Boy oh boy, bikes!
But do the images come out?
Ideal Home Noise
Existinctual Soul Music and Ethical Protein
Oh boy
Box of birds
Paul Simon - Think Too Much (Part B) (1983)
Hard to imagine it now, but immediately prior to achieving massive artistic and commerical success with Gracelands, Mr Simon was in a bit of a rut. His last couple of solo albums had had lukewarm receptions at best, he was splitting up with Princess Leia, an attempted reunion with Garfunkel had flunked, etc. Nevertheless, while they might be weak albums, One Trick Pony and Hearts and Bones have both got a few great tracks on them. This is from Hearts and Bones: a lilting, calypso-esque track about other people butting in trying to solve your relationship crises which manages to be honest and perceptive while retaining a (self-effacing) sense of humour. I love that gently, deceptively acerbic opening line: "The smartest people in the world are gathered in Los Angeles."
(download)
Thirteenth Floor Elevators - Slip Inside This House (1967)
Epicly epic psychedelic epic from Roky Erikson and co, the opening track on the Elevator's brilliant second album Easter Everywhere.
The song is kind of a siren's call to non-psychedelicised America to "slip inside this house as you pass by." In the house, all kinds of great things will happen. Y'know, like your limbs dissloving and thunder yawning and Bedouin tribes ascending and sages telling stories and three-eyed men not complaining becuase they can yo-yo where they will...And your life starts to unfold as you uncover higher worlds. And things and stuff.
What I love about this is that it's completely of its time (1967) but has aged really well compared to Jefferson Airplane etc. Eight minutes of stripped-back mildly wigged-out rock'n'roll just fly by! The bubbling synth sound running through the whole track is, I assume, an electric jug (not that kind of electric jug). And don't forget, there's infinite survival in the high baptismal glow!
(download)
Antena - Achilles (1982)
First track off the highly collectable and highly great Camino del Sol EP by French-Belgian band Antena, released on Factory Records' (predictably, the cover art is 100% class) European label Les Disques Du Crépuscule.
Instantly recognisable by their unusual, fragile sounding, combination of icy electro synth pop and bossanova rhythms, Antena were kind of like a continental Young Marble Giants (with bossanova rhythms). Isabelle Antena is still going, er, strong.
"Achilles is the name of the child/Achilles is your son, recognise it": classical scholars may like to hazard a guess at what all this is getting at. Word for the day: crépuscule.
(download)
Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot - I'm Talkin' (1997)
Young Missy in eccentric mumbling paranoid internal monologue rap mode? Check.
Young Timbaland, pre-shark jump, still making sublime beats? Check.
Blunted tempo? Check.
Walks the line between hiphop and R&B? Check.
Ergo, her style is the bomb diggy.
(download)
Conjure - Skydiving (1983)
Droll poem penned by satirical political poet and interesting sounding guy Ishmael Reed, put to beautiful beautiful music, and sung by none other than Mr New Orleans Funk, Allen Touissant.
Love the conversational vibe. And thematic change-up. Imagine if lyrics were always this good... The John Frankenheimer film referenced is The Gypsy Moths, by the way.
(download)
Virgo Four - Do You Know Who You Are? (1989)
The most important label in the history of Chicago house, Trax Records put out legendary, seminal, ground-breaking, etc etc 12"s by Larry Heard, Adonis, Frankie Knuckles et al all through the mid/late 1980s.
This is a b-side, probably not a classic, but completely brilliant, with simple drum-programming, repetitive synth string stabs, and a melancholy bassline setting off an echoy guitar figure - all combining to mind-expanding, highly emotional, retro-futuristic effect.
(download)
Edwin Starr - Easin' In (1974)
An incredibly awesome infectious but relatively unknown blaxploitation funk track from Mr Edwin "War! huh! "What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again!" Starr (RIP).
Finding a more receptive audience in the UK (think Northern Soul), Starr moved over to England in 1973 and lived there the rest of his life. Born in Nashville, died in Nottingham - so says Wikipedia.
Is there some immutable musical law that stripped back tracks age better florid ones?
(download)
