1974 with studio recordings of Dark Side of The Moon), I thought of it as a good excuse to publish another Floyd act!
Anyway it was this particular video that triggered the idea of starting this new wave of posts, so although historically the suggestion isn't quite precise, the intention is good.
Great Gigs in the Cloud: Episode 1 - Pink Floyd - Live at Pompeii - Directors Cut
Remastered 2003 Director's Cut version
Pink Floyd - Live at Pompeii - Directors Cut
Live at Pompeii was originally released in September 1972, an edited release in 1974 with studio recordings of Dark Side of the Moon.
Rereleased in 2003 as The Director's Cut with additional footage and Nasa space shots.
2003 Director's cut (wiki)
1. "Echoes, Part 1"/"On the Run" (Studio Footage) (Uncredited) (from Meddle/The Dark Side of the Moon, 1971/1973)
2. "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" (B-side of "Point Me at the Sky" single, 1968)
3. "A Saucerful of Secrets" (from A Saucerful of Secrets, 1968)
4. "Us and Them" (Studio Footage) (from The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973)
5. "One of These Days I'm Going to Cut You into Little Pieces" (from Meddle, 1971; also known as "One of These Days")
6. "Mademoiselle Nobs" (from Meddle, 1971; previously known as "Seamus")
7. "Brain Damage" (Studio Footage) (from The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973)
8. "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" (from A Saucerful of Secrets, 1968) 9. "Echoes, Part 2" (from Meddle, 1971)
91 mins total
Directed by :Adrian Maben
Produced by : Steve O'Rourke
Michele Arnaud
Reiner Moritz
Starring: Pink Floyd
Music by : Pink Floyd
Cinematography :
Willy Kurant
Gabor Pogany
Editing:Jose Pinheiro
Distributed by: Universal Home Video
This video is presented for review only in the hopes the viewer will be pleased to the extent to promote the viewer to buy the film.
We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and review purposes only.
As Unthanks são um duo do caraças. Belíssimas harmonias vocais destas duas manas e uma repescagem de temas do cancioneiro folk, rock e tradicionais intocável. Entre elas uma versão muito honorável de Starless, dos King Crimson.
As suas Diversions vão no Volume 3 (Songs from the Shipyards), o primeiro tema é do volume anterior e o segundo é do disco dedicado a Robert Wyatt e Antony & The Johnsons e se não sentirem nenhuma afinidade com esta música procurem um cardiologista, porque o vosso músculo vital está morto.
Why wasn't there any high definition digital recording technology in those days? What a shame that most of these old 70's gigs where so poorly recorded.
There were some exceptions such as Led Zeppelin's "The song remains the same" film that was originally shot on 35mm with a 24-track quadraphonic sound recording, at a cost of $85,000 to shoot the live footage in the US alone. The band's manager, Peter Grant, called it "the most expensive home movie ever made", and today we all thank the band for that "management" decision! Kudos for the band's investment.
But most of them didn't had the public nor the funds that would justify such an investment.
Either way it's all about the music and the show itself and boy did PG's Genesis era know how to put one.
Nowadays newer generations don't get that much impressed with the characterization used at the time neither with the production level of these shows. I understand, I really do...
But you need to put things in context and a instead of being more excited with the high technicolor production level of today's standard, really listen to the music and pay attention to the story telling.
Absolute bliss if you ask me. Just my 2¢
Genesis: Live 1973 - First time in HD with Enhanced Soundtrack
Genesis: Live 1973 - Original Film with Original Soundtrack
Here he comes once more with another "The Who" post, you might all say!
The truth is that I just couldn't go by yet another great finding on youtube and keep it just for myself.
I'll leave you with The Who's full concert video that was held in August of 1970 on the isle of Wright, in England.
Where they plugged directly to High voltage power line or what? Completely contagious vibe...
Jeez Pete, did you need to be that theatrical? Just kidding...
"The Isle of Wight Festival is a music festival which takes place every year on the Isle of Wight in England. It was originally held from 1968 to 1970. These original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers (Ron, Ray and Bill Foulk) under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited. The venues were Ford Farm (near Godshill), Wootton and Afton Down (near Freshwater) respectively. The 1969 event was notable for the appearance of Bob Dylan and the Band. This was Dylan's first paid performance since his motor cycle accident some three years earlier, and was held at a time when many still wondered if he would ever perform again. Followers from across the world trecked to the Isle of Wight for what seemed like a 'second coming'. Estimates of 150,000--250,000 attended. The 1969 festival opened on Friday 29 August—eleven days after the close of Woodstock. Dylan was living in Woodstock, New York, at the time and it was widely believed that he would perform there, after the event had been "put in his own backyard". As it happened, Dylan left for the Isle of Wight on 15 August—the day the Woodstock festival began.
The 1970 event was by far the largest and most famous of these early festivals; indeed it was said at the time to be one of the largest human gatherings in the world, with estimates of over 600,000, surpassing the attendance at Woodstock. Included in the line-up of over fifty performers were The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, The Doors, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Joni Mitchell, The Moody Blues, Melanie, Donovan, Free, Chicago, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Leonard Cohen, Jethro Tull, Taste and Tiny Tim. The unexpectedly high attendance levels led, in 1971, to Parliament passing the "Isle of Wight Act" preventing gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special licence.
The 1970 festival was filmed by a 35mm film crew under the direction of future Academy Award-winning director Murray Lerner who at that point had just directed the Academy Award-nominated documentary Festival of the Newport Folk Festival. The footage passed to Lerner in settlement of legal fees after a dispute with the Foulk brothers in which the two sides claimed against each for breach of contract. Lerner distilled material from the festival into the film A Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Rock Festival released theatrically in 1996 and subsequently on DVD. In addition to this film, Lerner has created full-length films focused on performances by individual artists at the 1970 festival. To date there have been individual films of The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Moody Blues, Free, Leonard Cohen and Jethro Tull.
The event was revived in 2002 at Seaclose Park, a recreation ground on the outskirts of Newport. It has been held annually since that year, progressively extending itself northwards beyond Seaclose Park along the fields of the eastern Medina valley. Many notable artists have performed since its revival including The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Muse, Stereophonics, Donovan, Ray Davies, Robert Plant, David Bowie, Manic Street Preachers, The Who, R.E.M., Coldplay, The Proclaimers, Bryan Adams and The Police. It was sponsored by Nokia from 2004 to 2006. The promoters of the event now are Solo Music Agency and promotions. Apart from being held on the Isle of Wight, and featuring the now customary artwork of Dave Roe, there is no connection with the festivals of 1968--1970."
McDonald and Giles, as to be one of the greatest hidden gems of the 70's. Sometimes I wonder how Fripp's project, aka KC, would've turned out should Ian McDonald & Micheal Giles stayed on the band. More life celebrating? Anyway, tonight I'll leave you with a theme that I enjoy especially when played in the wee hours...
Cada vez mais angustiado, o Peru vê chegar o Natal com preocupação.Não se augura nada de bom no seu futuro...
Para já, a única coisa que o anima é que já saiu a nova obra de Sufjan Stevens, um dos preferidos aqui dos Peruanos.
Trata-se de uma compilação de 5 EPs com temas de Natal recriados / compostos por SS, entre 2006 e 2010 e chama-se Silver & Gold: Songs for Christmas, Vols. 6-10.
Vale a pena ouvir a criatividade infindável deste americano de Detroit e as harmonias delicadas e complexas destes temas.
Disponível em CD e Vinil (além dos raquíticos mp3, claro)
Para verdadeiros connoisseurs, esta faixa de Scrapping the Barrel, uma coletânea de demos e inéditos dos Gentle Giant, é uma verdadeira preciosidade. A voz inconfundível de Kerry Minear num tema próprio, mais doce que o habitual nos GG, a lembrar algumas passagens de Octopus.
I stumbled accidentally on yet another fabulous BBC documentary that I felt obliged sharing with you all...
Instead of rewriting what as already been so well written, I'll just rep-post Andy Markowitz's post made on musicfilmweb and leave you with a great documentary of, IMHO, one of the greatest albums of all time!
Pete Townshend conceived the Who’s second rock opera with an eye to replacing Tommy as the band’s live centerpiece. Upon release in 1973 his allusive tale of a disaffected and unstable teenager adrift in mid-’60s Britain’s mod movement won critical plaudits and charted well (better than Tommy, in fact), but between its pre-digital synth ‘n’ loop complexities and drummer/lunatic Keith Moon’s increasing unreliability, Quadrophenia toured disastrously. Despite being musically and thematically richer and more layered than its predecessor (or perhaps because of it), the story of Jimmy the Mod never caught on like the deaf-dumb-and-blind pinball wizard. Only years later did songs like the pulsing “5:15″ and the symphonic “Love Reign O’er Me” return to the Who’s set list, and today Franc Roddam’s cult film version of Quadrophenia is probably more imprinted on the public imagination than the album that spawned it.
This BBC music documentary wisely avoids that after-story to focus on Quadrophenia the record, examining the drama of both its narrative and its production, which very nearly blew the Who apart. The tropes of the form are here – the enthusiastic talking head critics, the knob twiddling engineer breaking songs down into component parts – and sufficiently enlightening. What separates this from the usual run of making-the-record docs is the number and variety of secondary themes rockumentary veteran Matt O’Casey packs into its 70 minutes, among them an illuminating primer on fashion-obsessed mod, a detour into the London council estate where the Who built their studio, and a thorough exploration of the illustrated lyric book that accompanied the original release. The starkly beautiful photos by veteran rock shooter Ethan Russell (he of the Abbey Road and Who’s Next covers) clearly influenced Roddam’s film, and they give Can You See the Real Me? a cinematic quality unusual for such exercises, as O’Casey juxtaposes them with the record’s formative and evocative landscapes of Battersea and Brighton.
Underlying it all are the internal dynamics of the Who, that most combustible of bands – the constant push-pull between Townshend’s artistic ambitions/pretensions and his mates’ (and his own) street-fighter volatility. That comes through here in particularly sharp relief, perhaps because the canvas is relatively small. We see closely how those tensions informed a specific piece of work as Townshend, with his typical mix of acuity, self-absorption, insecurity, and wit, recounts a growing alienation from the band that mirrors his anti-hero Jimmy’s fall from mod. It’s mainly Pete’s story, but Roger Daltrey, who has aged into dinosaur rock’s most generous elder statesman, is the down to earth yin to his cohort’s sturm and drang and offers an affectionate but knowing counter to Townshend’s slagging of the long-gone Moon, who drifts through the proceedings like a cackling poltergeist. (Interviewer: “What was Keith like in 1973?” Daltrey: “Just a little bit drunker than we was in 1972.”) Just as Quadrophenia is not the place to start if you’re a Who novice, this is a documentary for aficionados – but if you’re one, it’s a thoroughly engrossing trip into the heart of a record that still feels under-appreciated
Full BBC Documentary
In his home studio and revisiting old haunts in Shepherds Bush and Battersea, Pete Townshend opens his heart and his personal archive to revisit 'the last great album the Who ever made', one that took the Who full circle back to their earliest days via the adventures of a pill-popping...
But in 1973 Quadrophenia was an album that almost never was. Beset by money problems, a studio in construction, heroin-taking managers, a lunatic drummer and a culture of heavy drinking, Townshend took on an album that nearly broke him and one that within a year the band had turned their back on and would ignore for nearly three decades.
With unseen archive and in-depth interviews from Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, John Entwistle and those in the studio and behind the lens who made the album and thirty page photo booklet.
Contributors include: Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, Ethan Russell, Ron Nevison, Richard Barnes, Irish Jack Lyons, Bill Curbishley, John Woolf, Howie Edelson, Mark Kermode and Georgiana Steele Waller.
Sempre prolifico, Steven Wilson divide as suas atividades pelos Porcupine Trees, a recente associaçao com Akkerfeldt dos Opeth, Storm Corrosion, e o trabalho a solo.
Um dos mais emocionantes temas dos YES, do "Close to the Edge" ilustrado com a arte onírica de Roger Dean, autor da quase totalidade das capas dos próprios. Sugestão do amigo Vitor S.
Pois é. Um dia acordamos e descobrimos que os nossos amores têm 40 anos...
É um choque, mas depois reparamos como estão bem conservados e até melhores do que nos lembramos deles...
Mais uma edição dos 40 anos, desta feita de 2012 (editado originalmente em 1972), este clássico de David Bowie é um disco seminal (como se dizia para aí há uns anos, daqueles que não só contribuiram decisavamente para a carreira do seu autor como ajudaram a definir o futuro da música pop rock.
Este é um album que aparece ciclicamente na lista dos melhores de todos os tempos, veja-se por exemplo esta enumeração da wikipedia:
"In 1987, as part of their 20th anniversary, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #6 on "The 100 Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years." In 1997, Ziggy Stardust was named the 20th greatest album of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll conducted in the United Kingdom by HMV Group, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998, Q magazine readers placed it at number 24 and Virgin All-time Top 1000 Albums ranked it at number 11, while in 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 48. It was named the 35th best album ever made by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2000 Q placed it at number 25 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2004 it was placed at number 81 in Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1970s. In his 1995 book, "The Alternative Music Almanac", Alan Cross placed the album in the #3 spot on the list of '10 Classic Alternative Albums'. In 2006, the album was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time.[25]"
Os temas que mais se destacam: Ziggy Stardust, Five Years, Rock'n'Roll Suicide, Starman...
Portanto, esta história de um extrarrestre que se torna um idolo rock é uma daquelas obras que não pode faltar na cdteca de qualquer amador de música. E esta edição do 40 anos é muito boa.
Os Doors são daquelas banda intemporais, ouvidos em 2012 não têm marcas da idade e, alguns modismos próprios dos anos 60 à parte nas letras, a sua música é fresca e vital. São um verdadeiro clássico.
Como não podia deixar de ser, 40 anos depois (o primeiro disco data de 1967), surgiram as reedições com som remasterizado.
Os japoneses sempre fizeram boas edições em CD, bastante caras e procuradas. Por isso, encontrar a edição japonesa do "The Soft Parade", de 2007, a 10€ em segunda mão, quando o preço normal em segunda mão é de 30€, é o que se pode chamar um excelente negócio. E de facto o sm não tem nada a ver com a edição anterior que tinha. Tem uma excelente separação dos instrumentos, os metais, tão característicos deste álbum, ouvem-se nitidamente e não se "intrometem" com os restantes instrumentos,
Este é talvez o mais mal amado dos discos dos Doors. O omnisciente Allmusic guide diz dele: "The weakest studio album recorded with Jim Morrison in the group, partially because their experiments with brass and strings on about half the tracks weren't entirely successful. More to the point, though, this was their weakest set of material" . Eu discordo totalmente, tanto no no que diz respeito às experiências mal sucedidas com os metais (ouça-se a potentíssima "Touch Me") como a ser o seu material mais fraco. Notoriamente eles quiseram experimentar, mudaram de registo e os fãs duros de ouvido nunca lhes perdoaram. A história é cruel, remetando para o caixote do lixo obras maiores por força do senso comum repetido... Quanto a mim... altamente recomendado!
Ainda por cima o concerto é bom... David Gilmour In Concert available as an iPhone/iPad App for the first time
In a new development, DVD authoring group The Pavement have created a new technique to convert DVDs into smartphone Apps, and the first one in the world will be David Gilmour In Concert. It has already been a big success on DVD, but this new App is a way to enjoy it on the move.
Released on November 19, 2012, it will be available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, with a version for Android phones to follow shortly afterwards.
Including all the content of the original DVD – including the extras – it will be available worldwide on the Apple App store at a price of £5:99, $8.99, €6.99 or equivalent.
Programme details:
In 2001 and 2002, Pink Floyd's singer and guitarist David Gilmour performed some solo dates, originally as part of Robert Wyatt's Meltdown Festival at London's Royal Festival Hall, returning to the venue in the subsequent year. Playing in a solo context, the critically acclaimed run of concerts saw David performing some tracks with just voice and guitar, and others with a mostly acoustic group including double bass, guitar, cello, drums, a large vocal choir, and the late Michael Kamen on piano and cor anglais. In 2001, Robert Wyatt guested on Comfortably Numb, while the 2002 concerts also saw contributions from Bob Geldof (Comfortably Numb) and Pink Floyd's Richard Wright (Breakthrough).
Directed by the award-winning David Mallet, the original programme's features have been retained in full.
The concert songs are: Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5); Terrapin; Fat Old Sun; Coming Back To Life; High Hopes; Je Crois Entendre Encore; Smile; Wish You Were Here; Comfortably Numb (featuring Robert Wyatt); Dimming Of The Day; Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 6-8); A Great Day For Freedom; Hushabye Mountain; Breakthrough (featuring Richard Wright); and Comfortably Numb (featuring Bob Geldof). Extras include: Spare Digits (closeups of David Gilmour's guitar parts); Home Movie (shot at rehearsals); High Hopes Choral; I Put A Spell On You (with Jools Holland and Mica Paris); Don't; and Sonnet 18.
Jonathan Wilson, um músico californiano que o Peru acompanha regularmente, tem apenas um disco gravado (Gentle Spirit, 2011), mas vai lançando trabalhos isolados e vídeos. Eis aqui o mais recente, uma versão acustica e ao vivo de "Rolling Universe" no Festival de Newport.
Neil Young deve ser o nome mais referido no Perú. Como eu, vários Peruanos são younguinómicos convictos, pelo que ele continuará a ser uma verdadeira referencia nestas páginas.
O álbum novo, "Psychedelic Pill", sai a 30 de Outubro. Aqui fica o primeiro tube do álbum
Do recém saído "Sun", regresso à positividade da obra pela felina Chan Marshall que se acoita sob o pseudónimo Cat Power, este "Cherokee" ganha espacialidade e deriva. Recomendado.
Isto é novo, e são capazes de gostar, apesar do vocalista me fazer lembrar um bocadinho o Chris de Burgh (vade retro!). Gosto do vaudeville guitarrístico final.
Vem dos Kangurus (Melbourne) e o álbum chama-se "Leave your soul to science"
Crooners de grandes paisagens, na tradição de um Scott Walker ou Burt Bacharach, os Cousteau (que já passaram por Portugal há uns bons anos) andam arredados da edição desde 2005. Provavelmente foram-se para o infinito azul. Vale-nos revisitar alguns dos seus temas de muito bom gosto, como este, de Sirena (2002):
Agora que publicaram o 2º, "Coexist", que anda por aí nas bocas da radio, aqui volta-se ao primeiro, para recordar "Shelter". Temos a mania de ser um bocado do contra, por isso vamos entrando pelo tempo em sentido contrário. E estabelecendo túneis no tempo: Young Marble Giants do Séc. XXI.
I have to agree with "fatal" over the video comments, "
Where is CAMEL, GENTLE GIANT, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR?
Where is STRAWBS, GRYPHON, RENAISSANCE?
Does BBC has anything to do with Progressive Rock? Shame...
"
Might I also add Barclay James Harvest, Moody Blues, Gong, Among Duul, Curved Air,... the list goes on and on.... Just to name a few more, Brits!
Ok, so BBC4 didn't want to turn it's 90 minutes documentary into a "prog dokum", and GG, VDGG, GONG and so on weren't as "mainstream" as Genesis or ELP. But hey, wasn't it all about the music in the first place and not everything else? Don't mind me, just my two cents. Am I the only one wondering what would've happened if Phil got that call? What would've happen to "The Cinema Show" or "Close to the Edge"? Who knows... You surely wouldn't miss something that had never came to be, but... Oh, I'm just babbling.
BBC Prog Rock Britannia an Observation in Three Movements
An observation in three movements:
1. "The Shape of Things to Come: 1967-1970" Focusing on the foundations of prog that lay in psychedelic rock and jazz, from the shift of focus away from three-minute singles towards long play albums and experimental suites, to the emergence of the first prog bands featuring classically trained middle class youth influenced by contemporary music, and embracing the tradition of British eccentricity. Spotlighting Procul Harum, The Beatles, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, The Nice, The Wilde Flowers, Soft Machine, Yes, King Crimson and Caravan. 2. "Close to the Edge: 1970-1973" Focusing on the development of various aspects of prog rock music, from the lyrical influence of classical literature, fantasy and science fiction, through the marriage of music and artwork, the increasingly complex and drawn-out process of writing and recording, to the theatricality of performance, and the genre's international success and popularity among a predominantly male audience. Spotlighting Genesis, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes, Roger Dean, Soft Machine, King Crimson, Egg, Jethro Tull and Mike Oldfield. 3. "Brain Salad Surgery: 1974-2008" Focusing on the decline in popularity of prog rock, from the embracing of 1970s excess and self-indulgence, through the birth of punk music as a response to the genre, to the return to less experimental, pop-oriented songwriting of prog bands in the '80s, and how prog became a four-letter word despite its influence on many musicians and songwriters associated with other genres. Spotlighting Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, ELP and The Sex Pistols.
A new documentary from BBC Arena is set to unveil the untold story behind one of The Beatles' most fascinating creations.
Arena: Magical Mystery Tour Revisited - to be broadcast on BBC Two on Saturday night, October 6 at 9.45pm (GMT) - will feature contributions from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Peter Fonda, Martin Scorsese, Terry Gilliam and Neil Innes among others. It promises to lift the lid on The Beatles' marvellous movie folly, whose 45th birthday is also marked this month by its commercial release on DVD and Blu-ray.
Famously premiered on BBC1 in black and white, on Boxing Day 1967, Magical Mystery Tour was seen by a third of the British television audience, but the film turned out to be no family entertainment special. As the documentary underlines, this was a quintessentially English road movie mapped out by a post-Sgt. Pepper Beatles all fuelled by increasingly surreal ideas and a set of songs to match.
"We didn't really want to do something that didn't represent where we were up to," says McCartney in the doc. "However, people didn't know where we were up to, and it wasn't the kind of thing we could do a disclaimer before it and say, 'Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to see is the product of our imaginations, and believe me, at this point they're quite vivid.'"
Arena's film lifts the veil of psychedelic anarchy to reveal... even more psychedelic anarchy. "I'd love to say there was this incredible master plan," says 'Director Of Photography' Ringo Starr, "but there wasn't".
The documentary will be followed immediately by the restored version of the film itself, complete with unseen outtakes. So that's our Saturday night all sewn up then.
And if that's not enough Magical Mystery for you, you can now watch an unseen segment of footage over at the online "Arena Hotel", a channel devoted to the evergreen documentary strand at BBC/Arts Council web site The Space. It's not every day that the biggest band in the world rolls into your local chip shop.
Also, look out for a MOJO Special Edition devoted to Magical Mystery Tour and The Beatles' psychedelic '67, on the shelves October 10. Pre-order on MOJO's web site - ie. here - from later this week.
"
I got mine!As a side note, only 1000 copies of the walrus cover will be available. Orders should be made online on their website
Can't wait for the new completely remastered version of the Magical Mystery Tour, that is now available on DVD & blu-ray, to arrive at my door step :)
A propósito de uma das últimas newsletters do Perú (e no seguimento do post anterior): Há um site americano (perdi o link) de um tipo que inventaria versões de Whiter Shade of Pale. Descobri lá isto.
AVISO: É SIMPLESMENTE TERRÍVEL. APAGAR QUANTO ANTES!!!!
A Salty Dog fez 40 anos em 2009. Para muitos, será um sinal da passagem do tempo (mesmo para mim, que o conheci mais tarde). Mas, vendo as coisas pela positiva, é um testemunho de que as coisas boas duram. Ainda hoje é uma obra que dá prazer ouvir (o que, se pensarmos bem, não tem nada de especial: muitas das obras de referência de hoje - Wagner, Beethoven, Chopin - tem mais de cem anos; Albinoni escreveu o seu famosíssimo Adagio no século XVII, etc. O tempo é uma medida relativa e a novidade é uma efeméride). O tema título foi o primeiro tema em que os PH utilizaram uma orquestra; uma história de marinheiros que cheira a sal e a cordas molhadas.
Não há nenhum tema fraco no álbum, embora os dois temas orquestrais, o já referido e Wreck of the Hesperus (outro tema nautico) são os meus preferidos.
Aviso: esta música precisa de colunas grandes e boa definição. Youtube e auscultadores de ipod são mínimos para transmitir o punch. A minha edição é a comemorativa dos 40 anos (em CD, custou menos de 10€ na Amazon) e recomendo vivamente; está a anos luz das edições anteriores, plena de presença, detalhe e espacialidade (nem parece um CD!). Estamos a falar de um álbum gravado há 43 anos atrás, precisa de alguns cuidados para estar à altura da qualidade das gravações de hoje, o que foi efetivamente feito. Embora muitas gravações dos anos 50 e 60, muito bem feitas, continuem brilhantes - é um paradoxo, mas nada substitui a sabedoria de quem sabe o que faz..
Esta nova secção instantânea do Perú vai procurar trazer temas esquecidos, iluminações fugazes do passado que o presente merece lembrar.
Para começar, um tema de "A Salty Dog", dos Procol Harum - "Pilgrim's Progress", que fecha o álbum.
Um hino de boa disposição (notem as palmas no final) e simplicidade, com o mesmo orgão Hammond B3 de Whiter Shade of Pale, só que aa voz não é a de Gary Broker, mas a de Matttew Fisher, o que lhe confere um ar mais angelical. Simples, eficaz e com um good vibe.
Os Agitation Free foram umas das bandas grandes do krautrock, fundindo no seu álbum Malesch ritmos hipnóticos com percussões hipnóticas de Marrocos, em grandes excursões instrumentais que bem poderiam ter por fundo as montanhas do Atlas. Acabaram depois de três álbuns de originais, em 1974, voltando a editar em 1999 e regressando de seguida às sombras.
Em 2011 lançaram um álbum ao vivo em Tóquio, que abre precisamente com o mesmo tema de Malesch: "You play for us today". Ouçam bem. E atenção, portistas aí fora: ouçam a introdução!!
Este tema clássico dos Byrds ganha uma versão instrumental, looonga (16 min!), mas com uma estética muito garage, muito banda a ensaiar que a torna interessante e viciante, quase hipnótica.
Está a fechar o CD da Uncut deste mês, muito justamente dedicado a covers dos Byrds.
É sabido que a baixa-mar traz destroços à costa. Em Dublin por poucos dias, o final de tarde proporcionou um passeio pela baixa e alguma recolha interessante...
Paul Buchanan - Mid Air - 2012 - destroço existencial recente, álbum a solo do líder dos ex-Blue Nile, que se arrisca a ser um dos melhores do ano e um clássico.
CocoRosie - Grey Oceans - 2010 - manas irrequietas, muito irrequietas, com sangue muito fresco nas faces rosadas.
Gentle Giant - Artistically Cry - gravação de 1976 - som muito mau, gravação de concerto na Suécia destes clássicos progressistas.
"Mercy and Grand" - 2011 - espetáculo ao vivo em 2006 organizado por Gavin Bryars com Música de Tom Waits e Kathleen Brennan. Uma releitura interessante.
Cat Power - Sun, 2012 - o disco "da resolução" desta gata problemática. A (ou)ver...
Agitation Free - Shibuya Nights - Live in Tokyo - 2011 - Uma das melhores bandas do krautrock ressurgiu o ano passado com este show em Tóquio.
Amazing Bondel - England - 1972 - Folk Proggers ingleses em vinil.
