PRINCE Sign Of The Times (1987)

Like many other people, "When Doves Cry" introduced me to the artist.  In the summer of 1984, this tune came on on the radio, and became a bit hit.  After listening to it on the radio, I demanded to find out who wrote and sang the song as it was unlike so many other hits at the time.  It was original in the sense that it's got a rock guitar set to a disco beat, and I had no idea if it was a guy or a girl singing the song.  The single version intrigued me; and the album version rocked all the way to the end with the stunning guitar performance which was unfortunately edited out due to the time restriction of a 7-inch single.  That was my first baptism by Prince the man himself.  And, of course, the 1984 album "Purple Rain" was a hit everywhere. 

Cue three years and two albums (Around the world in a day & Parade) later, the man ditched his group and proceeded to go solo.  What makes this record more exciting than his previous affairs is that it's very eclectic.  On it, you can find rock, soul, funk (of course!), gospel, rap/hip-hop and ballads.  It's a smorgasbord of musical styles.  Upon first listening to the album, I couldn't help but feel like being held hostage and brought into a very different world, a world where the rules change all the time.  When it changes, it gets exciting. 

Stand-out tracks a-plenty - the title song has a very simple structure sets to a meaningful set of lyrics - almost like rewriting the Apocalypse for the modern world.  HOUSEQUAKE is where Prince raps over a hard-grooved hip-hop backing track.  Same goes for HOT THING.  The artist rocks out on I CAN NEVER TAKE THE PLACE OF YOUR MAN, and later remains introspective and religious on THE CROSS; but gets down one last time with his band, The Revolution, on IT'S GONNA BE A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT.

This album is where Prince gets adventurous and risky.  He throws the dice on the crap table and wins big time.  Enough said.  Go buy the album and have wild ride with PRINCE.  He's your man!

LOW - David Bowie (1976)

"THERE'S OLD WAVE.  THERE'S NEW WAVE.  AND THERE'S DAVID BOWIE."

This catch phrase set in my mind for a long time.  I was never a DB fan for a start - I found his music difficult to penetrate in the beginning.  I had absolutely no idea why people like his music.  I noticed his presence during my high school years (ie late 70s to early 80s) from his Berlin Trilogy period to Scary Monster and Super Creeps.  I got turned on to his music only when Let's Dance came out in 1983; that same year when everyone went mad for him for the same reason.  At that time I think he was visually quite exciting from head to toe and the music was fashionable (no pun intended).  He got me interested enough to work my way back into his music; with everything from Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke.

I picked up a cassette version of "Low" in the summer of 1983 and listened to it via my Walkman.  I have no idea what he was trying to express - one side of it was 7 songs crafted in pop/rock mode; and the other side with 4 instrumentals crafted with help from Brian Eno.  The songs took a while to assimilate, to really get into the groove and to later appreciate the enormous influence on the "future generations" of rock musicians.  All the songs on side 1 was executed with, seemingly at first, the lack of feelings.  They're cold, and they didn't mean anything to anybody.  Only with repeated listenings did I discover that the songs contain layers of emotions delivered with extreme precision - the way the drums were supposed to sound, the arrangements of the synths, the duration of the songs etc;  The 4 songs on side 2 went even further by extending the concept of "ambient music" first pioneered by Brian Eno on his previous and subsequent albums such as "Music For Films", "Music For Airports", "Apollo", "Thursday Afternoon", etc;  It was very shocking to find out that all the songs on side two were vocal-less; and that they were all about textures evoking various degrees of intrigue.   

I think most of the fans, myself including, were initially stunned by the artist's determination to deliver a product this bold (in its conception) and unprecedented (in its execution) - that alone won enough respect by his admirers and his peers.  His subsequent follow-up, "Heroes" further consolidated the concept laid here, but this is where it all began.  Progressive.  Avant-garde.  Pop.  Rock.  Out of reach.  Commercial suicide.  Not giving a shit.  Whatever you want to call it.  A classic nonetheless. 

THE ROLLING STONES - Ladies & Gentlemen (1972)

The Rolling Stones put out 4 concert movies throughout their career, namely:

1.  Ladies & Gentlemen, The Rolling Stones (1972)
2.  Let's Spend The Night Together (1982)
3.  At The Max (1991); and
4.  Shine A Light (2008)

This film here documents their 1972 American Tour, and captures segments from their various concerts - both Texas and New York inclusive.  They've just finished recording "Exile On Main Street" and a world tour was announced to promote that record. 

In my opinion, this is probably the most exciting of all RS concert movies.  Mick Taylor's tenancy in the band proved to be fruitful, and created positive vibes to the overall musicianship of the band.   His guitar playinog is fluid and melodic, and the band had the opportunity to stretch out their musical ideas to become more creative and imaginative.  His playing complements everybody - from Mick's singing to Charlie's drumming.  All the songs were fleshed out with a new sense of vitality and a new level of urgency. 

"Exile On Main Street" was Keith's baby; and his role as the leader of the band became evident in certain performances; most notably "Jumpin' Jack Flesh" where he's pumping his guitar and giving cues to Charlie Watts' drumming.  As witnessed in the shots, he was totally immersed in the music - standing in front of Charlie's drumkit and strumming his guitar - that was worth the price of purchase.  Other stand-outs include his signature song, "Happy", "Love in Vain", and "Midnight Rambler".

People still flock to see the Stones but their sound has changed variably in the last 20 years.  Mick can't seem to hit those high notes anymore, and Ronnie's playing can be a bit sloppy at times.  If you want to find out what good old rock & roll is about, you have to see this film.  High on energy and musical flair and less on stage pretence, this is the Stones at their peak.  Highly recommended. 

3 singles

1.  SECOND CHOICE - Any Trouble (1980)

1980.  Summer.  New Wave.  Distribution deal signed between local record distributor and England's "Stiff" record label.  Heavy promotion undertaken to promote "Stiff" artists - Lene Lovich,  The Plasmatics,  Madness, Nick Lowe, Jona Lewie etc;  Radio began promoting the latest tunes recorded by these artists.  Record stores stocking the latest "Stiff" lps.  Among them, "Where are all the nice girls?"  by Any Trouble. 

"Second Choice" was the first cut on the LP, and the band's second single.  It's a piece of pure pop - standard chords, great chorus, impeccable production - nothing stays out of place.  Plus it's damn catchy, too!  Why wasn't this a hit I do not know - all I know is the song still gets me going whenever I play it!  Highly Recommended!


2.  HEARTLAND - The The (1986)

I picked this song because the sentiments of the lyrics seem to mirror the current state of affairs of this city. 
In fact, there is something for everybody here, for example:

This is the place, where pensioners are raped,
& the hearts are being cut, from the welfare state,
Let the poor drink the milk, while the rich eat the honey,
Let the bums count their blessings, while they count the money.

This part reminds me of those high-ranking civil servants sucking up to these greedy property developers.  So much has been discussed but never the social welfare for the majority of the local population. 

So many people, can't express what's on their minds,
Nobody knows them & nobody ever will,
Until their backs are broken & their dreams are stolen,
& they can't get what they want, then they're gonna get angry!

This part reminds me of the so-called "after-80s" generation who were protesting earlier regarding the legislation, about places being torn down to make way for "progress" and residential re-development.  Well, they ARE pissed that nobody's listening!



Quite possibly one of the best protest songs that came out in the 80s!


3.  AMERICA - Yes (1972)

This song, along with the rest of the songs that appeared on their "Yesterdays" compilation lp that came out in the mid-70s, was my first baptism to YES, the mother of all progressive bands.  I became indebted to them as they led me on to a journey of some really serious music - ELP / King Crimson inclusive - discovering for the first time that a piece of music could become this complex, evolving, and yet still arriving at a destination.

YES managed to turn this Paul Simon composition into a different monster.  The arrangement made sure that all the musicians have enough room to show off their stuff in the entire ten minutes.  Nobody would disagree with me when I say that Steve Howe's guitar-playing is nothing short of exemplary.  To hear his solo in the middle of the song was, and still is, in high heaven.  The rhythm section rocks hard as well - complementing the guitar from the beginning to the end. 

There you have it - 3 of a kind!

YELLO - Solid Pleasure (1980)

Ready to go on a journey with the Swiss?

There was a watch advertisement early on in the newspaper.  Mr. Boris Blank, one half of the group, was shown modelling one of the latest timepieces.  His appearance prompted me to dig out and listen to their very first album again, which came out 30 years ago. 

The band was still a trio back then, and were relatively unknown everywhere.  They were signed to Ralph Records in San Francisco and released their first two albums with them.  Their first album was released in 1980, and the recordings involved the use of many synthesizers to create effects and atmospherics.  The voice of the singer, Dieter Meier, was manipulated by the technology available then to adopt different types of accents. 

Every song sounded different, and I meant that literally.  You can have a samba-tinged composition sitting next to a cha-cha-cha song;., and then another tune would come on as if it was made for a horror movie.  Each song would complement the next.  The band was able to transform every song into a mini-movie, if you like - with lots of interesting arrangements that captivated the listener without any signs of stress or boredom.    The band did it with experiments, with a great stretch of imagination, and with lots of humour.  It makes me come back to revisiting this glorious piece of musical output every now and then because of its great ideas. 

They put out 2 more albums later before hitting it big with their 4th, "Stella" with the biggest single in their career, "Oh Yeah".   Like "The Lexicon Of Love", "Solid Pleasure" is the crown of Yello's achievement.

Roxy Music - Manifesto (1979)



I have to admit that I never knew who they were when I first approached the album.  The band has been in existence since 1973.  They put out a couple of albums before disbanded in 1976.  The leader of the band, Bryan Ferry, has released several solo albums parallel to Roxy Music.  The album came out at the height of the post-punk / new wave music scene.  Quite a handful of musicians cited Roxy as one of their main influences (and also reason for forming a band), so the first album after they have regrouped showed lots of anticipation.  This album was on Mr. Sam Jor's top 10 list of 1979.  On his review of the album, he wrote something bold like, "you're not qualified to be a fan of the new wave music if you don't give yourself a chance to listen to this album".  As I was just becoming more interested in music, I had to find out what all the fuss was about. 

The album was split into two sides (so were the days of vinyl records), with one side labelled as "East Side" and the other as "West Side".  All sorts of musical influences showed up on the album - rock, power pop, disco, dance, funk, and even hints of punk rock!  The album version of "Angel Eyes" was more rock than disco (which the band later re-recorded to put out as a single).  The album version was later replaced by the single version in later pressings of the album as it became a huge hit.  Other niceties include "Still Falls the Rain", "Trash (extreme power pop!)", "Ain't That So", "Cry Cry Cry", and the album's other hit "Dance Away".  "Dance Away" was probably showing signs of where the band was planning to head to - witness the later hits of "Oh Yeah", "More Than This", and "Avalon".

The band passed the mustard on this one -  it didn't convert me to go back to their earlier and more successful albums which defined their sound, though.  "Manifesto" stands on its own - it has its own glorious moments.  This album signified that they're back on the scene - again.  Enjoy!   

Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (1980)

To the uninitiated, Peter Gabriel was the singer of the band Genesis in the early 70s.  He left the band to pursue a solo career in 1975 after touring their last album together, "The Lamb That Lies On Broadway".  His first two albums showed a somewhat renewed style of songwriting, such as paying attention on atmospherics and granting opportunities for session players to "strut their stuff".

For his third album, Peter invited musicians from all sorts of genres - there is his ex-bandmate Phil Collins on drums, Morris Pert - Phil's colleague from another band Brand-X, Paul Weller from The Jam, and John Giblin on bass (who later played with Simple Minds).  Robert Fripp, leader of the prog-rock group King Crimson (and also producer on his last PG album) was invited to play the guitar , and top session player Tony Levin (who played on John Lennon's "Double Fantasy")on bass, to name a few.  The album was released in the summer of 1980, with "Games Without Frontiers" being taken from it to promote as a single.  It became fairly popular via moderation of radio air-play, and people like me began paying attention to him. 

I think the whole reason behind the success of this album was that Peter was ready to try anything new.  Even though he came from a progressive rock background, he wasn't scared about hiring Paul Weller to play on his album.  Every one was encouraged to experiment on the tracks that he played.

Great songs abound on the album - "Intruder" is the first track; with Peter singing to you in front of an icy cold metallic musical backdrop.  Then came "No Self Control" - the song started out pastiching theme music of 1940's radio/tv film-noir, then morphed into something else as soon as Peter opened his pipes.  "Start" is a melange of synth and saxophone before it quickly launches into "I Don't Remember", with Peter portraying the character of a paranoid suffering from drugs and delusion.  "Family Snapshot" tells the story of Lee Harvey Oswald attempting to share the limelight with JFK.  It's a song combined with fantastic lyrics and arrangements, with the music building up layers of tension as Peter charges the lyrics forward.  "Games Without Frontiers" has a big hook you can hum to coupled with wonderful lyrics - how would the world be like if kids were given the opportunity to rule the world.

It was a great album - from start to finish.  The performance by musicians was stellar. Peter had some grand ideas and visions, and the production team was able to sculpt them into what they deservedly become.   PG3 stands the test of time.