Finally I have a moment to sit and put together a non-travel-related blog entry. Today has been boring thus far, but I’ll probably write again this evening once the rest of the day has unfolded. I know you’re all dying to read about me opening a new bank account, but you’re just going to have to stick your thumb up your ass and wait a few more hours. Tomorrow looks like it’s going to include another fun day trip, and Thursday night there is going to be a huge blowout party at one of my favorite drinking spots in New York, where I’ll squeeze a weeks worth of catching up with friends into a few bourbon-and-beer soaked hours. So, if you’re a Swan Fungus reader who isn’t psychotic, and you want to buy your favorite blogger a drink, you should e-mail me for details. I’m calling the event, “Getting Drunk With Evan”. You buy me a drink (that’s like your ticket to get on the ride) and then I silently think to myself whether or not I want to engage in conversation with you (that’s the ride). Maybe I will decide to talk to you (that’s your prize), and maybe I won’t (that’s how you lose). It’s a really fun game.
Do I really have to describe Can for you? They are one of my all-time most-loved bands, and their “classic years” (most say ’71-’73) are unparalleled in the history of rock music. No joke. The Beatles? Meh, they had great singles but their albums were mostly boring. Sufjan Stevens? What are you, fucking kidding me? I’m still waiting for that guy’s first good song! The Rolling Stones came close with four great albums recorded between ’68 and ’72, but that’s a five year span! Can did three in three years! Throw in the two pre-Damo albums Monster Movie and Soundtracks (where Damo and Malcolm Mooney split vocal duties), and you have five classic albums in five years. Talk about hitting a fucking groove! Can’s ability to create wonderful music consistently over the course of a half-decade really is perhaps their least recognized quality. They also grooved in the literal sense. The rhythm section of Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit became completely lost in the moment, and along with organist Irmin Schmidt they epitomized the eclecticism and oft-paraphrased “motorik” rhythms that defined Krautrock. In a genre overflowing with immense drummers, Liebezeit compares favorably even to Klaus Schulze of Ash Ra Tempel and Klaus Dinger, of Neu!. Dig it, buddy.
The bootleg Future Days And Past Nights was recorded at the University of Essex in England on the 17th of May, 1975. Even though Damo left the band in ’73 to marry his girlfriend, he is featured on this live album. It is a soundboard recording that features several recognizable tunes including the stunning “Bel Air” (here condensed to eight minutes) from Future Days, two tracks from the oft-overlooked Soon Over Babaluma, and “One More Night” from Ege Bamyasi. “Pinch Of Sky” and the closing number “Meadowsweet portend the band’s future progression with their heavy electronic and jazz influences. This is one that should be enjoyed by all Can fans.
Can
Future Days And Past Nights
MediaFire Download Link
Track Listing:
01. Chain Reaction
02. Bel Air
03. Dizzy Dizzy
04. Pinch Of Sky
05. One More Night
06. Meadowsweet
A few weeks ago you were offered the option of downloading the Aphrodite’s Child masterpiece 666, which I think is one of the greatest concept albums ever recorded. Today I’m sharing It’s Five O’Clock, the band’s second studio album (666 was their third, End Of The World was their first). You might be surprised to learn that Vangelis and Co. were not always purveyors of grandiose psychedelic prog rock. On this record, they find themselves meandering through a variety of styles and tempos, from their typical early pop-psych (“Such A Funny Night”) to soul and country. There are few if any elements of prog in any of these songs. Vangelis is at his most soulful when he belts out “Good Time So Fine” and “Annabella”. I wouldn’t say that It’s Five O’Clock Aphrodite’s Child is an entirely different band from 666 Aphrodite’s Child, but it’s astounding to hear the progression (no pun intended) between this album (1969) and the next one (1972). You can purchase the album used from Amazon.com.
Aphrodite’s Child
It’s Five O’Clock
MediaFire Download Link
Track Listing:
01. It’s Five O’Clock
02. Wake Up
03. Take Your Time
04. Annabella
05. Let Me Love, Let Me Live
06. Funky Mary
07. Good Time So Fine
08. Marie Jolie
09. Such A Funny Night
During my first week at the record store, one of my employees was preparing to leave when he approached me and asked if I was into garage rock. I said I knew the basics and liked The Sonics and 13th Floor Elevators, but it always seemed like a genre filled with unknown gems and a lot of crap to wade through. He walked over to one of the record bins and picked up an LP by a band called The Rising Storm called Alive Again At Andover, told me it was rare, and said I should definitely buy it. It was hand-numbered, so I figured at the very least it might be worth more than the $9.99 price tag somewhere down the line. I took it home and played it while writing my blog entry that night, and I found myself distracted by how energetic and great the band sounded. The sextet even covered a Stones’ song and Donovan’s “Catch The Wind.” I soon learned that the LP I was listening to was an audience recording of a 1982 performance that happened to coincide with the group’s fifteenth-year high school reunion (they formed at a prep school in Massachusetts and disbanded upon graduation). There was only one original song played during that show, so I figured I’d look into finding a studio recording. That’s when I found out The Rising Storm’s only full-length album, Calm Before… is an incredibly sought after garage rock recording, fetching over $2,500 or more at auction. So, I settled for a CD.
“The Rising Storm were not the usual band of teenagers with bad attitudes covering “Louie, Louie”; roughly half of the songs on Calm Before… are originals, and they’re surprisingly subtle and ambitious stuff, moody folk-rock that often suggests the subtle influence of the psychedelic revolution that was looming on the musical horizon. If the Rising Storm weren’t exactly virtuosos, they were a tight and energetic band with enough musical smarts to make the most of songs like “Frozen Laughter,” “The Rain Falls Down,” and “To L.N./Who Doesn’t Know,” and when they stomp down on “Big Boss Man,” “Don’t Look Back,” or “Baby Please Don’t Go,” they sound mighty fine indeed”. Lucky for you, both albums are available in one package over at Amazon.com.
The Rising Storm
Calm Before…
MediaFire Download Link
Track Listing:
01. Don’t Look Back
02. To L.N. – Who Doesn’t Know
03. I’m Coming Home
04. A Message to Pretty
05. In The Midnight Hour
06. Frozen Laughter
07. She Loved Me
08. Mr. Wind
09. Big Boss Man
10. Bright Lit Blue Skies
11. The Rain Falls Down
12. Baby Please Don’t Go
