Gimp's ear(s): Archived Recommendations

Blimey, I realised I've not updated this part of the site for a long long time. Time... Where did you go, you son of bitch! There's been quite a bit on the old turntable recently, so here's a few items that stood out:

Geinoh Yamashirogumi - Ecophony Rinne

This splendid 1986 effort paved the way for the Akira soundtrack two years later, and is indeed remarkably similar sounding. This is more 'Akira light'. Similar instruments and vocal patterns, and similar MIDI samples and general messing aroundings. It's the kind of LP John Peel would've played on the wrong speed and not notice for 20 minutes. Nice to play just before...

Geinoh Yamashirogumi - The AKIRA symphony suite

After hearing Ecophony Rinne, Manga/Anime maestro Katsuhiro Otomo asked Geinoh Yamashirogum to create the soundtrack to Akira. It's very much like Ecophony Rinne turned up to eleven, and could well be one of the greatest of all soundtracks. It stands so far above most of the crud, and even some of the very good stuff. It's also been much-imitated over the years, even by Geinoh Yamashirogumi themselves!

So, here's the story: Some time ago an ex-girlfriend (who was, and I should think still is, Japanese) had been back home for a few weeks and came back bearing gifts. One of those gifts was the soundtrack CD to the legendary Anime AKIRA. I was indeed chuffed to bits. It's a very strange version, however, as it seems to be portions of the film dumped onto the disc… It's not the 'clean' version of the music, as lots of dialogue and FX appear to be mixed down. My bits of chuff were beginning to disintegrate and then it seems I forgot all about it (no offense to the ex intended).

Fast forward many years and what should randomly pop up in a record shop, but the AKIRA symphony suite, as composed by Geinoh Yamashirogumi. (Light bulb switches on) Ah! THIS is the version I'd wanted to hear all those years ago!

So, finally, AKIRA is on the turntable, and comes very highly recommended. An official release is still available imported from Japan, and was included in a recent super-deluxe blu-ray/DVD/CD package released in France earlier this year. Tet-su-ooooOOOOOOOOOOO!

"She called me diamond, cos my DICK was her best friend"

This album is outrageous. Apache was a misogynist rapper in the truest sense. Back in 1992, some damn fool gave him permission to make a rap album, the subject of which appears to centre around the man's penis, whose name is Tonto. Tonto even has its own track devoted to itself! Right.

Released on the Tommy Boy label, and hiring a fine array of producers (including amongst others, A Tribe Called Quest, Diamond D & The 45 King), Apache Ain't Shit is actually a very good rap album, but the main problem here is Apache himself, who just cannot stop rapping about his dick, doing nasty things to women and killing white people. Ah yes, the glory days of rap.

There's no doubt that some of the gibbering shite Apache raps about is so shocking that it's hilarious, and it is fair to say that there is a novelty record quality to Apache Ain't Shit, in the same (purple) vein as - say - Bernard Cribbins' Right Said Fred song, or Charlie Drake's my boomerang won't come back, albeit in an hard-core X-rated format. Apache Ain't Shit is certainly not for kids.

As this was Apache's only album, and given the general extreme tone of the album, I always expected Apache to end up incarcerated. Perhaps with Tonto in an adjoining cell? Not quite, rumour has it 'Apache' found God (no, really) and eventually passed away in January 2010, aged 45. The cause of his death is unclear.

Ramsey Lewis is clearly a man who likes to surround himself with nature. With Mother nature's son, he dons some corduroy trousers, a funky jacket, and, um, some cute fluffy bunny rabbits. And why not? Bunnies aside, Ramsey's choice of Beatles cover versions (from 'the white album') is most splendid. Dear Prudence & Cry Baby Cry are excellent choices indeed, and his version of Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey borders between smoking too much pot and trying too hard to be 'wacky' (baccy). Ahem... His version of Back in the USSR is a break beat fave of Hippity Hoppers the world over. Smashing.

La Legge dei Gangsters aka Gangster's Law aka Der Killer! Is a rather lovely soundtrack by Italian maestro Piero Umiliani. The cover has a picture of legendary lunatic Klaus Kinski on it. He looks a bit airbrushed, actually, but seeing Krazy Klaus on any cover is good enough for me. As it happens, the soundtrack really is a joy. Umiliani created a laid-back jazzy swing series of tunes for a film that has long since vanished into the bum gut of Beelzebub. It comes to something when the soundtrack is more famous that the movie itself. And excellent use of the Xylophone by the way. Top marks.

ABOVE: A funky COP compilation I made in 2011 is now available for your listening pleasure. Click on the image to go to the specific page.

SWEENEY compilations! Information here.

Death Waltz is a fairly new UK label specialising in Vinyl re-issues of Horror soundtracks. And Gawd bless them for that. Amongst the first batch of releases was The Living Dead of Manchester Morgue, a much welcome re-ish of a cult classic by gimp favourite Giuliano Sorgini. Whilst not one of his very best soundtracks, Manc Morgue is still a work that is both funky and eerie. And spooky and kooky. There are non-musical tracks consisting of the scraping of buckets and the voice of a groaning man (that's what the living dead do, don't you know - Except the Manc ones - which also steal cars, break into people's homes and work cash-in-hand in pubs whilst still signing on the dole).

Yes, I like this one a lot. The funky track 'Strait (sic) jacket' is my favourite... Classic Sorgini funky strangeness. Although the promised "extensive linear notes" are nothing more that a few ' I can't really be arsed with this' comments from Sorgini himself (shame, really), much kudos should go the Death Waltz for re-issuing this gem. You can tell the company is still learning to walk, as the inner sleeve states "Manchester morgue credits to go underneath track listing", which the printers actually included in the text! My, how we laughed. Also, none of the centre labels state which LP it actually is, so if you're planning a Death waltz mash-up, you might end up note quite knowing which LP is which. Marvelous! Oh, and the artwork (RIGHT) has a picture of Bradley Wiggins on it.

I hope that people buy Death Waltz releases so that they can carry on re-issuing more fabulous, horrific gems. Lots more John Carpenter synth soundtracks by the looks of it!

Historie De Melody Nelson

This ridiculously exuberant edition of Serge Gainsbourg's masterpiece was issued in 2011 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its original release. Mercury France decided to re-issue this in a dizzying array of editions; a picture disc as well as a standard vinyl reproduction edition, a standard CD, a deluxe CD and this edition, which includes 2 vinyl pressings, 2 CDs a DVD and a 12" sized book containing words and pictures. Consider the market well and truly saturated, then.

The main event here is an amazingly remastered slab of vinyl that really is a big improvement on my (not really that old) CD copy. The box also includes les sessions melody nelson on both vinyl AND CD, which in my opinion is rather superfluous. The only real discovery here is the one track 'Melody lit Babar' which Gainsbourg (rightfully) dropped from the final version of the original release. It's an ill-fitting track about Babar the elephant! Riiiight.

Besides the book there's an interesting documentary on DVD, which also includes a 5.1 mix of the original album. Well, that's everything covered that could possibly be covered, then?

Histoire de melody nelson was made after Gainsbourg's major 1969 commercial success Je t'aime... moi non plus, he got carte blanche to do whatever he wanted, which was this, arguably the world's first concept album, which doesn't even last 30 minutes. More than enough time to cover the life, love and death of Melody Nelson (Jane Birkin), a 14 year old girl from, erm, Sunderland, who gets hit by a man (serge) recklessly driving his Rolls Royce. Think Nabokov's Lolita with Gainsbourg's poetry and Jean-Claude Vannier's lush experimental orchestrations, and you have an album that would become hugely influential, if not entirely successful in a commercial sense. After all the hullabaloo of Je t'aime... (And countless other controversies), the French pretty much ignored this album. Only now, 40 years on - do they re-issue it in over the top Gallic style. Limited to 10,000 copies, which I think they'll struggle to sell, being honest. The Vinyl sounds beautiful, but some things in the box will be gathering dust… Or making friends with dead flies and pubic hairs.

Now here's a curate's egg: Spinning Wheel by a group called The Roundtable. A strange yet very successful blend of folk & funk mixed with baroque jazz. No, really! At times it has a very pagan Wicker Man feeling to it… Dancing around the maypole sacrificing virgins to the higher power because the crops failed. But FUNKY.

British producer Ken Barnes gathered ~~mushrooms~~ top draw session musicians for this eclectic one-off release which nobody actually bought back in 1969. It still has cult status today, which means still nobody has heard of it. Pity. There are some truly amazing tracks on this: Saturday Gigue is a baroque funk gem, and there's a tremendous version of Scarborough Fair on side two. All in all a smashing little folky summer album. If you ever see a copy lying about in a dusty shop, bag it. Copies tend to surface every few years. Stay lucky, eh?

Next up is an album from Japan with OBI strip still intact! The OBI strip is a disposable label usually placed on the left-hand side of an LP or CD. It tends to tell the seller & buyer some information about the release. Once purchased, the idea is to throw it away and listen to the music. But Japan being Japan, these OBIs tend to be left on the products and are now collectable in their own right. Hmm.

But back to business... I love Françoise Hardy, I really do. This1973 LP simply entitled "Françoise" has some of my all time favourite tracks of all time on it. The German sung Träume, and Comment Te Dire Adieu both of which feature on Français compilations I've made over the years. The rest of the album is filled out quite nicely with wispy vocal tracks Hardy became famous for. The LP however -much like Spinning Wheel- smells of a dusty old corpse. Yuck.

Bernstein Trio

Intrada sound like they should sell non-renewable energy or home insurance, but they actually re-issue original motion picture soundtracks. A trio of releases caught gimp's eye a couple of years back, when they re-released the OSTs to Burt Reynolds films White Lightning the (admittedly dreadful) sequel Gator. The music for these is brilliant, and both are composed and conducted by Charles Bernstein. Yes, it is country music, but with a deep bassy funky twist… Kinda dirty and menacing. I like. Intrada also re-issued Bernstein's Mr Majestyk OST back in 2009, which is also a good, moody soundtrack. You know something about melons?

Vince