Leonard Cohen - Live Songs (1973)

I've been in a bit of a Leonard Cohen kick lately, and with the onset of summer in Montreal, I figured I'd post this - especially because it isn't so easy to find in North America. Here, the album was only released on LP in 2009, but for some reason, it's been floating around Europe since 1973. This version is the original European shit (to allow myself some snobbery). Anyways, Leonard Cohen's Live Songs was recorded from live shows in London, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, and the Isle of Wight in 1970 and 1972 (and also from a "Room in Tennessee" in 1972). The album took me a couple of listens before I began to like it, as the songs are all pretty slow and soft with more sparse instrumentation than on his studio albums. "You Know Who I Am" is really good here, a lot better than the version on Songs From A Room, I think, and towards the end, there is a soft, fluttery kind of collaboration between Leonard, the bassist, and the other guitarist that sounds really pretty. Actually, the album as a whole is really pretty if you like Leonard Cohen.

Track Listing:

Side One

1. Minute Prologue (London 1972)

2. Passing Thru (London 1972)

3. You Know Who I Am (Brussels 1972)

4. Bird on the Wire (Paris 1972)

5. Nancy (London 1972)

6. Improvisation (Paris 1972)

Side Two

7. Story of Isaac (Berlin 1972)

8. Please Don't Pass Me By (A Disgrace) (London 1970)

9. Tonight Will Be Fine (Isle of Wight 1970)

10. Queen Victoria (Room in Tennessee 1972)

Live Songs (1973)

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella In Berlin

Apparently a classic LP, this is the album where Ella sings "Mack The Knife" for the first time, forgets the lyrics, and substitutes them for her own. She even includes a sweet Louis impression, her own rendition of "Summertime", a pretty kickin' version of "The Lady Is A Tramp", and you get to hear a little bit of her while she isn't singing. The record was a pretty cool find - moreso because I had heard a singer at the Detroit Jazz Fest in 2007 covering a bunch of Ella Fitzgerald songs, but I found that she was pretty much just singing this album.

Recorded in 1960 at show in Berlin.

Lineup: Ella Fitzgerald, vocals; Paul Smith, piano; Jim Hall, guitar; Wilfred Middlebrooks, bass; Gus Johnson, drums

Track Listing:

Side One

1. Gone With The Wind

2. Misty

3. The Lady Is A Tramp

4. The Man I Love

5. Summertime

Side Two

6. Too Darn Hot

7. Lorelei

8. Mack The Knife

9. How High The Moon

Ella Fitzgerald - Ella In Berlin (1960) - 320kbps

Pharoah Sanders - Elevation

I thought it fitting to post Pharoah Sanders after Prince Lasha - two jazz royalty members in a row, both prescribing to the free jazz aesthetic - though I was disappointed just now when I found out that Pharoah Sanders wasn't the self proclaimed pharoah, but just named that by Sun Ra. Oh well. That's cool, I guess. Other than that, I don't know much else to say about this album other than that I liked it, despite "Elevation" sounding a lot like Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" - in both length and in melody. Either way, it's still pretty raucous. The other songs break away a lot - featuring a more 'western' style piano amidst more 'african' sounding chants - coming together in some pretty cool ways, but "Elevation" is still the best, and not just because of length.

The album was recorded in 1973 from performances at Ash Grove, Los Angeles on September 7 and September 9, except for "Greeting to Saud", which is a studio recording. Pharoah Sanders has played with John Coltrane (Om and others), and with Sun Ra, Sonny Simmons (remember!!?), and Don Cherry, amongst others.

Lineup: Pharoah Sanders, tenor sax, soprano sax, percussion, vocals; Michael White, violin; Sedatrius Brown, vocals; Joe Bonner, piano, cow horn, wood flute, vocals, percussion, harmonium; Calvin Hill, bass, tamboura, vocals; Michael Carvin, drums, percussion; Lawrence Killian, congas and bell tree, percussion; John Blue, percussion, vocals; Jimmy Hopps, percussion

Track Listing:

Side One

1. Elevation

2. Greeting To Saud (Brother McCoy Turner)

Side Two

3. Ore-Se-Rere (Nigerian Juju HiLife)

4. The Gathering

5. Spiritual Blessing

Pharoah Sanders - Elevation - 320kbps

Prince Lasha Quintet featuring Sonny Simmons - The Cry!

The Cry was kind of a blind buy, but I'm pretty happy with it. Recorded in 1962 and released in 1963, the record has some good tunes, though there are parts in the album where I just think "Man, this is so 60's" - particularly where Prince Lasha is playing his flute.

Fun Fact #1: Prince Lasha grew up in Fort Worth, TX with Ornette Coleman and they played together for about 9 years. This should also tell you a little about the jazz that Lasha and Simmons are making on this album - described as "free-flowing" and spontaneous by Simmons on the back of the record - focused less on chord changes than other jazz is.

"Lost Generation", is probably my favourite track. It's pretty much just one long sax solo by Sonny Simmons, and eventually the bassists pluck a couple of notes and then the drums come in about halfway through the song. I also liked "Congo Call" and "Bojangles" and "Juanita" a lot. "Congo Call" has some pretty sweet sax going on over the other instruments, and the sax-flute duets aren't bad either, even though I don't really like the flute. Related to this is Fun Fact #2: Sonny Simmons says that he pictured Bojangles dancing as he played "Bojangles". Erotic? Fun Fact #3 would have to be that the two bassists are each playing separately in each of your ears - Peacock on the left and Proctor on the right. Fact #4: A.Y. = Affectionately Yours

RIP Prince Lasha (Dec. 11, 2008 - Age 79) - a nice memoir

Lineup: Prince Lasha, Flute; Sonny Simmons, Alto Sax; Gary Peackock & Mark Proctor, Basses; Gene Stone, Drums

Track Listing:
Side One
1. Congo Call
2. Bojangles
3. Green and Gold
4. Ghost of the Past
Side Two
5. Red's Mood
6. Juanita
7. Lost Generation
8. A.Y.

Prince Lasha Quintet featuring Sonny Simmons - The Cry! - 128kbps

Klaus Schulze - Moondawn

Klaus Schulze is often called the "Grandfather of Electronic Music", and once "Moondawn" begins, it is easy to see why - as it starts off with a kind of cheesy, 60's "this-is-a-computer-making-noise" sound. How primitive. It's a great album, though, and the primitiveness makes sense - the album was created in Germany in 1976 - a time in which the synthesizer was just making it big.
Once you get into "Moondawn" (this will probably happen late one night), you'll notice that the drums aren't synthesized, which may put you off a little, but is actually really cool once you get past that first bit of retro culture shock. Actually, now that I mention drums, I should also mention that Klaus Schulze played drums for Tangerine Dream's first album, "Electronic Meditation", and then went off to start Ash Ra Temple with his comrades. Somewhat surprisingly, though, Shulze isn't playing drums on "Moondawn", just everything else. Anyways, "Moondawn" is only two songs long, and each of the songs are over 25 minutes long, so you get a good amount of time to see what ole Klausey-poo is going for: epic build-ups.
I also have to admit that there is a skip around 8 minutes, which lasts for a few seconds (but could almost go with the song). I'll get a new version up sometime - with the needle going up and down cut out.

Lineup: Harald Grosskopf, Drums; Klaus Schulze, The Big Moog, ARP 2600, ARP Odyssey, EMS Synthi A, Farfisa Professional Organ, Farfisa Syntorchester, Crumar-keyboards, Sequenzer Synthanorma 3-12

Track Listing:
Side One
1.Floating
Side Two:
2. Mindphaser

Klaus Schulze - Moondawn - 192kbps

Big Star - Live (at Max's Kansas City, 1973)

Big Star, often cited as the group that created the "power pop" genre, and possibly my favourite band, recorded their Live album at a club in New York City (despite the name of Max's Kansas City) over two nights shortly before the release of their second album. Admittedly, I got this album off of Ebay, and it was advertised as being one of the originals given out by the Big Star Fan Club at some point (who has fan clubs anymore?). The first couple of the songs are mixed a bit poorly, but after that, the sound gets a lot clearer - the bass isn't as blaring, mostly. The version of "Don't Lie To Me" on Live is more rockin than the version on #1 Record, and is a lot more fun to listen to. There is also an interview with Alex Chilton towards the end of Side One, and some other commentary in between his other songs that are interesting to hear. For example, he talks about how miserable it was to be in The Box Tops, and he reveals that he wrote "Thirteen" when he was 13. Who knew? But, it's a pretty sweet album altogether.

Track Listing:
Side one
1. September Gurls
2. Way Out West
3. Mod Lang
4. Don't Lie To Me
5. O My Soul
6. Interview
7. Ballad of El Goodo
Side Two
8. Thirteen
9. I'm In Love With A Girl
10. In The Street
11. You Get What You Deserve
12. Daisy Glaze
13. Back Of A Car
14. She's A Mover

Big Star - Live - 128kbps

Boule Noire - Les Annees Passent

After first buying this album, I thought it was only some catchy francofunk that fell through the cracks. But happily, after some research (allmusic.com), I found out that Les Annees Passent is actually the second album of Quebec funk icon George Thurston aka "Boule Noire". Released in 1977, the album is sung mostly in French, interspersed with a lot of sexy, sexy "baby"s and other Englishisms in typical Quebec style. The best tracks are "(Shalala) Je T'aime" and "Entre Nous" - showing Thurston's tender, yet funky, side. Also interesting is that "1254 Rue Stanley" is an address in downtown Montreal. I haven't had the chance to go down there yet, but it would be kind of interesting to see what's there. Of course, looking at Google Maps, it says that's where "Club La Boom Montreal" is located. Interest wanes. Unfortunately, we lost our "Quebecois Stevie Wonder", as he was named by Quebec minister of culture, in 2007 to colorectal cancer. On a side note: I wonder how many times it is possible to drop a form of "Quebec" in one paragraph. We will see.

Track Listing:
Side One
1. Loin D'Ici
2. (Shalala) Je T'aime
3. Les Annees Passent
4. Entre Nous
Side Two
5. Rencontre
6. Bebe Lady
7. 1254 Rue Stanley
8. Sexy Mama

Boule Noire - Les Annees Passent - 192kbps