The Giving of Thanks

This was so fun when we did it for Hallowe'en, let's do it again...

Happy (U.S.) Thanksgiving!



"Turkeey" by Ed Hall, from Love Poke Here (1990)

I never quite figured out why there are cat noises on a song called "Turkeey" [sic]... Ed Hall reuniting this weekend in Austin - so maybe I'll ask them. I expect to be talkin' about this album soon enough.



"Milking the Turkey Jam" by Grateful Dead, live at Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, CA (live rehearsal, 3/21/1975)

Or "Stronger Than Dirt," per the Blues for Allah album (1975). Jazzy, jammy holidays. David Crosby in session apparently.

No, not "Cold Turkey"... Can't find "Turkey Shoot"... No Sandler, nor that recent click-bait crap... Wow, what else is there?



"Ağlarsa Anam Ağlar" by Üç Hür-El, from 7" single (1973)

Yeah, because Anatolian garage-prog psych comes from Turkey! As usual, I'm thankful to Beyond the Wizards Sleeve for this one.

That was harder than expected...

Too late, I realized my mistake: I was focusing too much on the main dish. Where were the songs by The Cranberries? ... using green-bean casserole as a metaphor? ... on the Cornucopia [image above]?



"Thank You, Friends" by Big Star, from Third (1978)

Who needs a jazzy, jammy, Grateful holiday when you could have a sneering, sarcastic Thanksgiving? In the spirit of the season!



"Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden, from The Number of the Beast (1982)

And/or??

Not sure if advertisements and Vevo are going to make or break YouTube - not cool...

The Holy Mountain - Jodorowsky (1973)

I have seen El Topo (1970, S&S #588), and I'd listened to this one's soundtrack (but didn't realize that Don Cherry was part of it), and I knew that John Lennon ponied up some dough for the production.

Produced by Allen Klein, plus rumors of George Harrison almost starring!

The Holy Mountain (La montaña sagrada)
dir. Alexandro Jodorowsky. 1973, USA.
Sight & Sound 2012: Critics' #588 / Directors' #224
Eye for Film movie review ... 366 Weird Movies essay
DVD from Amazon [Blu-Ray / Box-set]
No streaming...



***NSFW*** The Holy Mountain trailer (1973)

Patron: The cross was a mushroom. And the mushroom was also the Tree of Good & Evil. The philosophical stone of the alchemists was LSD. The Book of the Dead is a trip, and The Apocalypse describes a mescaline experience.

Lessee... my notes read: "SHOCKING (images)! NONSENSE (story)!!" Well, maybe not completely. More psychedelic mysticism than traditional surrealism - something to do with the ultimate quest for immortality, ego-death, metempsychosis and/or spiritual ascension. I noticed various symbols of the Tarot, but probably missed a lot and couldn't actually interpret the ones I did see... apparently, the main character was intended as The Fool. Along with some quite disturbing sights, the experience features a lot of fantastical visuals and design. This film definitely looks great, but watch your dosage.

A still from only the post-ritual chanting & shaving credits intro... already. I really can't explain much about the film, so have a bunch of intriguing pix.

Super cover reconstruction from Che cosa sono le nuvole!

Oops, most of these are from the Alchemist's Tower, where transformation occurs. O well, no Aztec horned toads battle, no significant animal trauma, always a lot of Jesuses, one carried by a Christopher, a pack of whores with a chimpanzee in tow (Chucho-Chucho)... and that's just in the first City of Iniquity section of the tripartite structure.

Why yes, primary colors do feature prominently.

Fortunately the exotic animals fare much better than goats, et cetera... I wrote a lot of stuff like "POE," "precious bodily fluids," and "the Philosopher's Load?"

A series of introductions to powerful forces of industry, art, planets, cosmetics, whatever. Pretty interesting, and often funny/satirical. The quest hits the road. Despite lederhosen and projectile-lactation-by-jaguar, the final section tends to drag a bit... until the big reveal.

World on a Wire - Fassbinder (1973)

Following the BFI's Sight & Sound poll, I'm exploring the highbrow fancypants world of film one at a time throughout September... and then blogging about it.

I first heard about this lost gem of weirdness from Salon when it was re-released last year.



World on a Wire (Welt am Draht)
dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder. 1973, West Germany.
Roger Ebert's movie review ... Criterion essay
DVD/Blu-Ray from the Criterion Collection
Watch via Hulu-Plus



World on a Wire trailer (2011 re-release)

The only Fassbinder I'd ever seen was Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974, S&S #93), a used/rental Criterion DVD purchased from a going-out-of-business Cactus Music & Video - thankfully, since reborn. While that Sirk-ian melodrama sounds more typical of his movie-making, this one's a whole other thing: a PK Dick-Vonnegut-Kubrick-ian sci-fi headtrip epic. Two things I didn't realize going into this: (1) it was a two-parter TV movie, and (2) it's 3½ hours long!



So, yeah. The story moves fairly slowly, almost hypnotically. Turn off your subtitles, relax, and float downstream. It's not that nothing happens, just that Fassbinder seems more interested in filming sleek early-'70s auto design, groovy decor and sumptuous interiors. O, and so many mirrors! Every once in awhile, you'll visit some freaky-deaky cabaret / nightclub / dinner theatre. Or just an art-deco pool party - be sure to wear your suit padded with fake muscles. But the majority of Part 1 occurs in the ultra-modern offices of IKZ (das Institut für Kybernetik und Zukunftsforschung, the Institute for Cybernetics and Futurology). Various somethings are afoot, death and disappearance, problems with identity unit 0001 ("Einstein"), Ali is on security detail, the boss acts like kind of a jerk, the old conflict between the purity of scientific research and the commercial potential from the practical applications of that work.

Nice, unexpected use of Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross" as well...



I didn't really get to write too much about Alphaville in the back half of yesterday's Godard post, but one reason for choosing it was that it seemed a nice thematic transition into World on a Wire. Having never seen either of these movies, I couldn't have been more right. Not only are there thematic similarities, especially in each's core idea of a computer-controlled world... But the stylistic focus on interiors and design elements also carries over, although Godard used a deep noir-ish B&W, and Fassbinder's color scheme is kaleidoscopic bordering on garish. And structurally, both make fairly striking breaks in tone about halfway through. For this one, Part 2 moves away from mystery & intrigue over to more of an action/chase scenario. Also, there ends up being quite a bit of Sirk-ian melodrama after all - with all the secrets, love interests, suspicions, double-crosses, and the like.



I was really hoping that "Finnish poetess Araba Suukoonen" was real (like Jean Parvulesco in Breathless), but sadly not. Anyway, things get pretty crazy as our hero learns more about his grim fate. In making his escape from IKZ, he has a breakdown in a hallway that can be nothing other than a bright-line homage to the ending of Alphaville. Sports cars go flying through the city streets in chase. Once he makes it to his cabin in the woods, he finally has his sniper rifle! But he then gets attacked by a shape-shifting German Shepherd (what are they called in Germany?), then a tree, and then a giant explosion probably triggered by a tropical bird.

Sorry, maybe I should have ***SPOILER***'ed all that.

Dazed and confused, the hero stands in the road flagging down traffic. He's finally picked up by a Rolls Royce... the driver opens the door... he gets in the back seat... and sitting next to him is... Lemmy Caution!! Maybe not necessarily the character (maybe so?), but absolutely the lead actor from Alphaville. My cranium very nearly exploded. So, the movie continues to wrap up, but for me that was really the culmination. It all ends up with one last bizarre fancy-dress ball, one last making of the love (for tomorrow we die), one last shoot-out, one last switcheroo, one last "Albatross."

As the Criterion trailer says: "The Matrix before The Matrix!"

Tarot Deck Suisserock

I'm really liking this "full album" thing on YouTube (made possible by the lifting of the 10-min limit on videos). Not sure how long it will last.



Tarot Disc 1, by Walter Wegmüller (1973)

So, here's all of Tarot, one of Julian Cope's Top 50 Albums from his book Krautrocksampler (1995). Music by the Ash Ra Tempel / Cosmic Jokers contingent (#6, 1973). The singer was some sort of Swiss hippie prophet or something like that.



Tarot Disc 2, by Walter Wegmüller (1973)

Each track has a Tarot card theme (in German), and seer Walter Wegmüller even designed a complete psychedelic Tarot deck to go with the album. Check out some of his art!



Okay, I'm off now - blog's on auto-pilot from here on...

Top 10 Albums of 1973

Don't really think about 1973 too much, huh? That's because it's so overburdened with prog! Certainly a banner year for the continental art-prog of Gong and Magma. I was tempted to just make a Top 10 Proggy Albums list, but that would have left out some real winners...


#10 Tales from Topographic Oceans - Yes


"The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)"
from Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973)

Genre - Prog
Official - yesworld.com/
Myspace - myspace.com/yesworld
Location - London, UK

Review - Rolling Stone
Download - Amazon, iTunes
Lala - Tales from Topographic Oceans
Purchase - Amazon

As with many of these, I'm only half kidding. I mean, it's named Tales from Topographic Oceans! Why not Songs from the Bottom of the Sky, or Grapes from the Horizon's Elbow? It's a double-concept-album of four side-long tracks, based on the Shastric scriptures - and probably other fourfold things, like elements, seasons, card suits... Who knows? It was this work that inpired Rick Wakeman to sarcastically eat his dinner during a concert - and this is a man who wore a cape in earnest! It has every hilariously overblown prog excess imaginable, and yet (or therefore) it's the only Yes album I actually listen to. Also their best Roger Dean album cover, in gatefold.


#9 Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield


"Tubular Bells" from Tubular Bells (1973)

Genre - Electric Neo-Classical
Official - mikeoldfield.org/
Myspace - myspace.com/michaeloldfield
Location - Bahamas

Reviews - Ground and Sky
Download - iTunes, Amazon
Lala - Tubular Bells Digital
Purchase - Amazon

Kinda proggish too, kinda new age. Mainly known for the opening section, used in The Exorcist natch. But familiarity with that part won't prepare you for the rest. The highlight has got to be the announcement and layering of all the various instruments, building up to... well, perhaps you can guess.


#8 Red Hash - Gary Higgins


"Thicker Than a Smokey" from Red Hash (1973)

Genre - Folk
Official/Myspace - myspace.com/redhash
Location - Albuquerque, NM

Review - Pitchfork
Download - Drag City Records, iTunes
Purchase - Amazon

Rediscovered forgotten indie self-release, thanks to a Six Organs of Admittance cover version and APB on Higgins. Excellent earthy, stoney, rocky acoustic guitar folk, shoulda-been classic along the lines of Nick Drake or someone similar.


#7 Live - Genesis


"The Knife" [live, but not the version] from Genesis Live (1973)

Genre - Prog Rock
Official - genesis-music.com/
Myspace - myspace.com/genesismusic
Location - London, UK

Review - Ground and Sky
Download - Amazon, iTunes
Lala - Genesis Live
Purchase - Amazon

As Rik Mayall once said, "I'm so bored I might as well be listening to Genesis." But that was once Phil Collins had gone from amazing progressive drummer to comfortable pop hitmaker. And it would get much worse indeed after the early '80s... Anyway, this was my first introduction to the Gabriel era, which quickly overshadowed the contemporary Abacab era (1981) for me. The same year's next Selling England by the Pound (1973) begins the move towards a more straightforward sound, hinting at the prog-pop to come. But this caps a great 3-record period of heavier rocking and deeper British-style prog by my personal favorite from that scene.


#6 The Cosmic Jokers - The Cosmic Jokers


"Galactic Joke (b)" from The Cosmic Jokers (1973)

Genre - Kraut Jam
All Music Guide - Cosmic Jokers
Location - Cologne, Germany

Review - Dr. Schluss' Garage of Psychedelic Obscurities
Purchase - Amazon

Haha! The galactic joke is on you - and the musicians here. Kosmische label-head offered drugs to jam, recorded, ripped, and sold it up! You'd think Ash Ra Tempel and Klaus Schulze would be wiser upfront, but they had to find out by hearing themselves playing in the record stores. Not only that, but there were like four Cosmic Jokers albums mixed up out of these drug-jam-parties! It's a trip.



#5 Tres Hombres - ZZ Top


"Jesus Just Left Chicago" [live 1982] from Tres Hombres (1973)

Genre - Blues Rock
Official - zztop.com/
Myspace - myspace.com/zztop
Location - Houston, TX

Review - Pop Matters
Download - Amazon, iTunes
Lala - Tres Hombres
Purchase - Amazon

Basically, after the pre-Eliminator greatest-hits Best of... (1977), this is the ZZ Top record to grab. I mean, it's got "La Grange" and a great batch of album cuts. The "little old band from Texas" makes good!


#4 Space Ritual - Hawkwind


"Brainstorm" from Space Ritual (1973)

Genre - Punk-Prog Space-Rock
Official - hawkwind.com/
Myspace - myspace.com/hawkwindofficial
Location - London, UK

Review - Pitchfork
Download - Amazon, iTunes
Lala - Space Ritual
Purchase - Amazon

Space-rock pioneers' seminal album, sci-fi hippies, heavy metal thunder with electronic waves and saxophonic flights, deep void exploration. Although not on the record, I gotta link this video for "Silver Machine!"


#3 Stranded and For Your Pleasure - Roxy Music


"Mother of Pearl" from Stranded (1973)

Genre - Post-Glam Art-Rock
Official - roxymusic.co.uk//
Myspace - myspace.com/roxymusicglam
Location - London, UK

Review - Stranded / Pleasure
Download Stranded - Amazon, iTunes
Download Pleasure - Amazon, iTunes
Lala - Stranded, For Your Pleasure
Purchase Roxy Music - Amazon

Roxy Music continues building from their debut (#7, 1972), although they lost Brian Eno between For Your Pleasure and Stranded. Pretty much a tie, but I'll give the nod to the latter one - if only just because "Mother of Pearl" is some of my favorite Roxy music.


#2 Raw Power - The Stooges


"Search and Destroy" from Raw Power (1973)

Genre - Proto-Punk Garage-Rock
Official - iggyandthestoogesmusic.com
Myspace - myspace.com/iggyandthestooges
Location - Ann Arbor, MI

Review - Guy's Music Review Website
Download - Amazon, iTunes
Lala - Raw Power
Purchase - Amazon

Like the review Guy says, "get your hands on a copy of Raw Power and listen." Fortunately, no-one actually makes you choose between it and Fun House - they're both completely available to everyone!


#1 Future Days - Can


"Future Days" from Future Days (1973)

Genre - Krautrock
Official - spoonrecords.com/
Myspace - myspace.com/holgerczukay
Location - Cologne, Germany

Review - Ground and Sky
Download - Amazon, iTunes
Lala - Future Days
Purchase - Amazon

On one hand, I am not a huge Can expert. On the other, I've heard enough of their classic period to know this album stands shoulder-to-shoulder with, if not head-and-shoulders above, the acknowledged classics of Tago Mago (1971) and Ege Bamyasi (#4, 1972). A bit more mellow, sure... But that just proved they were masters of all they could imagine. Mandatory!



Of course, there were several gigantic albums much considered classics, and they probably belong on the list. But they don't fit the weirdo theme, so I excluded them. I'll at least acknowledge that these are quality records: Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and David Bowie's Alladin Sane.

And one reason I probably don't think much of 1973 is that I actually have never really listened to several other supposed classics. So, if for nothing other than my own to-do list: Brian Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets, Berlin from Lou Reed, John Cale's Paris 1919, A Wizard, A True Star by Todd Rundgren (producer of 1973's New York Dolls), the King Crimson of Larks' Tongues in Aspic. Probably also Gram Parsons' GP, and Solid Air by John Martyn. And that's not even dipping into the unknown Krautrock albums of Faust IV, Sand's Golem, Golem's Orion Awakes, and possibly Brainticket's 3rd album, Celestial Ocean. Lots to do there!