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. 

The Orb - U. F. ORB (1992)

I have never come across something that is as unique as this one, with DJs sampling different kinds of sound to create something that is so original and sensational.  It came flying in the face of everything before and even after.  To some people, this might sound just like re-hashing the music of both Tangerine Dream (in terms of duration of tracks) and Pink Floyd (in terms of its psychedelic influences), but they have created something that they can proudly called their own. 

I came across this band when one of their singles, "Perpetual Dawn", got heavy radio/video-play in the early 90s.  Their use of electronic music coupling with reggae influences was intriguing, and the various dub mixes of the song displayed the band's creative use of sound and imagination. In their first album, "Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld", you can still detect the obvious influences - Jean Michel Jarre, Floyd, TD, and lots more - it's like a baby attempting to walk. 

My initial reaction to "U. F. Orb" is like - to paraphrase the lyrics from "Perpetual Dawn" - "Wow! What Is this?  I've never heard anything like this before and I don't think I ever will!".  What a concept - it's fresh, innovative, and exciting, and out of this world.  Their musical ideas go through peaks and valleys - just listen to "Blue Room" (and if you can, track down the near 40-minute version of the song).  This disc regularly visited my CD player back in 1992, so to speak! 

This record was re-issued years ago remastered and came with a second disc.  Pick it up if you can find one and become enlightened! 

Heaven 17 - Penthouse & Pavement (1981)

After putting out the album "Travelogue" in 1980, the Human League split into two camps.  The band went on to make the successful follow-up "Dare" released in 1981, and the dissidents from that group called themselves, initially "BEF (stands for "British Electric Foundation") and released a cassette before hiring a singer and calling themselves Heaven 17 later. 

 

Released in 1981, their first single "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" was a glorious piece of electro-funk.  The completeness of the song shines through on 12" displaying the power of the slapping bass.  The second single, "I'm Your Money" was pure pop - catchy and infectious but unfortnately that wasn't on the album.  

Their first proper album "Penthouse and Pavement" was released to critical acclaim in 1981 and it's not difficult to see why.  The vinyl was split into two sides - the pavement side (side 1) was filled with a heavy beat and some funky horns arrangement.  The penthouse side (ie side 2) was more experimental - pop tunes crafted out in an electronic manner.  Two sides of music with two completely different musical styles.  The band was definitely at the fore-front of this synth-pop music scene.  Although the songs sound commercial, they were willing to throw the dice to be adventurous.   Almost 30 years after its release, it still remains influential as ever.  The ideas haven't dated a bit and their musical craftsmanship and prowness remains valid to this day.

ABC - The Lexicon Of Love (1982)

1982 belongs to ABC!

I first came across this group via a single review of "Tears of Not Enough" in November 1981, actually.  Never got to hear what it sounds like but was quite impressed by the single cover.  The next year saw the release of their second single "Poison Arrow".  Heard it on BFBS and had it recorded on a cassette tape and I became a convert of the band right there and then!  The song was written in the style of funk with the piano intro giving way to an infectious beat and a thumping bass and I began to wonder if this was done by a group of black musicians as I did not possess any information of the band.  How wrong was I! 

Then in spring came their 3rd single "The Look of Love" again trasmitted via the radio to my ears.  Now this is a smogasbord of a song - you can hear the joy that went into the production.  Smartly produced, beautifully arranged, and exquisitely performed - this song was just a joy to hear!

Finally, the band's magnum opus - their first album "The Lexicon Of Love".  Thanks to their producer Trevor Horn, it was a blast from the beginning to the end.  Every song is a gem - every melody needed to be sung along and every lyric needed to be savoured.  That record came out in August 1982, but I didn't get to buy it until October.  I remember buying the record, went home, put it on the turntable and then I'll put a pair of headphones on and start that wonderful journey with the band.  The ritual lasted all the way till Christmas!  Only through listening the entire album can you only understand the joy that it brings.  Great production techniques, great songwriting, great lyrics and a wonderful album cover.  This record became one of my all-time favourites.  You can't go wrong with The Lexicon Of Love!

This record has been re-released with bonus tracks on CD - live stuff, extended remixes, demos etc;  but the real deal is the album - close to 40 minutes of magic split into 2 sides of vinyl.  I have two copies of vinyl in my record collection and they beat the re-issued CDs hands down!  If you haven't heard this album, go out and buy one!  You won't be disappointed!

Salutations!

Greetings everyone!  A hearty welcome to my world!


I was born in Hong Kong in the mid-60s; and music back then existed only on vinyl. I remember when I was a kid, my parents took me out for a walk one day and we passed by a couple of local record stores.  What I saw amazed me - lots of photographs that came in two sizes (7" and 12") that mostly comprised of groups of people.  In these photos packed circular-shaped of plastic discs that emulated sound when they're placed in a rectangular-shaped box with a needle put on top.  It was just magical - the entire process was magical and the sound coming out was mermerizing.  I was hooked for life! 


I had a faint idea of what was popular back then even though I was around 5 to 7 - Teddy Robin & The Playboys, Joe Junior, The Mystics, The Fabulous Echoes were top local artists that ruled the day.  Internationally, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Bee Gees became the main staple of radio-play.  There were just too much to mention.  Pirated tapes were all the rage back in the 70s so I had accessed to lots of interesting music.  When I entered secondary school, I came across this very influential music paper that is published weekly and was aptly called "Music Week".  I was entranced by the type of music that was introduced to the readers, and I owed my musical tastes to all the writers.  I can vividly recall saving my pocket money to go to their office in Wanchai to purchase the latest imported rock albums. 


I apologize as the introduction might not tell you much about what I enjoy listening.  I'm hoping that this blog will serve as a time capsule filled with musical gems from the past ready to be re-evaluated and appreciated all over again.   I hope to post as many album reviews as I possibly can in the months to come.  To whoever's visiting this site - may you possess the same amount of enthusiam as mine as well as a wide palette of musical tastes to appreciate the music that is still existing out there!  ,


Kudos to Mr. Sam Jor and the entire crew of Music Week (ie Danny Lee, Gerry, So So, Lynn Kasey, Rigor Mortis, Simon Chung and many more) for kick-starting my journey into music. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed!