Music Makes Me

A Noël Coward Album Sampler

2014-05-13T09:57:00.000+01:00

I haven’t celebrated Coward’s birthday here before, so here is a selection of music from my favourite Coward LPs.

Noel Coward The Master Sings

Sail Away

Uncle Harry

Nina

“She refused to begin the beguine
When they besought her to,
And in language profane and obscene
She cursed the man who taught her to.
(She cursed Cole Porter, too.)”

Imagine the Duchess’s Feelings

Noel Coward in New York

Half Caste Woman

Twentieth Century Blues

I’ve Been To A Marvellous Party

Time and Again

Sail Away

Noel Coward at Las Vegas

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

A Room with a View

Uncle Harry

Let’s Do It

The Party’s Over Now

The Words and Music of Noël Coward – (Various Artists) – 1965

Mad Dogs and Englishmen (Kenneth Williams)

Mad about the Boy (Cleo Laine)

Once In a Blue Moon - Mabel Mercer

Sail Away

Evocations of the Dance IV: Crossovers: When Highbrow Went Lowbrow, When Lowbrow Went Highbrow (3)

2012-12-16T08:31:00.000+00:00

http://www.jazzstudiesonline.org/files/Jazz%20as%20Decal.pdf

Fair warning: this is an exercise in false dichotomies – jazz and classical music in the twentieth century were often feeding off similar roots. But my key contention is that even now, long after Gunther Schuller’s ‘Third Stream’, the phenomenon that is the appeal of ‘World Music’, and the fusion of everything that isn’t bolted down (to mix a metaphor), we still have a sense of what is jazz and what is classical music.

It could be borrowings of melodic, harmonic or rhythmic qualities, or it could be the tendency of jazz musicians to favour more complex harmonies or to otherwise show their allegiance to the avant garde, which seems to me more of a highbrow borrowing from the classical music world than an indigenous jazz trait.

Something about confluences, tributaries here.

So, the following list of tracks represent a slightly selective history of jazz tracks with classical elements and classical tracks with a jazz influence.

I want this list to be an organic thing. If you can suggest any tracks I’ve neglected, please leave a comment.

The 1940s

Year	The Jazz Side Of Things	The Classical Side Of Things
1940	Moonlight on the Ganges (Eddie Sauter) - Benny Goodman - 1940	Concertino for Piano and Orchestra (Szpilman, 1940) - Wladyslaw Szpilman - 1972
	Elegie (Massenet) - Art Tatum - 1940	American Minuet (Harold Arlen, 1940) - Harold Arlen - 1955
	Darn That Dream (Jimmy Van Heusen & Edgar De Lange) - Mildred Bailey with Benny Goodman & His Orchestra - 1940	Seldom The Sun (Alec Wilder, 1940) - The Alec Wilder Octet - 1940
1941	Laughing in Rhythm - Sidney Bechet
	Snowfall - Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra
	Intermezzo - Earl Hines - 1941
	Serenade To A Maid - Teddy Powell and his Orchestra - 1941
	The Flight of the Bumblebee (Rimsky-Korsakov) - Harry James - 1941
	Rustle Of Spring - John Kirby & His Orchestra - 1941
1942	The Aghast Ghost - Slava Eman Novacek and His Orchestra - 1942
1942	Jitterbug Waltz - Fats Waller - 1942
1943	Artistry in Rhythm - Stan Kenton
1943	The Blues (from Black, Brown and Beige, Ellington, 1943) - Duke Ellington, v. Marie Ellington - 1944
1944		Fugueing Jam Session (from Evenings On The Roof) - Ray Green - 1944
1945	Dalvatore Sally - Boyd-Raeburn Orchestra - 1945
	Improvisation No. 6 - Django Reinhardt	Ebony Concerto for Clarinet and Instrumental Ensemble (Igor Stravinsky, 1945) - Benny Goodman & Columbia Jazz Combo - 1960
	Avocado Seed Soup Symphony (Pt. 1) - Slim Gaillard, Leo Watson - 1945
	Memphis In June - Boyd-Raeburn Orchestra, v. Ginnie Powell & David Allyn - 1945
	Soliloquy (Rodgers & Hammerstein, 1945) - Frank Sinatra - 1946
1946	Nuages (take 2) - Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli
	Out on a Limb - Lennie Tristano Trio - 1946
	Summer Sequence (Parts 1, 2 & 3) - Woody Herman - 1946
1947	Lament - Laurindo Almeida - 1947	Concerto for Clarinet, String Orchestra, Harp and Piano (Aaron Copland, 1947) - Benny Goodman - 1951
1947	The Clothed Woman - Duke Ellington - 1947
1948	Picasso - Coleman Hawkins - 1948
1948	Rhapsody In Wood - Woody Herman - 1948
1949	Similau - Artie Shaw and His Orchestra
	Goin’ Home - Art Tatum - 1949	With Bounce (from Four Piano Blues) (Copland, 1949) - Leo Smit - 1978
	A Bird In Igor’s Yard - Buddy DeFranco	Prelude, Fugue and Riffs for Clarinet and Instrumental Ensemble. (Leonard Bernstein, 1949) - Benny Goodman & Columbia Jazz Combo - 1961
	The Crickets - Woody Herman - 1949
	Gigolette - Elliot Lawrence (feat. Lucie Bigelow Rosen on Theremin) - 1949
	Yesterdays - Lenny Tristano - 1949

The 1950s

Year	The Jazz Side Of Things	The Classical Side Of Things
1950	Mirage (Rugolo) - Stan Kenton - 1950
1951	Yesterday’s Ice Cubes - Raymond Scott - 1951
1952	Lullaby of Birdland - George Shearing - 1952
1953
	Eclipse - Charles Mingus - 1953
	Clair de lune (Debussy) - Ted Heath - 1953	Strange Fruit (Lewis Allen) - Aubrey Pankey, p. Frederick Bontoft - 1953
1954	Egdon Heath - Stan Kenton - 1954	Concerto for Jazz Band and Orchestra (Liebermann, 1954) - Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Sauter-Finegan Orchestra - 1955
1955	You Don’t Know What Love Is - Bud Shank & Trombones - 1954-5	Rag (from Derivations for Clarinet and Band) (Morton Gould, 1955) - Benny Goodman & Columbia Jazz Band cond. Morton Gould - 1955
1955	Just A Closer Walk With Thee - Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band - 1955
1956	Django (with Phil Woods) - MJQ - 1956	Concerto for Billy the Kid (Russell) - Woody Herman - 1956
	Bemsha Swing (Monk) - Cecil Taylor - 1956	Foxtrot (from Suite for Variety Orchestra) (Shostakovich, c. 1956) - Riccardo Chailly & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - 1993
	Of Hope (from Three Little Feelings, John Lewis) - Miles Davis, trumpet; Orchestra cond. Gunther Schuller - 1956
	Pharaoh (Giuffre) - Orchestra cond. by Gunther Schuller - 1956
	Poem For Brass (J. J. Johnson) - Miles Davis, flugelhorn; Orchestra cond. Gunther Schuller - 1956
1957	Edgard Varese and the Jazzmen - 1957	Cool Fugue - (Bernstein) (1957) - Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, feat. Yo-Yo Ma, cond. David Zinman - 1996
	Exposure - The Modern Jazz Quartet - 1957	Transformation (Schuller) - Brandeis Jazz Festival Ensemble - 1957
	All About Rosie (George Russell) - Gerry Mulligan - 1957	All Set (Babbitt, arr. Schuller) - Bill Evans & Orchestra, cond. Gunther Schuller - 1957
	My Ship (Arr. Gil Evans) - Miles Davis & 19 - 1957
1958	Moonray - George Shearing - 1958
	Manteca (Gillespie, arr. Gil Evans) - Cannonball Adderley - 1958
	Love me or Leave me - Nina Simone - 1958
	Ballad Of The Sad Young Men - Gil Evans & Jimmy Cleveland - 1958
	Midnight Sun - The Chico Hamilton Trio intr. Freddie Gambrell - 1958
1959	Air on a G string - Jacques Loussier - 1959

The Festive Five (2012) - Christmas for Suckers

2012-12-09T21:07:00.000+00:00

Please go here to find the following Christmas songs.

Deck Us All with Boston Charlie - Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

Grateful for Xmas - Hayes Carll

I Don’t Believe In Christmas - The Sonics

Jingle Bells - Leo Watson

Merry Xmas You Suckers - Paddy Roberts

This page is no longer updated. *Sniffs*

Evocations of the Dance IV: Crossovers: When Highbrow Went Lowbrow, When Lowbrow Went Highbrow (2)

2012-11-18T08:30:00.000+00:00

The 1920s

Year	The Jazz Side Of Things	The Classical Side Of Things
1920		Adieu, New York (Georges Auric, 1920) - Andrew West - 2000
1921		Jazzy (from Three Moods) (Copland, 1921) - Leo Smit - 1978
1921		Caramel mou (Shimmy) (Darius Milhaud, 1921) - Andrew West - 2000
1922	That Da-Da-Strain - Ethel Waters & Her Jazz Masters	Ragtime (from Suite ‘1922’, Paul Hindemith, 1922) - Simone Pedroni - 1993
1922	The Okey Laughing Record - Karl Valentin & Liesl Karlstadt	Sexema - Rudy Wiedoeft - 1922
1923		La Creation Du Monde (Milhaud, 1923) - cond. Milhaud 1932
1924		Rhapsody In Blue (Gershwin, arr. Grofé 1924) - Paul Whiteman’s Concert Orchestra (p. George Gershwin) - 1927
1924		Allegro (from Concertino for Piano & Orchestra) (Honegger, 1924) - Minneapolis S.O., cond. Eugene Ormandy, p. Eunice Norton - 1934
1925		Jazz Symphony (George Antheil, 1925) - San Francisco Symphony, cond. Michael Tilson Thomas - 2000
1926		Chanson (pour Robert Stolz) (from Cinque Etudes de Jazz, Erwin Schulhoff, 1926) - Erwin Schulhoff - 1928
1926		Sentimental Melody (Copland, 1926) - Leo Smit - 1993
1927	In A Mist - Bix Beiderbecke
1927	Washboard Blues (1927, Hoagy Carmichael) - Connee Boswell - 1932
1928	Poor Butterfly - Red Nichols And His Orchestra, v. Scrappy Lambert - 1928
	West End Blues - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five - 1928	The Rio Grande (Constant Lambert, 1928) - Harty, St. Michaels Singers, Hallé Orch., dir. Lambert - 1930
	Stop Kidding (Neckbones and Sauerkraut) (Arr. John Nesbitt) - McKinney’s Cotton Pickers Orchestra - 1928
1929	You’ve Got To Be Modernistic (James P Johnson) - Jimmie Johnson & His Orchestra feat. Fats Waller
	Futuristic Rhythm - Louisiana Rhythm Kings - 1929
	Weird and Blue - Jabbo Smith - 1929
	Numb Fumbling - Fats Waller - 1929
	Two Guitars (Russ. trad) - Eddie South - 1929

Download Part 3: The 1920s here.

The 1930s

Year	The Jazz Side Of Things	The Classical Side Of Things
1931	Creole Rhapsody - Duke Ellington	Allegramente - Piano Concerto in G (Ravel, 1931) Marguerite Long - 1932
1932	Hell’s Bells - Art Kassel and his Castles in the Air Orchestra - 1932
1933	Dance of the Octopus - Red Norvo - 1933
	Tiger Rag - Art Tatum - 1933
	Hole in the Wall - Red Norvo
	Queer Notions - Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra
1934	Have You Forgotten God (Cooke, 1933-1934) - Alistair Cooke - 1955
	Jazznocracy - Jimmy Lunceford - 1934
	The House is Haunted (Billy Rose & Basil G. Adlam) - Glen Gray & Casa Loma Orchestra - 1934
	Deep Purple (Peter De Rose) - Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra - 1934
1935		Bess, You Is My Woman (from Porgy and Bess) (Gershwin, 1935) - Todd Duncan & Anne Brown - 1940
1936	Nightfall (Carter) - Benny Carter - 1936
	Waltzing The Blues (Carter) - Benny Carter - 1936
	Interlude In B Flat (Live in NYC) (Shaw) - Artie Shaw - 1936
1937	Powerhouse (Scott, 1937) - Raymond Scott Quintette - 1939
	Improvisation - Django Reinhardt - 1937
	Surprises No 1 - Rudy Vallee
	Smoke Dreams - Mildred Bailey & Red Norvo - 1937
	Sweet Sue - Don Redman & his Orchestra - 1937
1938	Stop, Look and Listen - Tommy Dorsey
	Quaker City Jazz - Jan Savitt & His Orchestra - 1938
	In the Dark (Beiderbecke) - Bunny Berigan - 1938
	The Miserere (Gregorio Allegri) ‘Straight’, then ‘Swung’ - Jelly Roll Morton - 1938
1939	Montmartre - Rex Steward And His Feetwarmers feat. Django Reinhardt	Sea Fugue Mama - Alec Wilder Octet - 1939
	Child Of A Disordered Brain - Earl Hines - 1939
	Echoes of Spring - Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith - 1939

Evocations of the Dance IV: Crossovers: When Highbrow Went Lowbrow, When Lowbrow Went Highbrow (1)

2012-10-14T09:44:00.000+01:00

http://www.jazzstudiesonline.org/files/Jazz%20as%20Decal.pdf

Fair warning: this is an exercise in false dichotomies – jazz and classical music in the twentieth century were often feeding off similar roots. But my key contention is that even now, long after Gunther Schuller’s ‘Third Stream’, the phenomenon that is the appeal of ‘World Music’, and the fusion of everything that isn’t bolted down (to mix a metaphor), we still have a sense of what is jazz and what is classical music.

It could be borrowings of melodic, harmonic or rhythmic qualities, or it could be the tendency of jazz musicians to favour more complex harmonies or to otherwise show their allegiance to the avant garde, which seems to me more of a highbrow borrowing from the classical music world than an indigenous jazz trait.

So, the following list of tracks represent a slightly selective history of the confluence of jazz tracks with classical elements and classical tracks with a jazz influence.

I want this list to be an organic thing. If you can suggest any tracks I’ve neglected, please leave a comment.

Late 19th & Early 20th Century

Year	The Jazz Side Of Things	The Classical Side Of Things
1869		Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor (Brahms, 1869) - Yehudi Menuhin, p. Adolph Baller - 1947
1902	On Emancipation Day (from In Dahomey, Will Marion Cook & Paul Lawrence Dunbar) - Len Spencer, banjo Vess L. Ossman - 1902
1903	I'm A Jonah Man (from In Dahomey, Will Marion Cook & Paul Lawrence Dunbar) - Arthur Collins - 1903
1904	Smoky Mokes (Cakewalk) - Peerless Orchestra - 1904	Allegro Marcato (Three Pieces) (Frank Bridge, 1904) - Phantasie Quartet - 1994
1905		Bethena (Concert Waltz) (Scott Joplin, 1905) - Joshua Rifkin - 1970
1906		Central Park in the Dark (Ives, 1906) - Vladimir Cherniavsky & the Polymusic Chamber Orchestra - 1951
1908		Golliwogg’s Cakewalk (Debussy, 1908) - Sergei Rachmaninov - 1921
1909		In Dahomey (Cakewalk Smasher) (Percy Grainger, 1909) - Marc-Andre Hamelin - 1996
1910	Dere was a man (from Treemonisha, Scott Joplin, 1910) - Gunther Schuller - 1976
1911		Polka de W.R. for piano in A flat major (Behr arr. Rachmaninov, 1911) - Sergei Rachmaninov - 1929
1914	Swing Along (Will Marion Cook) - The Afro-American Folk Singers - 1914
1914	Castle House Rag (James Reese Europe) - Europe’s Society Orchestra - 1914
1915		Chinese Blues (1915) - Sousa's Band - 1916
1916	That Funny Jas Band from Dixieland (Edison, first recording) - Collins and Harlan - 1916
1917	That Funny Jas Band from Dixieland (Victor, second recording) - Collins and Harlan - 1917	Rag-time du paquebot (edited) (from Parade, Erik Satie, 1917) - p. Georges Auric & Frances Poulenc - 1937
1917	Livery Stable Blues - The Original Dixieland Jass Band - 1917
1918		Rag-Time (Stravinsky, 1918) - Marcelle Meyer - 1925
1919	Rose Room - Art Hickman’s Orchestra - 1919	Piano Rag Music (Stravinsky, 1919) - Stravinsky - 1938

Download Part 1: 1800-1909 here.

Download Part 2: 1910-1919 here.

What Kind of Music Makes You?

2012-09-19T22:57:00.000+01:00

There's a pivotal scene in Woody Allen's Manhattan where he reels off the things he couldn't live without into a tape recorder. Although you might argue with some of them, it's difficult to defend anyone who says they could live without the voice of Frank Sinatra.

I really only have two loves, reading and music. I tried to make a quick list. I realise how useless these lists are (and the longer, the more useless, I have found). Perhaps, however, such a list might help me find a core interest.

Musicians and composers Irving Berlin Johnny Mercer George Gershwin (especially Porgy & Bess) Bessie Smith Pink Floyd (with and without Syd Barrett, but not without Roger Waters) The Beatles Joe Meek Tom Waits Bob Dylan (any period) Louis Armstrong Music hall legends (Sam Mayo, Ronald Frankau, Talbot O'Farrell) Tchaikovsky Aaron Copland Mabel Mercer Noel Coward Stephen Sondheim	Poets Philip Larkin John Keats Wallace Stevens Ted Hughes Sylvia Plath Carol Ann Duffy W.H. Auden
Novelists Martin Amis Armistead Maupin Margaret Atwood Ian McEwan Milan Kundera Saul Bellow John Updike Henry Green Flann O'Brien Albert Camus	Assorted (Critics, humorists, non-fiction writers, short story writers) V.S. Pritchett Richard Rorty St. Augustine S.J. Perelman Martin Heidegger Whitney Balliett Thomas Nagel

If you are a regular reader of this site, has a similar list of interests brought you here? Are there things I should be getting into that my Amazon recommendations have missed?

Deep Blue Eyes: Can Vocoders Sing the Blues?

2012-09-01T11:28:00.000+01:00

1936	The ‘Bells of St. Mary’s’ Condition	Charles Vadersen	Rock
1936	The ‘Barnacle Bill’ Condition	Bell Labs	Rock
1939	Elektro the Robot	Westinghouse	Warped
1939	The Voder	Homer Dudley	Warped
1940	I've Got A One Track Mind	Harry Babbitt & Kay Kyser and his Orchestra (with the Sonovox)	Rock
1941	Promo for The Reluctant Dragon by Walt Disney trailer	Frances Gifford and Robert Benchley	Rock
1944	St. Louis Blues	Alvino Rey & His Orchestra (with Stringy the Talking Steel Guitar)	Rock
1946	Rusty In Orchestraville	Alan Livingstone & Billy May	Rock
1947	Sparky's Magic Piano	Sparky, prod. Alan Livingstone	Warped
1947	I'm Going to Show You My Stools	Sparky, prod. Alan Livingstone	Rock
1953	Robot Monster Trailer and Clips	From the film Robot Monster	Warped
1957	The Invisible Boy - Trailer	From the film The Invisible Boy	Warped
1958	Jeremy Visits His Own Grave (from The Colossus of New York)	From the film The Colossus of New York
1958	Struktur XI	Stockhausen	Rock
1961	Daisy Bell	IBM 7094 (prog. John Kelly and Carol Lockbaum)	Warped
1962	Not Programmed for Love	Cook Records	Warped
1964	I'm Just A Guitar (Everybody Picks on Me)	Pete Drake	Warped
1965	B9	Robot from Lost in Space (Dick Tufeld)	Warped
1966	The Mechanical Man	Bent Bolt & The Nuts (aka Teddy Randazzo)	Warped
1966	The Daleks - Doctor Who	The Daleks	Warped
1967	ARMENIA CITY IN THE SKY	The who (on intro only)	Warped
1967	North American Time Capsule (excerpt)	Alvin Lucier	Warped
1968	Hal 9000's Death (voiced by Douglas Rain)	(from the film 2001)	Warped
	Party Seacombe	George Harrison	Warped
	Look Out Theres a Monster Coming	The Bonzo Dog Band	Warped
1969	Crimson & Clover	Tommy James & The Shondells	Warped
	Sex Machine	Sly and the Family Stone	Warped
	Farewell Aldebaran	Judy Henske and Jerry Yester	Warped
1970	Hey Lawdy Mama	Steppenwolf	Warped
	Electric To Me Turn	Bruce Haack	Warped
	Butterfly Bleu	Iron Butterfly	Warped
	EMS Vocoder	Promotional Tape Recording from the 1970	Warped
	Recreating Vadersen	EMS Vocoder Demo	Warped
	Share with Me The Pain	Caldera (from A Moog Mass)	Warped
1971	Timesteps	Wendy Carlos	Warped
	March From A Clockwork Orange (Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement, Abridged)	Wendy Carlos	Warped
	Riversong	Tonto's Expanding Head Band	Warped
1972	Bridge Over Troubled Water	Isao Tomita (1972) feat. Pete Drake (1970)	Warped
	Robbi, Tobbi und das Fliewatu?u?t	Ingfried Hoffman	Warped
	Love Having You Around	Stevie Wonder	Warped
	Let It Be	Isao Tomita	Warped
	She's Leaving Home	Syreeta (feat. Stevie Wonder on vocoder)	Warped
1973	Rags the Computerised Dog from Sleeper (Woody Allen)	John Cannon	Warped
1973	Ananas Symphonie	Kraftwerk (from Ralf und Florian)	Warped
1974	The Engulfed Cathedral [Preludes Book 1 No. 10]	Isao Tomita	Warped
	East St Louis Toodle-Oo	Steely Dan	Warped
	Autobahn	Kraftwerk	Warped
	Expansions	Lonnie Liston Smith	Warped
	Cadburys Smash	TV advert by Boase Massimi Pollitt	Warped
1975	Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)	Elton John	Warped
	She's a Woman	Jeff Beck	Warped
	Funkify Your Life	The Meters	Warped
	Sweet Emotion	Aerosmith	Warped
1976	You Never Give Me Your Money	Will Malone and Lou Reizner	Warped
	The Raven (vocoder)	Alan Parsons Project	Warped
	Haitian Divorce	Steely Dan	Warped
	Getting Better	Status Quo (vocoder)	Warped
	Do You Feel Like We Do	Peter Frampton	Warped
	E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)	Blue Oyster Cult	Warped
1977	Mr Blue Sky (vocoder)	ELO	Warped
	The Voice	(from I Robot) The Alan Parsons Project	Warped
	01/08/26	BBC Radiophonic Workshop	Warped
	01/08/26	BBC Radiophonic Workshop	Warped
	It's All Over Now, Baby Blue	Graham Bonnet	Warped
	First Hand Experience in Second Hand Love	Giorgio Moroder	Warped
1978	Dance To The Music Of The World	94 East (feat. Prince)	Warped
	I Thought It Was You (vocoder)	Herbie Hancock	Warped
	Night Flight to Venus	Boney M	Warped
	Sweet Talking Woman (feat vocoder)	ELO	Warped
	In The Year 2525 (Ultrasound 12 inch)	Visage	Warped
1979	Those Shoes	The Eagles	Warped
	My Other Voice	Sparks (feat. Giorgio Moroder)	Warped
	Future Dancing - TWIKI From Buck Rogers	Mel Blanc	Warped
	Intermedium Nepalese	Musik, Music, Musique	Warped
1980	Sirius (excerpt)	Stockhausen	Warped
	Funkytown	Lipps Inc	Warped
	More Bounce to the Ounce	Zapp	Warped
	Gadda Da Vida (extended)	Boney M	Warped
	Speak 'N' Spell Advert	Speak 'N' Spell Advert	Warped
	The Chances of Survival	C-3PO	Warped
	The Zoo	Scorpions	Warped
	Human behaviour	C-3PO	Warped
	Tempus Fugit	Yes	Warped
	Speak and Spell Advert	(feat. Bill Cosby)	Warped
	I'm Ready	Kano	Warped
	I Love You (Miss Robot)	The Buggles	Warped
	I Can't Take It Any More	Vangelis	Warped
	Music Of The S.N., Phase 1	Sympathy Nervous	Warped
1981	I'm not moving	Phil Collins	Warped
	Oh Superman	Laurie Anderson	Warped
	Come and Dance with Me	Johnny Guitar Watson	Warped
	I Heard it Through the Grapevine	Zapp	Warped
	Marvin, I Love You	Marvin The Paranoid Android (Stephen Moore)	Warped
	Sheba	Mike Oldfield	Warped
	So Ruff So Tuff	Roger Troutman	Warped
	Wrack My Brain	Ringo Starr	Warped
	Theme from Chockablock (from episode Crow)	Peter Gosling	Warped
1982	Love Is In Control (Finger On The Trigger)	Donna Summer	Warped
	Fly Guy And The Unemployed (Unemployed Chimney Boogie)	Ramsey 2C-3D	Warped
	Be What You See	Paul McCartney	Warped
	I took the liberty...	KITT	Warped
	Man Made	Man Parrish	Warped
	Transformer Man (vocoder)	Neil Young	Warped
	I Want To Do Something Freaky To You	St. Tropez	Warped
	I'm A Vocoder	Gay Cat Park	Warped
	The First Computer Impersonation	SAM Speech Synthesis for the Commodore 64 computer	Warped
	Baby Don't Run Away	George Harrison	Warped
	Sample And Hold	Neil Young	Warped
	You're A Peachtree Freak on Peachtree Street (12")	Geno Jordan	Warped
1983	Shall We Play	From the film WarGames	Warped
	Space Detective	Robert Schroder	Warped
	Invasion	Ray Parker Jnr	Warped
	Mr Roboto	Styx	Warped
	Rockit	Herbie Hancock	Warped
	Ray-Gun-Omics	Project Future	Warped
	Computer Funk	Ose?	Warped
	Computer Communication	R.E.M.	Warped
	Pack Jam	Jonzun Crew	Warped
	Rebel With A Cause	Dennis Brown (feat. Jackie Mittoo on vocoder)	Warped
	Castro Boy (Somewhat Normal)	Dannyboy & The Serious Gods	Warped
	Love Bandit (Vocoder Mix)	Otis Clay	Warped
	Space Age Whiz Kids	Joe Walsh	Warped
	One Thing Leads To Another	The Fixx	Warped
	Genetic Engineering	OMD	Warped
	P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)	Michael Jackson	Warped
1984	Time to Throw Down	Rickie Clark Company	Warped
	Zoolookologie	Jean-Michel Jarre	Warped
	Womanology	The Hot Line	Warped
	Hyperactive	Thomas Dolby	Warped
	Computer Power (Club Vocal Mix)	Jamie Jupitor	Warped
	Vibramatic (Club version)	Lionel Hampton	Warped
	No Humans Allowed	Reggie Griffin	Warped
	The Crab-Grass Baby (pt. 2)	Frank Zappa	Warped
	Star (Vocoder Version)	Claudio Mingardi	Warped
	Robots are Coming	The Android Sisters	Warped
1985	We Make Contact (feat. Thus Sprake Zarasthustra)	Automation	Warped
	Transformers Theme Music	From the Transformers cartoon	Warped
	Big Bad Wolf	The Wolf Sisters	Warped
	Dance (Don't Geek)	Too Short	Warped
	Dont Stop The Rock	Freestyle	Warped
	I Broke My Leg	Joe Walsh	Warped
	Sanctified Lady	Marvin Gaye	Warped
	Masochistic Beauty	Marvin Gaye	Warped
	(Horney) Computer	World Class Wreckin Crew	Warped
	Que Sucede Ahora (Waht Happens Now)	Vocoder	Warped
1986	10 Equinox	Unknown	Warped
	Paranoimia	The Art of Noise feat. Max Headroom	Warped
	Word Up	Cameo	Warped
	VOX 5 (slight edit)	Trevor Wishart	Warped
	Sexual Research	The Action Band	Warped
	New Order	Bizarre Love Triangle (Extended Dance Remix)	Warped
	Male Stripper	Man Parrish and Man 2 Man	Warped
	Strike on Computers	Johnny Guitar Watson	Warped
1987	Anything Goes	Guns 'n' Roses	Warped
	How Deep is Your Love	Keith Sweat	Warped
	Zudo from Telebugs	Telebugs	Warped
1988	Guy feat. Teddy Riley	Teddy's Jam	Warped
1988	Phantoms Of Bass (Short)	Ernie Ranglin & DXJ	Warped
1989	Kickstart my Heart	Motley Crue	Warped
1990	When You Wish Upon A Star	Timekode (Demi)	Warped
1990	T.U.R.T.L.E. Power	Partners In Kryme	Warped
1991	It's a banana (feat. Robert Llewellyn as Kryten) (from Camille)	Red Dwarf (feat. Robert Llewellyn as Kryten)	Warped
	Jazz It Up (Jazz Mix)	CFM Band	Warped
	Delilah	Queen	Warped
	Swearing ZX Spectrum	Programmed by Greg Fox on Currah Speech System, 1983	Warped
	Sax and Violins	Talking Heads	Warped
1992	The Horny Computer	P.C. Macintosh & The Peripheral Equipment	Warped
1992	Nessun Dorma	Ingo Titze and Pavarobotti	Warped
1993	Your Computer	Red Martian	Warped
1994	Bitchslap	MC Hawking	Warped
	My Prerogative (7' Version)	Bobby Brown	Warped
	Doing Wrong Woman	Johnny Guitar Watson	Warped
	Livin' on a prayer	Bon Jovi	Warped
1995	Japanese elecktronics	Elecktroids	Warped
1995	California Love	2pac ft Dr Dre	Warped
1996	It's Your Body	Johnny Gill & Roger Troutman	Warped
1997	Around The World	Daft Punk	Warped
	I Am Superman (Unreleased)	Roger Troutman	Warped
	Wipe Out	Gary Hoey	Warped
1998	Kelly Watch the Stars	AIR	Warped
	My Erection	Pulp	Warped
	Ladies Man	Pulp	Warped
	Lazer sheep dip funk	Lo Fidelity Allstars	Warped
1999	Devil Will Ride	Gomez	Warped
1999	Zyx	Gomez	Warped
2000	Kid A	Radiohead	Warped
	Sign (Japanese Edit)	Nobukazu Takemura	Warped
	Lovely Head	Goldfrapp	Warped
	Believe	Macha Loved Bedhead	Warped
2001	Don't Stop Movin'	S Club 7	Warped
	Juxtaposed With U	Super Furry Animals	Warped
	Smoking The Edge	Dabrye	Warped
	Light Speed	Dr Dre	Warped
	Two Rights Make One Wrong	Mogwai	Warped
	Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger	Daft Punk	Warped
	Mutter (Vocoder Mix)	Rammstein	Warped
2002	Daydream In Blue	I Monster	Warped
2003	Crazy Beat	Blur	Warped
	I Love Acid	Luke Vibert	Warped
	Catstep - My Kitten - Catnap	Kid 606 (Vatstep DSP by Hrvatski)	Warped
	Hunted By A Freak	Mogwai	Warped
2004	Feel	Air	Warped
2004	Satisfaction	Benny Benassi	Warped
2005	Exterminate	Daleks from Dr Who	Warped
	Young Girl	Dictionaraoke	Warped
	Hell Yes	Beck	Warped
	Robert Fripp	Love Cannot Bear	Warped
	I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)	T-Pain feat. Mike Jones	Warped
	Obolus (extract)	Thrones	Warped
	Kelly	M83	Warped
	Beverly Hills	Weezer	Warped
	My Robotics Project (1)	Jonny Trunk & Wisbey	Warped
	My Robotics Project (2)	Jonny Trunk & Wisbey	Warped
	Sonido Total	The Pinker Tones	Warped
	MEDIBOT duets with Synthesizer Patel	Benedict Wong & Sanjeev Kohli	Warped
2006	Fake Plastic Trees	Mr Hopkinson's Computer	Warped
	Yeah Yeah Yeah Song	The Flaming Lips	Warped
	And Then So Clear	Brian Eno	Warped
	Everybody Fonki	Bumper	Warped
2007	Stronger	Kanye West	Warped
	Rock It	Gorillaz	Warped
	Feet in the Clouds	Paul McCartney	Warped
2008	Feel the love	Cut Copy	Warped
	Robots	Flight of the Conchords	Warped
	Sensual Seduction	Snoop Dogg	Warped
	King Of Those Who Know	Cynic	Warped
	Welcome To Heartbreak [Ft. Kid Cudi]	Kanye West	Warped
	Pet Sematary	Bossa 'n' Ramones	Warped
	Alla Talar Med Varandra (Swedish)	The Unreal Group	Warped
	Because You're Over	Robyn Hitchcock	Warped
2009	The Impulse	The Flaming Lips	Warped
	Butterfly (Hancock)	Robert Glasper	Warped
	Intergalactic	Beastie Boys	Warped
	Woods	Bon Iver	Warped
	So Much In Love	DatA	Warped
	Gold Splatter	Black Moth Super Rainbow	Warped
	Look 22	De?bruit	Warped
	I Am Not A Robot	Marina & The Diamonds	Warped
	Come Back Clean	Crystal Method (DATA & DEBT's Paranoia mix)	Warped
	Glorious Dawn (Cosmos Remix)	Colorpulse (feat. autotuned Carl Sagan)	Warped
2010	Electroman	Benny Benassi feat T-Pain	Warped
	Shutterbug	Big Boi	Warped
	Barbra Steisand	Duck Sauce (A-Trak & Armand Van Helden) feat. P-Thugg on vocoder	Warped
	Impossible Soul (Extract)	Sufjan Stevens	Warped
2011	AI vs. AI. (Two chatbots talking to each other)	Cornell CCSL	Warped
	Mexican Grand Prix	Mogwai	Warped
	Manic (Original Mix)	Azari & III	Warped
	Deeper Understanding (2011 Remake)	Kate Bush	Warped
	A Duet With Siri	Jonathan Mann	Warped
	More Than Real (Blue Satellite Remix)	Kido Yoji	Warped
	She Rise Up	David Lynch	Warped
	Talk Box (Kill The Noise Remix) (Teaser)	KOAN Sound	Warped
	Somebody That I Used To Know (Gotye Cover)	Eskimo Joe	Warped
	Following	The Phenomenal Handclap Band	Warped
	Work It Out	Orca! Straight Ahead!	Warped

Johnny Mercer

2012-06-11T14:16:00.000+01:00

Brian Solomon’s guest post at Emma’s Music - The Genius of Johnny Mercer

Dylan Thomas Reads Thomas Hardy

2012-02-25T09:39:00.000+00:00

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

Hello loyal readers and newbies alike! I’m now only posting on my new site. Please change your bookmarks to the much simpler to remember Tardymusic.com! The kind of stuff I’m posting will be the same.

This post is now only available here.

Antonio Frasconi’s woodcut of the author, executed especially
for the album Dylan Thomas Reading (Vol IV).. I’m strating

You might also like to hear more of Hardy’s poetry being read here.

Danby and the Sparrows’ Nest – Historic Rotherhithe Organ – Nicholas Danby (1960-1970)

2012-02-08T18:45:00.000+00:00

Two organ pieces by English composers of different eras. If you like the sound of an eighteenth-century English organ untainted by German influence, this will be your sort of thing.

Gramophone, again, is quite helpful here:

Noel Mander’s sympathetic restoration ten years ago in no way changed its tonal qualities, and it remains an instrument of great historic interest and beauty. The trumpet is quite as good as any continental reeds of the period, although completely English in treatment; the cremona has an authentic krummhorn flavour. The diapason chorus is wonderfully full, clear and ringing, and Cecil Clutton believes it to be one of the finest to be heard in London. The cornet is a splendid specimen: a five rank solo stop consisting of a stopped eight-foot rank, principal twelfth, fifteenth and seventeenth, with a compass from middle C upwards.

Oh, OK, that meant almost nothing to me, but here is one detail that does: if you listen carefully, in the quieter passages of the Fantasia you can hear the tweeting of nesting sparrows. These sparrows were immune to the efforts of the recording engineers, and so remain a part of this recording, as they should.

Fantasia for Double Organ (Orlando Gibbons) (1583-1625)

Air & Gavotte (Samuel Wesley) (1766-1873)

Another Talbot O’Farrell Video – Little Green Heaven

2012-01-29T12:22:00.002+00:00

Again, from the Pathe website. Before singing ‘Little Green Heaven’ he gives us some comic patter about the use of microphones on stage: “God’s gift to the anaemic terror.”

Other posts on Tablot O'Farrell, including those with mp3s:

The Great Tablot O’Farrell

An Encounter with Talbot O’Farrell

Talbot O’Farrell: Yorkshireman or Irishman?

The Voice of the Iron Lady

2012-01-21T09:31:00.000+00:00

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After watching The Iron Lady, about which I suppose my feelings are about as mixed as they are about Thatcher herself, I was almost entirely consumed by one conviction: that hers is the most recognisable voice ever in British politics (no doubt partly because she is still probably the most discussed – and most polarising – woman in the Western world).

During the premiership of Margaret Thatcher, Wendy Richard
was a frequent and conspicuous supporter of Thatcher's policies and accomplishments.

So it’s no surprise that the scene that most intrigued me is a relatively minor one where she undergoes vocal training to ‘feminise’ her voice. Now, I’ve read that a recording of one such session used to be in circulation among journos, but I’ve never heard it. Here’s an illustration of the difference. According to Max Atkinson (in Our Masters’ Voices)

She achieved a reduction in pitch of 46 Hz, a figure which is almost half the average difference in pitch between male and female voices.

One record that made excellent use of Thatcher’s distinctive voice was this Pete Harman-produced tune from 1991, which apparently reached No. 10 in the 12” charts (sounds apocryphal to me, but I’m sure I could find out if I could be bothered).

Maggie’s Last Party – V.I.M.

I had a go at doing a mix using an interview with her myself. It’s a dystopian tale that also features little Prince and the theme from Are You Being Served? You can listen to it here.

An Interview with June Honri about ‘Working the Halls’

2012-01-16T16:17:00.000+00:00

(This post complements my post on Peter Honri’s book Working the Halls.

You might want to read that first!)

You may remember my post in October about Peter Honri’s book Working the Halls. I was so impressed by the book and the accompanying flexidisc that I felt that rare desire Holden Caulfield talks about in Catcher in the Rye to call up the author. To that end I contacted the Honris and managed to speak to June Honri, Peter’s wife, later that month to ask her about the circumstances under which the book was written.

At first when I realised it was Peter’s wife I was to speak to, I must admit I feared the worst, but June soon explained that she was speaking on Peter’s behalf because he sadly now has Alzheimer’s disease. However, I found June to be quite the raconteur, with a disarmingly youthful voice – indeed, very soon into our conversation she explained that people who assumed she is younger than she is were sometimes a bit ‘offhand’ with her!

MUSIC MAKES ME: Hello June! I really wanted to ask about Working the Halls. The book is unusual in coming with a ‘gift record’ – I think they call them flexidiscs. [You can listen to it here.]

JUNE: Oh, you’re lucky. You’ve got the original one. It was just done for the book. You’re very lucky to get one with the record intact. Where did you get it?

MMM: I think in a second-hand bookshop in Whitby.

J: In Whitby! Oh, well done!

MMM: I don’t think I realised it had the record in it until I’d finished reading it! And it seems to me an invaluable part of the book. Was it always a part of the book?

J: Yes. It was done through a Dutch publisher. Peter had ended up writing a show for Farnham Castle Theatre Music Hall. The next day after the opening night the phone rang about five o’clock in the evening – when you’ve got three children and you’re doing tea, not a very convenient time – and a Dutch voice, which I just about managed to understand, asked me could Peter write a book about music hall? So I said ‘Yes,’ straight away. And then he said, ‘Could he do it in eight weeks?’ and I said ‘Yes.’ So that book was written in eight weeks. It took over the entire house.

MMM: Really? Eight weeks?

J: He’d already done a lot of research in piecing it together, you see.

MMM: Yes. I can see that. To me, it’s like a brilliant scrapbook. Now, I have to confess I haven’t read any of Peter’s other books.

J: You’d like Music Hall Warriors [The full title is Music Hall Warriors: A History of the Variety Artistes Federation 1906-1967].

MMM: Thanks for the recommendation! Now, there is a passage later in the book where Peter speculates about the Arts Council officially recognising music hall as a part of the living arts. Did anything ever come of that?

J: I couldn’t tell you about that, but if you read Music Hall Warriors you’ll find the Variety Artistes Federation could be very awkward fellows! And Wilton’s Music Hall – which is a fictitious diary of its owner John Wilton. [Oddly enough, Wilton’s Music Hall was featured in a Michael Grade documentary which aired while we were speaking. It’s called The Story of Music Hall with Michael Grade]

MMM: How did the Spike Milligan preface, or ‘Overture’, come about?

J: I think through Wilton’s Music Hall. But Peter was a very well known performer in the West End, anyway, so possibly through Equity.

MMM: The book is very positive about the halls, with none of the doom and gloom about the death of a way of life. In fact, Peter appeared in a production of Beyond the Fringe in 1966, a show often said to be the death-knell of variety. Is it an age that we’ve lost?

J: No… Peter’s idea was that music hall is present-day. Today’s top-liners are today’s music hall. The likes of Elton John are the present-day music hall.

MMM: Some would argue that some modern talent shows, like Britain’s Got Talent, recapture the spirit of the halls. What do you think? Do you watch the show?

J: We have occasionally. But there are other programmes we happen to like! But again, we do see that as present-day music hall. They would be the Marie Lloyds of the present day.

MMM: Quite right. Peter was a Shakespearean too, which reminds me that the Music Hall was not just about sentiment and cheap gags. In particular, in the book, Percy’s show Concordia comes across as being a real spectacular.

J: Yes; full of innovations.

MMM: And did you meet Percy [Peter’s grandfather] yourself?

J: No. But I knew Grandma and his wife – and, also, I was approved of by the family up in Blackpool!

MMM: Of course! Now, the accordion – or the concertina – is quite a tough instrument, isn’t it?

J: It is, yes.

MMM: My granddad played the accordion up until very recently. Does Peter still play?

J: He does, yes. Unfortunately, because of the Alzheimer’s, he still thinks he should be doing a show. So I have to ration the concertina, because it can get a bit over the top – Peter standing at the front door wanting to go out with it!

MMM: I’m glad to hear he still plays, though! It’s been really nice to chat to you and I wish you and Peter well for the future.

J: Thanks. And don’t forget to keep your eye out for a copy of Music Hall Warriors! [Available from Greenwich Exchange]

I would also like to thank Whitchurch Arts for making this interview possible, as well as everything they have done to recognise the Honris’ achievements.

Timbre! Unusual Instrumentation Playlist - Vol. I

2012-01-07T20:19:00.000+00:00

Timbre, as Frank Zappa says in the Real Frank Zappa Book, is everything. But it’s also confusing. To a Westerner, the sitar eternally signifies the mysterious allure of the East, while – as Talvin Singh once pointed out – ‘in Bombay, an electric guitar is exotic’. Why is this?

ABOVE: A rare and dangerous example of the urethra flute.

This playlist argues that context, rather than the instrument itself, is the key. I hope to demonstrate this by putting fifteen instruments in an unexpected context.

It’s a playlist that plunges into the world of exotic tones with a banjo in one hand and an ocarina in the other, and comes out the other side with a sore head, yodelling.

It would be doing the merely obvious
to include such gimmicky instruments
as the trapezoidal harp (ABOVE).

I have deliberately steered clear of the more familiar examples of instruments being used in an unusual context. Much as I love the sitar on the Beatles’ Norwegian Wood, or Jethro Tull’s use of rock flute, and the whole of the Tubular Bells album, I’m looking here for juxtapositions of timbre that still have the power to surprise.

I hope you find yourself marvelling at the sound of a violin screeching across a dub track, or a sousaphone powering an rock tune, as much as I did.

Jungle Flute – Don Tracy & the Voodoo Family

Flute

(Dance to the Music of) The Ocarina – Irving Berlin

Ocarina

The Twisted Nerve – Bernard Hermann

Harp

Jan Pahechan ho – Mohammed Rafi

Electric guitar

Got a Match – Frank Gallop

Harpsichord

I Touch Myself – Rolf Harris

Wobble board

A Day In The Life – The Koto Ensemble

Koto

K.G.’s Half Way Tree – Augustus Pablo & The Simplicity People

Violin

Yaman (The Colonel’s Lady) – The Indo-British Ensemble

Sitar

Donna Lee – Tom Slavicek

Banjo

Prodigy Medley – The Banana Sessions

Sousaphone

Take Five – Cayman Islands Steel Pan Jazz Trio

Steel pans

Bag’s Groove – Leon Thomas

The yodel

Oboe Mambo – Machito And His Afro-Cuban Orchestra

Oboe

It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ’N’ Roll) – AC/DC

Bagpipes

Timbre! Unusual Instrumentation Podcast – Vol. I

If you can suggest any more for the next playlist, please leave a comment or contact me.

Oh, and have a happy new year!

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Two Visuals: The Contents of Music Makes Me, Represented Visually

2011-12-21T14:00:00.000+00:00

The Venn diagram shows the overlap of the different tags which accompany each post on the site; the bar graph shows how many posts there are under each tag.

Click on either pic to be taken to a list of all the mp3-related posts. It makes it a lot easier to search for content.

My Great Web page

The Festive Five (2011) - A Garden Full of Sensi

2011-12-13T21:10:00.014+00:00

Oh, look what Santa brought! Yes, everything from the sentimental to the chemically-enchanced is there, right there under the tree! And what’s that? A DMCA takedown notice? Oh, Santa, you shouldn’t have!

Twelve Days Of Christmas -
Peter Brogs

“On the first day of Christmas my Jah Jah gave to me/
A garden full of sensi.” And what says ‘Christmas’ like highly potent cannabis plants?

Swingin’ Them Jingle Bells -
Fats Waller

The wonderful thing about Waller is that every record is a chance for a party, so a novelty record by him swings as hard as Twelfth Street Rag.

Sleigh Ride - The Avalanches

The Avalanches recreate the feeling of a good sleigh ride, but with more acid involved.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen -
Jimmy Smith

I defy you to find a record where such an atmosphere of pomp and circumstance dissolves so blithely into utter coolness.

Please Come Home for Christmas
- The Platters

This is an incredibly short song that conjures up images of cardigan-clad crooners — until the surprisingly soulful chorus hits you.

Not had enough? Here is the link to last year’s Festive Five, subtitled Allen Ginsburg’s Dreams. With that you can make a less alliterative Festive Ten!

And if that doesn’t whet your appetite for Christmas-themed records, check out George Cole’s Christmas Record – What Are We Gonna Get For ’Er Indoors?

Links of the Month - November 2011

2011-12-05T21:12:00.001+00:00

Very much indulging in shellac and that sort of thing this month: a reminder that there are many, many good blogs on 78s at the moment.

Dark Sweets - Soothing Sounds of Shellac for a Long Winter
At the top of my list is this delicious compilation of obscure 78s. Even the cassette tape cover art is spot on, in an anachronistic kind of way.

Symphonies on American Odeon
A 1921 recording of Schubert’s 8th Symphony conducted by Eduard Mörike. (The 8th is the Unfinished, for those among us who love classical music but can’t count.)

Thomas Mann’s Top 12 78rpm Records
Alex Ross looks at the Death in Venice and Magic Mountain author’s pick of classical records.

Let’s Put The Beatles Back Together Again: Book Review

2011-11-15T20:56:00.000+00:00

About the Beatles it’s hard to write anything new. The Beatles already have their chroniclers: their Lewisohns, their Ryan & Kehews, their MacDonalds. Everyone with any claim to be the Fifth Beatle already has a book to their name.

One thing that is certainly left, and a thing that is accomplished with fearless dilettantism by Jeff Walker in his book Let’s Put The Beatles Back Together Again, is the job of pruning what exists. This book is a veritable orchard of the resulting bonsai trees. To put it more crudely, this is a listmaker’s wet dream. ¹

Walker structures the book around the idea that, contra Lennon’s song ‘God’, the dream is not over. That is to say, there is a way to claw back the Beatles’ solo careers and construct a Beatlesque canon. To do this, Walker proposes a thought experiment. Suppose the Beatles, upon officially splitting up, had made a pact to continue to group their best recordings together under the moniker of the Beatles Recording Collective (the BRC).

Some amusing hypotheticals fall into place here. John still dies on December 8, 1980, but he ‘survives’ as ‘ghost-John’ as a recording artist through the virtue of having a fair bit of unreleased work in the can.² They still release their various solo albums, although the best tracks (‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five’ but not ‘No Words’ from Band on the Run) are creamed off and packaged for the BRC.

More after the jump >>

Links of the Month - October 2011

2011-11-05T09:22:00.001+00:00

Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition
A selection of photographs created using a microscope. The objects are sometimes shown 2000 times their original size.

Bizarre Love Triangle – Frente
Lovely cover of an already beautiful song. The soaring melody is sung against guitar arpeggios.

The Composer as Accompanist
This site posts some astounding classical 78s, including a solo piano piece by John Ireland. The Shellackophile have some really nice pieces.

Finnegans Wake (James Joyce) - Siobhan McKenna and Cyril Cusack (1959)

2011-10-28T09:35:00.004+01:00

I’m going to do something which betrays the philistine in me and post up two extracts from Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, recorded nearly thirty years after they were written. Philistine because I must admit I haven’t read the book, but these recordings are quite captivating in themselves, as is the link to Joyce reading from Anna Livia Plurabelle.

The cover of Nino Frank’s translation of Anna Livia Plurabelle (1938)

More after the jump >>

A Concert-in-a Turn - The Honris (Narrated by Peter Honri) (1974)

2011-10-10T17:35:00.000+01:00

This post gives those with an interest in the history of music hall a chance to sample a wonderful book about the remarkable Honri family. It’s called Working the Halls by Peter Honri. Like many such books on the subject, it’s now out of print, but this post is a chance for you to read a few excerpts and listen to tracks from the accompanying flexidisc, called Concert-in-a Turn.

ABOVE: Sickert’s Old-Fashioned Mother Of Mine, a portrait of Talbot O’Farrell,
in etching and pastel form, respectively.

It features a loving preface (or ‘Overture’) by Spike Milligan which laments the fact that “a few etchings and paintings by Sickert are the only colourful evidence we have of a great age”, a period “that began with gas-lit stages and ended in the tense days before World War II”.

Sickert’s Brighton Pierrots

More after the jump >>

Links of the Month - September 2011

2011-10-03T19:13:00.001+01:00

Songs to lie on your bed and stare at the ceiling to

A Stumbleupon mix of such songs.

Space is the Place

The 1974 meandering film version of Sun Ra’s album.

The sugary secret of self control

An intruiging book review of Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney’s book Willpower by Steven Pinker.

Cliff Edwards and Buster Keaton play a duet
on the same ukulele

It’s two minutes long but I could watch this for 200.

Celebrities by Ron Galella

The original pap. Love the shot of Dustin Hoffman.

Also, there was a great interview with Roy Harper at 17 Seconds.

125

The Billy Eckstine Transition – Can Crooners Change?

2011-09-25T19:18:00.000+01:00

A singer who made the transition from jazz crooner to funk-edged soul singer (on Stax records, no less) completely plausible.

Four tracks will illustrate his mastery of both musical forms:

More after the jump >>

An Evening With Alistair Cooke (1955)

2011-09-15T20:03:00.000+01:00

The great broadcaster made only a few vinyl recordings, but they are all fabulous. I have featured one of his spoken word records previously: Talk About America.

This LP, however, features him at the piano, whistling, singing and telling stories. I realise that to the youngsters of today, that sounds almost insane. They let him do this? Why didn’t someone sedate him, send him to a nursing home or put him on a stairlift?

There is even a wonderful moment where he demonstrates, with impish glee, the results of an experiment in multi-tracking his own voice.

The album tells a coherent narrative, so is perhaps best listened right through, but once you’ve done that you’ll keep coming back to many of these tracks for more.

More after the jump >>

Wanda Landowska - A Treasury of Harpsichord Music (RCA Victor)

2011-09-05T20:39:00.000+01:00

From a beautiful set of 78s showcasing the keyboard works of classical composers.

Prelude, Fugue and Allegro in E-Flat

Sonata in D (Scarlatti)

Sonata in Dm (Scarlatti)

La Dauphine (Rameau)

Rondo in D (Mozart)

Turkish March (Mozart) - Menuetto in D

The quality varies from disc to disc, but the playing renders this a venial sin.