Tim Berne / Copenhagen Art Ensmble - Open Coma
Tim Berne’s music reminds me continually of how short life is, as with every listen of an album I hadn’t heard previously, I’m blown away by the scope, musicianship and sublimity of his music. Even double albums such as this, which I often complain about for overstaying their welcome, enthrall me from beginning to end, despite it containing rather huge chunks of music. Part of what is so intriguing is I always get a really strong feeling from a first listen that these albums could take many listens to unfold. Open/Coma ranges so wide dynamically and the musical phrasing so broad from the free to the composed that it was virtually impossible to absorb in a sitting, but just having that feeling in the spine that this is something you can’t wait to get to know better was enough to elate me throughout. So much of it is, even though you could generally throw this in a free jazz or New York “skronk” scene sort of category, by doing so you’re almost forgetting about just how wonderfully melodic the music is.
Mutantes - Ao Vivo em Londrina 1975
I’m actually more familiar with the Os Mutantes of tropicalia than this later and more proggy oriented line up, and after listening to this rather choppy and fuzzy live show, it still struck me that their earlier work still seems more important, at least on the originality scale. Mutantes never really feel like they went entirely prog, despite the longer songs, presence of synths and other hallmarks of symphonic rock and for some reason it doesn’t feel right. But of course I’d probably want to hear a studio album or two from this later period before I truly commit to that opinion as I can’t be quite sure it wasn’t just the low quality that was bothering me.
Venegoni e Co. - Milan 1978
This late 70s jazz rock group comprised of Arti e Mestieri and Errata Corrige members have rarely ever just stuck out and grabbed me, their style of world music-inflected fusion often never seems to truly get off the ground and thus doesn’t always compare favorably to other contemporaries you could compare them with such as Area or one or two other members of the Cramps stable. So even though I’ve heard the band’s live album, which didn’t really change my opinion, I was surprised to hear this longer set as it seems like it was recorded on a night where the band actually had a bit of fire to them, and just about all their work is improved because of it. A mild surprise for sure.