Maurice's opportunity to harp on about albums that he loves. Purely because he hasn't had a radio show in years and wants to enforce his stupid opinions on others.
The
late 60s to early 70s saw a popular run of troubadours, aka singer /
songwriters who were usually known for performing acoustic songs,
often of a confessional nature or trying to make sense of the world
through their work. The best ones sought out new musical territory as
they progressed through their work.
Welcome
to episode 154 of Love That Album podcast.
Joni
Mitchell’s run of albums from the late 60s onwards were beloved of
fans of songwriters. She had a way with unusual chord progressions
and very personal storytelling. Very much a part of the Laurel Canyon
scene, albums like Ladies of the Canyon and Clouds were well received
acoustic guitar and piano based records. She evolved stylistically
from folk based pop to pop with jazz leanings over a run of albums in
the 70s.
In
1976, Joni released Hejira, a collection of songs related to travel –
flight, hotel rooms, the musician’s life versus domesticity,
affairs had on tour. Many people consider her earlier album Blue with
its songs of love and its failings to be her masterpiece. As great as
that is, I’m on team Hejira. It was written while Joni was on the
road, and it sounds like the wide open plains and deserts it was
probably written in. The compositions are incredibly dense, but the
real secret weapon to the success of the album is Weather Report
bassist, Jaco Pastorius.
Once
again, I am thrilled to be joined by film writer, Kerry Gately
Fristoe and guitarist, Shane Pacey. We look into Joni’s history,
the themes behind Hejira, compare the differences between that album
and Blue, and we also find time to diss each other’s musical tastes
in other areas…..as you do. These two fellow music enthusiasts
always bring something great to the conversation....looking forward
already to their next appearance.
Have
a read of Kerry’s excellent essays
at https://prowlerneedsajump.wordpress.com/author/echidnabot/ and https://www.brattleblog.brattlefilm.org/author/kerry-fristoe/
Shane
has just released a wonderful album with his new band Pacey, King,
and Doley. You can order a copy of Better Together from their
Bandcamp
site, https://paceykingdoley.bandcamp.com/album/better-together
Download
this episode of LTA from wherever you prefer getting your podcasts.
Love
That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to
http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.
You
can send me feedback at rrrkitchen@yahoo.com.au (written or mp3
voicemail) or join the Facebook group at
http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum
If
you’d consider writing an iTunes review I’d be immensely
grateful. However, it’d be even better if you told a friend about
the podcast and Pantheon – at a barbecue, over coffee, on social
media….whatever way you choose, consider me grateful.
As
a kid, I was always told to “reach for the sky”.....I think what
they meant was “reach out to Sky”....or something like that.
Welcome
to episode 153 of Love That Album.
First
of all, thanks for your patience. I didn't get to put out the planned
Joni Mitchell episode in December 2021, so that was deferred to
January 2022. That then got deferred due to the bastard bug hitting
one of my co hosts.
I
still really wanted to put something out this month, so a chance
encounter with a couple of old tapes from 1984 ended up being my
solution. At that time, I was attending RMIT in Melbourne, and
spending valuable study time doing campus radio programs. Whenever I
heard Australian / British supergroup Sky was touring Australia, I
would get the station management to arrange for me to get to speak to
the band. The fact that a band as hugely popular in Australia and
Europe such as Sky would speak to a young shmuck like me speaks
volumes as to how lovely they were.
In
March 1984, Sky toured Australia for the first time without founding
member and classical guitar maestro John Williams. He'd left a few
weeks earlier to get back to other projects he felt he'd neglected
over the course of playing in a band.
On
this episode of LTA, I'm presenting two interviews. The first is the
interview I did with drummer Tristan Fry and pianist Steve Gray on
that tour. The second was recorded either later that year or sometime
the next (I can't be 100% sure) with John Williams on his first tour
after leaving the band. Bear in mind that both of these interviews
were recorded when I was pretty young and had no real experience in
writing interview questions. Regardless of what I asked, Tristan,
Steve and John always answered with great detail and professionalism.
My
thanks go out to David Green, my manager at 3ST for arranging these
interviews (you can hear him on the one with Tristan and Steve). I
also want to thank my long time friend Pete Anzo for loaning me his
cassette deck to rip these interviews from tape to my laptop.
If
you want to hear an early episode of the podcast where Michael
Pursche (of Sitting In a Bar In Adelaide fame) and I speak in depth
about Sky, and I speak with Tristan Fry for the first time in a
little under 30 years, go to
https://lovethatalbumpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/11/love-that-album-episode-33-music-of-sky.html
Download
this episode of LTA from Spotify, Stitcher or iTunes (search for
“Love That Album podcast”)....or wherever you prefer getting your
podcasts.
Love
That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to
http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.
If
you’d consider writing an iTunes review I’d be immensely
grateful. However, it’d be even better if you told a friend about
the podcast and Pantheon – at a barbecue, over coffee, on social
media….whatever way you choose, consider me grateful.
It has been years since
I've written a blog post that was not a blurb serving as an
enticement to listen to an episode of Love That Album podcast (or See
Hear). I put so much time into assembling the spoken words, I never
thought about putting the written word out into the ether.
That's going to change
now – at least for this one post....for a couple of reasons.
Normally, the end of
year podcast episode features me asking many of my regular co hosts
to come up with their favourite discoveries of the year (released at
any time, but the album had to be new to them). In 2021, as a
podcast, Love That Album turned 10 years old. I asked those same
people to talk about a favourite record released over the lifetime of
the show....I didn't want to repeat that format for the end of year,
so decided to record a “regular” episode....
….and then I received
some personal news that made me lack any sort of motivation to record
a show this month.
So, here I am still
with thoughts in my head about music I've heard this year and want to
put them out there – the written form seems ideal. I can type as
much or as little as I want, and you can read whatever amount that
interests you. There will be many more year-end lists out there –
mine is just another put out into the overcrowded space vying for
your attention.....doesn't mean I'm not going to submit it.
So, in no
particular order, here are 10 favourite releases I heard for
the first time this year – some new, some not.
1)
Various - Pyramid Pieces Volume 1 (Modal
& Eco-Jazz From Australia 1969-79)
and Volume 2 (Modern
Jazz Australia 1969-1980)
(2020 / 2021)
Anyone who knows me realises I'm a sucker for a great anthology, and in particular, I really love discovering Australian anthologies - I love local music history. It was late in the year that I came across this
pair of albums which will be an ongoing series from The Roundtable
Records.
I'm a fan of the local jazz scene, but my knowledge of Australian seventies jazz is very limited (it could rightly be argued my music knowledge overall is limited). There are so many comps of the local
rock scene of every era, and even some great contemporary jazz comps (The Pulse,
Jazz In Melbourne). However, I was not aware of anything that attempted to look back. Pyramid Pieces attempts to rectify that.
Some of these names were known to me (Galapgos Duck, John Sangster,
Allan Zavod) and others were not (Bruce Cale, Charlie Munro). All the
music here is wondrous – maybe not taking jazz into new directions,
but definitely providing compositions and performances worthy of any
jazz lovers' attention.
Sydney's JazzCo/Op are showcased with a piece called A La Coltrane
dedicated to the giant of music. It's more Atlantic era Coltrane
inspired, than the free jazz period Strangely enough, the structure
of the piece reminds me of a Dexter Gordon tune called Tanya, but
certainly Howie Smith's tone reflects that of Coltrane's approach
over Dex's.
Another Sydney group, Out To Lunch, as their name implies also
dedicate their work to a jazz great, this time Eric Dolphy. Their
piece “What The Thunder Said” seems to combine both the free jazz
of Dolphy and some compositional elements.
Probably my favourite piece overall is a composition by Allan Zavod
called “Circles”. Many people will remember him as a pianist for
Frank Zappa, but he was already an important jazz figure in Australia
before Zappa came calling. Apparently, he was offered a scholarship
to Berklee after being observed by Duke Ellington on an Australian
tour. How life changing was THAT moment!!!
I look forward to future volumes in this series.
2) Various - The
Daptone Super Soul Revue Live! At The Apollo (2021)
One of my big regrets was never going to see Sharon Jones & The
Dap Kings. She was here a number of times, so it's not like I never
had the opportunity. I know two people that were invited from the
audience to dance on stage with her and the band.
I've been a huge fan of the retro soul sound of the last couple of
decades. Melbourne in particular has a great scene (let's see what
happens post Covid). I will speak a little further about that down
the list.
Daptone was a sound unto itself...so many great artists on its label
– Naomi Shelton, Charles Bradley, The Budos Band...but Sharon Jones
was the label's queen. Back in 2014, Daptone held a 3 night soul
revue at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem (which was no stranger to live
albums). I don't know why it took 7 years for the recordings to see
the light of day, but thank goodness they did.
The studio albums of these artists are mighty fine, but there's an
energy and excitement from the live performances of all the acts that
makes this collection astounding. Most acts get two or three songs
each, but the label's king and queen, Bradley and Jones get lengthier
sets. Jones was in the midst of cancer treatment, but that didn't
stop her giving the performance her everything.
Get this collection – play it loud.
3) The Seven Ups
- The Old World (2021)
As long as I'm looking at the soul revival, I need to include the
latest effort from Melbourne band The Seven Ups.
As I mentioned, the Melbourne soul revival over the last decade or
two has been incredibly strong with bands like The Bamboos and Emma
Donovan & The Putbacks amongst many others. I've been a fan of
The Seven Ups for a few years with their heavy groove oriented soul
(a big asset to many of the local bands).
The Old World puts the soul sound into a blender with the style of
Ennio Morricone writing a sci/fi soundtrack. “Abode of the Clouds”
belongs in a 70s Blaxploitation film and the title track is like a
mini symphony mixing cool noirish jazz and some elements of
melancholy.
4) The Hard Ons -
I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken (2021)
I'm sure this latest Hard-Ons release is on a lot of local favourites
lists this year. Tim Rogers also released an excellent album with You
Am I earlier in the year, so the news that he had become the new lead
singer of The Hard-Ons AND they were releasing an album was a
surprise – to me anyway.
I think there was concern in some camps that Rogers was not the right
man for the job – I hope that feeling has been dismissed. He's was
a bona fide fan of the band and he wasn't trying to fit them into the
You Am I image. This is a great selection of punk pop tunes –
something the Hard-Ons have always excelled in - and I hope that
long time fans are as happy with this as they are with, say, Yummy.
Favourite songs – Shove It Down, Home Sweet Home, and the great
lead off single Hold Tight.
5) Harmonium –
Harmonium (1974)
Earlier on this year, I was asked by head honcho at Pantheon
Podcasts, Christian Swain, if I was interested in interviewing the
leader and songwriter of 70s folk / prog group Harmonium for LTA. I
had no idea who Harmonium was but gave them a listen – within 20
minutes, I knew I needed Serge Fiori on the show. Harmonium released
3 studio albums and a live record in the 70s before calling it quits.
The music became more progressive as they went along.
Late in 2020 saw the release of an orchestrated reworking of all the
band's material into a symphony. This sort of reinterpretation can be
a dangerous – the results aren't always great. However, given that
Harmonium's folk roots developed into more complex arrangements as
they went on (including use of orchestra on their final studio
album), Harmonium Symphonique seemed not only inevitable but a
must-do project.
As
part of my research for the interview, I listened not only to the
original Harmonium albums but recordings from their contemporaries in
the Montreal prog scene – all very different, but all part of the
same story. The debut self titled album from 1974 was full of
gorgeous melodies and harmonies that were dreamlike. I speak no
French, but it doesn't matter – the music tells the stories and the
vocals are like another instrument. It seems that the most popular of
their albums is the second one, Les
Cinq Saisons. Make no mistake, it's a magnificent album. But my pick
for this list is the debut with what I term complex simplicity –
the songs are hummable and sound simple, but underneath is a beauty
in the composition and arrangements that probably took a lot of time
to get right.
6) Jane Weaver –
Flock (2021)
Jane Weaver was another
musician I'd never heard of until this year. Pat Monaghan at
Rocksteady Records had put up a post about her latest album Flock
being in the store. I like to check out Pat's recommendations –
some are in my wheelhouse, some are not, but he's someone whose
opinion I take note of.
Turns
out she's been recording for years and this was her 11th
album. It turns out that this was probably an ideal album for me to
get introduced to her work. An interview in The Guardian cited that
her tastes and previous work leaned towards “Lebanese
torch songs, 80s Russian aerobics records and Australian punk”. I
will search some of her earlier music out, but Flock still has enough
of a mixture of pop, psych, Krautrock and dreampop to keep her
versatility cred running.
The
opening cut on the album “Heartlow” is a dreamy piece of pop that
centres around a keyboard motif played over and over again while the
rest of the melody works its way around it – Jane's voice is
ethereal. Another tune that shows something of a psych feel to me is
Modern Reputation. It reminds me of a tune performed by Elephant's
Memory in the film Midnight Cowboy, Old Man Willow.
There's
also electronica included on this album, but the bottom line is there
are wonderful pop melodies that kept me hypnotised and returning to
this album a lot over the year.
7)
Charm of Finches – Your Company (2019)
You
know how you go down YouTube wormholes that you regret because your
time has been wasted? Occasionally, you discover something
wonderful.....such was the case earlier this year where I was led to
a film clip of a Melbourne folk duo, Charm of Finches.
The
duo are sisters Mabel
& Ivy Windred-Wornes. The song that came to my attention was a
tune called Treading Water. It's a heartbreaking song about a
relationship where both partners know it's reached a point where it's
going no further. Mabel and Ivy's gentle harmonies just haunted me in
the way that beautiful sibling harmonies seem to do. My first thought
of association was with the Unthanks sisters, Becky and Rachel. Some
of their songs, however, are more tragic than anything, so maybe it
wasn't a great comparison.
Based
on the album I sought out, Your Company, Charm of Finches songs
tended more to wistfulness than full blown sadness. Her Quiet
Footsteps is a favourite from the album which appears to recall
memories of better times following the death of a loved one. The
album is full of songs of introspection and memories. Another lovely
tune (really, they all are) is Where Do All The Ducks Go, a song of
childlike innocence and inquisitiveness.
This
is an album I recommend to be listened to without distraction....it
really is a thing of beauty.
At
the time of me writing this, they've just released a new album called
Wonderful Oblivion, so I may have to search that out as well.
8) Various –
The Trojan Story 50th anniversary edition (2021)
I'm far from what anyone would call an expert on reggae, but over the
years I have developed a love of classic era ska music and through
that, reggae. I've collected a few great Trojan comps over the years
(X-Rated, Beatles Reggae, This Is Trojan) as well as some stuff from
the big name artists like Desmond Dekker and Lee Perry, I have plenty
more to explore, I acknowledge.
This year saw the re-release of a beautiful set from 1971 called The
Trojan Story. The attention to detail is magnificent, and it's sort
of like the reggae equivalent of Nuggets (albeit limited to the
Trojan and associated series of labels).
There's songs here that everyone will know like Rudy, A Message to
You, Housewives Choice, Pressure Drop and Rude Boy, but there's a ton
of things here I had no knowledge of and am rapt I discovered like
Syncopate by The Astronauts (if reggae was tackling surf music....),
Them A Laugh And a Kiki by The Soulmates and King Without a Throne by
Sugar Simone (which could have easily been released by a Motown act
of the era).
I can't speak for the experts, but I think this is a brilliant primer
for the first decade of reggae music.
9) Terje Rypdal –
Odyssey (1975)
As I've often said on the LTA Facebook group, I'm a big fan of ECM
Records. There's something about the sound of many of the artists who
have recorded for them that just gets me right....much of it quite
moody. It's only hit me in recent times that my very favourite
artists on the label are guitarists – John Abercrombie, Ralph
Towner, Bill Frisell, and of course, Pat Metheny. Now I add Norwegian
guitarist Terje Rypdal to that list.
Rypdal is one of those artists I always meant to listen to more than I
had. This year, I found a couple of his records going second hand at
prices that weren't obscene (as much of the current market for vinyl
seems to get). One of those albums was his 1975 double platter,
Odyssey. This is definitely an album for playing late at night with a
strong whiskey (at least that's my take on it).
Like many of my age, my gateway to jazz was via jazz fusion – Al
Dimeola, John Mclaughlin (those damn guitarists again....) Moreso
than any of the other ECM jazz guitarists, Terje Rypdal fits into the
fusion sound description, though with more of a slow tempo feel.
There's none of the uptempo latin feel you can hear on a Dimeola cut,
for instance. In fact, much of Odyssey seems (to my ears) to be a
kindred spirit to Diamond Dust or Cause We've Ended as Lovers from
Jeff Beck's Blow By Blow album. There's that slow intensity, and the
searing guitar tone is in a similar vein. Over Birkerot is an uptempo
rocky piece, but the meandering pace of Better Off Without You and
Midnite are better examples of what this album is all about. It's
musically very dark...and that's a good thing by my taste.
10) Gillian Welch
- Boots No.2: The Lost Songs (2020)
There's
been a common trend over the last couple of decades. Legacy acts have
been releasing songs “from the vault”. These are usually live
recordings (Bob Dylan, Neil Young Bruce Springsteen etc) or
previously unheard studio cuts (Bob Dylan, Neil Young Bruce
Springsteen etc). They possibly figure that if they get the cash
rather than having them released as bootlegs, they don't care that
they're often songs left off projects for good reason.
Gillian
Welch and Dave Rawlings have also decided to walk down that avenue. A
few years ago, they released an album of Revival outtakes – I
didn't get myself a copy of that. In 2020, a mail order box set of
recordings called The Lost Songs was released featuring songs Welch
wrote to fulfil a publishing requirement sometime after Time The
Revelator. One would think these songs would be second rate (of
course, I imagine second rate Welch / Rawlings recordings would still
be essential listening).There was nothing to fear – this was all
top shelf stuff. Given how infrequently Welch and Rawlings release
new material, 2020 was a gift with All The Good Times, an album of
covers, as well as this box set – 4 CDs of new material.
If
you're a fan of their other albums, you don't need me to sell you the
idea of how great this collection is – all the darkness, harmonies,
and that Appalachian sound should be enough to convince you this is
essential listening.
*******************************************
If
you've read this far, thank you for indulging me. I hope to put out a
new podcast episode for your earholes in January 2022. Stay safe,
stay sane, listen to lots of music (my suggestions or your own
favourites – it doesn't matter)....and be kind to others.
Think
of any number of singers of the 20th century to take to a stage:
Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Bon Scott, Nina Simone.....”shyness”
would not be any sort of adjective you'd use to describe these
people.
We're
not focusing on any of them this time around.
Welcome
to episode 152 of Love That Album Podcast.
To
say that Nick Drake suffered from shyness could be the greatest
understatement you could make about him. He only performed live a few
times in his short life, and from all documented accounts, those
performances were memorable for the wrong reasons – not
acknowledging his audiences, looking down, walking off stage mid
song....the same can be said for his interactions with people off the
stage.
However,
it would also be fair to say that Drake knew his way around a song –
both as composer and musician.
I
am joined by fellow Nick-Head, Antony Rotunno. Antony is the host of
three excellent podcasts: Life & Life Only, Film Gold, and Glass
Onion: On John Lennon. It is the third of these shows that got my
attention. On every show he tackles Lennon related subjects (with
occasional forays into The Beatles) to work out what made Lennon
tick. I am sure that he relished the opportunity to talk about a
musician with no Beatles connection whatsoever for a change. The
focus of the show is Drake's debut album, Five Leaves Left. However,
we speak in detail about all three of his albums as well as events in
his life, his string arranger Robert Kirby, similar musicians, and
speaking in a posh accent.
In
addition, there are two real treats for you this time around. We hear
from Antony's friends, Kester Jones and Melanie Lawrence who
pre-recorded their take on a beloved Nick Drake tune, and Antony
himself armed with his guitar tackles another tune. These
performances are wonderful and a great part of the show.
My
gratitude to Antony for bringing his time and thoughts to the show. A
really exciting development is that going forward, Glass Onion: On
John Lennon will be part of the Pantheon Network.
You
can find much Antony related shenanigans (blog posts, albums,
podcasts) at https://www.antonyrotunno.com/
Kester's
music can be heard at https://soundcloud.com/kesterjones. Mealnie's music can be heard at https://open.spotify.com/album/34j3oNlQyl2olqyo4bQHM7?si=cNb5DhoxRBeENssyjk7oLQ&fbclid=IwAR3ztpO_vSx31pkqoxn7yBet3qymVpI5d_y43u48Gxu9L7rANoqig48E690&nd=1
Download
this and any other episode of LTA from wherever you prefer getting
your podcasts.
Love
That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to
http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.
If
you’d consider writing an iTunes review I’d be immensely
grateful. However, it’d be even better if you told a friend about
the podcast and Pantheon – at a barbecue, over coffee, on social
media….whatever way you choose, consider me grateful.
You
know what it's like when you discover a band that was around a long
time ago, and then you inevitably go down a rabbit hole and discover
a whole lot more music in a “Kevin Bacon six degrees of separation”
kind of way? That's happened to me over the last few months.
Welcome
to episode 151 of Love That Album.
A
few months back, Christian Swain at Pantheon Podcasts (who supports
Love That Album, See Hear and a ton of other music shows) asked me if
I knew of the 70s band from Montreal called Harmonium. At the time,
I'd never heard of them, so I did some investigating…..I fell in
love with what I heard. Their small but wonderful back catalogue
started out as Laurel Canyon-esque like folk which evolved into
progg-ish and art rock. It's not quite prog rock in the way that
early Yes or Genesis were – there's not millions of time signature
changes for one thing – but it does share some of the more
classical song structures those bands started out with. Listening to
their music led me to discover that Montreal was a major centre for
prog bands, so I listened to some of those other bands as well.
The
band were hugely popular in Canada, but separated in 1978 at the top
of their game. In 2020, their songwriter and lead singer Serge Fiori
was approached to give his blessing for a re-arrangement of the
entire Harmonium catalogue as a symphonic work. The result is
Histoires Sans Paroles: Harmonium Symphonique. This is not the first
time that a classically oriented interpretation of rock music has
been attempted, but Harmonium's music seemed tailor made for such a
reinvention. There's a wider sonic palette for the music to work
under.
I
was offered the opportunity to speak with Serge for the show, and I
was hugely keen to do so. He's a lovely guy who had a lot to say
about the Quebec music scene of the 70s, as well as hearing his music
translated into a medium different from its original conception. It's
not easy to hand off your creative work to someone else to
reinterpret, but to say Serge was delighted with the result would be
an understatement. This album is all the more amazing considering it
was recorded under 2020 pandemic conditions!!!!! A big feat for an
orchestra.
Serge
is completely grateful for all that being a musician and composer has
given to his life, and he is grateful to Simon LeClerc, arranger and
conductor of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, for respecting the
spirit of the music.
Obviously,
many thanks to Serge for his time, but additional thanks also go to
Christian Swain for starting this off and and to Lisa Roy at Rock &
Roy for making it happen.
You
can get Histoires Sans Paroles: Harmonium Symphonique in physical
medium or download formats from https://www.harmoniumsymphonique.com/
Download
this episode of LTA from wherever you prefer getting your podcasts.
Love
That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to
http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.
You
can send me feedback at rrrkitchen@yahoo.com.au (written or mp3
voicemail) or join the Facebook group
at http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum
If
you’d consider writing an iTunes review I’d be immensely
grateful. However, it’d be even better if you told a friend about
the podcast and Pantheon – at a barbecue, over coffee, on social
media….whatever way you choose, consider me grateful.
Anyone
who's listened to the podcast for a while or hung around the LTA
Facebook group long enough knows that my favourite working band is
Los Lobos. You'd also possibly be aware that group saxophonist and
keyboard player Steve Berlin has joined me on LTA in the past AND on
See Hear.....well, Steve's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.
Welcome
to episode 150 of Love That Album.
Los
Lobos have released a new album in 2021 called Native Sons. The fact
that they (or any band) are able to record and release new music in
lockdown is astonishing. As great as Louis Perez, David Hidalgo and
Cesar Rosas are as songwriters, for this album, they are drawn to the
music that influenced them along the way by heroes and peers
specifically from Los Angeles....people like Lalo Guerrero, Jackson
Browne, The Blasters, The Beach Boys, War and others.
Steve
and I speak about the role of these musicians in Los Lobos'
development, Christmas music, working through Covid, the father of
Chicano music, Ry Cooder, Tom Waits and a lot of other topics. Once
again it was my privilege to have him back on the show – recorded 3
hours before Lobos were due to hit the stage!!!
If
you're in the US and are able to see Los Lobos live, DO IT. They put
on wonderful shows, and you'll be supporting working musicians in
this crazy time. You can check out their gig listings at loslobos.org
Download
this episode of LTA from Spotify, Stitcher or iTunes (search for
“Love That Album podcast”)....or wherever you prefer getting your
podcasts.
Love
That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to
http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.
If
you’d consider writing an iTunes review I’d be immensely
grateful. However, it’d be even better if you told a friend about
the podcast and Pantheon – at a barbecue, over coffee, on social
media….whatever way you choose, consider me grateful.
The
1970s going into the early 1980s are generally regarded as a purple
patch of Australian cinema – The Australian New Wave. Film makers
had financial support. Audiences wanted to see their own backyard on
the big screen (before bloody cultural cringe set in again). There
were films that focused on T&A and machismo, there were a lot of
period pieces, and there were tales of crime. The films weren't
always successful, but there was a spirit about them that's still
exciting. Audiences recognised themselves in film (although they
denied it when Wake In Fright came out).
So,
where does Oz: A Rock 'n; Roll Road Movie (aka 20th Century Oz) fit
in? Where does an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz that sees Dorothy as
a groupie who dreams she's on a highway headed for the big city to
see a concert featuring The Wizard with a surfer, a mechanic and a
biker as her company actually stand in the canon of local 70s cinema?
Welcome
to Love That Album episode 149.
Why
am I starting the blurb for a music discussion podcast with a
description about movies? Especially in reference to a film that's
already been discussed on the See Hear Podcast (episode 33...hint
hint)
Well,
the film has a soundtrack, you see......
Previous LTA interview subject Sarah Carroll and her son George Carroll Wilson
are both huge fans of the film. I invited them onto the show to talk
about the soundtrack. Of course, you can't really discuss a
soundtrack without reference to the film itself. We also had a
lengthy discussion about the Australian music scene of the period,
the history behind the key players involved with the music and the
film (Ross Wilson and Chris Lofven), and of course the music itself
and how it worked in the context of the story.
BUT
WAIT....THERE'S MORE.....
One
of the exciting thing about the soundtrack of Oz is that it features
the debut of a band that became very big in the late 70s, Jo Jo Zep
and the Falcons. This episode features an interview with ex-Falcon
Wayne Burt who wrote their songs for this film. I was rapt to speak
to someone in the thick of it from the period.
My
huge gratitude to Sarah, George and Wayne for making this such a fun
show to record.
You
can find out more about Sarah at
https://www.sarahcarrollstarparade.com/
George's
music is available at Bandcamp https://pollyman.bandcamp.com/music
Download
this episode of LTA from iTunes (search for
“Love That Album podcast”)....or wherever you prefer getting your
podcasts.
Love
That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to
http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.
You
can send me feedback at rrrkitchen@yahoo.com.au (written or mp3
voicemail) or join the Facebook group at
http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum
If
you’d consider writing an iTunes review I’d be immensely
grateful. However, it’d be even better if you told a friend about
the podcast and Pantheon – at a barbecue, over coffee, on social
media….whatever way you choose, consider me grateful.
