Saturday 28 February 2015

The Mars Tapes: Canadian Review


PETER BANKS EMPIRE – The Mars Tapes

Gonzo 2013

PETER BANKS EMPIRE -
The Mars Tapes

Ex-YES guitarist’s last major group gear up for a record and round up the best of their oeuvre.

It was 1979 when the latest – and the last – of Peter Banks’ collective endeavors entered the Mars Studios in LA to hone the material for their next record, “Empire III,” and, as the band’s new records had to contain a fresh version of a previously released song, to play older tracks. “Not sure why Peter liked doing that. But it could have been because he was basically an instrumentalist at heart,” says singer Sydney Foxx, better known as Sidonie Jordan now. They never toured yet the ensemble could have been great in a live situation, given the vigor of these soundboard recordings that capture the band going through their repertoire and developing the pieces along the way.

And it’s not just cuts from the EMPIRE lore, as Banks and his team rave and rage through a lot of unreleased melodies as well as a wild take on Leonard Bernstein’s “Something’s Coming,” an early YES’ concert staple, without showing an iota of regular rehearsal noodling. Such a vivacity on the otherwise overtly artsy compositions comes from Foxx, whose bluesy pipes shine on the likes of “Out Of Our Hands” before Banks starts rocking and Paul Delph engages his synthesizers in a duel with guitar. More so, there’s humor – something most people don’t associate with Peter in particular and prog rock as a whole – in the fusion of “Where Yes Means No” or sophisticated jamming of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar And Grill” where effervescent funk rules the game, and the groovy “Do What You Want” only ups the playfulness of the performance.

It’s the instrumental interplay, though, that creates a multicolored canvas from the segueing, out of the new album, of proggy “Foundation” with a disco of “Destiny” and the soulful “Far Away” for the voice to embroider, which waves the magic and waives the quality warts. “Peter famously would have preferred not to have worked with lead singers, but they were necessary to procuring record deals!” adds Sidonie. Without voice, “Off With The King’s Head” sounds rather undercooked, unlike “When The Banks Overflow” which is filled with Peter’s trademark curlicues, and then there’s “The Fall Of The Empire” – short, if enchanting piece that marries sharp riffs to lyrical runs.

“It was also a challenge to him musically and production-wise to recreate something in the studio It was very difficult and we were not successful in that. For example, ‘The Sky At Night’ was brilliant on the first album. On the second it was lackluster,” points out Jordan. But this double-CD set offers the earliest, most delicate version of the song as a bonus track: laid down with Phil Collins on drums and Sam Gopal on tabla for the ZOK AND THE RADAR BOYS project which never got off the ground, it’s still a brilliant jazz ballad, while the whole collection is a testament to EMPIRE’s grandness.

***1/4

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO:


The Mars Tapes
2CD - £11.99

GONZO WEEKLY #119

Howard Stern Interview with Moon Unit and Frank Zappa



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Frank Zappa is considered to be one of the most influential rock musicians of the late twentieth century. Between the start of his career in the late fifties and his death in 1993 he recorded and rele..


On September 19, 1985, Frank Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music organizati..

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Litany of all Saints സകല വിശുദ്ധരുടേയും ലുത്തിനിയ

Being Sunday I always post sacred music. The name of the deity may change, or even the deity Him/Herself but the spirit remains the same.

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Zeppelin!

COMING SOONER THAN YOU THINK


Captain Beefheart Full Documentary




CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, artist and poet known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work..


Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, artist and poet known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work..

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem


Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)


THINGS WE DARE NOT SAY
Sargasso Plastic Islands in our cliches
Rising up no Moby Dicks/more unspeakable catastrophes
ISIS destroying Museums,Taliban shooting children
Our drones bombing wedding parties.Endless snipers on all sides
Only we civilians in their sights.Buried too deep THE WAY THINGS WERE
and can never be again.Laughing in airports.Trust  in religions/strangers.
Easy the argot cliche."Interesting".This is why i prefer Banksy over Hirst/
living art over dead verse.Flash mobs over flash dance.Preferences over obedience.
I want to know where missing airliners go-and tax dollars in "black"Budgets.
Would prefer casual civilian cultures to censored edicts.Happiness over distress.
Affirmations that come true more than endless numbing lying propaganda "news"
Pre-Spring.Trees on the front lines.Will those tiny green buds blossom ?

or are our winter gardens wishing only to survive these frozen times?

PLAYLIST: Strange Fruit #109

1. Strange Lullaby: Fly on Sister, Play on Brother
2. Kontiki Suite: She Gets High
3. Roger Ruskin Spear: Mattress Man
4 ANNOUNCEMENT
5. Frank Sinatra: Everybody’s Twistin’
6 Frank and Nancy Sinatra: Feelin’ Kinda Sunday
7. ANNOUNCEMENT
8 The Rowan Amber Mill: Face of Flowers (2012 Remix) From The Active Listener First Acid Folk Sampler
9. Keith Christmas: Love Like This
10. ANNOUNCEMENT
11. Kevin Rowland: Daydream Believer
12. Pat Boone: The Wind Cries Mary
13 ANNOUNCEMENT
14 Unknown Sixties Mystery Group: Are You Mad at Me?
15 Fever Tree: Day Tripper
16 ANNOUNCEMENT
17 The Gentle Mystics: Rain
18 Flamingo Pudding: The Devil is in the Breathing (From Geogacca)
19 ANNOUNCEMENT
20 Tortura:  Sounds of Pain and Pleasure #2
21 The Kim Sisters: Harbour Lights
22 The Space Lady: Slapback Boomerang
23 Country Joe McDonald: Bring Back the Sixties (Album Disco Sellout)
24 Los Holys Spectro 1 The Sicodelico Sounds of Peru's LOS HOLY'S
25 ANNOUNCEMENT
26 James McKeown: English Dream
27 Vulcan Freedom Fighters: Horse Stealin’ Scurvey Crew
28 ANNOUNCEMENT
29 Aicha Tachiniwite: Track 2
30 Chumno Trocheak: Pen Rorn
31 ANNOUNCEMENT
32 Mao Tse Tung: Quotations from Chairman Mao – Side One
33 Sand Snowman: Ice and Rainbows

Friday 27 February 2015

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Fairport Convention - The Hiring Fair (2012)



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Fairport Convention and Matthews Southern Comfort
DVD/CD - £9.99

Live In Maidstone 1970
CD - £7.99

Live At Maidstone Castle 1970
DVD - £9.99

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem


Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)

FOOTPRINTS BEFORE TIME
when we found tools /lit fires
hunted and cooked /over time and tracks
we learn to know these skills..Our brain capacity expanded
as we gained mastery over fellow species.We ate and/or tamed them.
Caged and/or trained them-to establish this myth of"dominant "species.
Dolphins and whales have larger brains in comparison to body size
We hook them,fleanse them,monetize and Seaworld them.
The rest is cat food in cans.Oceans we grew from become netted farms
Sewage we dump in our water's womb.Water wars in world's drought desertification.
Links between species cannot stop such slaughters.Songs cannot return them.
We pay attention when car accidents cull us.Bison?Not so much.
Perhaps extinctions are cyclic and addictive.Eros vs Thanatos.Fate vs Free Will.
Maybe past lives and future lives are myths.Ask Robert Frost  about fire.
Polar bears about global warming.

Captain Beefheart's House of Horrors



Published on Feb 26, 2015
A fictionalized homage to Van Vliet and crew, during their recording of Trout Mask Replica, wherein Jeff Cotton attempted to escape their remote studio, with John French pursuing. This was an assignment for a one minute long chase, incorporating only five shots. I will likely upload a longer, more "colorful" version as time presses on.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, artist and poet known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work..


Don Van Vliet (born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, artist and poet known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work..

Jon Anderson, Steve Howe + Tony Kaye on The Yes Album: ‘It was a special time’


The Yes Album, released this week in 1971, was Yes’ big-bang moment, a project where the full scope of their looming genius began to take shape. It was also a critical junction point, as Steve Howe replaced late guitarist Peter Banks, while fellow co-founder Tony Kaye took a final bow.
Those shifting foundational elements only added to the flinty inventiveness of these sessions, which retained several key elements of Yes’ earliest efforts (Chris Squire’s melodic then pulverizing bass, these gorgeous close harmonies, Jon Anderson’s impish, endlessly imaginative imagery) even as it rapidly widened their musical vocabulary. Howe arrived as an eruptively creative force, stirring in guitar textures that hurtled Yes toward new vistas — and underrated lyrical contributions that added contextual weight.
The bulk of The Yes Album was written away from the London city center, before recording commenced at Advision Studios. (Howe’s “Clap,” meanwhile, emerged from a July 1970 performance at the Lyceum Theatre.) Free of those bustling environs, every member of Yes was moved to contribute musical ideas — and they were in turn given an expanded canvas on The Yes Album, issued on February 19, 1971.
“We’d done the first two albums — Yes and Time and a Word — with Peter,” Kaye tells us, in an exclusive Something Else! Sitdown. “And as he left the band, we were starting to get a little bit of a reputation after playing around England. I was pretty much a resident of the Speakeasy, our local London watering hole, and saw Steve Howe with his band Bodast. I talked to Steve, and brought him into the band and pretty soon, we went down to a little cottage in Devon and started writing The Yes Album. It was a big change, with Peter leaving and Steve coming in. We set up a room to rehearse, and we basically lived there. We started writing little bits, and everybody brought in their own things. It was a gradual, building thing.”

Read on...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Union (Standard DVD)
DVD - £9.99

Union
DVD - £12.99

Union (2CD)
2CD - £7.99

Rock Of The 70's
DVD - £12.99

The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £7.99

Rock of the 70s
DVD - £9.99

George Harrison remembered by Alan White, Joey Molland, Robben Ford + others


We’re celebrating the late George Harrison’s birthday by revisiting some signature moments with collaborators from his earliest days of post-Beatles music making.
Gary Wright’s association with Harrison spanned the ages, beginning with his torrential triple-album debut then continuing through to his late-1980s comeback — and beyond. George Harrison projects helped launch Derek and the Dominos, even as they offered us a tucked-away chance to enjoy the star-crossed talents of Badfinger once more.
George Harrison also provided early spotlights for Alan White, years before he would become the long-tenured drummer for Yes; and Robben Ford, who would ultimately work with Joni Mitchell, Kiss and Miles Davis while crafting a superlative career of his own in roots music.
Each of them joined us to reminisce about what George Harrison meant to them, sharing new insights into both the man and his music …

Read on...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
After The Pearl
CD - £9.99

The Pilgrim
CD - £9.99

Demos Old And New
CD - £9.99

Return To Memphis
SCD - £9.99

This Way Up
CD - £9.99

Thursday 26 February 2015

Anthony Phillips Interview 2010



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
Seventh Heaven
DCD - £9.99

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem


Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)

PRE-and POST!
 
I am PRE-NSA.Most young are post 1984
I am analogue man.Most young are digital children
I have no iphone/no Smart Phone.Most young are married to their devices.
This is partially ageist/partly market-based
These days,you pay hundreds for a multi-use device
You carry this with you @all times.Thus you can be both contacted and tracked.
Police are tracked via video  and car cameras.
Factory workers making iphones are under constant surveillance
There is no effective public surveillance of NSA,CIA nor FBI
Nor of the multitude of other monitoring Government agencies
Technology has moved faster than our Constitution/Bill of Rights
No use crying for "Miranda".She went out with that Patriot Act
and has not been seen since.Assange and Manning both monitored.
Their warnings give us no protection.Post-Freud/Jung,we know but do not change.
Post-Skinner,we have the freedom of rats in a cage.Only someone else always scores the cheese..
 
 

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: John Lennon - Instant Karma




Eric Burdon - Interview 2010



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £9.99

The Animals And Beyond 
DVD - £9.99

Beat Beat Beat - Eric Burdon
DVD - £4.99

Jonathan Clarke interviews Stephan Stills



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £9.99

Wednesday 25 February 2015

Michael Des Barres Interviews Weird Al Yankovic at Home



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
Carnaby Street/I'm Only Human
2CD - £9.99

I'm Only Human
SCD - £9.99

Carnaby Street
CD - £9.99

The Pace Report: "Burdon-nistic Warrior" The Eric Burdon Interview



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £9.99

The Animals And Beyond 
DVD - £9.99

Beat Beat Beat - Eric Burdon
DVD - £4.99

STEVE HACKETT-GENESIS REVISITED 2-BBC BREAKFAST-24.10.2012



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
Spectral Mornings
DVD - £5.99

Robert Wyatt Story (BBC Four, 2001)

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem


Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)

SHE JUST TURNED UP ONE DAY

Small,black (and white pawed),female
with a Xmas seasonal collar that said
'I belong to someone else". (but she chose us..
in through our cat door,purring like a fire bomb
she loved us back to smiles/and stayed for a while
Then she mysteriously disappeared
turning up when we least expected
leaping into bed with us/licking and giving kitten kisses
We had no chance to resist!Our older rescued cat
still does not know she is a cat.(Cannot purr-only scratches)
The two co-exist warily. Toots hisses at Susan (yes-all cats are named..
and we enjoy these mock territorial skirmishes.I think we have been adopted
by a new second-hand cat.I can hear her purring from here!


THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Gong - I Never Glid Before - Live 1973

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Gong - I Never Glid Before - Live 1973



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

French TV 1971-1973
DVD - £9.99

At Montserrat
DVD - £7.99

Live At The Uncon 2006
DVD - £12.99

25th Birthday
CD - £9.99



Tuesday 24 February 2015

The Canterbury Scene: An Interview with Robert Wyatt - BBC South

T'Pau singer Carol Decker reveals The Story Behind the Tracks



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
Montreux
DVD - £9.99

Steve Hackett Interview for Farida Guitars

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
Spectral Mornings
DVD - £5.99


THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem


Rob Ayling writes: 

"Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)

IN AN AGE OF ETERNAL WARS

Survivors return with limbs missing
Even children  have arms blown away
and need cheap accessible prosthetic limbs
Here is where 3D printers come in-Dr John Scholl's E-nable
can (via Makerbot) offer limbs in bright colors and designs.
Would you like a Cyborg Beast?a Raptor hand?or a Talon hand 2.X
Each can be made on a 3D printer for between $20 and $50
(so long as the design work is done by volunteers)
Thousands have parts of their hands chopped via lawnmowers alone each year
Replacement limbs (thanks to 3D printers)are now an economic reality
What Dr Frankenstein might soon suggest

a 3D head?

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage



CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
The Lost Broadcasts
DVD - £9.99



Monday 23 February 2015

Ray Collins hired Zappa

Ray Collins met Zappa in 1961 after noticing him perform at the Sportsman Tavern in his local Pomona. Collins is mainly responsible for hiring Zappa in 1964 to handle guitar for his bar band the "Soul Giants", a group that involved Jimmy Carl Black and Roy Estrada. FZ joined the band after his arrest on pornography charges .Zappa insisted that the band perform unique material, switching their name to "The Mothers".


Zappa joined the group after Collins fired the guitarist Ray Hunt. How the firing really went down, though, is the topic of some hypothesis: Zappa stated in one interview that Collins "punched his lights out." Collins, however, recalled it in another way, with no punching involved.

Record producer Tom Wilson signed the group to Verve Records and at the point debut album "Freak Out!" shown up in 1966 the band added "of Invention" to their name and Zappa had turn into the creative leader.

Read on...

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO

Frank Zappa is considered to be one of the most influential rock musicians of the late twentieth century. Between the start of his career in the late fifties and his death in 1993 he recorded and rele..


On September 19, 1985, Frank Zappa testified before the United States Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music organizati..

Anthony Phillips: 'The Anthony Phillips Story'


CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
Seventh Heaven
DCD - £9.99

...BECAUSE SOME OF US THINK THAT THIS STUFF IS IMPORTANT
What happens when you mix what is - arguably - the world's most interesting record company, with an anarchist manic-depressive rock music historian polymath, and a method of dissemination which means that a daily rock-music magazine can be almost instantaneous?

Most of this blog is related in some way to the music, books and films produced by Gonzo Multimedia, but the editor has a grasshopper mind and so also writes about all sorts of cultural issues which interest him, and which he hopes will interest you as well.