Impact (Parte Tre)

The rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you’ve heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

With this very simple rule in mind, all I had to think of was the albums that blew my mind on first listen. Not albums that eventually clicked with me – although that would make an interesting list (it would include The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society and more than a few FZ albums) – but the albums that when it was over, all I could say was, “Holy fuck, this was INCREDIBLE.”

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Public Service Announcement

Via Dangerous Minds, hat tip Mike McCroy.

Posted in Frank Zappa, Heh Heh, Miscellany, YouTubery | 6 Comments

Impact (Part Deux)

I was really quite enthusiastic about the whole idea when Barry first tagged me on Facebook and proposed it. At first, it sounded all too simple, too easy.

The rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you’ve heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

Hmmmm. Fifteen albums that had a big impact on me in fifteen minutes.
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Posted in Music, Personal, Pop Cult | 36 Comments

New Zappa Release: Congress Shall Make No Law

By now I guess you all know about the Zappa event in Baltimore that is to take place on September 19. A couple of days ago, a new Zappa Records release was announced for this date:

September 19, 2010 marks the 25th anniversary of Zappa’s testimony on Capitol Hill and at Annapolis against the censorship of free expression by artists. In commemoration of this event, Zappa Records is preparing to release ‘Congress Shall Make No Law,’ a CD containing Frank Zappa’s testimony.

More info about the event here.

Update Sep 13 2010: Here’s the ZFT announcement as featured on their mailing-list from Sep 11, included for archival purposes. Pre-order link!

Posted in Frank Zappa, In The News, Official Releases, Politics | 71 Comments

Impact (Part One)

If you’re on Facebook, you may have come across a recent meme there which states simply:

15 albums that have had a big impact on me.
Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you’ve heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

Myself, Alex and Urbangraffito ended up posting our fifteen minutes of fame albums “that have had a big impact on us”, and thought it might make for interesting blog fodder. As first in a series, here’s my list – in no particular order, and annotated for good measure.

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Richie Hayward – In Memorium

Little Feat co-founder Richie Hayward has died after a long battle with liver disease earlier this month on August 12, 2010. He was 64.
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Posted in Alumni, In The News, Miscellany, Music, Pop Cult, YouTubery | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Gil Scott-Heron – Me and the Devil (2010)

I recall the first time I ever encountered the work of Gil Scott-Heron, I was in my mid teens and I had just borrowed a load of records, among them his 1971 release, Pieces of a Man from the public library on a whim (I had never heard of him before). I did that a lot back then – borrow whole batches of vinyl records during the summer vacation and listen to albums all week long. When I got home and slipped Pieces of a Man onto the turntable for the first time, Gil Scott-Heron blew my mind, especially with spoken word and vocal jazz tracks like “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, “Home Is Where The Hatred Is” and “Lady Day & John Coltrane” (all video clips below) to name just a few.
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Heavy Metal Britannia

Any metalheads in the audience? Oh there you are. Check out this wonderful BBC4 documentary on the rise (and fall?) of British Heavy Metal music, which aired on March 5th, 2010. Part One:

Continued: 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Now pardon me as I’m off to run to the hills in a slightly paranoid fashion, you sweet child in time you.

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Polygon Head Plays The Black Page #1

So, you’re interested in learning to play The Black Page #1 on guitar? Check out this video from Polygon Head, angrily shake your fist at the guitar gods, and go back to your Neil Young Harvest songbook (that’s what I did):

Hat tip: Joe Williamson

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Some Nostalgia For The Old Folks…

As a long time fan of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, the names of particular musicians have threaded through much of the music I have listened to and collected throughout the years. Names such as Andy Cahan, Lawrence ‘Stash’ Wagner, and Tom Leavey. Together and separately, through compositions and through associations (sometimes as members and as contributors) they formed links with such bands as Frank Zappa & The Mothers, Lowell George & The Factory, Little Feat, and Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, and Geronimo Black.
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