Outer Music Diary

Mary Butterworth - USA 1969

This was released on LP as a paste-on sleeve private press. Needless to say, it’s rarer than hens’ teeth lodged in the teat of a golden wasp’s nipple. Now, the music itself is savory and expansive in the sense that it takes you out into the poppy fields to spread your arms eagle-wide and try to fly. These tunes get under your skin and make you want to learn the words so you can sing along with the clear-eyed vocalist. The guitar lines are nothing short of completely memorable and the accompaniment is hefty in tow, with its tumbler set to roll. The opening and closing reprise a thematic meander that melts underneath your seat - mind you, this is not the brain-frying sort of psychedelic, but it certainly doth burn on a hot bed of drumkit pitter-patter splattering throughout. Great churning organ comping all over the place! This is a sticky disc, bearing a quick repeat after the initial spin on any given day - it’s sly power overtakes you like a lumbering dose of fat chicken weeds in syrup paste.

Outcome:
A great underground piece full of fuzzy workouts and tasty song structures.
- ~ -
Yes, I like my psychedelic rock, and that is something that spills into love and adoration regularly. For some reason I cannot understand, this dialectic is usually diametrically opposed with the appreciators of progressive rock. Anyone slagging this one has simply not heard it recently, that is my opinion.

::12/15 - a borderline classic::

Bob Dylan - Planet Waves

I am very thick when it comes to “getting” Bob Dylan, my two favorites, at 12s, took me perhaps two decades to get there. So I look at Planet Waves, which seems to be a rather good record, and think this is an album I’m going to like after a few more listens, contrasted to Slow Train Running, which I couldn’t wait to cut loose. Anyway when you talk about Dylan, it’s usually about the writing and the lyrics, and most of the genius in these are things you pick up slowly. All meaning that when I put a 9 on Planet Waves it’s waxing rather than waning. There are indeed a lot of very good songs here. 

Guapo - Black Oni

Guapo are indeed a very good band, although for my ears they lack a certain distinction that would crest them over the 10 and 11 ratings. Two genres come to mind easily, Zeuhl and post-rock, in fact much of the time Guapo’s music sounds like the former heard through the latter’s interpretation. And like in the case of Ruins, Koenji Hyakkei or even Eskaton, some of the sublimity of the Magma influence is lost (I find so much of what makes Magma great is virtually interstitial). It’s as if Guapo are dumbing it all down and while I don’t want to accuse them of doing so at all, at the very least all the influences seem simplified, which is often the case when a band with rock chops is influenced by another band with a larger musical picture. It results in superficial pleasure stylistically, while feeling like there’s a lot missing in terms of subtle shading and color. Yeah, I know, shut up and enjoy it. Well I do when I’m listening, it’s after its over when I notice what I’d been missing. I’d call it caricature-ish but that’s a lot meaner than I intend.

Cryptopsy - Once Was Not

When Lord Worm returned to Cryptopsy, expectations were set very high. Some of this pressure was relieved by a DVD release which featured music from the original era, but it wasn’t until this album we’d see how the years had changed… everyone. This honestly doesn’t sound like the original Cryptopsy or their second (and third and fourth) phases, it’s something entirely new. Even Lord Worm’s classic and gutteral death metal vocals are totally different with all sorts of new shrieks, grunts and mutterings. In fact this sounds like the first album that wasn’t entirely pure old school death metal, this release seems much more polished, a little bit more like thrash metal with some proggier tricks. The closest reunion I could recall might be the Suffocation album after the EP, it has a similar sort of maturity to it on the part of the players, a maturity that usually works against you in a field like this. Anyway tis about all I can say for a first listen, it’s almost impossible to tell what grade I’d go with at this point.

Be-Bop Deluxe - Modern Music - England 1976

It’s been well over seven years since I spun two different friend’s copies of many Bop-Be Deluxen & have these two borrowed for now. Very little overt glam rock on this one (another ramping-up learning curve I am eager on the go for!). It’s melodic rock, no rough edges to speak of, mellifluous and clean, slightly tweaked. Perhaps a hint of Eno’s feather boa caught in Brian Ferry’s brille creme and a handful of lizard scales from Ziggy Stardust’s jacket, but that’s about it.

Be-Bop Deluxe - Live! In the Air Age - England 1977

This’uns a little better, edgier, freakier vocals and an elastcized delivery overall. Still not bowling me over all around, but the swells are much more magnificent with some beautifully arpeggiated guitar runs and sweet turnover with their instrumental interplay. Unfortunately, they also devolve into a somewhat indulgent mode to get the girls to throw panties on the stage or something - a tad on the camp bugjuice Steely Dan at times (and I like them quite a bit, actually). The polish in execution and structure of compositions cannot really be faulted, yet there is a barrier keeping them from having me vaulted over the nearest low fence. This is the set with an LP and an EP inclusive, dunno if that makes a diff. - they were probably all released as such. An okay concert overall.

Outcome:
More than regular, less than unleaded; sometime slick or ultra-hip.
- ~ -
I am waaay into the late 70’s and through deeper 80’s Bill Nelson solo electro-poppery quirk-o-matic on the post-punk & new wave veggie table zone. We’re talking: Lp’s, Ep’s, 12″ & 7″ers with non-album cuts, you name it (on vinyl), I’m snappin’ it up in a modest heartbeat. Simply can’t get enough of his solo work and any of that ‘Bill Nelson’s Red Noise’ period stuff (no relation to the 1970 French monsterpiece on Futura, “Sarcelles-Locheres”). So, one would think that his previous band was [and would just *have to be,* right?] the wholly rambunctious shenanigan gang.. well, not so much here, but they do have several albums to their credit - I need to explore the ouvre for a final decision.

::8/15 - both slightly above average; your mileage may vary to the better::