A Celebration of Retro Media

07 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: , , , , ,

What is the appeal or value of vinyl in the digital age? In part, its “object-ness” in contrast to the non-thing that a digital music file is.

Think about it: your dad’s record collection most likely still exists. It’s either upstairs on shelves or in boxes, or has been traded in at some record store. Perhaps pieces have found their way by now into various collections of young hipster fans of old vinyl and have changed hands several times. But the objects that were your dad’s record collection are probably still around because they were objects. And because music in old formats is harder to delete than an mp3, which is always about 2 mouse clicks (or one fried hard drive) from non-existence.

The music playing on a vinyl record required your attention; you had to flip it or change it every 20 minutes or so. And that, combined with album art, lyric sheets, etc. made the listening experience a more engaging one generally, and may have led to a more intimate connection to the music than the iPod generation commonly makes. The digital music file can accompany you everywhere you go and be background to everything you do. But when was the last time you set aside time to just listen to your iPod? To oversimplify: vinyl listening was a more active experience, digital listening is more passive.

This short film is a little reminder of how art can lose a degree or aspect of its power to connect with us each time we find a seemingly more “perfect” format for its conveyance. Sometimes, as with 8mm film and even Polaroid photos, imperfection is an inseparable part of the art itself.

And if art is a reflection of life (which is imperfect) doesn’t art with imperfection make a more perfect reflection?

Introduction to a Band: The A.C.T Instrumental Megamix

05 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: , ,

Last EpicSilence

Meet Swedish pop-proggers A.C.T, a band who deserves a wider audience. Their name is clearly part of their PR problem; no one except the band knows what A.C.T actually stands for (and they won’t tell). Their lack of recent recorded output is certainly another hindrance–they haven’t been heard from since their excellent 2006 half-concept album Silence. (I say “half-concept album” because A.C.T tends to split the difference between conventional records and concept albums by sequencing the first half of their releases with stand-alone tracks and using second half–what we used to call “side two”–for one long suite of shorter, thematically linked songs.)

Not only has it been a full six years now between releases but it seems impossible to even get news about the band. No recent news, clips, tour dates, interviews–it’s like Biff Tannen went back and erased them from history. Whatever–I have four CDs to prove they not only existed but excelled. Whatever their issues producing album number five; whatever their challenges finding fans on this continent, talent isn’t the problem.

I’ve stitched together, rather tidily if I may say so, a five-minute clip featuring some of their flashier instrumental moments as a little calling card. Though most of their songs do contain vocals, this instrumental mix focuses on the strength of the band’s ensemble playing, not to mention a penchant for an ear-friendly riff. My hope is that it’ll lead a few more people to discover an excellent band–I’d recommend starting with either Silence or Last Epic, which preceeded it. (And if you happen to find out what A.C.T actually means, please let me know.)

Have a listen to what I call the A.C.T Instrumental Megamix:

New Album of Old Music from Prog Legends Nektar

04 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: , ,

A Spoonful of Time  Magic Is A Child (2012 ReMaster) Recycled - Deluxe Edition Sounds Like These [LP, DE, Bacillus BDA 7501]

Tonight I clicked on my favorite progressive rock website, Prog Archives, just to see what was up. Just beneath the site’s banner, which, by the way, is a very cool mural that makes for a great exercise in “name that album art”, is a listing of the top 50 artists of the last 24 hours. Presumably this list is based on the site’s activity. I was mildly stunned to see one of my favorite prog bands, Nektar, listed first.

Nektar, you see, while well-known to old prog heads (and people like me who befriended old prog heads and/or gave ear to their rantings) rate more as a bit of rock esoterica to younger music fans. Like say, Uriah Heep. But without the hits. Anyway, I was excited and a little concerned to see their top-of-the-list status on the site, knowing it likely indicated either a buzz over a new release…or perhaps the death of band leader Roye Albrighton. (Isn’t is so that the old bands usually make headlines only for one or the other of the two?)

Gladly I confirmed it was indeed a new release that was generating Nektar-related searches. A Spoonful of Time is the band’s first-ever covers album, and a very credible one it is. In fact, Prog Archives allows contributors to rate albums on its site, and A Spoonful of Time (which has been out in Europe since September 11) is actually, shockingly, rated higher than even their legendary 1970’s releases. So let’s see what all the fuss is about:

An A-list of prog legends contribute their talents: Geoff Downes (Asia/Yes), Mark Kelly (Marillion), Ian Paice (Deep Purple), Rod Argent (Zombies/Argent), Steve Howe (Asia/Yes), Ginger Baker (Cream), Rick Wakeman (Yes), Bobby Kimball (Toto), David Cross and Mel Collins (King Crimson) and many more.

The ambition of the album matches its list of hired guns. It’s either real ballsy or outright folly to try to cover songs like Rush’s “Spirit of the Radio“, Toto’s “Africa“, Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle“, Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”, Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” and the Doors’ “Riders on the Storm“, not to mention Alan Parsons Project’s iconic and ubiquitous  instrumental “Sirius“. More audacious still, perhaps, is the decision to mix in pop, folk and R&B classics: 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love”, Neil Young’s “Old Man” and The O’Jays’ “For the Love of Money”. The breadth of this playlist invites disaster of Hindenburg proportions. Unless…

Did I mention the stellar cast of musicians? I did. I should also mention that, although Nektar’s heyday of mass popularity is decades behind them, Roye Albrighton still helms the ship. And, since their return from a generation-long hiatus around 2002 they’ve released a very respectable string of new records that manage somehow both to sound like classic Nektar and yet not sound dated. The guy knows what he’s doing, and seems incapable of releasing a dud album. Surely covering such sacred songs is the test of that. Albrighton and company pass with flying colors.

A Spoonful of Time will be released domestically on November 27th. You can listen to samples here:

http://www.amazon.com/A-Spoonful-of-Time/dp/B009RRPDKE/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1352081936&sr=1-1

By the way, a little Nektar trivia: their 1977 album Magic is a Child (pictured top right) featured a young, unknown model named Brooke Shields on its cover.

Check out Prog Archives (and test your knowledge of iconic prog cover art by seeing how many albums you can name from its banner.)

http://www.progarchives.com/

The Twisted, Touching Story of Johnny and June and the ‘Ring of Fire’

03 Nov 2012 4 Comments

by Ed Cyphers in Best of the Blog, General Posts Tags: , ,

You know “Ring of Fire” as a Johnny Cash song. But as Sarah Vowell explains, Johnny didn’t write it. June did. About Johnny. While she was married to someone else. Then her sister and her mother helped her sing it. It’s a song not about the fire of romance, but about hellfire.

And that’s why country music used to be cool.

An Acoustic History of Punk (Before England Stole it and Took Credit)

03 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: ,

 

Anti-folk hero and comic book writer Jeffrey Lewis gives his version of punk music’s history, 1950 to 1975, in one eight-minute spew.

Video of the Week: Weird Al’s ‘Bob’–How Did He Do That?

02 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Best of the Blog, General Posts, On a Lighter Note, Video of the Week Tags: , ,

If ever a music video deserved a ‘making of’ featurette, it’s “Bob“, Weird Al Yankovic’s parody of “Subterranean Homesick Blues“, which sends up Dylan’s incomprehensible lyric with nonsensical yet stupefying sentence-length palindromes.

Forget “Thriller“–would you rather see a behind-the-scenes about Michael Jackson putting on a lot of makeup and spending unprecedented amounts of money, or would you prefer to know who came up with palindromes like “Do nine men interpret? Nine men, I nod” and “oozy rat in a sanitary zoo” and how?

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