In true prog fashion, flying teapot hippy group Gong, split and became two entities; Daevid Allen’s Gong (the one responsible for all the pot head pixies) and Pierre Moerlan’s Gong a jazz rock based band.
Gazeuse! is the band’s first album and is very clearly jazz orientated. Unfortunately, due to a “jazz embargo” imposed on Gnomepants Cottage by jazz loathing Mrs Gnomepants, I am unable to bring you much of a detailed entry today. The only statement I can make is, if jazz is your thing or maybe you liked the theme tunes to late seventies chat shows like Wogan, Russell Harty or Parkinson, this will really float your boat. I’m not that much of a jazz fan, but I occasionally like to dip my toes into the murky cheese sauce that Pierre Moerlan’s Gong produced.
Good old Jim will probably frown at this but I find Kiss’ Destroyer a little kitsch for my tastes.
I’ve known about Kiss since I was young enough to fall over a concrete post underneath the school hall upon which the words “Kiss” and “Rush” were written in permanent marker. People who say graffiti doesn’t affect anyone should pay note to the fact that even at the grand old age of 42 I still clearly remember that concrete post and the graffiti on it. I also remember the Ajax bottle sized crapily drawn cock on the side of the neighbouring concrete post.
Perhaps that comically drawn phallus was a foreshadowing for the lyrics on this album. Yes, I can see the appeal for Kiss and their glam rock sentiments but in a post-1970s world I find it difficult to identify any lasting sentiment for the band other than a squiggle on the side of a post and Jim’s own lasting sentiment for the band.
Former Key 103 late night DJ James H Reeve has a lot to answer for in my musical education. I recall lying awake late into the evening listening to his eclectic playlist and chatter making myself totally knackered for the morning. Still without Mr Reeve, I would not have had the pleasure of Windsor Davies and Don Estelle, Half Man Half Biscuit, the Neville Brothers and, of course, Ry Cooder.
Ry Cooder arrived in my record collection as a tape recording of Get Rhythm from his album Get Rhythm taken from one of Reeve’s last broadcasts for Key 103. And that is how it would have remained until Jamie passed me a CD chock-a-block with MP3 albums obtained from illicit locations. One such album contained therein was Ry Cooder’s Chicken Skin Music.
Chicken Skin Music is Cooder’s fifth album and it shows. He’s not even trying to impress at this stage. It’s kind of like “Oh gee, I’ve got a six album contract with my label, I can’t be bothered anymore. Here’s some stuff I’ve played recently” – a glorified covers album.
Boxed is a compilation of Oldfield’s early works in their entirety. Featured in this “Box set” compilation are:
Tubular Bells
Hergest Ridge
Ommadawn
And a number of single projects such as Portsmouth and In Dulci Jubilo.
As all the original albums will feature in this project eventually, I’ll not dwell too long or go into too much detail on this album for fear of repeating myself.
A New World Record by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
If you have been around since the seventies, chances are you’ve heard ELO. Chances are you’ve even heard of their music. Chances are you even probably know more than Mr Blue Sky.
I’ve liked ELO since childhood and even to this day, I find their music easy to listen to and never offensive. Indeed, I would probably go as far to say, listening to ELO frequently involves me saying “Oh! They did this did they?!”
A New World Record is the sixth ELO album and was released in 1976. It has a number of their hits such as: Telephone Line and Livin’ Thing. According to my records I’ve only ever listened to this album twice before (in MP3 format since 2001). Still enjoyable but surprisingly short at just over 36 minutes in length…..
In true prog fashion, flying teapot hippy group Gong, split and became two entities; Daevid Allen’s Gong (the one responsible for all the pot head pixies) and Pierre Moerlan’s Gong a jazz rock based band.
Chicken Skin Music – Ry Cooder
Stegzy's Music Project 