Category: Music

…and it's brought me almost to tears more than once. It's all well-known stuff of course but they're pieces I haven't heard in years. Right now Smetana's The Moldau is playing, and I can't help but envision the translucent yellow vinyl copy that I buried in my collection somewhere. So-called classical is the music that got me into music in High School. (The first rock album I bought was Elton John's Caribou and when my mom heard it playing in my room I thought she was going to have a stroke.)

My folks were big into music. Neither played an instrument, but I remember the house always being filled with music. Classical was their first choice, but this being the 60s and 70s, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Barbra Streisand and even Ferrante & Teicher (?  ) would often make an appearance as well.

I'd really like to know what's happened to that vinyl, however. It hasn't been that long since I last hauled this out (maybe four years tops), and at the time there was no black in that disc whatsoever. It was all translucent yellow, one of the mesmerizing things I remember about this from childhood is how the grooves appeared to swim back and forth while the disk was playing. Except for a few errant pops and clicks, it still sounds good, but this is sad.

Is it a glitch in the matrix?

About a year and a half ago, Ben and I had the pleasure of seeing the Fathom Events screening of Philip Glass' Akhnaten by the New York Metropolitan Opera.

Since that time we've been following Zachary James, one of the performers in the production on Instagram, and he posted that the Met was going to rebroadcast the 2019 performance last night.

I didn't get a chance to watch "live," but it's still available online today, and I've been enjoying it this evening.

After the last eight months, this was exactly what the doctor ordered. From the opening notes of the Prelude, I was immediately grounded and all the accumulated angst I've been carrying around melted away. This is one of those  pieces of music for which I know every note and intonation backward and forward, and hearing it again just resonated..

I don't know how long it will remain up, so if you're even the least bit curious about Glass or this monumental opera, check it out.

Madonna: True Blue (1986)

From Behind the Grooves:

"True Blue", the third album by Madonna is released. Produced by Madonna, Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray, it is recorded at Channel Recording in Los Angeles, CA from December 1985 – April 1986. After the massive whirlwind success of the "Like A Virgin" album and "The Virgin Tour", the pop superstar does not rest on her laurels, beginning work on the crucial follow up at the end of 1985. Working with long time collaborator Stephen Bray and new producer Patrick Leonard (Michael Jackson, Jody Watley), the album is praised upon its release as her strongest effort to date, and is widely regarded today as one of the best albums of her career. It spins off five top five hits including "Live To Tell" (#1 Pop), "Papa Don't Preach" (#1 Pop), "Open Your Heart" (#1 Pop) and the title track (#3 Pop). "True Blue" also marks the beginning Madonna's long association with famed fashion photographer Herb Ritts who shoots the LP's iconic cover photo. The original LP package also includes a poster of the album cover shot. As a promotion for the album, MTV sponsors the "Make My Video" contest, inviting viewers to submit their own visual interpretations of the title track. The winning entry comes from Angel Gracia and Cliff Guest, whose black & white clip is rotated heavily on the video channel. The pair are awarded a check for $25,000 by the pop superstar herself at MTV's New York studios. The alternate video directed by James Foley, featuring Madonna with close friends actress Debi Mazur and fashion designer Erika Belle is shown largely outside the US. Madonna also supports the album with the worldwide "Who's That Girl Tour" beginning in June of 1987. It is remastered and reissued on CD in 2001, with the extended 12" mixes of "La Isla Bonita" and the title track included as bonus tracks. The vinyl LP is reissued in Europe in 2012, including the original inner sleeve lyric sheet and poster featured in the original release. In October of 2016, a limited edition release of the LP pressed on blue vinyl, is issued as exclusive through the European supermarket chain Sainsbury's. "True Blue" spends five weeks at number one on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified 7x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.

My unbridled love for this album and the accompanying quest to acquire it on "true blue" vinyl has been well documented on this blog, so I won't add anything more today and instead will sign off and go listen to it.

Giorgio & Chris: Love's in You, Love's in Me (1978)

Never one of my favorites, but looked back upon fondly, especially Burning the Midnight Oil.

I get the totally unsubstantiated feeling that Giorgio was sleeping with Chris and was hoping to make her the next Donna Summer. Unfortunately, Chris didn't possess the vocal talent of Summer and this is why I think this was a one-off album…

But this is only the second time I've owned it on vinyl.

I received my first copy as a gift from Ben back in 2016. It was an Amazon purchase, and the quality of the disk was abysmal. It was warped and noisy, basically rendering it unplayable. We just ended up returning it for a refund. It fell off my radar thereafter, because there were so many other albums I wanted on vinyl, but lately I've been wanting to try another copy.

I did some research beforehand, and the consensus seemed to be that the 2016 180g reissue was one of the best. So I tracked that down and located a new, unopened copy on Discogs. It arrived the other day, and I have to say that while I wasn't expecting much, it's awesome. There is absolutely no surface noise (comparable to the excellent German pressings of the Kraftwerk catalog I have), perfectly flat, and really makes my system sing.

If you're into vinyl and for some reason don't already own this, I highly recommended getting it.

Tarkan: Yolla (2020)

I was playing this in the car today and Ben said, "He must be cute."

I replied, "I like the song. But yes. Yes he is."

"I know my husband," was his response.

There was only one thing I had my…eye…on, and I was finally able to order it.

I'm reposting this because I was listening to it in the car today and it brought me such joy. As I wrote below, it harkens back to a time in my life when life was…simpler. A happier time, a feeling these last seven months have (hopefully only temporarily) robbed me of.

This is a playlist that I put together a few years ago and burned onto CD as a holiday gift for my surviving friends from the 80s with whom I shared these musical memories. These songs—mostly from the mid-to-late years of the decade—in addition to the pop hits of the day, comprised the soundtrack of our lives as we transitioned from life in Tucson to life in San Francisco. It puts me in a…strange…headspace, so I don't listen to it very often, but sometimes it's just what the doctor ordered to remind me that life has not always been the psychic clusterfuck we all currently find ourselves living through.

This is one of those albums I could put on endless repeat and never tire of. Roxy Music's 1982 Avalon is a longtime favorite and one, surprisingly, that has not received a proper 180g reissue. (There is a 180g half speed master reissue available but it's been universally panned for the poor pressing quality, something I'm discovering with a lot of these 180g reissues.) Every time I put this record on I think I should search for a better quality replacement, but the used $3.00 copy that I found at Bookman's in Tucson years ago that really does sound amazing and I think "Why bother?!"

In case you've been living under a rock for the last 40 years and have never heard Avalon, here you go…

Carpenters: Now and Then (1975)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OeX9Rq9cFk&list=PLrpyDacBCh7D9LYtNqpCNxIAyLk4R26uA

Grace Jones: Warm Leatherette (1980)

My favorite—or maybe second favorite—Grace Jones album. I can never definitively say if this or Nightclubbing is my favorite. They're both so good they could easily have been released as a double LP.

 

Erasure: The Innocents (1988)

Probably my favorite Erasure album ever.

In memory of my friend Floyd….

 

Sphinx: Sphinx (1978)

Under the name Sphinx, Alec R. Costandinos and Don Ray released an album with two side-long tunes, Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter, telling the story of the betrayal of Christ. Judas features some monk-like chanting, and a pretty simple ascending and descending theme, but as usual it goes through a bewildering series of tranformations, including what sounds like a bouzouki duel, before climbing to a rousing finale. It's also a good case study in how Costandinos keeps the rhythm section pumping out dance beats no matter how overwrought the orchestra gets. Simon Peter explores similar territory and about seven minutes in, it breaks into the most furious, kick-ass disco you're ever going to hear.

Much like Costandinos' work with Cerrone on Love in C-Minor, I was initially unaware of Don Ray's contributions to this album, but upon subsequent listening it's obvious.

And no doubt because of the subject matter, I don't recall ever hearing it played in the clubs. I only stumbled upon it because it appeared in a full page ad in Billboard Magazine along with Costandinos' other work.

Sade: Diamond Life (1985)

Carrie Lucas: Dance With You (1979)

Sister Sledge: We Are Family (1979)

https://youtu.be/FLVqQSp1eBs

Pink Floyd: The Wall (1979)

Madonna: You Can Dance (1987)

Jean Michael Jarre: Equinoxe (1978)

Grace Jones: Inside Story (1986)

https://youtu.be/hmIFcekpyBY

Carpenters: Horizon (1974)

What struck me most about this album back in the day was the audio quality. I don't know what magic the recording engineers used, but Karen's voice was crystal clear and it seemed you could hear every instrument used in the arrangements.

Their take on "Please Mr. Postman" remains one of my favorites.

Donna Summer: Once Upon a Time… (1977)

Her masterpiece, and as I have written of many times before, an album that holds a very special place in my heart.