"5 stars" albums

HAMMILL, PETER - The Fall of the House of Usher
Review (Permanent link) by BaldJean @ 11:43:32 AM EST, 6/25/2005
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  —   This is one of the finest albums of Peter Hammill. It exists in 2 different versions, one from 1990, the other from 1999 (therefore it should be listed in here twice). The main difference between the two versions is the absence of drums in the 1999 version; my personal opinion is Peter Hammill was right to remove them, their absence makes the whole atmosphere more dense, and it is more like an opera because of this. The album is based on the well known story of Edgar Allan Poe. Chris Judge-Smith, the librettist, expanded the dramatis personae of the original story a little by giving the herbalist, who in Poe's story only appears in one sentence, a supporting role, using the device of a chorus that comments on the action from ancient Greek or Elizabethian theater and, most important and ingenious idea, by letting the house itself become a main character of the plot. The nameless friend of Usher, who tells the tale in the story of Poe, is given the name Montresor from another Poe story ("The Cask of Amontillado"). The opera is divided into six acts. The first act has the chorus (sung by the wonderfully warm contralto voice of Sarah Jane Morris; on first hearing you might belive this is a man singing) deplore its own role as a mere commentator, before Montresor (Andy Bell) arrives at the house and describes the scenery he sees and why he visits his friend Usher. Thus ends act one. Act two begins with a dreaming and sinister monologue of the voices of the house (sung by Hammill in a chorus with himself), describing the gothic architecture of the house. One immediately feels this house must be evil. Then Roderick Usher appears, singing a morbid song (lyrics of this by Poe), accompanying himself on the organ. Then Usher realizes his friend has appeared, the two greet each other, and Usher tells his friend about his oversensitive senses in the aria "I shun the light", one of the highlights of this album. Montresor comes to the conclusion the house has a bad influence on Usher and asks him to leave the house with him, but Usher says he can not, the house and he belong together. All this time the voices of the house threaten "we will not let him go!" Act three begins with the first appearance of Madeleine Usher (Lene Lovich), who obviously is in a trance and sings in a monoluge, in which two strings of lyrics are interwoven; in one of them she sees herself floating as a corpse on the water. Usher explains to his friend that his sister suffers from catalepic fits, but that her waking moments are even worse. The herbalist, an obvious quack (Herbert Grönemeyer) appears and offers his services, which Montresor rejects. Montresor goes to bed and muses about the house and the influence it has on Usher, while the chorus in vain tells him to leave this house. Act four has Montresor and Madeleine meet next morning. It seems they had almost become lovers some time ago, but for some reason they had been afraid to touch each other (a beautiful duet between Bell and Lovich). Madeiline disappears, and Usher enters, telling his friend his sister does not know how very ill she is. Montresor asks him to have her removed from this house, but Usher again tells his friend they can not leave, and when his friend again begs to leave because he would rot in this house Usher flips and tells his friend "there will be no rot in Usher"; a great duet between Hammill and Bell. Finally they come to the conclusion that together they can fight the eveil influence of the house, after which again the voices of the house ominously threaten "we wil not let them go!" Act five consists of a single piece of music only. Usher tells his friend Madeiline is dead, and he, Montresor and the herbalist mourn that he had to die so young. They decide to put her corpse to rest in the crypt, and the act ends with a kind of funeral march. Act six begins with a storm raging outside the house. Both Usher and Montresor can't sleep. Usher makes a few cryptic remarks about another sound that is not hidden to his ears by the sounds of the storm, which Montresor fails to understand. Montresor asks Usher to play some music for him, and Usher plays "The Haunted Palace" (another poem by Poe, slightly altered). While he is playing Montresor is sure he hears some other sounds and asks his friend to stop playing several times, but Usher denies he hears anything and continues playing more and more desperately, until finally he can't deny he too hears the sounds anymore and tells his friend that his hypersensitive ears had heard this sound long before, and that the had put Madeiline living into the tomb. The music reaches pandemonium, he voies of the house appear again, more threatening than ever, and finally Madeliine enters, now completely mad. Themes from throughout the opera are now repeated while Usher, Madeline and Montresor sing in a confused meddle. Montresor flees, while Madeline in mad revenge strangles Usher, and the house collapses behind Montresor. 4 stars for the 1990 version, 5 for the 1999 version.

TURNER'S SPHYNX, NIK - Xitintoday
Review (Permanent link) by BaldJean @ 5:48:52 PM EST, 7/29/2005
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  —   This is one of the forgotten gems of prog. Of Nik Turner, sax and flute player of Hawkwind, one would expect something on the heavy side, but this wonderful album is very quiet and spacy (though not completely without rhythm, and in the last track it even rocks a little - but don't expect anything like Hawkwind). With half of Gong plus former Hawkwind drummer Alan Powell and Morris Pert of Brand X on percussion the lineup is exquisite. But the biggest surprise is Nik Turner himself. His flute clearly dominates the album, and one really feels the ancient Egyptian Gods evoked by it. The music makes a lot of use of vocoder, which adds to the feeling that supernatural beings are around. This is not an album to play in the background; listen to it late at night by candle light. In m opinion clearly the best album of 1978. Warning: The 1994 CD of Nik Turner of the same name - "Xitintoday" - only has the lyrics in common with this album. The music of that release is completely different though, not even the same compositions. It is not a bad album itself, but no competition for this masterpiece. So stick to the vinyl, if you can find it somewhere (unless Virgin decides to reissue this gem on CD). And then "Hommage to Thee, Oh Ra, in Thy Rising".

HIGH TIDE - Sea Shanties
Review (Permanent link) by BaldJean @ 8:06:19 AM EST, 6/2/2005
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  —   When I first listened to this album I couldn't believe it was from 1969; it is way ahead of the time. Definitely the heaviest album of that aera. Its trademark is the constant battling between electric guitar and electric violin.

The album starts right away with a heavy electric guitar riff out of one of the boxes, a pumping bass and drums enter, the guitar riff is answered with heavy electric violin out of the other box, and then "Futilist's Lament" is on the way. The vocals of Tony Hill sound a bit like Jim Morrison; the lyrics throughout the whole album are rather pessimistic.

The second track, "Death Warmed Up", is an instrumental and probably the first prog metal piece ever. Guitar and violin together play a very complicated theme of about 3 minutes length, which is repeated once. Then it looks as if they go into another repetition, but what follows for the last 4 minutes is a wild battle between electric guitar and electric violin.

"Pushed, But Not Forgotten" starts quietly with some phased guitar and melancholic violin, over which Hill sings. But the silence is not for long, soon heavy guitar crashes again, and the violin counters maniacally. The song ends with sad viloin over quiet guitar chords.

"Walking Down Their Outlook" provides an interesting early example of violin and guitar actually playing two different voices, which is rare in rock music.

"Missing Out" has a slightly bluesy feeling, although a lot heavier than blues usually is.

"Nowhere" finally is what one could call a ballad, with lines like "On the stage there is no door, at your feet the moving floor decides to burn", yet again it is very heavy, as the whole album.

The mix is not the best, but who cares? The music is fantastic! I rarely deal out 5 stars, but this one deserves it. Be warned though: This album is not for the timid!