* The Grateful Dead * The Byrds * Quicksilver Messenger Service * The Fifth Dimension * Donovan * Pink Floyd * Traffic * Michael Hedges * Tim Buckley * Psychedelia * King Crimson * Santana * Peter Banks * Captain Beefheart * The Cocteau Twins * Spacemen 3 * The Hollies * The Beatles * Todd Rundgren's Utopia * Nick Drake *


THE GRATEFUL DEAD : TOO MANY ROADS (1965-1995) (Arista)

Absolutely essential 5 CD collection of Grateful Dead soundboard recordings or " sound reinforcement mixes " lovingly compiled by archivests from all the best possible sources. The first GD Box set which comes in a cloth-bound box with two cloth-bound folders : one for essays and unpublished pics, the other the actual discs (like an old classical album) and track by track guide. The first three discs are simply astonishing : tracking The Dead from earliest Autumn records recordings through 'American Beauty' all the way to the 'Blues For Allah' era. What strikes is the sheer out and out hard blues rock of early recordings like 'The Same Thing' (1967) and the inclusion of an incredible 'Dark Star/Zabriskie Point' like instrumental called 'Beautiful Jam' (1971). Includes 'American Beauty' out-take 'Mason's Children', two versions of 'Dark Star' and an improvisation of 'Whiskey In The Jar'. Marvellous stuff.


THE BYRDS : 12 DIMENSIONS BOX (Sony)

The last four re-issues of Byrds albums; 'Untitled', 'Byrdmaniax', 'Farther Along' & 'Live At The Fillmore Feb 1969'; in a box which can house all eight other Byrds albums. The new stuff is dynamite. 'Untitled' comes with an entire free disc 'Unissued' of live and studio out-takes from the 1970 period. String-bending guitarist Clarence White shines  throughout. 'Byrdmaniax' includes two versions of the gorgeous McGuinn track 'Pale Blue' and the new live album is totally unreleased. Plenty of out-takes and secret tracks everywhere and all at a budget price. Essential.


QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE : LOST GOLD & SILVER
(Collector's Choice)

Richie Unterberger (an old editor of mine) rightly points out to this being the definitive trawling of everything essential from the 1967-1968 period of Quicksilver not on their first two Capitol albums. Loads of live versions of that material including jaw-dropping versions of 'Gold & Silver' and 'Who Do You Love'. An extra disc culls all the studio out-takes and soundtrack stuff into one neat package. Nice sleeve pics.


THE FIFTH DIMENSION : THE MAGIC GARDEN (Buddha)

I've waited nearly 22 years to hear this album, a psychedelic soul-pop concept which still thrills the ears. With most of the songs supplied by Jimmy Webb and the effects supplied by Bones Howe at Western Recorders, Hollywood, 'Magic Garden' became a cornucopia of wonderful sounds and moods. The trilogy of songs which begins with the dreamy modal segment of 'Dreams/Pax/Nepenthe' and takes off with the spine-tingling 'Carpet Man' (the sitar at the end will have you floored) and ends with a real funk-soul take of The Beatles 'Ticket To Ride' is a classic '60s moment which should be heard by all. Amazing.


DONOVAN : SUMMER DAY REFLECTION SONGS (Castle)

Donovan Leitch's first two U.K. albums 'What's Bin Did And What's Bin Hid' and 'Fairytale' from 1965 put together with rare versions and French EP in superior anthology of early acoustic music. Always a personal favourite of mine, check out 'Goldwatch Blues', 'Sunny Goodge Street' and 'Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness). Beautiful packaging.


PINK FLOYD : MUSIC FROM THE FILM MORE / IN LONDON 1966 * 1967
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE - THE WALL LIVE 1980-1981 (EMI/See For Miles)

Contrasting series of Floyd re-issues. 'More' was a Barbet Schroeder production filmed in Formentera near Ibiza. It's a drug film and the new edition has copious stills from the flic. The music, is as ever, heavenly - catching the Floyd between bucolic reverie and electronic/rock experiment. 'In London' is the same Peter Whitehead/Joe Boyd sessions of 'Interstellar Overdrive' which have been doing the rounds for years. But this one comes with a CD-Rom of Whitehead interviews and footage. My version of 'The Wall' is a lavish box/double disc package of the original Earls Court concerts with sumptuous book and design. Watch out for Gilmour guitar in excelsis on 'Another Brick In The Wall' and 'Comfortably Numb' - oddly track 6 on both discs.


TRAFFIC - MR. FANTASY, TRAFFIC & JOHN BARLEYCORN (Island)

Super re-issue of 1967-1970 jazz/pop/rock/psychedelic British band led by Stevie Winwood. Getting it together in the country never sounded so fabulous. 'Mr Fantasy' comes with bonus of original U.S. mono album while the rest are splattered with lots of bonus tracks. Not surprisingly everybody looks stoned silly in the copious sleeve pics.


MICHAEL HEDGES - THE BEST OF MICHAEL HEDGES (Windham Hill)

I interviewed Michael Hedges once, back in 1986. He was a phenomenal guitarist and did things with the guitar only Jimi Hendrix could appreciate. 'Aerial Boundaries' (1984) is a classic guitar album and should be in everyone's collection. He recorded eight albums in total out of which this anthology is made. Killed in a car accident in 1997 music has been robbed of a monster recording and performing talent. Rest in peace but your music should live on.

TIM BUCKLEY - GOODBYE & HELLO (Elektra)

Budget re-issue of Buckley's second solo for Elektra. Recorded in the L.A. summer of 1967, this one had the famous Coke bottletop-in-the-eye cover. Jerry Yester swamps Buckley's voice with all sorts of orchestral/baroque whimsy. But there are still some incredible moments here - 'No Man Can Find The War', 'Hallucinations', 'Once I Was' and the classic hymnal ballad 'Morning Glory'.


U.S. PSYCH - SAVAGE RESURRECTION, KAK & SKIP SPENCE

Savage Resurrection were a bunch of Bay Area American Indians who formed this Hendrix-influenced band in 1967. There one and only album from 1968 (now on See For Miles) still delights. The band split because one guitarist was only 16 and too young to play the Chicago clubs. Another product of the San Francisco scene were KAK whose 1968 album (now on Big Beat) is here rechristened 'KAK - OLA' for your listening pleasure. Sort of a mix of Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane and the jug-band Dead. Alexander Skip Spence's 'Oar' (Sundazed) has to be heard to be believed. Straight out of Bellevue prison psychiatric hospital the ex-Moby Grape man recorded his one and only solo album in six days. Released in 1969 this is as close to Syd Barrett flakiness as any American rocker ever got!


KING CRIMSON - ISLANDS (Virgin)

The new batch of Crimson 6 X 6 gatefold card re-issues which began a while back with 'In The Court' continues unabated. Both 'Wake Of Poseidon' and 'Lizard' have their moments but 'Islands' is the cream. The sublime 'Formentera Lady', the blistering 'Sailor's Tale', the raunchy 'Ladies Of The Road' and all the orchestral bits are a lost Crimson 1971 archive all to themselves.


SANTANA - THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION (Sony)

A double disc, 39 track whammy of a compo from Sony which takes in all the best albums 'Abraxas', 'Caravanserai', 'Moonflower' etc. Augments the triple box 'Dance Of The Rainbow Serpent' very well. Includes Pete Frame family tree.


PETER BANKS - CAN I PLAY YOU SOMETHING (Blueprint)

Covering the years 1964-1968 this is an excellent showcase of the axeman who starred in Mabel Greer's Toyshop, The Syn and Yes. His Yes years were 1968 to 1970 with Jon Anderson and company and here we get a guitar resonating 'Beyond & Before'.  Great sleevnotes and a fabulous psychedelic guitar workout celebrating 'The 14 Hour Technicolour Dream'.


THE COCTEAU TWINS - BBC SESSIONS (Bella Union)

Taken from John Peel, Kid Jensen and other sessions the first part of this two-discer covers the 1982-1983 period and includes a version of 'Strange Fruit'. Disc 2 covers the famous 1984 period and then jumps to 1996 when the asundering trio recorded a clutch of EP tracks like 'Half-Gifts' which have become legendary.


CAPTAIN BEEFHEART - THE DUST BLOWS FORWARD (Rhino)

Massive 2CD anthology of the good Don Van Vliet with 60 page book of notes and pics. Covers all the weird and wacky bases from 1965 to 1982. Covers singles and the albums 'Safe As Milk', 'Mirror Man', 'Strictly Personal', 'Trout Mask Replica', 'Lick My Decals Off, Baby', 'The Spotlight Kid', 'Clear Spot', 'Unconditionally Guaranteed', 'Bluejeans & Moonbeams', 'Bongo Fury', 'Shiny Beast', 'Doc At The Radar Station' & 'Ice Cream For Crow'. Includes out-takes and rarities. Best quote - " a little paranoia is a good propeller."


SPACEMEN 3 - TAKING DRUGS / FORGED PRESCRIPTIONS (3rd Stone)

Sonic Boom continues to save the Spacemen 3 archives by re-releasing all them in superior versions. 'Taking Drugs' is much expanded. Recorded in Northampton, both Sonic & Jason think this was the Spacemen at their best. 'Forged Prescriptions' is an expansion of 1987's 'The Perfect Prescription' and includes the entire 'Transparent Radiation EP'.


THE HOLLIES - BUTTERFLY (EMI)

Coming in a digipak this re-issue includes both Mono & Stereo versions of the same album. Possibly Graham Nash's finest hour pre-Crosby,Stills, Young; 'Butterfly' is The Hollies great lost psychedelic masterpiece. This is stuffed with Pepper-era whimsy and sitars. 'Try It' sounds like an ode to LSD while the title track is pure gossamer baroque songwriting of a unique quality.


THE BEATLES - YELLOW SUBMARINE (EMI)

One of the few Beatles compilations which sums up their psychedelic leanings circa 1968. Includes obscure Harrisongs 'Only A Northern Song' and 'It's All Too Much'.


TODD RUNDGREN'S UTOPIA - CITY IN MY HEAD / RA /OOPS WRONG PLANET / ADVENTURES IN UTOPIA / DEFACE THE MUSIC (Castle)

A compilation and a clutch of album's which anthologise Tood Rundgren's techno-rock futuristic vision 'Utopia'. For years lambasted as being ultra-prog rock these re-issues have their moments. The compo 'City In My Head', with its legs akimbo Todd on top of sphinx head and keyboard whiz Roger Powell playing the first ever keyboard axe, is a great dip through the entire catalogue and includes the fantastic ear-splitting 'Caravan' from 1980. 'RA' was a 1977 concept-album around Egyptology. The level of musicianship is excellent throughout and Todd's guitar solos burn. 'Oops' (1977) and 'Adventures' (1980) are concise '80s-pointing rock statements while 'Deface The Music' (1980) is Beatles pastiche taken to the limit. Interesting.


NICK DRAKE - FIVE LEAVES / BRYTER LAYTER / PINK MOON (Island)

At last the long overdue remastering of the Nick Drake catalogue, surely one of the most underrated legacies in music history. Drake's spare acoustic style, velvet-glove voice and hearkening joy and despair have become the things of legend. 'Five Leaves' (1969) was almost jazz but 'Bryter Layter' (1970) was the piece-de-resistance with its fuller arrangements. 'Pink Moon' (1971) was pure spare depression but has recently entered high on the U.S. charts. Drake - privileged, dope addled and confused died an unnecessary death in his mother's house in 1974.



ALSO OUT

Steely Dan - The Royal Scam, Aja (MCA / Universal)
Gordon Giltrap - Visionary, Perilous Journey, Fear Of The
                 Dark, The Peacock Party, Elegy (Voiceprint)
Junior Murvin - Police & Thieves (Island / Universal)
Burning Spear - Harder Than The Best (Island / Universal)
Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene (Epic)
Anthony More - World Service (Blueprint)
Family - Music In A Doll's House / Family Entertainment (SFM)
Hawkwind - Live At Glastonbury 1990

No one can fault producer Gary Katz's and Becker/Fagen's wonderful jazz-pop on the 1976-1977 pair of albums above. 'Don't Take Me Alive' is pure guitar heaven from 'Scam' and 'Deacon Blues' from 'Aja' bops along on its own energy. Listen to 'Peg' from the last album and hear the origin of De La Soul's famous psych-hop anthem 'Eye Know'. Gordon Giltrap was a multi-talented guitarist in the Mike Oldfield mould whose twin-guitar antics influenced Jimmy Page. Influenced by Bert Jansch he began performing in the 1960s. At times over-elaborate these clutch of re-issues, covering a decade from 1976, catch him at his best. Both Junior Murvin and Burning Spear are legendary figures of Jamaican Reggae. Here them at there best on these two albums, the Burning Spear edging out the other for sheer Rasta vibes. Jean-Michel Jarre's 'Oxygene' has become a Trance classic. Hear the wunderkind in 1976 on a variety of analogue synths and try to imagine how he got a sound so smooth. Anthony More's 1981 album, 'World Service', is a sort of wordy punk collection from the man who formed Slapp Happy and wrote lyrics for Pink Floyd .See For Miles's lavish book re-issue of Family's first two albums comes replete with a bonus of their first single 1967 single 'Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens / Gypsy Woman'. There are some nice Ambient bits on Hawkwind's 'Live At Glastonbury 1990' like 'The Door' and 'Images', full of crowd noise and atmosphere.

* U 2 plus * NEIL YOUNG * AIR * JEAN-MICHEL JARRE * BRIAN ENO * THE THE * DWIGHT TWILLEY * HOLGER CZUKAY * PRIMAL SCREAM * KING CRIMSON * CRUEL INTENTIONS * BERNARD BUTLER * MORPHINE * LONGSTONE * SUSSAN DEYHIM *


U 2 plus : THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL (Island)

A taster for the forthcoming album by U 2 produced by the dependable Eno/Lanois team, this soundtrack is a grower. The film was actually developed by Wim Wenders from a long-running screenplay by Bono. It's all about love, a hotel and redemption - the usual American themes. Eno, Lanois, Jon Hassell and Bill Frisell play on the album with U 2 providing two new tracks. There are too many 'Satellites Of Love' but the Ambient version of 'The First Time' (it a derivation of something from The Velvet Underground's bare 3rd album) and the versatility of Bono's larynx make this a captivating set.


NEIL YOUNG : SILVER & GOLD (Reprise)

It's no secret that when Neil Young made 'Harvest' during the early 1970s, he was suffering from both epilepsy and diabetes and recorded part of the album in a hospital bed in a back brace. We've had 'Harvest Moon' in 1992 and 'Unplugged' in 1993 and now this third 'acoustic' country-tinged album. After a few ditties where Young seems to fall asleep, things get going on 'Buffalo Springfield Again' (a reference to a classic 1967 album on which Young played). 'The Great Divide' and 'Distant Camera' could have come from 'Harvest' and 'After The Goldrush ' respectively and the whole is great late-night listening. Big chunky acoustics, Ben Keith's steel guitar and of course Linda Ronstadt.


AIR - THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (Virgin)

Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel hail from Versailles, look cute and are kings of the French Down Tempo dance scene. This is a movie soundtrack to an American suicide flic by Sofia Coppola. Here they take the Pink Floyd route and come over all atmospheric. Check out the analogue synths and Floydian bits to 'Suicide Underground'.


JEAN-MICHEL JARRE : METAMORPHOSES (Epic)

I've been listening to this album for months. Forget what the silly mags say, this is gorgeous stuff. Really exciting modern electronica a million miles away from 'Oxygene'. It begins with Laurie Anderson. Then we get some 'Twin Peaks' samples and Natacha Atlas swings us away to some weltering Eastern desert. Trance, Techno, Electronica and Sharon Corr's fiddle are all on offer. At 50 Jean-Michel has probably made the best album of his career. Fantastic.


BRIAN ENO : LIGHTNESS / I DORMIENTI / KITE SLEEPERS / THE QUIET CLUB  (Opal)

All of these pieces are based on the John Cage notion of " chance operations ". All involve overlapping random-play CD players which play segments of sound which interlock at random. The results, unlike original experimental music, are all consonant and mellifluous. It all just floats. Excellent Ambience from the high-priest of the genre. 'Lightness' = 'Music For The Marble Palace' (State Russian Museum,St. Petersburg, Nov 1997). 'I Dormienti' = 'The Sleepers (Mimmo Paladino terracotta exhibition, The Roundhouse, London, Sept 1999). 'Kite Stories' = installation music (Kiasma Museum, Helsinki, Dec 1999). 'Quiet Club' = 'Music For Civic Recovery Centre' (Hayward Gallery, London, May-June 2000).


THE THE : NAKED SELF ( Nothing )

There are a sheaf of unreleased albums in Matt Johnson's canon. You'd think after the brilliance of 'Infected' back in 1986, Johnson would be the golden boy at Epic/Sony. But no dice. A relocation to New Yorkand a 'punky' album 'Gun Sluts' got him the bullet from the label. A return to 'Burning Blue Soul' bareness on 'Naked Self' sees Johnson as good as ever. Buy.

DWIGHT TWILLEY - TULSA (Castle)

In 1979 I heard 'Sincerely' by Dwight Twilley. A real power-pop smooth of a tune, Twilley was hailed as a pop/rock genius and despite push from Tom Petty fell into obscurity. Always recording, his new album 'Tulsa' returns him to critical favour. This is great balls and brains rock with good hooks, lyrics and a swagger of a punch in the rhythm section. There's ballads, Ambience and heart galore in this superior American rock record.


HOLGER CZUKAY - GOOD MORNING STORY (Tone Casualties)

Almost a Can revival, the title track is like listening to an old Can record. Full of fun samples and the Koln eccentric's weird vocals this is ethno-forgery gone bonkers. But it's a great bonkers as the drums, guitars and samples collide. Czukay, Schmidt, Wobble, Karoli and Liebezeit play their asses off. The 'Mirage' finale (22_ minutes) recalls Czukay's earliest Ambient excursions.


PRIMAL SCREAM - EXTERMINATOR (Creation)

Going all noisy punk does nothing for Primal Scream. This album does even less for me than their early Velvets inspired leather-rock stuff. The two best tracks are 'Swastika Eyes' (Chemical Brothers mix) and the only ballad in sight, the sublimly psychedelic 'Keep Your Dreams'. The rest is just feedback and bluster. Strangely the record works much better live.


KING CRIMSON - THE CONSTRUKTION OF LIGHT (Virgin)

At one stage Robert Fripp and King Crimson were so reviled in the U.K. that I led a one-man journo crusade to bring them back to favour. . This new album features Adrian Belew, Trey Gunn, Pat Mastelotto and reconciles 1980s Crimsons with the Progressive Rock incarnations. The playing is wonderful, Fripp's endless circular notes spraying out in all directions. There's a heavy 'Larks' Tongues In Aspic Pt 4' and the finale 'Heaven & Earth' is Frippertronics transported into the 21st Century.


CRUEL INTENTIONS - OST (Virgin America)

Superb soundtrack to a superb film. Sarah Michelle Geller plays the coke tooting Glenn Close bitch and Ryan Phillippe is the John Malkovich brother who wants to bed her. Absolutely flawless film and this is a flawless soundtrack. Though the big names, Fatboy Slim / Blur / The Verve are all here it's stuff like the poignant Counting Crows and the effusive Elizabeth Fraser (surely the best vocalist ever to come out of the U.K.) that makes this a real treat.



BERNARD BUTLER - FRIENDS & LOVERS (Creation)

It's a pity that Ian Brown, Mani and Reni didn't team up with Barny here and keep the Stone Roses going. Butler is a much sweeter guitarist than John Squire and can rock and roll with the best of them. Recorded in New York this album, veers away from the Neil Young vibes of his first album and is more folky in its resonances. Sad and deep and uplifting by turns.


MORPHINE - THE NIGHT (Rykodisc)

I reviewed this in UNCUT. A sad farewell album for Mark Sandman's Boston crew whose leader died on-stage while presenting this strange mix of noirish vocal/instrumentals featuring bass, drums and baritone sax with a sprinkling of oud, organ, piano and strings. Latenight music for those who like a drunken bop.


LONGSTONE - AUTO:GENOUS  (Space Age)

Following in the AIR slipstream, Longstone are a duo of Mike Ward and Mike Cross who make great electronic rock. This is stuff that covers all the boundaries, from the early 1940s experiments of the Barron family who tracked 'Forbidden Planet' to the softer furrows of Brian Eno. There's lots of squelcy electronica and wacky sounds plus a bonus live CD in the fold-out card sleeve. Will Sergeant  from Echo & The Bunnymen also features.


SUSSAN DEYHIM - MADMAN OF GOD (Crammed)

Subtitled 'Divine Love Songs Of The Persian Sufi Masters', this new album of Sussan Deyhim music encapsulates her Persian roots with 8 songs from Sufi writers composed between the 11th and 19th Centuries. Deyhim has worked with Peter Gabriel, Bill Laswell, Jah Wobble, Richard Horowitz and more. Couched in acoustic ethnic/jazz instrumentation this is a mesmerising voyage into the world of completely new music. Nice sleeve too.


ALSO OUT

Jansen, Barbieri, Karn - Medium Sampler (Medium)
Kristin Hersh - Sky Motel / A Cleaner Light (4AD)
Brendan Perry - Eye Of The Hunter (4AD)
Kent - Hagnesta Hill (RCA)
Santana - Supernatural (Arista)
Third World Cup - OST (Palm)
Steel Pulse - Live 1999 (Island)
EAR - Continuum (Space Age)
Scott 4 - Works Project LP (Folk Archive)


Jansen/Barbieri/Karn's Medium sampler is a nice way into their new work since the heydays of Japan. Elastic percussion and glistening Ambiences abound. Includes tracks from new albums 'ism' and 'Pulse'. It's amazing how such a little girl can project so much ferocity but Kristin Hersh does it all the time. 'Sky Motel' is full of ferocious rockers. 'A Cleaner Light' takes the wah wah-laden rocker from the latter and places it with three acoustic Muses numbers. Brendan Perry has long since split from Dead Can dance and works his magic in the Irish countryside. 'Eye Of The Hunter' sounds very much like a Tim Buckley record. Heck even the song 'I Must Have Been Blind' is credited to Buckley. Kent are a Swedish rock band who started out as The Sea Angels. They like Disco Rock and love an old wall-of-sound mix. Santana's new album features Lauryn Hill, Eagle Eye Cherry, Wyclef Jean, Everlast and Eric Clapton in a Rap/Latin celebration of the guitarist's art.'Third World Cup', a black gangster film, is the highest grossing film in Jamaica's history. Includes Marley brothers, Sly & Robbie and a great Dub mix of 'Police & Thieves'. Steel Pulse recorded this live album in Puerto Rico, France & Holland. Best track is 'Sound System'. Snic Boom's EAR continues to confound with this new album of modular synth, vocoder and voice synthesized noises. 'Scott 4' sound American but are actually English. The 'Works Project LP' is a soft kind of electronic folk-rock which haunts the mind.

* JOHN ADAMS * RAVI SHANKAR/YEHUDI MENUHIN * MAHLER * KEITH JARRETT * ARVO PART * SATIE * RAVEL * PHILIP GLASS * EROICA TRIO *


JOHN ADAMS - EARBOX  (Nonesuch)

One of the greatest Box sets ever of a modern Minimalist, Earbox catches Adams's career all the way from 1985's 'Harmonielehre' to 1998's 'I Was Looking At The Ceiling & Then I Saw The Sky'. Over ten discs and through 180 pages of text we really get to know why Adams is America's favourite Minimalist. List of contents : 'The Cjhairman Dances', 'Chamber Symphony', 'Christian Zeal & Activity', 'Common Tones In Simple Time', 'El Dorado', 'Eros Piano', 'Fearful Symmetries', 'Five Songs', 'Gnarly Buttons', 'Grand Pianola Music', 'Harmonielehre', 'Harmonium', 'Hoodoo Zephyr', 'John's Book Of Alleged Dances', 'Lollapalooza', 'Shaker Loops', 'Short Ride In A Fast Machine', 'Slonimsky's Earbox', 'Tromba Lontana', 'Violin COncerto', 'The Wound-Dresser', 'The Death Of Klinghoffer', 'I Was Looking At The Ceiling And Then I Saw The Sky', 'Nixon In China'. Includes three unreleased pieces.


RAVI SHANKAR / YEHUDI MENUHIN - WEST MEETS EAST (Angel)

EMI continue the rehabilitation of Ravi Shankar's catalogue with this dynamite release. Shankar's influence on both John Coltrane and George Harrison has been noted but his impact on Classical music exploded with these recordings. Having performed together at the United Nations the great gypsy violinist and great sitarist recorded ' West Meets East' in 1966 which won a Grammy. A second volume was recorded in 1967 a third in 1976. This new Disc is a compilation of all three and is simply a joy and too stunning for words alone..


GUSTAV MAHLER - SYMPHONY No 10 (EMI)

When Mahler died in 1911 he left an unfinished 10th Symphony. Two movements 'Adagio' and 'Purgatorio' were almost complete. There were melodic sketches for the other three movements. In 1923 Alma Mahler commissioned Ernst Krenek to prepare a performing version of the 'Adagio' and 'Purgatorio'. Even Alban Berg wrote a detailed commentary. Karl Rickenbacker's version of the 'Adagio' from 1989 is fantastic. Here Simon Rattle in his debut appearance with the Berlin Phil takes on Deryck Cooke's performing version from 1960 of the entire Symphony. It is only partially successful. The 'Adagio' lacks potency and the rest is like bits and bobs. Even the order sounds wrong. Yet it gives us an insight into one of the world's great lost symphonies.


KEITH JARRETT - THE MELODY OF THE NIGHT , WITH YOU (ECM)

Suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, Keith Jarrett has retired for a while. This beautiful album of standards is played on the piano with uncharacteristic restraint. Recalling the bejewelled beauty of parts of 'Koln Concert' here Jarrett takes us on a calm whistle-stop tour through the American songbook - Gershwin, Hammerstein, Jerome Kern, Oscar Levant and traditional Irish/American songs are all covered with love and respect.


ARVO PART - FUR ALINA (ECM)

Estonian composer's earliest Ambient compositions which introduced his ' tintinnabuli style ' in 1976 and 1978. This bell-like sonority is brought out in constant repetition and delicate single-note nuances. Scored for violin, piano and cello here we get three versions of 'Spiegel Im Spiegel' (Mirror within a Mirror) and two of 'Fur Alina'. Even Eno seems loud in comparison to this.


JOHN & STEVE HACKETT - SKETCHES OF SATIE (Camino)

After hearing many mediocre versions of Satie over the years I approached this recording with much dread. Could it stand up to the great de Leuuw recordings of the 1960s or was it another Satie-Lite effort that would be quickly consigned to the bargain bins. Not so. I was shocked. John Hackett's flute and Steve (Genesis) Hackett's guitar bring to Satie a new depth lost in years of plonking piano versions. The 'Gymnopedies' and 'Gnossiennes' are particularly engaging.

 RAVEL - ORCHESTRAL WORKS (EMI) / YUTAKA SADO (Erato)

What brings me back again and again to the early 20th Century music of Ravel is its perfection. There was never a sloppy note in a Ravel piece. Everything is exquisite, taut and damn near perfrect. Ravel's music seems to rid itself of the late 19th Century fuzziness of Impressionism and build into the new music the muscularity of the 20th Century. Though his 'Bolero' (1928) is the most frequently performed piece of classical music in the world, hearing it again in these two editions reminds one of the explosive nature of the piece - the exploration of rhythm and repetition and the expense of traditional counterpoint, key changes and thematic development. Interestingly it was written the year Stockhausen was born. The EMI, Jean Martinon / Paris Orchestra, version from 1975 is subtle and creamily recorded whilst the new Lamoureux Orchestra under Sado brings out new timbres and sonorities.


PHILIP GLASS - THE CIVIL WARS / DRACULA (Nonesuch)

The Civil Wars was a giant opera project by Robert Wilson, written for the 1984 L.A. Olympics. It was never performed there. Bits were done in various cities. David Byrne helped out in some parts but the most famous section is Act V with Philip Glass, The Rome section presented here. Part recorded in Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady studios with Laurie Anderson turning in a great performance on Track 4, this is an important addition to the Glass catalogue. Last year I saw Glass performing with The Kronos Quartet at the Royal Festival Hall in a curious context : they were projected from behind the screen and through it as Tod browning's 1931 Bela Lugosi 'Dracula' was projected. It was an eerie experience. I have to confess I found the film to be disappointing but the score is riveting, at times reminiscent of Glass's earlier 'Glassworks' triumphs. Does this man have any bottom to his creative well?


EROICA TRIO - BAROQUE (EMI)

Having met whilst children Erika, Adela and Sara committed themselves to Trio music in 1986 at the famous Juilliard school of music. Here they take on the Baroque period of Classical music - Vivldi, Bach, Albinoni; with a high degree of panache and flair. These girls sing through their instruments, their commitment to wringing out truly inventive performances 110%. And don't they look cool on the album cover too.



Maximum Minimalists - Adams, Glass, Reich & Riley (Nonesuch) ALSO OUT

Who's Afraid Of 20th Century Music - Ingo Metzmacher (EMI)
Bill Frisell - Ghost Town (Nonesuch)
Nau Ensemble - The Eternal (Versions of Joy Division) (Atrium)
Lizst,Debussy,Poulenc, Satie - Kun Woo Paik (Virgin)
Debussy Piano Works - Yoni Egorov (EMI)
Astor Piazzolla - Tango, Zero Hour (Nonesuch)
Busoni - Sonatas (2CDS), Michelle Campanella (Warners)
Terje Rypdal - Double Concert/5th Symphony (ECM)
Nils Molvaer - Solid Ether (ECM)
Kronos Quartet - Kronos Caravan (Nonesuch)
Vivaldi/Piazzolla - Eight Seasons (Nonesuch)
Roger Eno - The Long Walk (La Cooka Ratcha)
The Ocean Has No East Nor West - Takemitsu,Messiaen etc (Koch)

* WILLIAM ORBIT * LTJ BUKEM * GROOVE ARMADA * WAVESHAPE * ENIGMA * DA LATA * DJ SONIQUE * PAUL VAN DYK * WARP * BILL LASWELL * FAX *


WILLIAM ORBIT - PIECES IN MODERN STYLE (WEA)

Delayed from 1995, the original pieces numbered seven with two devoted to Arvo Part's 'Cantus' and 'Fratres'. The Estonian's publishers disagreed with Orbit's electronica and forced the album to be shelved. The new edition is a healthier eleven tracks with Gorecki, Satie, Barber and Ravel intact plus the addition of Cage, Vivaldi, Beethovan and Handel. At first this seems to be too noodlesome to raise a twitch but late nights and time have convinced me of its brilliance. Barber's 'Adagio' has wearied from over-movie use but here Orbit gives it a fresh electronic timbre that will delight. The whole is like sleepwalking in a new landscape, velvety, fluffy and a direct descendant of The Orb's early 1990s Ambient House. Don't be put off by the Ferry Corsten's Trance mixes in the charts, this is pure Ambience at its best. Essential.


LTJ BUKEM - JOURNEY INWARDS (Good Looking )

Amazingly this is Bukem's first album. 'Logical Progression' back in 1996 was a compo! From the off it's as if Bukem and Van Morrison met up in some time-warp and fashioned a jazz tinged Ambient Drum & Bass thing from the early 1970s. He covers all the bases here - soul, funk, House, banging Jungle and the rest. Just listening to those stabbin' bass chords on 'Feel What You Feel' and understand why Bukem is the Emperor of cool Drum & Bass. Magnificent.


GROOVE ARMADA - BACK TO MINE / VERTIGO (DMC, Zomba)

Cato and Findlay are Lounge Core's most eligible sons. Their 'Back To Mine' compilation is sonic nirvana for those seeking respite from Hard House and even Harder Techno. Beginning with an acoustic guitar we get A Tribe Called Quest, Barry White, Al Green, Mica Paris, Tears For Fears and the best of all BBG's 'Snappiness' to bring us back to the dawn of Balearic. 'Vertigo' from last year is still a great listen - jazzy, bossa nova and all things international.Though played to death, 'At The River' still bends you backwards with that deep deep deep bass sound.


WAVESHAPE - VESTIGE, THE NEXT STEPS (Cue)

Sometimes a disc comes out of nowhere and hits you square between the eyes. Hailing from Schliden in Germany, Michael Neihs and Volker Jungerich make Wavular music. Just beautiful sheets of analogue synthesizers with watery bits, bongos and the inevitable Apollo 11 moon landing voice samples.


ENIGMA - THE SCREEN BEHIND THE MIRROR (Virgin)

Michael Cretu and his wife Sandra have sold 22 million albums from their studio base in Ibiza. They have defined Ambient House for the entire 1990s and now they release another great album chock full of Carl Orff 'Carmina Burana' samples. It just rides along on its own dynamics - beats, girlie voice samples, guitars and that certain Floydian sense of space which defined their initial smash '1990 AD'.


DA LATA - FROM THE TIN (Palm)

I've seen Patrick Forge lots down at the Notting Hill Arts club spinning his fave Latin grooves. Da Lata is his Brazilian project with Chris Franck from Smoke City, Liliana Chachian on vocals and Portugese percussionist Oli Savill. 'Pra Manha' from 1998 is their calling card, a track that was never off Nick Luscombe's decks down at Bar Solo last year during the legendary ALTAIR5 DJ nights. The title comes from a time when the best weed used to wash up on Brazilian shores in tins.


DJ SONIQUE - HEAR MY CRY (Serious / Universal)

One time singer S'Express, DJ Sonique is fast becoming the world's most successful DJ. A black athlete from North London who sings and dances as she DJs, the single 'It Feels So Good' was such a smash in America that Universal flew over to London and offered her millions to record a string of albums Stateside. Winning the lottery or just plain hard work. She's famous in Ibiza and Florida and her album is pure 21st Century dance pop. Good on her.


PAUL VAN DYK - VORSPRUNG DYK TECHNIK (Deviant)

With all the Trance hype last year this triple CD of remixes 1992-1998 by East Berlin's best DJ is just brilliant. My fave track is his E-Werk mix of 'For An Angel' - the ultimate example of his happy/sad uplifting trance formula. Everybody is on this from The Age Of Love to New Order, Sven Vath, Secret Knowledge, Humate, Inspiral Carpets and Curve. The third disc of early Visions Of Shiva/ Cosmic Baby stuff shows you how far ahead of the competition Dyk was.


WARP - INFLUENCES / CLASSICS & REMIXES (Warp)

Three double CDs of Warp stuff. The first set concentrates on early American House/Acid House and the U.K. response in the form of Gerald et al. Classics tracks releases by Sweet Exorcist, Nightmares On Wax and LFO. Remixes has Aphex Twin et al remixed by Autechre, Labradford, Jim O'Rourke and Spiritualised.


BILL LASWELL - NAGUAL SITE / IMAGINARY CUBA / INTONARUMORI (Wicklow/Palm)

'Nagual Site' is a huge sheet of sound, stretching from Indian raga to Ambient Drum & Bass with jazz/rock inflections. 'Imaginary Cuba' found Laswell in Cuba making street/bar/home recordings of natural Cuban music which were later re-contextualised in the studio. His bass sounds are wicked. I saw him with Talvin Singh last year and he tore the South Bank to pieces with his shuderring bass sound. 'Intonarumori' is Laswell's 9th Material album, a mutant Hip-Hop extravaganza dedicated to Futurist founder Luigi Russolo. All discs were mixed at Laswell's new Orange Music Studios in West Orange, New Jersey.


FAX +

Jochem Paap - Vrs Mbnt Pcs 9598II
New Composers w. Eno - Smart
Erik Satin - Light Music (Rather Interesting)
Outland 4 - Namlook/Laswell
Silence 4 - Pete Namlook
New Composers w. Pete Namlook - Planetarium 2
Ambiant Otaku - Tetsu Inoue

A clutch of interesting Fax releases from the never-ending Frankfurt roster of Peter Namlook. Jochem Paap is famous for his Speedy J releases, the kind of Plus 8 accelerated Techno associated with Ritchie Hawtin. Here we get the second of his 'Various Ambient Pieces' series. The track 'Dx-Synth' is really spatial. The New Composers album with Eno reflects our bod's sojourn in St. Petersburg during the late 1980s. It inhabits a space between a kind of classical/jazz Ambience and the environmental sound paintings of Eno's early 1980s phase in Canada. Erik Satin, on the offshoot label Rather Interesting, is plain strange - people like Lisa Carbon and Atom Heart fleshing out the eccentric keyboard experiments of the psuedonymous Erik Satin (cue Satie). 'Outland 4' sounds as if Laswell and Namlook went off to Turkistan. One track 'East Meets West' quotes the Ravi Shankar concept reviewed elsewhere - a plopping bass laid over echoing flute ethnicity. 'Silence 4' goes back to the aerated Techno Ambience of Namlook's Fax heyday in the mid 1990s, all elongated synth chords and discreet sounds. 'Planetarium 2' goes back to Russian space programme dialogue to make an Ambient Techno take on the familiar Orb rocket-fixated ideal. 'Ambiant Otaku' is a straight reissue of Inoue's deeply chilled New York/Tokyo 1994 Fax album.


ALSO OUT


Transient Waves - Sonic Narcotic (Fat Cat)
Plone - For Beginner Piano (Warp)
Off Centre - The Album (Palm)
Jolly Mukherjee - Fusebox (Palm)
Les Negresses Vertes - Trabendo (Virgin)
Sidestepper - More Grip (Palm)

'Sonic Narcotic' is just that, an American trio making tranc-inducing hypnotic rock. Plone are three guys from Birmingham who make kindergarten analogue synth melodies a la Kraftwerk. 'Off Centre' is the outcrop of an East London club. Again Patrick Forge is involved and jazzy/Asian/Afro soul fusion is the name of the game. Jolly Mukherjee is a famous Bollywood film composer who knows how to work the Madras String Orchestra. Remixed by State of Bengal and Kingsuk Biswas plus this is deep Indo/U.K. DJ fusion. French Romany culture, Will Orbit and 12 years of experience have been poured into the funky new Negresses Vertes album produced by Howie B. Sidestepper is Richard Blair, a musician/producer who spent three  years living in Bogota in order to absorb Colombian music for 'More Grip'.