Mantra 77 -Berlin Trilogy Part 3

Mantra 77

Download the bootleg; Mantra 77.

The bootleg is what i understand a recording from 28th March in 1977. It was apart of the Iggy Pop tour which featured Bowie on keyboard. The recording its self sounds like a radio session of some sort and has the added bonus of not having any crowd noise distorting it.

The line up apart from Iggy was Bowie on keyboards and backing vocals [as seen in the cover], Hunt Sales on drums and backing vocals, Tony Sales on bass and Ricky Gardiner on guitar.

The track list is;
1) Raw Power                                         9) I Need Somebody
2) TV Eye                                                10) Search & Destroy
3) Dirt                                                       11) I Wanna Be Your Dog
4) Turn Blue                                           12) China Girl
5) Funtime
6) Gimme Danger
7) No Fun
8 ) Sister Midnight

My view of this bootleg is that its a great piece of history of this tour, [The tour that Bowie helped his fellow friend out and taught how to make money in the business]. Apart from looking at it as a history resource its a pretty good listen! My favorites are ‘No Fun’ which has a slightly different feel to it like most of the songs on this bootleg due to the Bowies presence. However nothing can beat my favorite track on this ‘Sister Midnight’ i love the sharp pointy keyboard notes David plays through out the song and the ending of the song is just like one big funky keyboard jam. This is a really great Bootleg.

Now i hope that link isnt copyrighted but what i believe its a bootleg on the circuit so it should be all good, but if so tell me and it will be removed.

Low – Berlin Trilogy Part 2

‘Low’ the first official starting point to the Berlin trilogy shocked most Bowie fans when it came out. Drugs, drink and fame were making Bowie sick and Berlin was used as an escape to it all. Using Berlin to be isolated allowed Bowie to be more creative and see the reality again in life departing from his celebrity status.It also made him closer to his influences Kratwerk and Neu!. In an agreement with Eno to make a trilogy, the two began with ‘Low’.

With this album i often find side 1 more enjoyable. The first side has sharp songs that are catchy and filled with melody and electronic sound effects which all adds up to this image that i have thats its pop music for martians living on another planet.

The first side of the LP has the first single from the album ‘Sound And Vision’. It has the sound of the drug induced nature it was written in with the occasional Ahh’s sang wavy and angel like through out the song.

However also on the first side of the record has my personal favorite from the album, ‘Be My Wife’. The song has no electronic feel to it but more of a back to basics approach. Starting with a ragtime piano intro, Bowie begins to plea to [what I have read many Bowie biographers believe is] Angela Bowie on the last hope of saving his failing marriage at the time. This video was the first official Bowie video since ‘Life On Mars?’ and the two are very similar. Shot in a minimalist white background with Bowie singing along to the track – only this time the cocaine is evident. In my honest opinion Bowie looks like he was fallen apart due to drugs and his mood is somewhat hinted by the albums title, Low.

Eno’s input is more evident on the second side which is mainly filled with sound scapes of weird ambient sounds taken you away into a different atmosphere. This is proberbly because most were attended to be used in the film, The Man Who Fell To Earth staring Bowie in the lead role. It’s this second side of the LP that i believe is what shocked most of his loyal fans. ‘No commercial potential’ as Zappa would say to this experimental instrumental side which at the time was panned by critics.

‘Breaking Glass’ from the first side of LP reminds me of ‘Sister Midnight’ from Iggy Pop’s ‘The Idiot’ for its funky bass and simplistic guitar lick repeated over again. Here is a more energetic performance when compared to the album version live.

Low was ahead of its time and Bowies determination to be creative certainly comes across in each track causing it to be a arty experience.

The Man Who Fell To Earth

The Idiot – Berlin Trilogy Part 1

Infamous for the being the soundtrack to Ian Curtis’ death [Joy Division], Iggy Pop’s debut solo record ‘The   Idiot’ is often marked as the unofficial beginning  to Bowie’s Berlin Period.

‘Low’ – Bowies first installment was released before the record but however songs for ‘The Idiot’ were        recorded before ‘Low’ was so therefore i will begin with this record. My view on it is that ‘The Idiot’ is    Bowies stepping stone from the funky ‘Station To Station’ to the electronic ‘Low’ as this emerges the two  together.   Pop has been noted for saying its Kraftwerk meets James Brown.

The album starts of with the funky ‘Sister Midnight’ [which would later be the music to Bowies 'Red Money'  on the last album from the Berlin period]. The track is just so groovy its bound to get stuck in your head for how simple the lick is but it works well with Iggys low vocal, almost sounding like the bouncing bass which compliments it.

Above is a interesting piece of footage of Bowie playing the song, it really shows you how funky the bass line is in the song as this rehearsal footage shows.

Half way through the album, is the famous Pop/Bowie song ‘China Girl’ which Bowie would re-make later in his career for the ‘Let’s Dance’ LP to help Pop make some money as he was facing bankruptcy. [The thought of endorsing insurance probably wasn’t around then for Pop]. The song is a much rougher, basic and morbid approach in comparison to Bowies version. I prefer Pop’s because it’s stripped down approach.

My favourite track in the album is the last, ‘Mass Production’. After the one minute of electronic synth’s creating an uneasy atmosphere, a low shaky voice meets the audience before blasting into song. The bass is loud in the mix and is overwhelmed by layering of odd synth sounds until eventually near the end of the song we hear what sounds like a melting liquid splurge of synth mashed on top of each other and spat back out. It is that half a minute which is my favourite part of the whole album – simply just for its experimental value. The song slowly comes to a end finishing of the album with the weird floating siren sound.

One aspect Bowie fans will love this I feel is because you can hear Bowies unique voice in with the tracks but in a new atmosphere out with his Bowie persona. This is also seen on Lou Reeds, Transformer album as well. Try playing the albums to people that don’t know Bowies involvements with them and see how long it takes them to spot the Bowie.

The album is great, very oddly whilst listening to this question yourself that Ian Curtis did die to this. It doesn’t sound that unnatural as the album just has that kind of depressing atmosphere around it which really works for me.

Iggy and Ziggy

Introduction to the ‘Berlin Trilogy’…

Living on a diet consisting of Milk and Peppers, cocaine addict David Bowie [at the time] would soon record his famous “Berlin Trilogy”. This trilogy consists of his three albums ‘Low’ (1977), “Heros” (1977) and finally ‘Lodger’ (1979).

These albums are notable for the David Bowie and Brian Eno collaborations as well as the German sound of the 70′s which played a large influence of the outcome of these three records. The trilogy was produced by Tony Visconti [but often wrongly credited to Eno] who before hand helped produce Bowie’s ‘The Man Who Sold The World”. Also during the trilogy Bowie managed to sing with Bing Crosby and also produce Iggy Pops first two solo records when not high [Second thoughts i doubt it they weren't high when recording them]. Often Iggy Pop’s record ‘The Idoit’ gets being marked as the unofficial beginning of the trilogy given that it was the first of the work seen by Bowie during this time and even has the same influence of the german electronic movement which was happening.

So stay tuned as i will be discussing the best trilogy  [even before the original Star Wars trilogy] there is step by step.

Video above is Bowie playing ‘Station To Station’ a song which was before the Berlin Trilogy from the album of the same title. Im really digging Adrian Belew’s guitar intro.

The Jackofficers

To enjoy this album, firstly you must see it like the genre of cult films  ’ They are so bad, they are good’ – (The Toxic Avenger,  a good example of one of those films). Its this concept that makes this album entertaining, along with its Jimi Hendrix’s and Texas Chainsaw samples.

The Jackofficers, are firstly a side project of 2 members of The Butthole Surfers, Gibby Haynes (frontman) and Jeff Pinkus (bassist) and is nothing like The Surfers. The album is the two making really trippy house music ‘Butt’ in their own unique way and with dark humor.  The album at first seems all over the place but with a lot of listening… a lot of listening, you can see their is structures to the songs but its hard to do as most of the apparent jumble makes you go insane (but im sure thats the point of it all). Early 1990′s computer software was used to make this album which just adds to the cheesyness of it all as we hear drum beats that sound like pre-set beats from a childs keyboard along with psychotic synth bass lines. The track ”LA Mama Peanut Butter” i find is somewhat catchy and has a playful bass line as well as the words LA Mama!!! and Peanut Butter!!!  repeated over and over again in different pitches throughout the song. However the majourity of the album is going to be most likely too unpleasant for many and even i cant listen to the last track fully which consists of a whooshing noise on repeat.

 

Note the early 90′s computer software even plagues the LP’s cover.

 

Listen to ‘L.A Mama Peanut Butter’ here.

Double LP: What The 90′s Needed More Of…

 

Frank Black in full glory!

Although Brit-Pop influenced and shaped what we hear today, I think the 90’s should of sounded a bit more like this LP.

Frank Blacks “Teenager Of The Year” stands as a respectable double LP with 22 songs which all sound up to match and none of them as fillers (which is unfortunately common with double LP‘s). Most of the songs on this album could have been a hit yet they still manage to be daring at the same time. I believe this album deserved a wider distribution and would of reached more people when released.

 

Interesting structural arrangements helps surprise the listeners as well as the use of science fiction B-Movie style strings helps give the songs depth and also reflects on Frank Blacks obsession with space. Listening to the record you can hear Frank Black was not scared to fool around and try new different styles in writing such as in “Fiddle Riddle” a song with a hot sweaty reggae backdrop which you would not expect from the man whom used to scream “uriah hit the crapper, the crapper” back in days of “The Pixies“.
The album is fun, energetic and also has moments of emotion when needed. 

Very fast and energetic song, “Whatever Happened To Pong”. Quite witty of Frank to sing about the old computer game.

An Album That Mentions Casper The Ghost

As always throughout Daniel Johnston’s work the lyrics are painfully honest and very direct towards the listener and his 1991 release “Artistic Vice” is no exception…

Well, some would argue about that statement. Some might see his lyrics as a feeble attempt of being a lyricist and find them comedic as to how simplistic and blunt they are, but then when you start putting them into context about the life he has lived you begin to realise this man is so honest (sometimes a bit too much that you end up pitying him) as he sings in one song, “Happy Soul”.

“Ive written so many songs at an alarming rate, it soaks up the tears and evaporates the hate”.

If anyone has been lucky enough to see the documentary about Daniel Johnston you start realising that everything that he is saying in these songs is true – He would sit for hours in his basement creating songs on the piano to overcome his depression. Therefore these emotional lyrics mixed with Daniels withering and vulnerable vocals makes the record just as emotional and interesting as the rest of his many albums.

The sound of the album is much more different from most of Daniel Johnston’s work such as keyboard banging “Yip/Jump Music” and “Hi, How Are You?”. Instead his usual style has been changed by Daniel assembling a six piece band however very oddly in true Johnston like fashion four of them are guitarists which makes the album very guitar based and different when compared to the DIY recordings of earlier Johnston material. However Daniel still manages to keep up with some traditions such as singing songs about Laurie (a fellow student of Daniels whom he fell in love with) and comic book character, Casper The Friendly Ghost.

Although this album is not mentioned in his documentary, “Artistic Vice” is over all a catchy album, I feel with all of his work that it’s a mad mans stab at writing pop anthems which he does in his own unique way very well and its a shame this album is not mentioned more.

An Album About A Fascination With Religion

 

The Flaming Lips are becoming a multi-media outlet for influential artistic journeys, but they have never always been so lucky to have the chance to express their creativity to such a wide audience. Blasting atmospheric walls of guitar feedback whizzing past the listeners ears like a flying bumble bee opens The Flaming Lips, ear achingly beautiful LP “In a Priest Driven Ambulance”.

As its not distributed by Warner Brothers the concept album of frontman, Wayne Coyne’s obession with religion is not often discovered by fans which is disappointing as its one of The Flaming Lips truly psychedelic albums.

Many techniques such as lowering Wayne’s pitch, the unusual contrast of acoustic guitars and the multi-layering of guitar feedback helps give the album a unique style and atmosphere (and establishes that there is an art to manipulating guitar feedback) which helps make the album different and gave it a more likely chance to be picked up by a cigar puffing man at Warner Brothers. 

Although at times I could see how people could find this album as poor due to it being slightly too amateurish sounding. Its that aspect in the record I like, Wayne’s voice at times can be a bit annoying and some what of a child pretending to be a rock star. However for me its cuteness grows on you and you must remember this was before being signed to Warner Brothers and before (in my eyes) under-rated Steven Drozd joined “The Lips“ to guide them into a more professional presentation of the band we have today.I would recommend this album out of the few before the signing to Warner Brothers era.

Unlike the other albums like “Telepathic Surgery” which to me sounds like them trying to discover their sound, its in this album they finally did discover there desired sound.

A old video thats not included on the Flaming Lips music video dvd. The song is for the albums opener, “Shine On Sweet Jesus”.