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Showing posts from January, 2011

Tales From Topographic Oceans -Yes

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When I listened to Topographic Oceans for the first time in October 1973 my reaction was one of puzzlement and I was clearly mourning the loss of  Bill Bruford. During much of the later part of the seventies I viewed it as a confusing piece of musical architecturer. Then in 2009 I returned to it and was taken mostly by the two inner movements, particularly the Remembering. In recent months I have been encouraged to set free my imagination and dream a little more. I sat down in Sri Lanka with the intention of reviewing the CD during this most fertile period that I have entered. What actually happened is I tipped my mind into the music and let it wash through me. These essays are essentially prose poems which look at the music from a point where I am fusing my aesthetic sensibilties and spiritual feelings spurred on by a new sense of imaginative enquiry and trying to capture simply what I am "hearing" right now. I am not suggesting, my responce is right or I have now "got

The Living Tree - Anderson Wakeman

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full The idea that Jon and Rick would one day team up and write a series of songs together was always a given. They wrote a good deal for the abortive “Yes” recording sessions in 1979 in Paris. When Jon and Rick with Steve Howe and Bill Bruford came together in 1989 one of the highlights of that CD was “The Meeting” a classic Rick tune much like his work on the Country Airs CD to which Jon wrote some beautiful lyrics. Indeed this is the piece that planted the seed that lead to the Living Tree. In 2006 whilst Yes was in hiatus Jon & Rick toured the UK with a number of new tunes but it wasn’t until 2010 in preparation for a second UK tour they finally recorded a whole batch of material which became the Living Tree. This project was always going to operate in musical territory quite distinct form “Yes music” however what made it particularly intriguing was this would be recorded in the wake of the various illnesses’ that Jon had suffered. How would this affect the music given his phys

Lovers End - Moon Safari

The idea behind Yes was to have really strong vocals combined with very accomplished instrumentals. One Band that has been recommended to me who carries that torch is Moon Safari here are my thoughts on their latest effort.    Lovers End Its Saturday night and its time to witness the high achieving new piece of work by Moon Safari -Lovers end. It opens with a beautiful musical hall piano sound the harmonica joins in giving a sense of pathos and then the ever so sweet voices. And he is regretting his stupidity she is out on the town strutting her stuff and he knows he should be with her. His loss will never disappear. Endlessly beating himself up he never get it right but then she couldn’t change his world. The musical background is focused full of delightful repeating ascending guitar runs and then a gentle resolve acoustic guitar giving the piece the chance to breathe and lead us in to the staccato exciting riff that opens A Kid …. With its story of loss, false pride and ba

Shaman Mirror Medicine Tree - Rich Goodhart

Music which heals – not healing Music. Ever since the Beatles musicians have experimented with exotic musical instruments. As studio recording techniques became more sophisticated so experiments with pure sound developed. Some flirted with it Santana’s Caravanserai, Page/Plants No Quarter and Crimson’s Larks Tongues give us a peak into this world. More significantly John McLaughlin produced a series of wonderful music with Shakti using world instruments whereas Brian Eno became known really as a “sound musician” and much of Peter Gabriel’s music mined this fertile area. Later on new age music gave us this notion of healing music and when I travelled to Canada in the 90’s I noted you could buy a wide range of nature CD’s which evoked a sense of calm and relaxation. Ravi Shankar takes us all the way back to the Beatles and his daughter Anouska has offered a kind of very intelligent cross over update. Rich Goodheart’s new CD Shaman Mirror Medicine Tree is 109 minutes of "sou