Prog Rock Saturday: Fragile

Yes - "Fragile" (1972) - Atlantic Records

Hello Friends,

Its Saturday night and the Summer weather is finally here!  You know what that means... fancy cocktails on the porch, meats on the grill, the crickets are chirping and we've got some prog rock on the turntable.  Kicking off this season of Prog Rock Saturdays is another true classic of the genre, Fragile, Yes's fourth LP and first to feature the cover art of Roger Dean and the keyboard stylings of one Mister Rick Wakeman!

Wakeman, who replaced Tony Kaye, would introduce a deeper keyboard sound utilizing his own Classical influences along with the addition of more Moog & Mellotron.

The album contains nine compositions, five shorter pieces each highlighting an individual member of the band, and four longer songs that feature everybody.  Upon hearing the album's first notes, those familiar Steve Howe harmonics at the beginning of "Roundabout", the listener immediately knows they're in for a real proggy treat. Something ethereal and fantastic; a marriage of rock and classical styles.  Music that would ultimately define a genre but within a few years would quickly outdate and parody itself.

"Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley..."

Kicking things off is the eight-minute leadoff single, "Roundabout", which would actually peak at Number 13 on the Billboard Pop Charts in 1972 (albeit in an abbreviated form clocking in at under four minutes!)

Things get classical on Rick Wakeman's "Cans & Brahms", a short excerpt from Brahms's Fourth Symphony.  Singer Jon Anderson performs multiple harmonies with himself on "We Have Heaven"-- also clocking in at a very un-Yes-like under 2 minutes.

Side One concludes with the driving "South Side of the Sky" which seems to be about freezing to death while on some sort of mountain climbing expedition.  

Side Two opens with drummer Bill Bruford's 35 second instrumental, "Five Per Cent for Nothing" followed by the unlikely "hit" single, "Long Distance Runaround/The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)", a staple on 1970's FM Radio.

Steve Howe gets his time to shine on the classical guitar solo, "Mood For A Day"-- which we enjoy thoroughly more than the ragtime-y, "The Clap" (from The Yes Album.)

The album concludes with the 11-plus minute epic, "Heart of the Sunrise" which starts out sounding like a manic buzz saw but eventually comes around to nice, quiet, ethereal melodies featuring some nice interplay between Steve Howe's fingerpicking and Jon Anderson's elfin vocals.  Loud-quiet-loud at its proggy best!

Vincent Gallo like this song so much he used it in a pivotal scene in his 1998 weirdo-indie film, Buffalo 66.

Love comes to you and you follow...

Great album for listening to loudly on a balmy May Saturday. Fragile, along with The Yes Album and Close to the Edge, form probably the strongest trilogy of albums in the prog rock canon (with the possible of exception of Pink Floyd's Dark Side, Wish You Were Here and Animals!)  The band would start to disintegrate and things would start to get way too overindulgent (if you can believe that) by 1973's double album, Tales from Topographic Oceans.

RATING: 4.5 Hot Colours Melting the Anger to Stones out of 5  

Cocktail Time!

Carmen Cavallaro - "Cocktail Time" (1961) - Decca

Hello Friends,

Its our favorite time of day... Cocktail Time!  

In an age of gimmicks there is nothing more refreshing and delightful than genuine style-- the sort of style that represents a rich background of talent, imagination and good taste; style that becomes the universally-known signature of a great artist.

Actually, the above is cribbed directly from this LP's liner notes.  Carmen Cavallaro, the self-proclaimed "poet of the piano", delivers eleven easy listening interpretations of American standards and show tunes.  And although the liner notes would go on to compare his keyboard stylings "as familiar to everyone who enjoys music as the unique brushwork of Picasso is to an art lover" we really wouldn't go that far.  Sure, its laidback and unassuming, but its all background dressing.  Its not as lavish as, let's say, Liberace, not as proficient as an Oscar Peterson, and not as entertaining as a Bobby Short.

The more we think about it, the more it seems like the guy who wrote these liner notes was a real fuddy-duddy who had a bone to pick with some of Cavallaro's more "gimmicky" contemporaries such as Liberace or the dueling piano duo of Ferrante & Teicher!  

Geez, get over yourself! 

RATING: 3 Happiest Girls in the World out of 5

Supper's Ready! Come Get Some Prog Rock Saturday!

Can I take you back to the Fourth of July, 1992 for just a minute?

We were ringing in Independence Day at my Great Aunt Gloria's house in Connecticut.

The marshmallow ambrosia was quivering and the pool water was tepid: perfect conditions for a 10 year old Tiki T. But then something happened. Aunt Gloria's son Scott (20 years my senior) was living at home with his parents. He had taken over the huge basement, converting it into the swinging pad of a failed musician. Lava lamps, Zappa posters and a special alcove designated for all the guitars he never really played. Well, he approached me and my cousin Christopher and asked us to come down to the basement, because he had to "really show us something." I could smell sour wine coolers on his breath.

Well.. he showed us something, alright.

He showed us fucking prog rock.

My cousin and I stood, wrapped in our frayed beach towels, while Scott spun Yes, ELP and Genesis. We could not give a shit. Scott smoked cigarettes and conducted in the air while we stared longingly out at the shimmering pool.
"You kids are really hearing something interesting, right now!" he exclaimed. "Did I ever tell you about the time I had lunch with Rick Fucking Wakeman??"

I was ten and Chris was five. We had no idea who Rick Fucking Wakeman was.
We didn't know the music was special, and we definitely didn't know that Cousin Scott was deep in the throes of alcoholism and depression, to the point of an eventual suicide in 1997.

But now when we look back at this memory, it has so much joy. So much rich sensory detail. And it was way way better than getting molested (which seems to be the staple of people's basement memories). Chris and I remember the time fondly, and we laugh about Scott's unbridled excitement about this weird music. We remember the kitschy basement down to every last psychedelic throw pillow.

So join us for these extra special Saturdays this summer. We will revisit some prog classics and break out some new ones. Hope I see you there! And hope we can make our own memories.


XO!
Tiki T.

Happy Mothers Day with Queen, part 3!

Hello Friends,

We're celebrating another Mum's day like we do every year on Vinyl in the Valley with a little Queen on the turntable.

Queen - "News of the World" (1977) - Elektra Records

This is Queen's sixth LP and captures the band at the height of their powers.  

Opening with the one-two punch of "We Are The Champions" / "We Will Rock You" one quickly realizes that they don't make them like this anymore!  Overused and overplayed? Yes.  A little bit on the overly-dramatic side?  Definitely. Even so, if these two songs don't get you pumped up for the rest of the record, you might need to have your pulse checked!


"Sheer Heart Attack" is a leftover track from the 1974 album of the same name.  Sounds as if its either punk-influenced or the band's reaction to the burgeoning punk movement.

"All Dead, All Dead" is Brian May's gentle ode to his dead cat featuring some great Freddie Mercury piano playing.

And speaking of which, no one could pull off a power ballad quite like Freddie Mercury and the boys could as evidenced on the album's second single, "Spread Your Wings".

Side One concludes with drummer Roger Taylor's funky, "Fight From the Inside".  Its not quite disco, but a definite precursor to their 1980 megahit, "Another One Bites the Dust".

Side Two kicks off with the incredibly sleazy (but not very good) Mercury-penned "Get Down, Make Love".  If you took a quick shower after this song (and we wouldn't blame you) and you returned during Brian May's "Sleeping On the Sidewalk" you might think someone switched records on you and you were now listening to early ZZ Top.  Nope, its Queen doing their best ZZ Top impression on a rags-to-riches rock & roll shuffle! 

Bassist John Deacon composed "Who Needs You" featuring some fine Spanish-guitar picking courtesy of Deacon and May.  Sweet and nostalgic-sounding.

"Its Late" is the band at their best! Grinding Brian May guitars backed by a driving rhythm section; Mercury's sneering operatic vocals and the familiar four part harmony on the chorus.  Although it sounds triumphant as fuck, the lyrics (written by May) seem to be about a recent break-up and are actually quite melancholy.

Which brings us to the last track, "My Melancholy Blues"-- a quiet and jazzy end to another great Queen album!

From arena rock to punk to gospel to disco to to ZZ Top to jazz, News of the World is a fine album but we can't help but noticing that it lacks some of the cohesion that that the band's prior two albums (A Night at the Opera / A Day at the Races) had.  Longtime Queen producer, Roy Thomas Baker, would return to produce their next LP, Jazz.   

Fun Fact: Tiki T. used to be scared of this album cover as a kid!**  What a dope!

RATING: 4 Sheer Heart Attacks out of 5

** The album's artwork was based on a painting ("Please.. .Fix it, Daddy?") by the amazing sci-fi artist, Frank Kelly Freas.

     

 

The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators - "The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators" (1966) - International Artists Records

From the Liner Notes..."Recently, it has become possible for man to chemically alter his mental state and thus alter his point of view (that is, his own basic relation with the outside world which determines how he stores his information). He then can restructure his thinking and change his language so that his thoughts bear more relation to his life and his problems, therefore approaching them more sanely.

It is this quest for pure sanity that forms the basis of the songs on this album." 

Hello Friends,

Tonight we're listening to the Elevator's first proper record, The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators. We believe that this is the first record released that used the term "psychedelic" in its title!  

As part of the Music of the Sphere's box set, this re-issue includes the original mono record in the original sequence as well as a 2010 re-issue, remastered in Stereo with the originally intended track listing.

Original 1966 Track Listing (Mono)

Side One: You're Gonna Miss Me

Roller Coaster

Splash 1 (Now I'm Home)

Reverberation

Don't Fall Down

Side Two: Fire Engine

Thru the Rhythm

You Don't Know (R.P. St John)

Kingdom of Heaven (R.P. St John)

Monkey Island (R.P. St John)

Tried to Hide

2010 Track Listing (Stereo)

Side One: You Don't Know (How Young You Are)

Through the Rhythm

Monkey Island

Roller Coaster

Fire Engine

Reverberation

Side Two: Tried to Hide

You're Gonna Miss Me

I've Seen Your Face Before (Spash 1)

Don't Fall Down

The Kingdom of Heaven (Is Within You)

This is a pretty significant debut record in terms of 60's psychedelia/garage rock.  Every song is pretty much amazing featuring the Elevators' signature twangy guitar driven blues rock, Roky Erickson's demonic vocals and Tommy Hall's maniacal electric jug playing throughout!  Produced by Lelan Rogers (Kenny's older brother), the album was the first LP released by fledgling Austin record label, International Artists.
  
Lyrically, most of the songs are about different states of consciousness or the desire to achieve altered states of consciousness through the use of psychedelics.

You gotta open up your mind and let everything come through - Roller Coaster

The key word, kids, is psychedelic.  Probably an overused term by 1970, but at the time, this was the kind of music being made by teens and twentysomethings who weren't quite satisfied hanging around the garage drinking a few beers and smoking a few joints.  No, no.  You can tell, in the very fabric of the music and lyrics, that these young troublemakers were into some pretty strong shit. Mushrooms, Pills, DMT, LSD, Adrenochrome, whatever the hell they could get their hands on. Blast off to Monkey Island, kids!

Through the stained glass windows moonlight flashes on the choir
And splashes on the altar in glows of liquid fire
Then it bathes you with its glory and you begin life anew
And the kingdom of heaven is within you - Kingdom of Heaven

A weird and wonderful debut LP.  A definite standout in an era of landmark LPs. Overall, the production is a bit more "polished"-sounding than Headstone: The Contact Sessions, but the Mono-version of the LP still sounds gloriously distorted and muddy!

We're not sure if the album accomplishes its stated goal as a quest for pure sanity, but it certainly does rock our socks off...

RATING: 5 Kingdoms of Heavens within you out of 5