Most people who've done programming, or math, know just how hard it is to achieve "simple". So when you see something that's simple and elegant, and even obvious, don't be fooled - getting there probably took a lot of work ( Read more... )

"The Complete Fun House Sessions". 6 CDs. 30 (!) takes of Loose. I can't seriously be considering getting this, much less sit through it - can I?

Basin Street Blues, Duke, Hodges, Sweets. I'm not a religious person by a long shot, but damn, this is close. This stuff, I'm telling ya, time just drift away, with a big, silly smile on my face.

So, I'm still in Zappa mode - I currently making my way through the 6 volumes of 2 CD You can't do that on stage anymore albums.

One of many gems found in this collection is a a 10 minute performance of Dickie's Such an Asshole (a Watergate-era song), performed by the band best know from the "Roxy & Elsewhere" album. This is amazing stuff. The ( Read more... )

While writing the previous post I was listening to Trouble Every Day - another political statement song, but bluesy and angry, not at all theatre. It's a song I've heard 100s of time. This time, however, I got a surprise.

At the end of the song (original version, recorded in '66 for Freak Out), the song transitions from the blues theme that ( Read more... )

While reading tonight I've been listening to Zappa (yeah - big surprise). For some reason I felt like listening to You Are What You Is, and album I haven't heard for years. It's an odd album. I remember buying it when it was new, and I remember both being disappointed and being greatly amused. After a couple of years with albums with ( Read more... )

Last night and today I've been listening to what we used to call "agitpop"; agitation pop - pop/rock created more to get an opinion out and win converts than to create music. There was a lot of that here in the '70s, as part of a thriving left-wing community ( Read more... )

Back in the late '70s and the first half of the '80s I listened a lot to Pere Ubu. I always found their music odd, sometimes very good, and often an interesting challenge. Pere Ubu was never easy listening, exactly, but there was something about this dark and haunting music that would draw me in. There was so much going on in these albums. It ( Read more... )

Something made me put B-52's "Play Loud" on. And, OMG, the sound. It brings me right back. It's pop all right, but with the clear and bright sound and guitar focus, and the hard, very forward mix is so unlike anything today. And, frankly, unlike most things then.

Heck, keep this up and I'll be listening to DEVO next.

Joe is a great prophet, and finally there's an interpretation for the rest of us:

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