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ALTAIR FIVE
THE ALTERNATIVE GUIDE TO INTERESTING MUSIC BY MARK PRENDERGAST.

This is an archive edition.
The most recent issue is here.

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CONTENTS

RECEPTION

Worry not, dear readers as I've changed the format a little this time around. Archive releases come first followed by Classical and then Modern. Also because of zero hour approaching on finishing my book on Electronic Music, entries have to be brief. Other than that there's a wealth of great music out there.

Mark Prendergast, Dec 1998, London.

ARCHIVE

FAMILY - MUSIC IN A DOLL'S HOUSE / FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT
One could say that Leicester group Family invented 'prog rock' years before it became a de facto medium in British popular music. Their music never followed a fixed pattern and was full of key changes, chord changes and stylistic somersaults. 'Music In A Doll's House' (1968) was recorded in 1968 with Jimi Hendrix engineers and it shows. A quintessentially English psychedelic album it's full of horns, strings, phasing, sitars and Roger Chapman's strange scream of a voice. It imbues disaffection with cold English weather like no other and Charlie Whitney's double-necked guitar breaks are priceless. Variation segments precede full thematically developed songs. Everything's segued and metronomes, pianos and organs abound. Fabulously dreamlike. 'Family Entertainment' (1969) continued where 'Doll's House' left off. Medieval drumming dominated, strange Madrigal metres, strings and Ric Grech's violin sounding like Arabia on 'Summer '67 (may have influenced Led Zeppelin's 'Kashmir') and a crisper production. As the album progressed (with the exception of Grech's sitar-drenched 'Face In The Cloud') the songs get less interesting. Originally disced in 1987 these are both digital re-masters from See For Miles (www.seeformiles.co.uk)

Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow
Back in the late '80s Edsel did a remarkable job of re-producing The Pretty Things essential psychedelic rock opera on vinyl. CD versions were pretty good also but this Snapper Music re-master is weird. Firstly it's in Mono, supposedly the original Mono but comparisons with the Edsel LP show the stereophonic vinyl to be better! Guitars are brighter and mixes clearer than on this muddy disc. Secondly bonus tracks feature the psych classic of 'Defecting Gray', alas not the great original but a rotten 10" acetate demo found in someone's loft! Thirdly the addition of original late '60s singles like 'Talking About The Good Times' just highlights the paucity in the 'S.F. Sorrow ' mix.

Dantalion's Chariot - Chariot Rising
Zoot Money's/Andy Summer's Dantalion's Chariot were one of the great psychedelic bands. This Wooden Hill disc features the classic 'Madman Running Through The Fields' plus other material for a shelved 1967 CBS album. Full of sitar-led instrumentals and sun dappled acoustic guitar tunes.

Caravan - Songs For Oblivion Fishermen BBC sessions 1970-1974
Fantastically spirited stuff led by David Sinclair's Hammond organ. Caravan always sounded like confetti in sound. Sweetness and light with gripping solos. Material from 'Do It All Over', 'Land Of Grey & Pink', 'Girls Who Grow Plump' etc. Volume 1 of 2 on Hux. Only drawback no Jimmy Hastings on flute.

10 cc - Remasters
Only a fool could have any negative vibes for 'I'm Not In Love', one of the greatest synthesized love ballads put to tape. The Manchester quartet of Gouldman/Stewart, Godley/Creme were drummers, guitarists, producers, pianists, writers and singers all rolled into one band. They took the history of pop and made pastiches out of it. Their strength was the single, 'I'm Not In Love' becoming the '70s favourite slow-set number at discos because it was perfect, a trans-Atlantic 1975 chart-topper. Yet 'The Original Soundtrack' (the album from which it was taken) was a real mish-mash of styles, but perfectly realised. 'How Dare You' (1976) is much better with a great Hipgnosis cover and some of the greatest slices of studio genius in pop - 'Lazy Ways', 'I Wanna Rule The World', 'I'm Mandy Fly Me' and 'Art For Art's Sake'. Digitally re-mastered in 1997, Mercury have also released a 'Very Best Of..'

Bill Nelson - What Now, What Next?/ Atom Shop
Subtitled The Cocteau Years Compendium, 'What Now, What Next?, is a lavish fold-out two CD set with illustrated booklet, which covers an intriguing decade in the life of Yorkshire's finest, Bill Nelson (www.billnelson.com). From the highly original 'Cabinet Of Dr Caligari' (1981) to the Ambient instrumental brilliance of 'Chance Encounters In The Garden Of Lights' (1988) the Cocteau label served as a vehicle for Nelson's voyages into the wonderful and arcane. Nelson even used the label to catalogue the painful breakup of his second marriage on a 4CD boxed set in 1989! The two discs here choose to pick up singles, 12" releases, U.S. only releases, the fabulous debut 'Do You Dream In Colour' (produced by John Leckie of Stone Roses fame on the Rolling Stones mobile), Orchestra Arcana stuff and material from such Ambient confections as 'The Summer Of God's Piano', 'Simplex', 'Map of Dreams' and 'Sounding The Ritual Echo'. 'Atom Shop', a new album, is Nelson's tribute to childhood remembered Americana as jazz and Beat samples float around an electro/rock mix. It even has the voice of William Burroughs, in a jungle context!

Nuggets - Original Artyfacts From The Original Psychedelic Era 1965-1968
The story of Nuggets is part of rock history. Future Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye assembles garage-band compo for Elektra in 1972. For many it will be the first time they hear The Nazz, The 13th Floor Elevators, The Electric Prunes, The Chocolate Watch Band, The Leaves and The Seeds. This box! comes with three extra discs and is lavishly packaged by Rhino (www.rhino.com). There's a 100 page colour book and along with Love, Captain Beefheart, Chocolate Watch Band are lost names like Harbinger Complex, The Zakary Thaks, The Human Beinz and The Lollipop Shoppe. Contains an astonishing 118 tracks!! Much of it sounds like Byrds demos or High School prom music.

Strange Things - Circus Days Six/Garagelands
Phil Smee used to produce a magazine called Strange Things Are Happening in the late 1980s. It had a psychedelic bent and was plush for its price. Now he's unearthing psychedelic 'gems'. 'Circus Days' is baroque English whimsy and 'Garagelands' American garage punk in the style of The Nazz.

Durutti Column - Another Setting/Without Mercy/Domo Arigato/Obey The Time
Factory Once re-issues of classic Durutti material. At last we get the 1982 beauty of 'Another Setting' with cor anglais and trumpet assisting Vini's guitar. It comes with five tracks from 'Amigos Em Portugal' (1983) and two other tunes subtitled 'Dedications For Jacqueline'. Some of this formed the theme for the orchestral suite 'Without Mercy' (1984). Added to the disc are the 4 tracks of the 'Say What You Mean' EP from the same year and other tracks. 'Domo Arigato' is a live album recorded in Tokyo in 1985 and the first rock CD ever released. Includes 'Our Lady Of Angels EP' partly recorded in L.A. which featured a version of White Rabbit. 'Obey The Time' was Vini in 1990 drenched in House samplers.

The Orb - U.F.Off
For starters I hate the title. Secondly the graphics are devoid of any of the Designers Republic inspiration which made albums like 'Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld' and 'U.F.Orb' such classy presentations. Even the psychedelic swimming terrapins of The Orb Remix project of 1996 are not in evidence. Thirdly actual sleevenotes are lacking in proper information ,not telling you the full extent of Andy Weatherall and Thrash's contributions. Nor do they tell us the actual issue of the various 7" and 12" versions involved. (The booklet to the Orb Remix project did it with pictures!) Poor old Thrash, he deserves more credit for his involvements in 'Ultraworld', 'U.F.Orb' and 'Orbvs Terrarvm' were priceless. The saving grace is the Green coloured double CD edition which has better sleevenotes for the second disc and a Steve Reich sampled version of 'Fluffy Clouds' from 1997. The only redeeming feature of the single Island (www.island.co.uk/island/) disc is the secret 8« minute 'Oxbow Lakes' at the end.

Todd Rundgren - The Godlike Genius Of Todd Rundgren or Go Ahead Ignore Me
Castle Communications proudly present one of the best compilations of an artist ever. I've always admired Todd Rundgren's genius. Born in 1949 his Philadelphia-based Nazz were a superb psychedelic rock/pop band and 'Nazz' (1968) and 'Nazz Nazz' (1969) are essential purchases. By 1970 the 21 year old Rundgren was a solo genius pounding out multi-harmony piano ballads. The first disc of this collection is flawless, taking in the very best tracks from 'Runt' (1970), 'The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren' (1971), 'Something Anything?' (1972), 'A Wizard A True Star' (1973) and 'Todd' (1973). The last three albums are peerless, Todd only in his early 20s mastering every instrument, every recording device and every musical style then known to man! Both 'Hello Its Me' and 'Just One Victory' on the same disc are worth the price of admission alone!

So great were these albums that I've never listened to anything after them. That's where the second disc comes in. Sampling material from 'Utopia' (1974), 'Initiation' (1975), 'Faithful' (1976), 'The Hermit Of Mink Hollow' (1978) and 'The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect' (1982) there's some really good stuff here. And all at mid-price. Assembled and sleevenoted by my old mate, and self-confessed Toddhead, Paul Lester of UNCUT (www.uncut.net) magazine, 'Go Ahead Ignore Me' is essential 20th Century listening. Castle also release the first five Rundgren solo albums (1970-1974) on remastered CD.

JIMI HENDRIX - BAND OF GYPSYS LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST
In 1970 Jimi Hendrix gave a live album to Ed Chalpin to settle a contractual suit out of court. The resultant album had one great track 'Machine Gun' and a lot of filler. It came in a gatefold sleeve and famously in an imprint which featured puppets of Brian Jones and John Peel. Now comes the unrleased material, and what material. Two lots of double concerts were played on Dec 31st 1969 and January 1st 1970. What we heard before was only a glimpse. On this new double CD we get 16 tracks of the 'blackest' Hendrix music ever. This pushes the power-soul concept of 'Electric Ladyland' much further in extended jams which dramatically re-shape 'Stone Free', 'Voodoo Child', 'Wild Thing' and more. We hear bam-piff-pow versions of 'Izabella' , 'Stepping Stone' and 'Earth Blues' plus a real rocking-soul number in 'Burning Desire'. The cream is left for the extended blues of 'Hear My Train A Coming' and two incendiary (and unreleased) versions of 'Machine Gun'. There are often times in rock when an artist can stop you in your tracks, can literally make the spine in your back tingle. Here it is on 'Machine Gun (11.35)'. The bulk of this is sonic salvo, Hendrix lurching onto a pedal and letting fly with the loudest and most terrifying guitar sound in history. At times it feels as if the earth has opened up and is belching forth a thick lava of molten guitar flames. Yet after all the Vietnam-strewn audio verite there is nothing that prepares you for the switch to 'Star Spangled Banner' at the very crescendo. The anthem seems to well up from inside the feedback, gasping to be heard, drowned in an gargantuan blast of beautiful noise. At last we hear that Woodstock was only a rehearsal for the glories to come. And to think that Jimi Hendrix (www.Jimi-Hendrix.com) had to wait nearly thirty years to be heard live at the top of his game! On MCA Universal.

CLASSICAL

PHILIP GLASS - KOYAANISQATSI
Rarely has such a great album had a re-issue of such magnificence. The original LP on Antilles was a version of the score to the Godfrey Reggio film. Remember, all speeded-up people in cities, climax of burning rocket to elegiac organ music. Next to 'Glassworks' the 1983 album was one of the must-buys of Glass's career. Now it is the must-buy on Nonesuch. At 74 minutes it is the score as you hear it in the film. Plus bonus limited edition disc of Glass's own Nonesuch back-catalogue choices from 'Mishima' (1985), 'Powaqqatsi' (1988), 'Einstein On The Beach' (1993), 'Anima Mundi' (1993), 'Hydrogen Jukebox' (1993),'Kronos Quartet' (1995),'La Belle Et La Bete' (1995),'Secret Agent' (1996), 'Music In 12 Parts' (1996).

John Cale / Nico
A Rotterdam commission for a ballet has prompted that old Welsh anarchist John Cale to write a ballet dedicated to his old friend Nico, the German chanteuse who graced the spotlight in The Velvet Underground. String quintet, electric guitar, percussion, double bass and piano are the instruments. Cale wanted to draw out what happened to Nico, a glamorous star of modelling and film who gave it all up for a harmonium and a drug-pursued life of rock and roll. Nico sings the finale, Nibelungen - an obvious reference to German myth, Wagner and her own heritage.

Adiemus 3 - Dances Of Time
Karl Jenkins, woodwind player with Soft Machine, became very successful with 'Songs Of Sanctuary' (1995), music of strings, syllabic ethnically flavoured vocals and percussion. Used for Delta Airlines and Orange commercials we all know the naggingly familiar tunes. Extended in 1997 to 'Cantata Mundi', Jenkins seemed to be going in a full orchestral direction. Part Swedish, Jenkins has added Finnish singers, his latest album a series of dances spanning six centuries from Italy, Spain, Austria, Cuba, France, Argentina and Wales. Pamela Thorby's woodwind and horn work is outstanding and the lushness of the sound is fantastic. His best Venture disc yet with stunning art work by Russell Mills.

Arvo Part - Sanctuary
There are so many discs from Estonian Arvo Part on the go. This is a new Virgin classics effort. If you like bells and falling string sections then 'Cantus In Memory Of Benjamin Britten' is for you. 'Fratres', 'Summa' and 'Festina Lente' draw out his beautiful string writing while 'Beatitudes' and 'Magnificat' are purely devotional. Even includes 'Silentium' for prepared piano. A generous sweep for the uninitiated and those not familiar with titinnabulation or the sound of peeling bells!

Roger Eno - The Flatlands
A sixth album from Roger Eno and a very good piece of work it is too. On All Saints it uses the timbres of closel-miked piano along with those of oboe, strings, saxophone and vibraphone to imbue a scored Ambience. It inhabits the determined and indeterminate world of mood music but with the edge of precisely realised tones. Eighteen short pieces, none over 3« minutes make up the total. According to my information Roger Eno is making a Drum Club album for 1999!

Sandor Veress - Homage To Paul Klee
Hungarian composer's dedication to Swiss Minimalist painter Paul Klee, reveals a brilliant pianistic style (showed off by Andras Schiff) reminiscent of Keith Jarrett. A folk influence and warm orchestral colours make this an interesting listen based on seeing paintings by Klee in a private collection in Basle in 1950.

Johm Adams - I Was Looking At The Ceiling And Then I Saw Te Sky
A Minimalist rock theatre piece based on the 1994 Northridge Californian earthquake. It unites Adams once again with Peter Sellars of 'Nixon In China' fame. It begins with the nagging repetitions of keyboards, brass, reeds. It then draws a cast of characters from Our Lady Of The Angels - black, Hispanic, white, police, lawyers, workers and mixes them with the sounds of electric guitar, drums, synthesizer, piano. Its arresting stuff, the passions and emotions of the actors as strongly defined as any Hollywood soap. The finale returns to the instrumentalities of the intro.

Gavin Bryars - Cadman Requiem
Heavy-going stuff from Bryars in response to the death of his sound engineer Bill Cadman in Lockerbie air disaster of 1988. Hilliard vocal ensemble and Fretwork (both exponents of early music) do justice to Lyndhurst Hall recording of 1997. Ends with the enchanting 'Epilogue From Wonderlawn' on which Gavin Bryars plays bass and his two daughters Ziella and Orlanda play cellos. On Philip Glass's Point Music (www.philclas.polygram.nl)

John Cage - The Barton Workshop
Plays A triple discer on ETCETERA where the horn, string, percussion abilities of The Barton ensemble are applied to four periods of Cage's music - 1938,1951,1969 and 1984. They glide through ideas of chromaticism, percussion and prepared piano music, indeterminacy, collage and tone colour. Sleevenotes are excellent.

MODERN

THE IRRESISTIBLE FORCE - IT'S TOMORROW ALREADY
Mixmaster Morris on his third album scores big. Whilst others in the Ambient vapour- trail snooze themselves into oblivion, Morris chooses his timbres with the exquisite taste of a Brian Eno. The beat is here but it is an interesting ornamented one with ethnic percussion, strings and the voice samples of Marshall McLuhan, Alan Watts, Sun Ra and especially John Cage who comments about his music " I'm sure it will be noise but I doubt whether it will be white." The 'Lie-In King' sounds as if it was made sleepwalking through an episode of 'Mission Impossible'. An essential Chill-Out experience.

Talvin Singh - OK
Anyone reading some of the press surrounding Talvin Singh (www.talvin.com)'s debut master release will now know that OK means Zero Killed, a wartime expression for alright! This album by a master Indian tabla player was recorded in Okinawa, Bombay, New York and London. Having been to his Anokha club at The End I can vouch for a brilliant fusion of Techno/Jungle beats and the purest of Indian classical musics. Push aside those ignorant critics who talk of sitars as there are no sitars on this album. Instead there are sarangi, veena, flutes, pipes, Chinese lutes, plenty of voices, orchestral strings, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Bill Laswell. Singh's understanding of the diversity and sheer timbral colour of Indian classical music is a match for his ability to blend it with his own electro/acoustic virtuosity. One you will play and play. An astonishing achievement.

E.A.R. - Data Rape
" The sound collages on this disc were created using 8 Human voice synthesizing toys originally marketed by Texas Instruments as the " Speak & Spell " range during the 1970s. These instruments have been customised with added switches, buttons, knobs and wiring to give phoneme looping, random phase generation, various modulations, pitch shifting and other effects. Some processing with equalisation & effects was then added using a Morley phaseshifter and a modified EMS VCS3 synthesizer. " (Sonic Boom Rugby 1998). See Anti-Theory Workshop http://www.anti-theory.com.

Mojave 3 - Out Of Tune
Cornwall-based Scottish group (I think!) who play a very melodic form of country-tinged rock reminiscent of times yore. Include Hammond, Wurlitzer organs plus piano, pedal-steel guitar, horns and sweet backing vocals. On 4AD.

Flick - The Perfect Kellulight
Nashville power-pop which reminds me of Big Star with added bazouki, Mellotron, Hammond and glam-rock guitars. On Columbia. See flick at www.flick.net

Slag Boom Van Loon
A collab tween Speedy J and U-Ziq recorded in Holland recalls Cluster, Erik Satie, the sound of Altair 4, Eno, Aphex Twin and early Tangerine Dream! On Planet U.

Darkroom - Daylight/Carpetworld
A guitar/textures, vocals and programming outfit which could be based in Cambridge. Includes singer guitarist from No-Man Tim Bowness. 'Daylight' recorded in U.K. and France from 1996-1998. Travails soundtrack, rock and Techno genres into dreamy concoctions. Both on Hal, 'No-Man' (www.adasam.demon.co.uk) also have a neat EP out of elegiac rock/electronica 'Carolina Skeletons' on 3rd Stone. See Darkroom (http://www.collective.co.uk/darkroom/).

Colorsound - Soundtrack For An Imaginary Life
Recorded in Sydney at the end of 1996 this Third Stone product is pure Ambient electronica in the Fax mould. Nice '60s looking cover and sound textures. See Space Age (http://www.adasam.demon.co.uk)

Neotropic - Mr Brubaker's Strawberry Alarm Clock
The product of West Country lass Riz Maslen who has worked extensively with Future Sound Of London. Working with sequencer and sampler she effortlessly mixes Hip Hop, Dub, Reggae and Electro. See NTONE - http://www.ninjatune.net

Throwing Muses - In A Doghouse
A double discer of the earliest Muses stuff from 1986 and 1987 plus the 1985 cassette which got them signed to 4AD. With bonus tracks and a CD-Rom enhancement for 'Fish' this is a good bargain. With Kristin Hersh, Tanya Donnelly and Leslie Langston these girls were one of the coolest bands in the world!

Lisa Germano - Slide
What's good about this is the Ambient instrumental production of studio whiz Tchad Blake. He's worked with Suzanne Vega (whose just had a 'Best of' out on A & M) and features Peter Gabriel's drummer Jerry Marotta. There's a weird sounding Fun Machine keyboard which adds to Lisa's moods, violin sounds, scratching noises and such. Melancholic optimism on 4AD.

Tokyo Tech Breakbeats - NS Comfusion
Compiled by DJ Miku the hottest music on the Tokyo clubscene is a mixture of jazz, electro, dub, trip-hop. What I love about Japanese records is the packaging with the price in Yen on the wraparound on the spine. With beautiful Art Work by Sakura and a fantastic array of cool funky sounds on offer this NS - Com (www.tky.threewebnet.or.jp/~nscom) is the place to start getting into your Japanese club space! Look out for 'Musican Nova' by Takayuki Shiraishi on the same label. Brilliant cover.

Scalpel - Eclipse
Slow right down and travel the outer reaches of Ambient music. This is the twilight zone of moving landmasses and nocturnal marshlands. Science Fiction burblings and distant acoustic reverberations remind me of Tangerine Dream's 'Alpha Centauri' or 'Zeit' from the early 1970s. Removed from the nagging synthesizer and sampled cliches of most modern Ambient this is almost silent. Beautiful stuff. Contact garyjeff@hotmail.com

Fax Facts Related label Rather Interesting posted me 'Naturalist', a CD with a facsimile wood sleeve with no information on it. It looks like the finest quality teak but sounds like a load of squeaks and burps. " A continually morphing digital soundfile..Mr Heart's vision of neo-pop!!" runs the blurb. 'Virtual Vices' on Pete Namlook's Fax (http://hyperreal.com/fax) begins like one of those tremendous David Sylvian/Holger Czukay albums of the 1980s. Credited to Namlook and Wolfram Spyra this disc has some awesome lush synth harmonies as well as the odd beat. 'Planetarium', is credited to Namlook and St Petersburg Composers known as Lakoff/Igr Ver who have worked with Brian Eno. Namlook has dubbed the connection as Ambient Science.

Thurston Moore - Root
Jon Tye's LO recordings have done it again. After the successful East Gallery showing of 30 art pieces for 30 one-minute Moore guitar excerpts re-shaped or -styled by artists/musicians. The pieces were sent out in custom designed vacuum cleaner bags and the likes of Scanner, David Bowie, Bruce Gilbert, David Cunningham, Russell Mills, Stereolab and Luke Vibert are involved.

Antz - OST EMI classics!
Annoyingly mainstream Hollywood soundtrack featuring Neil Finn on Johnny Nash's 'I Can See Clearly Now' and a dollop of chopping and changing ST music by Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell. The film itself features the voices of Sharon Stone, Woody Allen, Gene Hackman and Sylvester Stallone.

LOOK OUT FOR

DAVID SYLVIAN - DEAD BEES ON A CAKE
The man with some of the best tonsils in the business returns with his first Virgin solo album since 1987! Recorded in the States it features predictable contributions from spouse (and former Prince protege) Ingrid Chavez and old friend Ryuichi Sakamoto but also the wholly unpredictable presence of Talvin Singh.

TV & FILM ROUND UP

TV

FILM

MODERN ALBUM OF THE MOMENT

THE IRRESISTIBLE FORCE - IT'S TOMORROW ALREADY

ARCHIVE ALBUM OF THE MOMENT

MUSIC IN A DOLL'S HOUSE

CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE MOMENT

PHILIP GLASS - KOYAANISQATSI

COPYRIGHT ON ALL OF THE ABOVE RESIDES WITH MARK PRENDERGAST. ANY EDITORS OR PUBLISHERS WISHING TO QUOTE FROM THE ABOVE WRITINGS CAN DO SO AS LONG AS THEY ENQUIRE AT PHONE (LONDON 0181 299 2998) OR FAX (0181 693 0349). THE WRITER IS FREELY AVAILABLE TO CONTRIBUTE SIMILAR IDEAS ON HIS FAVOURITE MUSICS TO PUBLICATIONS WITH A GENUINE INTEREST.

This is Altair 5 saying take care for now.....Remember big boys don't cry!

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