Various Artists [Happy Buzzer - Volume One] 

Here's something very very special, a one off disc that i made myself!, yes the history of this disc is that i used to buy second-hand 'Various Artists' discs, and then find just one tremendous song on it, and not liking the studio album that the track came from, what to do?, well make your own compilation disc!, i would buy CD singles also, in the end all the tracks i liked added up to a full discs worth, that's when i recorded my own disc, culled from 19 different discs, this is truly the cream of songs that i couldn't do without, most of the Artists are unknown, except one or two, also i had to design some artwork for the thing, and a couple of pieces of card from cereal boxes were ideal, and i had some transfers to rub on, i decided to call it 'Happy Buzzer' as the two words were in the track listing, in retrospect i would have called it 'Buzzer Freak' now, but i'm in love with this album, i termed it 'Volume One' because there was going to be a second volume, but it never materialized, it's an eclectic mix of off the beaten track and off beat stuff, of course the theme is it's all Bands rather than Soloists, the whole thing works together so beautifully.

I put this disc together in 1998, the visuals are brilliant, each letter on the front cover is written over haphazardly with a colour marker, it gives it a nice rainbow feel, the track listing on the back has tightly spaced letters, divided up by the track listing in a circle, the whole thing just feels great, but the music is out of this world.

So on this listen, the tracks i liked the most were 1, 4-5, 7-8 & 11, and here's a synopsis of each of these tracks,
1 Flyscreen - Choppersquad - The opening track, i purposely put this as the opener, a short pithy Punk song, i take it it's about a 'gang' of young kids on their bikes, the drums have that sharp smack to them, there's a wonderful sneer to the whole song, best line, 'we stopped to throw some bricks in the canal'. 
4 Slowburn - Flesh And Bone - A nice Grungy track, the opening attack of guitars and drums are great, after that it's a soupy mix, including the vocals, it never lets up to the end, i like the shout of 'yeah' at the end of the first chorus [1:13], after a slight let up, the drums really hit hard [2:27+], the vocalist is almost shouting, love it, best lyric is right at the end 'we're just flesh and bone', almost sarcastically spoken.
5 Uncle Violet - Crushed Velvet - A real druggy song, these guys sound like they were high when they recorded it, very Psychedelic indeed, about making drugs out of mushrooms!, weird instrumentation and timings, a good tune is pushed aside for the gain of sheer monotony, the vocalist is so 'who the hell cares anyway', the bit i love the most is the chorus, 'ooohh ooohh ooohh - nana nana nar', and each of these keeps coming back louder and louder, 'ooohh ooohh ARGHH - nana nana NAAR!', there's an extended sort of guitar jam in which takes it to the outro.
7 Rusty - Ceiling - More lyrical than most, a lazy beat on the drums, but it's that hard thud in the background which makes the track, almost as if the drummer couldn't care less, strong American accent, developing into anger at moments, nice use of crunchy guitars, the ending is inspired, half a verse [4:01+].
8 Campfire Girls - Homework - A nice twang on the bass guitar as an intro, but when the song gets going with riffing guitars [0:09+] it's a great moment, there's a nice guitar jam in the middle, that's gets stronger and stronger [1:49-2:08].
11 Stigmata A Go Go - Riotkeeper - Another really strong lyrical track, a fairly trebly recorded track, but it's got a nice riff throughout from the high guitar, with muffled vocals, which tend to growl angry in the chorus, there's an extended instrumental interlude in the middle [1:35-2:05], where the guitar and drums show off their wares, and at the end there's a nice instrumental jam [3:08-3:52].

Grieg - Piano Concerto [Tanyel/Burgos-London Symphony Orchestra] 

A regular work in my Blog, and this performance clocks up its third entry [14th July 2011 & 22nd January 2010], it's one of my most favourite Piano Concertos, and i never tire of hearing it, and this is a great disc and performance of the work to boot.

Seta Tanyel is Turkish i guess, she recorded this disc in 1990 on the now defunct Collins Classics label, a lovely little Classical label, the visuals for this disc are fantastic, a lovely inventive portrait, nice use of the arms, lovely skin tones, and it's that blue background which is incredible, it really makes the subject stand out, and the shock of curly hair, nicely placed lettering / logo, it's a real quality product.

The middle movement is my favourite, it has what is arguably his best tune [apart from maybe Morning Mood from Peer Gynt], and the first movement is a powerhouse of invention, really thrilling, so surprisingly i enjoyed the third movement the best on this listen, it's a bravura finale, however there's a quiet interlude of magic about a third of the way in, where the themes from the middle movement come back to haunt us again [2:44+], and that delicate dreamy piano playing by Tanyel weaves its magic once again [3:23-6:00], very substantial, not merely a whiff, but a full blown aroma, the ending is tremendous, all the stops are let out in one glorious rumbustious finale [9:22-10:36], i especially like the pianos hammering out the deep chords [9:59-10:09], a great end to a great Concerto.

Here's Julia Fischer playing the third movement on YouTube.

Ernie Watts [Reaching Up] 

A Jazz disc roughly appears in my Blog once a month, that's a shame as it's such an incredible genre of music, i find it very hard to increase my Jazz discs, there's so much that is just ordinary out there, where are all the great Jazz discs hiding?, so it was very refreshing to play this disc today, in a way it's like a long lost friend i meet only every 2 years or so [16th February 2010], there's a tendency to 'sweeten' Jazz so that the un-initiated might like it, so called 'Smooth Jazz' with R&B beats to it, and drum machines / synthesizers, i must admit that i find Ernie Watts rather slick and funky in a way, somewhat reminiscent of this very type of Jazz i disdain, the difference is that Watts has real men as Sidesmen, creating real musical sparks, no mere background beats here, Mulgrew Miller and Jack DeJohnette are especially hard players, pushing the boundaries, and pushing their fellow players to the very limit, it's a tight and excellent Quartet, and Arturo Sandoval on two tracks is dynamite as well.

Ernie Watts is an American Saxophonist, he's now 66 years old, he recorded this disc in 1993, the front cover [photo by Janette Beckman] is only half covered by a oddly cropped photograph, a monotone shot couched in a blue tint, i saw this at my Library back in 1994, and hired it out, liked it enough to get my own copy, it's one of the best Jazz discs i own.

The 3 tracks i liked the best were 2 & 5-6, the best track was again track 6 'Inward Glance', it starts with one of the most delicious short drum rolls ever, with an irresistible snap at the end, not even up to 1 second, Jack DeJohnette has that chug a chug a chug drum vibe throughout, Ernie Watts comes in with such a smooth delivery, he's a 'Soul' Saxophonist, he introduces the opening theme, [0:15-1:27], and what a superb tune it is, it's so good that i thought it was some regular standard, but it's his own tune, the Pianist Mulgrew Miller takes the first solo [1:29-2:40], his opening notes are inspired, he makes it sort of die in another key, tremendous, towards the end of his solo, Jack DeJohnette starts playing around with his chug a chug, speeding it up and going out of sync a bit, but weirdly it works, Watts gets in his solo next [2:40-3:49], and he complexes his original tune, plus he plays louder and impassioned, surprisingly the original theme comes back early [3:51-4:55], and it's such a great tune, it's so good to hear it again, after that Watts improvises on the tune, what a track.

Here's Ernie Watts playing a Saxophone & Piano version of Inward Glance on his Website, gives you some idea what it sounds like, but the Quartet version flows better.

Felix Da Housecat [He Was King] 

Here's another disc from my recent surge to delve into more Electronic Music, i bought his other mix disc called Excursions a while back, nice, but i need to listen to it more, this was nicer, more vocal than i thought it was going to be, sounds very Eighties in a way, but some great musical ideas going on, i'm certainly enjoying uncovering strange musical rocks to see what's underneath, i like delving into a new genre, and Felix Da Housecat is off the beaten track for me.

Felix Da Housecat [real name Felix Stallings Jr], is an American DJ and recording artist, he's now 40 years old, he made this recording quite recently in 2009, the front cover is actually really clever and inventive, it seems to mimic some sort of screen, either computer or TV, probably computer when you look at the lettering in the bottom corner, but i like it, somewhat blurred, and a hand held light source, nice reflections on the glasses, i really like the close up mug shot, caught in mid something, a startled look as if shot on the wing, nice idea.

Well this was only the first time i listened to this disc, so it's not a definitive judgement, each track seems to have a really creative intro, and the whole lot is well recorded, lovely deep bass, the best track was track 9 'Elvi$', yes Elvis with a dollar sign at the end, the opening roulades sound like coming from an accordion, but are no doubt electronic, they're monotonous, but they do the job in driving the music, a fatter nastier beat comes in [0:59+], and the thing nicely builds up, and an even stronger bass comes in [1:13+], all these layers add up to great satisfaction, in some ways it's a stop / start thing, some of the instrumentation just comes to end [2:42+], which is musically satisfying, only to then start up again a minute later, like waves and cycles, but it's all well done, and on this track very addictive, one of the more instrumental tracks, i need to give the disc another listen to really get into it.

Here's Felix Da Housecat performing Elvi$ on YouTube.

Sibelius - Violin Concerto [Kremer/Muti-Philharmonia Orchestra] 

Well from one Kremer disc from yesterday, to another Kremer disc today, it's good to hear him again, this is the twelfth time that Sibelius's Violin Concerto gets into my Blog, but the first time for this disc, in fact this is the first time i've played this disc, yet another Ebay purchase, and quite a rare disc, it's coupled with the Schumann Concerto, a work that hasn't really taken to the core repertoire, but it's good to have listened to this today, a work which certainly needs more listening to get into.

Like i said yesterday, Gidon Kremer is Latvian, he's now 65, he made this recording in 1983, the front cover photograph is a good one, a good duo portrait, in jackets and sweaters, nicely lighted, nice contour shades on the faces.

It was the first movement which moved me the most, it's recorded in a somewhat reverberant acoustic, but everything seems clear and precise, Kremer paces the opening nicely, when the orchestra come in forte it's a great moment [5:34-6:30], especially the two powerful brass explosions [5:48 & 6:19], nice and rasping for the second one, the bassoon at the end of the first cadenza is a nice touch by Sibelius [9:34-9:50], the way it bridges things nicely, three quartets the way through there's a strong tutti from the orchestra [11:20-12:15], again lots of rasping brass, and right after there's a sad solo oboe [12:16-12:35], it's just the perfect denouement after the brass forte, Kremer plays some lovely high treble notes, ending on a nice trill [13:48-14:25], the closing moments are thrilling, especially from the orchestra [15:30-15:38] in the background.

Here's SoYoung Yoon playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto on YouTube.

Various Composers - Violin Showpieces [Kremer/Chailly-London Symphony Orchestra] 

This is a lovely disc on the Philips Silver Line label, i didn't even know this disc existed until fairly recently, and another purchase from Ebay, it's a disc which concentrates on the French / Belgian repertoire, veering away from usual Ravel / Saint-Saens / Sarasate etc, and concentrating on more rarer works [except for the Chausson], this fills a nice gap in my disc collection, though short on content [56 minutes], it's good on quality, and of course Kremer is great.

Gidon Kremer is Latvian, born in 1947, he's now 65, he recorded this disc in 1980-1981, the front cover booklet is fantastic, a swirl of colour [photography by Koji Kitagawa], like some sort of multi-coloured galaxy, i have a thing about colours, i was always amazed by the strong colours of lights on the Christmas tree, as well the lettering above is wonderfully placed, a great visual product.

Well i have to admit yet again, that it's the Chausson work that really moved me the most, it was only a few days ago that i talked about this piece with Kyung-Wha Chung [1st August 2012], and that's the way my music goes, sometimes it takes ages to get round to listening to the same work again, other times i'm listening to the same work the next day almost!, so the challenge is to hear the same work, yet hear different things in there, i think that the Kremer recording is clearer in the orchestra, you can nicely hear the woodwind, and the deep twang of the double basses!, or maybe it's the dull thud of the timpani! [1:37-1:53], certainly when Kremer comes in [1:57+] he's a lot more up from, you feel you're in the middle of it all as you listen to these performers, and yet there's losses too i guess, i always find the Chausson work to be full of mystery, like something swirling out of the mists, and a vague and ghostly presence also benefits, i like Kremer's complex passagework where he whips up the music into a frenzy by the orchestra [7:26-8:16], Kremer plays the high treble work passage with affection [10:22-11:05], creating a shy innocence, and afterward the more passionate and spirited section by Kremer whips up the orchestra into another heady froth [13:12-13:28], i must admit that this music has a tendency to make me close my eyes, and just revel in the music, there's a sort of a coda at the end, Kremer plays some delicious trills [13:46-14:05], and the flute mimics the violin at the end, a nice touch, and Kremer sends those trills higher and higher [14:52-15:37], until they come down at the end, lovely birdsong like.

Here's Gidon Kremer playing Chausson's Poeme on YouTube.

Brahms - Violin Concerto [Ughi/ Sawallisch-Philharmonia Orchestra] 

Another Ebay disc, i've never seen this disc on Ebay before or since, and i glad i snapped it up while it was going, the only thing wrong about this disc is the fact that it doesn't include any other music, so just 40 minutes of music on one disc, only half filled!, Brahms's Violin Concerto is a basic staple of my Compact Disc collection, there was a time when i would have said that it's my favourite Violin Concerto, but that's been eclipsed by Lalo, Sibelius, Bruch, and Mendelssohn to name but four, there's no denying that it's a big 'stodgy' Concerto very much like the Beethoven, which is one of the reasons that i don't look upon the Beethoven as truly great, also it's in D Major, an 'easy' key for the violin, and maybe not reaching into uncharted territory, and doing some surprising things [though of course Brahms especially made this Concerto very difficult].

Uto Ughi is Italian, he is now 68, and also is a Conductor, he recorded this disc in 1983, the front cover photograph is excellent, a duo portrait of the two Artists, upper body shots, another warm glow photo, very much couched in orange, interesting attire, and a background which might seem cluttered, but i find it interesting and even apt.

The movement that i found most compelling was the first, it's massive, over half the Concerto long, and i can see how Brahms based his Concerto on the Beethoven, it's in the same key of course [D Major], and the structure of the three movements with a huge first movement dwarfing the others, .

Here's on Julia Fischer playing the first movement on YouTube, with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting.