I lost my Mom Saturday morning,
April 3, 2021. She had been ill for a few years. She was not only Mom, but a
teacher, book-reader, writer, editor, watching TV game shows, and loved to
shop!
The past five days since her passing have been rough for me,
my Dad, and my sister. We not only lost our Mom, but also a friend,
someone who listened, understood, helpful, special, witty, and fun. We loved
her very, very much.
When I was starting the second semester in the fall of 2005
as a student in Houston Community College after going through a rough beginning
in the first semester, I learned how to keep going. I took a course in
Commercial Music Forum from Joe LoCascio who became one of my mentors and
teacher to go from filmmaking to Jazz Studies. The course of Commercial Music
Forum was that you had to write five concert reviews.
And that was where the light bulb lit up inside my head. I
have been writing reviews since 2008. If it wasn’t for both Joe and my Mom, I
don’t know what I would be doing right now. Since starting my blogsite, Music from the Other Side of the Room, and
then writing for Echoes and Dust, and
a 2-year ride with The Progressive
Aspect, my Mom was always supportive for me to follow my dream in writing.
I know that she would want me to continue writing. And I’m
following that dream to keep going.
I remember when the late great film critic Roger Ebert
dedicated a special to his partner Gene Siskel from the Chicago Tribune who
passed away in 1999 entitled Remembering
Gene Siskel for the TV show Siskel
& Ebert. In the final segment of the tribute, Roger talked about Gene
asking the final question to either an actor or a director, “What do you know
for sure?”
Okay Mom, what do I know for sure about you, well you were
one of the smartest, polite, amazing, and funny person I got to know and an
amazing editor. To quote Ebert, It was almost impossible to tell you
anything you already didn’t know. Whether you were watching a movie marathon of
the Harry Potter series, Bette Davis, Casablanca, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, or watching either Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune when
it come on in the afternoon and evening.
And I know for sure that going to movies as a family seeing The Birdcage or Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights, it was an
amazing time to go. Seeing some R-rated movies like South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut was an extra bonus!
And I know for sure that a book you finished reading whether
it was good or bad, your spirit was still high. I know it’s going to be a long
and winding road without you, being here, but your spirit and your legacy will
never die. Thank you Mom for being a part of our lives. And God bless.
This 4-CD and 2-DVD set consists of the continuing reissues
of Jethro Tull’s catalog. This one is twelfth studio album, Stormwatch. Originally released on the
Chrysalis Records label, this was the final chapter of their Folk-Rock trilogy
which started out with Songs from the
Wood, Heavy Horses, and Stormwatch. Here
in this amazing set entitled; The 40th
Anniversary Force 10 Edition, sees the band at their best, but also the
last real Jethro Tull album which marked the end for the classic line-up of the
1970s.
The theme of the subject matter behind Stormwatch deals with the problems with the environment, oil, and
money. By this time, bassist John Glascock who joined the band in 1976
replacing Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, with Too
Old To Rock & Roll; Too Young to Die!, was in bad health due to his
lifestyle with drugs and alcohol, missed out on the sessions for the album as
he appeared three on the tracks, as Ian helped out on the bass during the
recording sessions.
While there was tension behind the scenes and soon Dee
Palmer, Barriemore Barlow, and John Evan would leave during the end of the Stormwatch tour, this was also the last
real Jethro Tull album as well. So how did Steven Wilson do with the new mixing
of the album? Well, let’s delve into it.
When you listen to the fanfare of Warm Sporran, you get a feeling that the marching drum beats, bass
riffs, flutes and vocalizations are coming right in front of you. Ian’s flute
goes into this jazz-like groove before the sound delves into this Italian-like
renaissance as if they’re marching into their final battle, knowing that this
is the end of their run, but knowing they died as heroes.
I love how Barre’s guitar goes right into the punch for Something’s On the Move. It gives this
characterization of the story on the danger of the polluted wasteland has now
transformed into a nightmarish ice storm. The brutal yet heavier arrangements,
sees that there’s no sign of the sunlight happening and the death warrant has
just been signed of the mysterious ladies curse upon the frozen landscapes.
Orion becomes this
epic movie inside your head. At times it rises up with the string section,
romantic piano and acoustic guitars, and the question on how that the city of
once was, has now become this sad place with no sign of happiness while the
medieval rocking opener, North Sea Oil tackles
with the oiling business and the prices going up, it is going to be a very
heavy time for that sign of jackpot in the oil drilling business to get that
big money, but coming with a heavy price.
Dun Ringill is
Ian’s return to both Wond’ring Aloud and
Jack-in-the-Green. It’s about the
Isle of Skye as he sings through this echoing effect and playing intensively on
his guitar. It feels like a waltz at times as he’s feels the thunderstorm and
the waves crashing right in front of him by crying out to the gods at times as
Evan’s thunderous piano work on Flying
Dutchman which was inspired by a legendary ghost ship that was doomed to
set sail the oceans, goes into a sign of warning to be on the look-out for this
mysterious ship.
John’s bass line on the bonus track for Crossword on the second disc, sets up a cat-and-mouse chase through
various obstacles with Barre’s riffs before rising up to the mountains in the
midsection on trying to understand that living the grind of working, can be put
a strain between you, your family, and how do you want your future to be in the
years to come?
A Stitch in Time is
Ian’s response to Frank Zappa’s Over-Nite
Sensation with female singers to a mid-tempo heavy rock song while returning
to the medieval roots honoring Gentle Giant with these odd time changes for
Palmer’s arrangements based on an English Folk song that was written by King
Henry VIII, King Henry’s Madrigal. I
love how Tull can create this traditional composition and take it up a notch by
making not just heavier, but proggier at its peak with some twists to honor the
Rock Progressivo Italiano genre at times.
Evan strikes again on Urban
Apocalypse as he goes from piano to an attack mode on the organ at times.
This deals with the big corporations have taken over the enterprise and it is
not a pretty scenario as Palmer’s lyrics showcases the dark side of greed and
corruptive leaders have a huge amount of skeletons in the closet they don’t
want the public to know.
The eerie synths set up the nightmare that is about to come
for the Sweet Dream Fanfare as Tull
goes into this ambient moody feel to a fanfare approach, xylophones, heavier
guitars, and channeling The Moody Blues’ Procession
before getting the crowd to stand up with a brutal take of Sweet Dream. Now on Discs Three and Four
contains the full concert at Den Haag on March 16th during the Stormwatch tour at the Nederlands
Congresgebouw, which would be later known as the World Forum.
It starts off with a dooming laden for the Prelude to a Storm for the synths
setting up the thunder and dark clouds appearing out of nowhere like an
overture-sque intro before setting up the dangerous sail into the unknown
before the mournful ride towards Home
becomes this question on where do we go from here after an exhausting day at
work as Elegy fills the halls with an
emotional renaissance ride into the Grey Heavens.
As the classics with Aqualung,
Heavy Horses, Minstrel in the Gallery, Too Young To Rock & Roll; Too Young
to Die!, and the excerpts from Thick
as a Brick, it shows that Tull haven’t forgotten the fan favorites along
with an intensive guitar solo that Barre does to bring out this brutal
reverbing effect that is like a race-car drive into the finish line with some
killer improvisations.
But I wished there was some clapping to the rhythm on Old Ghosts that would’ve followed Tull’s
groove as Ian becomes this storyteller by describing the structures of the
garden at Kilmarie House. Ian isn’t just a flute player, but letting the
audience be a part of the journey from the Stormwatch
tour before the alarm of danger goes off for the dangerous live take with
Evan’s organ taking the ‘60s vibe on Something’s
On the Move.
The deluxe edition contains a 97-page booklet containing
liner notes by Martin Webb about the making of the album, interviews from Ian,
Dee, and Dave while Barre was interviewed by David Rees along with a quote from
Barlow courtesy of A New Day magazine.
It also includes photos of the tour, multi-track tapes, 45 RPM’s, tour dates,
promo posters for the album, and the time they did music for the Scottish
Ballet in February, 1981 and one for the Theatre Royal Glasgow on March 7th,
1979.
When the album was released on September 14, 1979, it got
mixed reviews in the UK. The NME considered North
Sea Oil, the worst record of the week including the Record Mirror who gave
it a disheartened review, followed by Sounds. But it got some good reviews from
the late Karl Dallas of the Melody Maker. While this album was ahead of its
time, and Steven’s mix giving Stormwatch
the recognition it deserves, and giving John Glascock the recognition he
deserves. Not just his time with The Gods, Carmen, and Head Machine, but the
swan song farewell it deserves.
But Stormwatch while
it may take time to get into. And whether you get it or not, you have to
understand that this closes the book on Jethro Tull’s amazing run they had from
1968 to 1979. And that’s where the ‘80s begins for the group in a different
period.
It’s been nearly two years since Rosalie Cunningham has
released her follow-up sole self-titled debut album which was my album of the
year in 2019. While it’s also been a year since going into lockdown mode due to
the pandemic and COVID-19, music has always kept my spirits up and running. But
Rosalie shows no sign of stopping as she’s released her single on the Esoteric
Antenna label, Number 149 and the
B-Side, Fossil Song.
The first track, Number
149, which was named after the house that she grew up in that still
photograph, is a trip down memory lane for Rosalie to remember the childhood
memories she had as a kid. There’s a bit of course, The Beatles, but with the Mellotron-sque dreamy landscapes that she and Rosco’s drumming brings, it opens the
doors up into this twilight zone-sque parallel universe.
I think of the Syd Barrett approaches that are on here while
Rosalie channels her brutal riffs in some of the midsections as if she is
crying out to the gods up into the mountains of Asgard by raising Thor’s hammer
with a battle cry. There’s also the finale where they stomp into the Slade groove
thanks to Rosco’s drum patterns, clapping rhythms, and dancing to the beat that
Rosalie does by taking the listener into the unknown.
Fossil Song is
Rosalie’s tip of her Mad Hatter’s hat to both comic book writer Neil Gaiman
and Van Der Graaf's Peter Hammill. I feel this tug towards Marc Bolan’s lyrical arrangements as
she does this cat-and-mouse texture between her and Rosco. But while the
Beatles inspirations are there, there is the Saucerful of Secrets-era of Pink Floyd in there as the midsection
sees her delving into Richard Wright’s See-Saw
with some wah-wah effects at the end that is like the finale of a psych-prog take version of Alice
Cooper’s Hello Hooray.
While it’s a single, it’s sort of what’s to come on her second
album that she’s been working on since last year. Esoteric has been one of my
favorite labels since 2008 and for her to be a part of the Cherry Red family,
it must be a dream come true for her to see what she has in store with her
follow-up for 2021.
This year has been pretty rough throughout the whole year with COVID-19, Quarantine, and Concerts not happening. And while it's been stressful as well, music can always lift our spirits up. So I hope you got your Christmas and Hanukkah wish lists ready, because here is the top 25 albums of 2020.
1. Ring Van Mobius – The 3rd Majesty (Apollon Records)
2. La Maschera di Cera – S.E.I. (AMS Records)
3. Gary Husband & Markus Reuter – Music of our Times (MoonJune Records)
4. Markus Reuter Oculus – Nothing is Sacred (MoonJune Records)
5. Gazpacho – Fireworker (Kscope)
6. Ayreon – Transitus (Music Theories Recordings)
7. Jon Durant & Robert Jurjendal – Across the Evening (Alchemy Records)
8. Louise Patricia Crane – Deep Blue (Bad Omen Records)
9. Pixie Ninja – Colours Out of Space (Apollon Records)
10. Kansas – The Absence of Presence (InsideOut)
11. Rick Wakeman & The English Rock Ensemble – The Red Planet (Madfish)
12. Kavus Torabi – Hip to the Jag (Believers Roast)
13. Hexvessel – Kindred (Svart Records)
14. Markus Reuter – Truce (MoonJune Records)
15. Ross Goldstein – Timoka (Birdwatcher Records)
16. Deep Energy Orchestra – The Return (7D Media)
17. Amy Birks – All That I Am & All That I Was (Self-Released)
18. Magenta – Masters of Illusion (Tigermoth Records)
19. The Tangent – Auto Reconnaissance (InsideOut)
20. Zoe Polanski – Violent Flowers (Youngbloods)
21. Tim Bowness – Late Night Laments (InsideOut)
22. Jon Gomm – The Faintest Idea (Kscope)
23. Fish – Weltschmerz (Chocolate Frog Records)
24. Jakko M. Jakszyk – Secrets & Lies (InsideOut)
25. Nektar – The Other Side (Esoteric Antenna)
Recorded last year at the Shapeshifter lab in New York on
August 18th, Markus Reuter, Tim Motzer, and Kenny Grohowski
participated in an experiment at the sonic laboratory. The premise for the
three members who were at the venue last year was; what are the corporate
results of three sonic shapeshifters, released from their own prisons? What
they will do when they’re behaviors become observed? And how they will assume
by creating their own transformation?
And the result is on this recording that becomes this suspenseful
drama that the trio unfolds with Shapeshifters
on the MoonJune label. Listening to this album, its almost as if you are a
part of their experiment as the trio gets down to business by increasing the
heat gage level as it gets more hotter for the members unleash the flaming
fires they’re about to unleash.
The four tracks that are on the live recording showcases
their sinister side. It goes beyond the electronic route and the jazzier sides
as well. This is the future that they’re bringing to us at the labs in
Brooklyn. There are certain moments where they created an alternate score for
Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 classic Stalker and
Rainer Weiner Fassbinder’s 1973 TV miniseries World on a Wire.
They’ve done their homework very well when it comes to
writing a score for a film that is brought to life. It is a climbing effect in
some sections where they would bring the audience to a standstill and not
knowing where they will go next. And some of its catchy, but then it returns
into the swamps of Louisiana where it becomes dark and very scary.
The reason for that is there are certain area in that
location which are dangerous and the areas you do not want to go into. And they
take you into those areas and warn you why it’s a place in Louisiana you want
to avoid at times. This took me a while to delve into for a few weeks to go back
and listen again and again with Shapeshifters.
Understand that the trio’s unexpected challenges bring the listener into
those hard, intense, and brutal areas right in front of your face. And if you
think it’s a story filled with a Disney-story line with fairy dust sprinkle all
over to fly with Peter Pan, think again.
Recorded last year at La Casa Murada in Spain on May 15th,
Oculus is one of the most interesting projects that is like finding long lost
hidden treasures that haven’t been opened for a long, long time. Released on
the MoonJune label, Nothing is Sacred
is a challenging release this year that will make your spine crawl. And to be
allowed to feature Fabio Tentini, Asaf Sirkis, Robert Rich, David Cross, and
Mark Wingfield, it shows that Oculus aren’t just a band, but a family.
Listening to Nothing
is Sacred is like walking into an area of the Twin Peaks universe that has never been seen before. With its
dissonance, increasing temperatures, and chambering echoes of gothic
cathedrals, Reuter takes the listener into the unknown. Solve et Coagula (Ghost I) is a cross between Philip Glass and Andy
Summers’ Behind my Camel from The
Police’s Zenyatta Mondatta-era.
Fabio’s bass goes upwards as Wingfield and Reuter’s
soundscapes take a deeper voyage into some of Schulze’s arrangements. The
themes on here are darker, nightmarish, and very creepy. Sirkis’ drums sound
like as if they’re locking the doors very tight inside the mental institutions
so that the inmates won’t take over the asylum for a while until all hell will
break loose.
Bubble Bubble Bubble
Bath (Wink) gives Reuter go into this psychedelic trance as we hear
film-noir mellotrons with vocalizing whispers while David’s violin adds the
beat with Asaf’s heart-pounding bass drum. And once Wingfield follows Markus in
hot pursuit, he follows him into those eerie rabbit holes with a morse code.
The Occult (Dice I)
has Asaf’s click-clacking percussion effects to fill up the entire studio by channeling
Nine Inch Nails meets Gong’s You-era.
The bass section that Fabio does, channels two unsung bass masters; Mike
Howlett and Paul Jackson from the Head
Hunters-era of Herbie Hancock. With an echoing effect, it has this
intensive drive between Markus, Fabio, and Mark driving 900 miles per hour.
Nothing is Sacred is
one of a kind. It may not be everyone’s cup of Joe, but Reuter and Oculus take
you into those areas that are surreal, mythical, and Lynch-like. But the twists
and turns can keep you guessing to see what will happen next.
The genesis behind this incredible project came when Dennis
Kuhn came across Markus Reuter’s work six years ago as he contacted him about
collaborating with his ensemble team, the Mannheimer Schlagwerk. It was almost
as if Don Corleone from The Godfather once
said, “I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
Dennis has been around since 1979. He founded the Basler
Schlagzeugtrio in 1984 and joined the Deutsches Schlagzeugensemble (German
Percussion Ensemble). He collaborated with two composers, Wolfgang Rihm and
controversial figure, Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Sun Trance was
written quickly for Reuter to compose after finishing up Daimon Fu a few months earlier. Recorded three years ago at Alte
Feuerwache in Mannheim, Germany on May 23rd and released on the
MoonJune label, distributed my Iapetus Media, Sun Trance gives you the front-row seat to unveil this incredible
live recording that has been unfolded and finally brought to life.
You can feel this lullaby going into a deep, dark area from
the dissonance that is like a pin dropping at any second. It’s like something
straight out of two films; Spike Jonze’s 1999 classic, Being John Malkovich and Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides. It has these mysterious edges towards the
composition as if the ensemble has given audience members pieces of the puzzle
set on to their tables.
And for them, they have to put the pieces together to see
what happens next. The vibraphones that Ti-Hsien Lai and Dennis Kuhn are doing
while the Glockenspiels between Luis Andres, Lukas Heckmann, and Chavarria Baez
go into this dangerous maze that is very challenging.
It turns into a Goblin-sque approach that is deepish red and
following into the Suspiria sessions
that the ensemble challenge. Reuter’s instruments walk upwards on this spiral
staircase by raising the temperatures up a notch. It has a walking dance in 4/4
with some shakers going in hot pursuit, and moody atmospheres to channel Jean
Sibelius’ The Swan of Tuonela.
Sun Trance is a
mesmerizing composition by Reuter and the Mannheimer Schlagwerk. It will keep
you guessing until the very end. And for MoonJune, they’ve got something
special, and it is the ultimate trip.
