Thursday, 4 October 2018

Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock - 'An Alien Heat'

Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock - 'An Alien Heat'



Title - 'An Alien Heat'
Artist - Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock
For those not in the know, Spirits Burning is a musical collective that features musicians associated with space rock and progressive rock, including input from members of Blue Oyster Cult, Clearlight, Gong, and Hawkwind; and is overseen by American composer/producer Don Falcone.
Don Falcone is an American producer, musician (keyboards, bass, and vocals), and captain of Spirits Burning. A live version of the band played in the UK in 2017, with Falcone on keys and vocals, and featuring Hawkwind family members Bridget Wishart, Richard Chadwick, and Steve Bemand.
Michael Moorcock is an English writer and musician, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published literary novels. He is best known for his novels about the character Elric of Melniboné, a seminal influence on the field of fantasy since the 1960s and 1970s.
As editor of the British science fiction magazine New Worlds, from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States.
His publication of Bug Jack Barron by Norman Spinrad as a serial novel was notorious; in Parliament some British MPs condemned the Arts Council for funding the magazine.
He is also a successful recording musician, contributing to the band Hawkwind, Blue Öyster Cult and his own project.
The new Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock album, An Alien Heat is actually an adaptation of the Michael Moorcock novel of the same name.
Indeed, it is the first Spirits Burning album to feature Michael Moorcock, and the first with Albert Bouchard as one of the main collaborators.
Albert Bouchard is an American drummer, guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member and drummer of Blue Öyster Cult. He also plays with his brother Joe in the Bouchard Brothers, and they are both in Blue Coupe with Dennis Dunaway from Alice Cooper.
1. 'Hothouse Flowers' (4:09)
2. 'Geronimo' (4:42)
3. 'Soirée Of Fire' (5:20)
4. 'In The Future' (4:05)
5. 'Doomed' (4:25)
6. 'Fall In Love' (4:14)
7. 'Any Particular Interest' (2:58)
8. 'Dark Dominion' (4:49)
9. 'Seven Finger Solution' (4:07)
10. 'To Steal A Space Traveller' (7:29)
11. 'Virtue & Mrs. Amelia Underwood' (6:33)
12. 'Learning The Art' (3:04)
13. 'Back To 1896' (4:28)
14. 'Quest For Bromley' (3:00)
15. 'Thank You For The Fog' (7:34)
16: 'Old Friends With New Faces' (4:43)


Says Don Falcone, “The debut Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock album came together, in so many special ways. I asked Mike if I could do an adaptation of the ‘Dancers’ trilogy, starting with ‘An Alien Heat,’ and he gave a long-distance blessing."
Al Bouchard became a co-collaborator and helped improve every song. He also brought in some Blue Öyster Cult family members. The planned sessions with Mike came to fruition, and Mike ended up singing on most tracks, and playing harmonica on three.”
With the overall game plan to do three albums to cover the entire Dancers... trilogy, this An Alien Heat space prog rock album is an incredible beginning to what will obviously be an awe inspiring set of works.


Jason Atoms does vocals on the opening tracks and his voice was built for this genre of music, that's for darn sure. Tracks such as 'Hothouse Flowers,' 'Geronimo' and the exquisite, sonically detailed 'Soirée Of Fire' showcase what's to come rather delightfully.
A musical adventure with mystery and chock full of all your favorite elements of space rock, prog, together with tinges of jazz, folk, new wave, and ambient, there's still cuts on here that sound beautifully experimental also.


Enabled to breathe via a pluralistic construct, whether it’s an unexpected grouping of musicians, or styles, or just the staggeringly magnificent luck of everything coming together in the same place, at the same time, under one roof seamlessly, An Alien Heat is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best albums I've had the pleasure to review in the past decade (or more).
CD Purchase Link
'An Alien Heat' Box-Set PledgeMusic.com Campaign Link
www.SpiritsBurning.com
www.MichaelMoorcock.co.uk/
www.GonzoMultiMedia.co.uk

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO


Spirits Burning is one of the most unique entities in the space rock galaxy. The group consists of one main member, Don Falcone, and many other participants from various  bands and projects...


Healthy Music In Large Doses is the latest offering from the Spirits Burning space rock collective, this time featuring keyboardist Cyrille 'Clearlight' Verdeaux. Clearlight is a project of French son..

YES THINGS


Yes Interviews: 2000 - Up Close with Dan Neer with Jon Anderson and Chris Squire, etc
Yes Interviews Date: 2000 Item: Up Close with Dan Neer with Jon Anderson and Chris Squire, etc For all my Yes posts see here: 

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Union
DVD - £10.99

Union (2CD)
2CD - £7.99

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling, yer Gonzo Grande Fromage, 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 Thom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and 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 within 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?

Big Skies Collaboration: a progress report
MAY WE BE ALLOWED TO SEE THE BEAUTY
that lives above and beyond our eyes @night
When Dark Skies allow Natural Light Illuminations
to be seen in their true context and perspective
May those modes of Celestial Navigation
allow us to travel via astrolabe and sextant
May those Ancients who calculated astrologies
allow us our astronomies/to open our eyes to see
what our corner of the Galaxy /looks like
from where we spin in dervish dance /in orbits,entranced.
To be part of where we are and came from-the dust of stars
Open our eyes @night/and in the dark
may we spin and spark as all celestial bodies will
and send our eyes and minds back into the night skies
Until...


-2:21
Fighting for Darkness
FACEBOOK WATCH
644,253 Views
The mayor of this tiny Idaho town is fighting light pollution. Welcome to the U.S.'s first Dark Sky Reserve.

Wednesday, 3 October 2018

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: The Chad Mitchell Trio - Four Strong Winds/The Mitchell Trio with John Denver - For Bobbie



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In Action (aka Blowin' in the Wind)
CD - £7.99

At the Bitter End
SCD - £7.99

HAWKWIND REVIEW


... musicians who make up Hawkwind now are newcomers (save for founding member Dave Brock), I would have suspected that this record was some ...

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Space Ritual Live - Special Edition
2DVD/2CD - £29.99

Space Ritual Live 
2CD1DVD - £19.99

SPIRITS BURNING Belgium review translated

http://www.musicinbelgium.net/pl/modules.php?name=Reviews&rop=showcontent&id=9565


SPIRITS BURNING & MICHAEL MOORCOCK - An Alien Heat
/ published on 29-09-2018 /
Spirits Burning is a geo-variable Space Rock / Progressive collective in which American composer / producer Don Falcone seems to be the only permanent member. Since the creation of the project in 1996, Falcone has published a dozen albums to which members of Blue Öyster Cult , Hawkwind , Gong , Acid Mother Temple , Yes , Spirits , Van der Graaf Generator , Clearlight , Porcupine Tree and many others have collaborated. more besides. 

"An Alien Heat", the brand new opus released by Gonzo Multimedia on October 19, 2018 is a concept album whose story is based on the first volume of the quadrilogy "The Dancers At The End Of Time" (NDR  : "The Dancers Of The End Of Time " ), written in 1972 by the famous writer Science-Fiction / British Heroic Fantasy Michael Moorcock (NDR  : author, among others, of the famous " Cycle Elric " ). To ensure that the lyrics of his re-reading of the novel are true to the original story (NDR  :a strange story at the end of time, in which an immortal named Jharek falls in love with a girl born in the Victorian era), Falcone flatly appealed to the services of Moorcock himself. Although now 79 years old, Moorcock is far from refractory to the idea of merging his lyrics with Rock'n'roll. In the past, he has already written two songs for Blue Öyster Cult ( "Black Blade" on the "Cultösaurus Erectus" of 1980 and the superb "Veterans Of The Psychic Wars" for the album "Fire Of Unknown Origin" In addition, Moorcock was also an active member of Hawkwind, in which he held the microphone in 1975."Warrior On The Edge Of Time" , released at the time and on which we find on the bass a certain Lemmy Killmister . For "An Alien Heat" , Michael Moorcock was not content with the writing of the lyrics and we find him many times behind the microphone (chorus) and the harmonica. 

Moorcock, of course, is not the only guest at the party. Don Falcone did quite well because he gathered around the British author some of the witnesses of his rock'n'roll past. Thus, in this 2018 edition of Spirits Burnig, some members (former and current) of the Blue Öyster Cult family ( Albert Bouchard , Joe Bouchard ,Richie Castellano and former Hawkwind affiliates ( Harvey Bainbridge , Mick Slattery , Bridget Wishart and Adrian Shaw ). It would probably be long and boring to list all the other musicians who participated in the recording of the plaque. We will nevertheless mention the surprising presence of Monty Oxymoron of Damned , as well as that of Andy Shernoff ( The Dictators ) and Cyrille Verdeaux of the French progressive group Clearlight . In addition to his role in the composition of music (NDR  :a role he shares most of the time with Albert Bouchard), Don Falcone plays keyboards (Mellotron, Piano, Organs, Synths, ect,) 

Difficult to paste a general label on the music proposed by the strange collective. There is Space Rock and Folk, as well as some Electro and Ambient Pop. Masterfully sung by Donald 'Buck Dharma' Roeser, the "Hothouse Flowers" that opens the plate looks a bit like a Blue Oyster Cult title to which would have added violin lines. The influence of the cult of the blue oyster (unfortunately) will be much less pregnant after the opus. "Geronimo"is a weird and haunting title, with a violin, a harmonica, electronic and tribal percussions and some pretty guitar lines. "Evening Of Fire" mixes a dancing and hypnotic rhythm with a pretty female voice. Nothing more Rock, "In The Future" is distinguished by the deep (almost gothic) voice of a vocalist named Jsun Atoms and the sublime solitaire guitar of Richie Castellano (BÖC). "Doomed" is a folk and space title at a time, in which Albert Bouchard's voice is as much Bob Dylanas David Bowie . "Any Particular Interest"is another curiosity that combines a martial / electro side to the more down-to-earth sounds of violin, piano and harmonica. Ditto for "Dark Dominion" which marries mesmerizing hypnotic rhythms with perky vocals. In short, you will have understood without going further, each title of the album has its own identity and is interpreted in a style different from the one before it. 

If, despite these confusing variations of styles, the whole shows a certain unity and generates a furious desire to continue listening until the last of the 75 minutes of music, the second CD, with the same titles version instrumental, was perhaps a bit superfluous. 

An interesting curiosity. 

The
  1. Hothouse Flowers (4'09)
  2. Geronimo (4'42)
  3. Evening Of Fire (5'20)
  4. In The Future (4'05)
  5. Doomed (4'25)
  6. Fall In Love (4'14)
  7. Any Particular Interest (2'58)
  8. Dark Dominion (4'49)
  9. Seven Finger Solution (4'07)
  10. To Steal A Space Traveler (7'29)
  11. Virtue & Mrs. Amelia Underwood (6'33)
  12. Learling The Art (3'04)
  13. Back To 1896 (4'28)
  14. Quest For Bromley (3'00)
  15. Thank You For The Fog (7'34)
  16. Old Friends With New Faces (4'43)

The second CD (75'41)  :
  • Same titles and same order, in instrumental version

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Spirits Burning is one of the most unique entities in the space rock galaxy. The group consists of one main member, Don Falcone, and many other participants from various  bands and projects...


Healthy Music In Large Doses is the latest offering from the Spirits Burning space rock collective, this time featuring keyboardist Cyrille 'Clearlight' Verdeaux. Clearlight is a project of French son..

THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling, yer Gonzo Grande Fromage, 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 Thom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and 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 within 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?

SILENCE BEFORE US 
AND SILENCE WHEN WE LEAVE
THERE IS NEVER SILENCE
Bubble blood in the red womb
Creak of leaves and vines round bones
Moving even when we stop/on a rock
Traveling faster than any of us
Through space that is a stranger
Where planets sing their own harmonic rings
And even when we go-chattering
The Quest for Silence a perennial
Speech failure Monumental
Inscriptions on the Graves/reminders
that reminding us is never done in  silences...
This is why we speak.This is why we sing
It is to stop the silence/ringing/tinnitus in our Auricles-

Oracles,Sirens,Mermaids,Sacred Salamanders...

Monday, 1 October 2018

A BUNCH OF LEONARD COHEN STUFF

Leonard Cohen wrote a poem about Kanye West. In The Flame: Poems And Selections From Notebooks (McClelland & Stewart, $32.95), the late ...
Full Coverage

The Hallelujah star passed away in 2016 at the age of 82, just weeks after he released his last album You Want It Darker, which was produced by his ...


Across his 82 years, the Montreal-born Leonard Cohen was all of these things – and in his posthumous book of poetry, given the Lawrentian title The ...
Adam Cohen, son of legendary singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, has announced that a posthumous album by his deceased father is in the works.


LOS ANGELES, Sept 29 — Pitchfork.com reports that a posthumous album of songs by the Canadian poet and singer, Leonard Cohen—who died ...


A posthumous Leonard Cohen LP is in the works, the late artist's son Adam told Tom Power of CBC's “q.” Adam Cohen, who worked as a producer on ...
Full Coverage


When I used to visit Leonard Cohen, at his house in Montreal and later in Los Angeles, I was always struck by the clear floors and bare walls.


A posthumous studio from Leonard Cohen is in development, the singer's son and longtime producer Adam said. One of the most iconic ...

Los Angeles, Sep 30 (PTI) A posthumous studio from Leonard Cohen is in development, the singer's son and longtime producer Adam said.

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Bird on a Wire (Special Edition)
DVD - £9.99

THE GONZO TRACK OF THE DAY: Jack Lancaster & friends - Save A Place For Me



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Wild Connections
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THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem

Rob Ayling, yer Gonzo Grande Fromage, 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 Thom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth and 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 within 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?

IF I WERE A ROOM


I would want art on me
(i do not speak about body art-tattoos nor graffiti..
more an Unframed Splash of Paradise
that takes us from a walled world of blacks and whites
into hues and tints of Rubens pinks and Monet purples
a dose of Color Therapy for a wounded world
( i remember how you painted your Art Gallery Bare Buddhist White
but your home walls Hot Flush Pinks-and how public and private
became as complementary as heart and head
This world is already colored in its earth way
Deep mahogany browns and rainforest greens
We live both within this frame and in our dreams
And all our dreams are colored parrots
Growing wings.

JOEY MOLLAND NEWS

Badfinger Joey Molland explains their 1st hit “Come and Get It”
Badfinger Joey Molland explains “Come and get it” their 1st hit for Apple Records Sellersville Theatre.
Badfinger's remaining member Joey Molland likes Math Rocks!
Badfinger's remaining member Joey Molland likes Math Rocks! TwoPlusOneMathRocks. Loading... Unsubscribe from TwoPlusOneMathRocks?


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After The Pearl
CD - £7.99

The Pilgrim
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Return To Memphis
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This Way Up
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FOR THOSE OF YOU INTERESTED IN MY DAY JOB?



On The Track (of Unknown Animals) Ep. 95 (Gul expedition, Loch Ness Monster, Beast of Exmoor etc)

Here we have the fourteenth episode of the relaunched webTV show by the Centre for Fortean Zoology, written and presented by Jon Downes and Charlotte Phillipson, their families and other animals. This episode contains: • A brief note of explanation • Carl in the jungle • Tajikistan slideshow • Double "monsters" at Loch Ness • The President and the Giant Squid • Charlotte at Exmoor Zoo • The Beast of Exmoor • Lars and the leopard hair • Carl and the glowing birds of Borneo • PRODUCT PLACEMENT - Coldharbour • Watcher of the skies • New and rediscovered: New colubrid snake • New and rediscovered: New gecko • New and rediscovered: New cave catfish • New and rediscovered: New barbel • New and rediscovered: New pseudoscorpion • New and rediscovered: New mole • Fair use • Coming next month • The Patreon campaign • The team says goodbye until next month You can support us, and help us make this show ever more bigger and better at our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/CFZ CFZ Website: http://www.cfz.org.uk/ CFZ on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... OTT on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/OnTheTrack/

SPIRITS BURNING: French review translated

http://progcritique.com/2018/09/spirits-burning-amp-michael-moorcock-an-alien-heat/

Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock
/An Alien Heat

(5/5)
Label: Gonzo Multimedia / Press: Glass Onyon
Genres: Canterbury ; Progressive Rock ; Psychedelic rock ;

Training: Don Falcone, Albert Bouchard (BÖC) and Michael Moorcock. --- Guests: Joe Bouchard, Richie Castellano, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, Harvey Bainbridge, Adrian Shaw, Mick Slattery, Bridget Wishart, Andy Dalby, Monty Oxymoron, Ken Pustelnik, Jonathan Segel, Lux Vibratus (Nektar).


1.Hothouse Flowers
2.Geronimo
3.Evening Of Fire
4.In The Future
5.Doomed

6.Fall In Love
7.Any Particular Interest
8.Dark Dominion
9.Seven Finger Solution
10.To Steal A Space Traveler

11.Virtue & Mrs. Amelia Underwood
12.Learning The Art
13.Back To 1896
14.Quest For Bromley
15.Thank You For The Fog

16.Old Friends With New Faces


The new album by Spirits Burning & Michael Moorcock is an adaptation of Michael's novel " An Alien Heat ". This is the first album of Spirits Burning that brings together Michael Moorcock , and Albert Bouchard,founding member of Blue Öyster Cult , for a collaboration of this kind. Michael is an English writer of science fiction and literary novels. Spirits Burning is an amalgam of musicians whose leader is Don Falcone , producer, musician (keyboards, bass and vocals). " An Alien Heat " is the 14th studio album ofSpirits Burning . To achieve this opus Don Falcone is accompanied by seasoned musicians and fans of Blue Öyster Cult will be interested in the performance of members of the BOC family, Albert Bouchard, Joe Bouchard, Richie Castellano and Donald Roeser.

Spirits Burning sets " An Alien Heat " as Michael Moorcock's most beloved work . This story from the trilogy ' The Dancers at the End of Time' is the first in a series of science fiction novels, in short, to describe a stage 'where disorganization reigns and where the universe began to collapse on himself ". a world populated by decadent and immortal characters, who use the energy imagined and stored by their ancestors millions of years ago.

Don Falcone's project is ambitious and will surely delight fans of soft and melodic progressive, Canterbury Caravan trend period , here no complex construction nor incessant change of pace, but pieces architectured around immediately prehensile melodies. In this exercise, Spirits Burning does not go with the back of the spoon, it offers sixteen compositions of relatively short average duration, the longest not exceeding 7: 34 Minutes. The concept " An Alien Heat " is transposed in a 70's atmosphere with a real happiness, the hovering rock and the psychedelic music join perfectly. All compositions feature on " An Alien Heat"Are definitely worth the detour, but some of them stand out as the one who opens the CD " Hothouse Flowers " a rock from the school Canterbury kidnapped and dynamic, followed by the haunting and intimate " Geronimo ". Also in the limelight is the atmospheric and stripped down " Seven Finger Solution ", the musical mixture with the inimitable taste of " To Steal A Space Traveler " both exacerbated and planing and finally " Thank You For The Fog " close to the luminous world of Floyd and R oger Water .

Although Spirits Burning does not avoid certain clichés inherent to this type of concept, the 16 titles of " An Alien Heat " demonstrate that Don Falcone's group knows how to build original songs that are easy to access!

* The case includes two CDs including an instrumental cover of the disc 1. The booklet is 8 pages with credits and lyrics.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO


Spirits Burning is one of the most unique entities in the space rock galaxy. The group consists of one main member, Don Falcone, and many other participants from various  bands and projects...


Healthy Music In Large Doses is the latest offering from the Spirits Burning space rock collective, this time featuring keyboardist Cyrille 'Clearlight' Verdeaux. Clearlight is a project of French son..

...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.