Thursday 25 December 2003

The Best Of 2003

Top 10
01 GABRIELLES WISH: Portal
02 MARLENE KUNTZ: Senza Peso
03 ELIO E LE STORIE TESE: Cicciput
04 VARIOUS: Cool As Ice
05 ULAN BATOR: Nouvel Air

06 PADDY MCALOON: I Trawl The Megahertz
07 STEELY DAN: Everything Must Go
08 DURUTTI COLUMN: Someone Else's Party
09 FRANK BLACK AND THE CATHOLICS: Show Me Your Tears
10 OTTO OHM: Pseudostereo

Almost made it:
11 VARIOUS: Hope
12 JOHNNY MARR AND THE HEALERS: Boomslang
13 PECKSNIFF: Elementary Watson
14 ROBIN GUTHRIE: Imperial
15 SAMULELE BERSANI: Caramella Smog

Tuesday 11 November 2003

Many updates on the new official Gabrielles Wish site

GabriellesWishWeb is really growing, thanks to the help of former band members and fans. I'm proud to say it's now become the official Gabrielles Wish site.

Tuesday 14 October 2003

Gabrielles Wish split!

Unfortunately the rumours have been confirmed by many reliable sources, Gabrielles Wish have actually split. Suspects were consistent from the fact that neither their web addres, nor that of their record company, Pleasure Records, and not even their E Mail address has been active for a while. The drummer now plays in Nylon Pylon. There's not a single website about them left on the web, so I'm planning to build one. Anyone who can help me, especially with discography and lyrics, please contact me: mick973@email.it

Tuesday 7 October 2003

Doves' B Sides compilation and DVD

From NME.Com:
DOVES have released a collection of B-sides on 29 September.
'Lost Sides' includes material lifted from the Manchester trio's debut, 'The Cedar EP', up to last year's 'Caught By The River' single.
The collection also includes 'Hit The Ground Running', which is taken from a limited edition format of 'There Goes The Fear' that was deleted on the day of its release.
The band also released a DVD, 'Where We Are Calling From', on the same date.

Tuesday 30 September 2003

Die For Me, con Emidio Clementi dei Massimo Volume

Da un messaggio della mailing list dei Massimo Volume:
DIE FOR ME - racconti e immagini di amicizie corrotte
di Carozzi, Agnelli, Clementi, Gangbo, Longfils, Pedrini
Gallo&Calzati EDITORI (serie Parole e immagini)
Libro + videocassetta
nella cassetta c'è il corto di Anna de Manicor tratto da "Morireste per me?" di Manuel Agnelli.
La voce narrante è di Emidio, le musiche di Carozzi e Agnelli.
Il libro raccoglie dei racconti sull' amicizia. Il racconto di Clementi è già presente in "Gara di resistenza"

Monday 29 September 2003

Black out

Last night, 4AM. The whole Italy is without electricity. The only thing working in the country is the national radio (http://www.radio.rai.it/radio1/ ), the DJ decides to play Rolling Stones' funky Simpathy For The Devil.

Second edition of The Hacienda Must Be Built

The book about the history of Factory and New Order's legendary club was sold out on its first edition. Now there's a limited reissue with reduced price. Check this site for details: http://www.thehaciendamustbebuilt.com/

Thick Pigeon and Be Music, the truth

James Nice from LTM, the excellent label releasing reissues and compilations from Factory artists, replied me. I asked him the truth about the rumours on Thick Pigeon (who were supposed to be Steve and Gillian from New Order) and Be Music (which being New Order as producers and publishers were supposed to be the band behind the track):

"The CD (new compilation Cool As Ice) contains full information about the acts, but S n' G simply produced TP, who are an American due, and the Be Music track is Peter Hook solo"

Thursday 11 September 2003

New single by RAM, former Monaco Pottsy's band

Different Planet is a 10" single released on the label Every Home Should Have One, available at Rough Trade.

The Pixies' private reunion. Reservations about a public comeback

From NME.com: PIXIES frontman FRANK BLACK has not ruled out the possibility of a reunion tour - and has revealed the band still get together to jam.
Black, now a successful solo artist, admits that the idea of reforming the band is never too far from his mind, but he has reservations.
Read the whole article here.

Saturday 6 September 2003

El Muniria, il gruppo dell'ex leader dei Massimo Volume, a gennaio 2004

Dal sito della Homesleep: EL MUNIRIA - L'album che ha avuto la gestazione più lunga della storia di homesleep... sperando non vi siano ulteriori ritardi, a gennaio potrete finalmente ascoltare quello che hanno combinato in questi mesi Dario Parisini, Massimo Carozzi e l'ex Massimo Volume Emidio Clementi.

Thursday 28 August 2003

Elio E Le Storie Tese - Cicciput

cicciput Cicciput è l'angelo dei soldi, secondo il televeggente Gennaro D'Auria... chissà se il "Maestro" può metterci in contatto anche con l'angelo del genio musicale... è probabile che Elio E Le Storie Tese siano ispirati già da tempo, perchè è difficile spiegare in modo semplicistico come siano riusciti a produrre l'ennesimo capolavoro, e allora affidiamoci alla fantasia, fantasia che certamente non manca neppure a loro... Quest'album arriva a quattro anni di distanza dall'enciclopedico Craccraccriccrecr dove, allo scadere del millennio, in pratica ogni genere musicale era rappresentato da una canzone. In Cicciput il suono torna a farsi un po'più omogeneo, sebbene sempre incredibilmente caleidoscopico, e appare la naturale prosecuzione di Eat The Phikis, il primo album dove si percepì chiaramente la compiutezza della maturazione musicale del talento ineguagliabile di questo gruppo.
Non è un semplice discorso di bravura di esecuzione, è troppo ovvio lodare la competenza tecnica di questi musicisti (formatisi al Conservatorio, alcuni fanno pure parte di una band tributo ai Weather Report e la fusion può piacere o meno, ma è certamente un'ottima palestra per uno strumentista...), è da dare per scontato che gente come Faso, Cesareo e Tanica siano tra i migliori al mondo nel loro ruolo.
Quello che stupisce davvero è che Elio E Le Storie Tese mescolano varie influenze, oltre alla fusion, al pop sofisticato, alla tradizione italiana, al soul, al progressive, e il risultato è un suono assolutamente unico e ricchissimo. Si tratta quindi di talento compositivo, di libertà di rompere gli schemi, anche grazie al pretesto dell'umorismo: è ovvio che le cervellotiche evoluzioni di Cani E Padroni Di Cani sono più giustificabili nell'ambito di una canzone "demenziale" che non in una canzone destinata ad un target più "tradizionale". Il tentativo è quello di far ridere l'ascoltatore col testo e l'interpretazione, in modo che possa sopportare soluzioni musicali talmente ambiziose che sarebbero ben più difficili da digerire per l'ascoltatore medio di un artista pop. La visione del caleidoscopio di Elio è vertiginosa, viene da chiedersi a chi somiglia la loro musica, ovviamente la risposta è impossibile: potrai trovare un frammento di strumentazione sontuosa come quella dei Toto, potrai trovare un brano di psichedelia come quella dei Pink Floyd, ma non troverai mai un altro gruppo al mondo che riesca a fare tutto quello che fanno Elio e soci.
Ecco perchè ogni loro album è un evento preziosissimo, sai che per ascoltare qualcosa di simile dovrai aspettare ancora anni, sino al loro prossimo disco... i testi, complessivamente, si mantengono su ottimi livelli e talvolta rivelano ancora soluzioni davvero esilaranti e geniali (per non dire dei divertentissimi spezzoni parlati tra un brano e l'altro...), anche se ovviamente non possono più avere la freschezza degli esordi. Ma, mentre passano gli anni, cresce l'interesse per l'aspetto musicale: se prima Elio E Le Storie Tese erano un gruppo che faceva ridere e suonava anche bene, ora divengono un gruppo che fa musica ineguagliabile e fa anche ridere. Per esempio in Budy Giampi (dove ritroviamo lo spassosissimo architetto Mangoni) l'ammirazione per la bellezza della musica è nettamente prevalente rispetto al divertimento per il testo quando Elio canta "un uomo non dovrebbe essere ucciso mai". Già in questo brano si può constatare che i cori, guidati dall'esperta Paola Folli, sono stati curati splendidamente.
Nell'album manca Al Mercato Di Bonn, un brano che si basa su Tanti Auguri A Te a cui partecipava Paola Cortellesi, per problemi di diritti d'autore (ebbene sì, la popolarissima canzoncina appartiene agli eredi delle compositrici...). Comunque il gruppo ha trasmesso il brano a Cordialmente, il loro programma su Radio DeeJay, invitando esplicitamente gli ascoltatori a non diffonderlo tramite file sharing... come no...
Sono tante, comunque, le gemme di questo album, dal meraviglioso funky di Gimmi I. e La Chanson (che ci parla di un garcon ancien qui ne va plus a la discotheque... mais le jeune filles sont a la discotheque...), alla ripresa del commento alla barzelletta del Fantasma Formaggino con Claudio Bisio prima di Fossi Figo, al delizioso inserto a metà tra Crosby Stills Nash And Young e Pink Floyd in La Follia Della Donna ("cosa sono i milioni quando in cambio ti danno le scarpe?").

Poi naturalmente c'è Shpalman, il singolo che si basa su Achille E Polissene di Collasse, che si può ascoltare in sottofondo durante l'intervento di Bisio, una dimostrazione che le radici del power pop vanno ricercate indietro di tre secoli, seguito da un esilarante appello di Crozza che ci invita a non disperdere la Toscana per il mondo tenendoci sassi come souvenir. Pagano è un delirio tra progressive e soul in cui risolviamo una crisi mistico-esistenziale imparando a costruire un ponte grazie ad un bootleg di Giulio Cesare, e come se questo non bastasse segue l'allucinatissima Abate Cruento, ripescata dal 1994, con un elegante intervento vocale di Rocco Tanica.
Viene da chiedersi come reagisce un ascoltatore medio a questo micidiale uno-due, tanto splendido quanto lontanissimo da ogni canone commerciabile... in compenso c'è il finale dell'album che riporta il tono su livelli più familiari, con Pilipino Rock, un divertentissimo rock'n'roll dove Elio interpreta magistralmente un domestico filippino che si prende la sua rivincita, e Litfiba Tornate Insieme, una marcetta populista che si avventura gustosamente nella tradizione cubana.
Un album così ricco da non stancare mai, neppure dopo ripetuti ascolti, suscita sempre divertimento per i testi e soprattutto per l'inventiva musicale. Sarebbe bello se ci fosse qualcun'altro che ci proponesse un disco così speciale, e invece Elio E Le Storie Tese restano assolutamente unici, ineguagliabili e insostituibili, probabilmente solo il sublime capolavoro dei Marlene Kuntz impedisce a Cicciput di essere l'album italiano dell'anno.

Voto: 9/10

Wednesday 27 August 2003

My Life With Morrissey, the movie!

Interesting: "My Life with Morrissey is a dark comedy that chronicles the adventures of an off-kilter office girl whose life unravels when she meets her idol (British rock icon Morrissey) and sets off on a journey of obsessive self-delusion." Check the site about the movie.

Early New Order recording released on Kevin Hewick compilation

Some work with The Sound is also included. From Darla.com:
KEVIN HEWICK Tender Bruises and Scars - The Factory and Cherry Red
Records Studio Recordings 1980-1983
The Rarities Collection marks 25 years of Cherry Red Records. This
series will include a collection of rare and hard to find tracks that
were released on Cherry Red Records in the 1980s marking Cherry Red's
ability to forge a distinct style out of introspective, willowy pop.
This is the forth release in the Rarities series and is compilation of
Kevin Hewick's Factory and Cherry Red Records studio recordings made
between 1980-1983. Kevin was originally signed to Factory Records
beginning his career supporting the likes of Joy Division, whose first
post-Curtis recording is exhibited here in 'Haystack' as they backed
Kevin, before becoming the seminal band known today as New Order. By
February 1983 Kevin had signed with Cherry Red and was recording the
'Such Hunger For Love' album, he also went onto record with The Sound,
re-recording tracks such as 'Neath the Dancing Waves' and 'Amber' for a
Cherry Red 12" EP. This album includes not only these tracks but also
the Factory single, the Cherry Red single b-sides and an enhanced video
for the Factory Records single Ophelia's Drinking Song.

Tuesday 26 August 2003

Morrissey resurrects Attack label as his own subsidiary at Sanctuary Records

Before he hadn't got a contract with a record label, now he has a sub-label of his own! Moz rules again!
From http://www.morrissey-solo.com/:
Sanctuary Records Group and Morrissey have announced that they have resurrected the Attack label to release the forthcoming new album by Morrissey.
The label will be distributed via BMG in the US, Pinnacle in the UK and Sanctuary Records Group's various distribution partners in the rest of the world.
The Attack label - part of the legendary Trojan Records family - released records by The Pioneers, Gregory Isaacs, The Upsetters, Big Youth and I Roy amongst many others between 1969 and 1980.
The Sanctuary Group Inc Chief Executive Officer Merck Mercuriadis commented, "Morrissey is one of the most important artists of the last 20 years and we are delighted that he has given us the opportunity to lead the charge on this significant next phase of his career with a deal that is as innovative as his music. Early on in our discussions Morrissey proved himself to be a connoisseur of our Trojan Records catalogue and expressed an interest in using the Attack label for the release of his records much as he did the HMV label when he was with EMI. We are very pleased to accommodate and hope that he will also find new artists to release on Attack. Attack Records will be a reflection of his creative vision and his exclusive domain. "
The Sanctuary Records Group's labels and artists include Rough Trade Records, Fantastic Plastic, Trojan Records, The Strokes, Spiritualized, The Libertines, Ween, Death In Vegas, British Sea Power, Pet Shop Boys, The Beatings, Tricky and The Futureheads.

Monday 25 August 2003

Frank Black And The Catholics: new single and album

From Sound Generator: Frank Black & The Catholics will be releasing a limited edition CD single, "Everything Is New" (FRYCD161) on 8th August, which is taken from the forthcoming album "Show Me Your Tears", due for release on 8th September. The album features guest appearances by Stan Ridgway, Joey Santiago (ex bandmate in the Pixies), Van Dyke Parks, Eric Drew Feldman, Rob Laufer, Jack Kidney, and the Pale Boys.

Tuesday 19 August 2003

Steely Dan - Everything Must Go

emgcover3The original inventors of sophisticated pop come back only three years after their magnificent return which followed a twenty years split, and this time it sounds like all those years have passed, after all...
Two Against Nature was an amazing comeback, they were as good as they never went away, it was just up there at the level of Aja and Gaucho. There were some songs, especially the superb final of the record with Negative Girl and West Of Hollywood, which made you wonder just how could human beings compose that music... were they aliens?
Well, Everything Must Go sounds more, like, human, sounds like a band finally distant from the ambition of the Seventies. It's still an excellent record, especially by anyone else's standards. Of course no one else can sound like this, I'm still convinced the only other one ever coming somewhere close to this quality of instrumental and melodic composition has been Prefab Sprout's Paddy McAloon, in his own way...
Anyway, by Steely Dan's standards, we were left with the stellar West Of Hollywood closing their last album, so it's a bit surprising listening to the very down to earth blues of The Last Mall as the opening of the new record. We had read the interviews, where they declared they wanted this to be a simpler thing and well, it really is. It's still sophisticated music (and very intelligent lyrics), but a lot simpler, it seems like they wanted to go back to their blues roots in their elder age, though luckily this shouldn't mark the end of their adventure, as the title of the album apparently refers to the recession of the Western economy...

There are still some songs at the level of their more ambitious music, like the touching Things I Miss The Most (like "the Audi TT... the hous on the gulf coast... the '54 Strat"), or Godwhacker ("you better get gone poppie, Godwhacker's on the case"), which sounds a bit like the follow up to Green Earrings... and Walter Becker, who already proved to be a good singer on his excellent solo album, 11 Tracks Of Whack, sings the wonderful Slang Of Ages.
Above all, there's the only song when they're truly at their most ambitious best, Pixeleen ("rave on my sleek and soulful cyberqueen"), which is worth the CD alone, it's really emotional. There's an absolutely excellent central part with a touching duet, when Donald Fagen and Carolyn Leonhart sing together "symmetrical and clean" and the sax comes in you'd really think you're hearing Steely Dan's best album., it doesn't sound like the same record including songs like Blues Beach, which are just plainly pleasant...
Of course you look at todays pop music, and this towers as an absolute masterwork, but you look at what they were able to do three years ago, and wht they did, at their age, on Pixeleen on this very album, and you just know Everything Must Go is a great album, but we can even expect more.

Rating: 8/10

Sunday 10 August 2003

New Order DVDs to be released in America

As World In Motion reports, New Order are going to release 316 and 511, their live DVDs, in America. Tower Records offers three exclusive tracks to download when ordering both.

Sunday 3 August 2003

Marlene Kuntz - Senza Peso

i_cd_senza_peso_g I Marlene sono protagonisti, con questo CD, di un ritorno straordinario. Dopo Che Cosa Vedi, che aveva ottenuto un buon successo commerciale ma aveva diviso la critica e i fans più intransigenti, propongono uno di quei rari capolavori ben difficilmente discutibili, destinato a recuperare parecchi scettici e a convergere i consensi. L'aspetto migliore è che questo avviene senza neppure che ci sia un'intenzione particolare da parte del gruppo, se non quella di essere i Marlene Kuntz al meglio. La qualità e l'emozione sono assolutamente centrali rispetto ad ogni discorso di stile, ed è questo ciò che alla fine rende questo CD così essenziale. Il ricordo torna all'unico album che se la può giocare con Senza Peso per essere il miglior album dei Marlene, Ho Ucciso Paranoia, che pure era stato preceduto da un singolo, L'Odio Migliore, che mi aveva lasciato perplesso, ma l'album si era rivelato il loro migliore in assoluto, riuscendo persino a superare Il Vile che ritenevo ineguagliabile. Canzoni come Infinità (tuttora la mia preferita dei Marlene), L'Abitudine, Questo E Altro, In Delirio, e mi fermo per non citarle tutte...
E così Senza Peso è preceduto da A Fior Di Pelle, che comunque dopo un po'di ascolti apprezzo un po'di più (inoltre il singolo è da avere almeno per la splendida B side, La Lezione Che Fece Male)... ma include gemme preziosissime, tra i loro momenti migliori... ci sono un altro paio di canzoni non del tutto coinvolgenti (Danza e Secondo Chi Vorrà), e una spora che forse poteva essere realizzata meglio...
Ma, signore e signori, inchiniamoci davanti all'inizio sublime di Senza Peso, con le chitarre di Sacrosanta Verità... all'intensissima Notte, che conferma che dietro questo album c'è un eccellente lavoro di produzione (qui siamo ben oltre PJ Harvey... o forse è semplicemente Berlino che porta fortuna, come a Bowie ed Eno, ma credo che dobbiamo anche salutare il ritorno di Marco Lega...), e non penso proprio che si possa dire che il passaggio integrale ad una major ha penalizzato il suono dei Marlene, perchè quest'album sarebbe potuto uscire tranquillamente per il Consorzio e non ha proprio nulla di commerciale...
E che dire della sconvolgente parte centrale dell'album? Schiele, Lei, Me è commovente, a un pelo dai livelli di Infinità. Ricordo è un altro brano di bellezza sconcertante, soprattutto a livello strumentale (molto bella anche la tastiera)... come in tutto l'album Riccardo, Luca e Dan fanno un ottimo lavoro per sostenere al meglio Cristiano. Questo attacco centrale all'ascoltatore, che non può che concludersi inevitabilmente con la vittoria dei Marlene, prosegue Con Lubricità, un pezzo dal groove straordinario impreziosito da atmosfere ipnotiche.
Quando arriva Laura, avvolgente ed emozionante, i capolavori presenti su questo album sono già più che sufficienti per renderlo un ottimo album, che se non è proprio bello in tutte le sue canzoni, quando è bello, è bello davvero, e tanto... i Marlene non si adagiano su uno standard consolidato, ma proseguono l'innovazione melodica di Che Cosa Vedi (già più che buono in alcuni suoi episodi), ma con esiti decisamente migliori, qualitativamente paragonabili solo a Ho Ucciso Paranoia, mentre raggiungono una perfezione pressochè completa a livello strumentale.
Se c'era qualcuno che immaginava una china discendente dovrà aspettare ancora un bel po', i Marlene sono in ottima salute e semmai hanno "rischiato" di toccare il loro vertice creativo proprio con Senza Peso.

Voto: 9/10

Upcoming compilation of music produced by New Order

LTM Records is going to release a new compilation in October, titled Cool As Ice, featuring bands produced by New Order like Section 25, Quando Quango (of future M People leader, DJ and Deconstruction founder Mike Pickering), 52nd Street, and even Thick Pigeon which were rumoured to be drummer Steve Morris and keyboardist Gillian Gilbert themselves, a sort of earlier incarnation of The Other Two... See details on this page of The Crepuscule And Factory Pages: http://home.planet.nl/~frankbri/ltm2377.html

Paddy McAloon - I Trawl The Megahertz

Itrawlthemegahertz Prefab Sprout have always been a truly special band, their leader Paddy McAloon is one of the greatest geniuses contemporary music has ever had, creating original, intelligent, sophisticated and emotional pop songs, taking much further, in an Eighties post-new wave enviroment, Steely Dan's intuitions about pop being accessible and yet amazing through unpredictable chord changes, soul and jazz attitude and rich instrumentation. His music is where you can hear Burt Bacharach, Stevie Wonder and The Go-Betweens (and much more) at the same time.
There is also a soundtrack element in many Prefab Sprout songs, the tunes and the way they're orchestrated wouldn't be out of place as an intense score for a movie, and while Prefab Sprout's more recent releases were made more and more of perfectly well formed pop songs about love, this first Paddy McAloon solo album is mostly instrumental, magnificently orchestrated and finally reveals the genius as the potentially greatest soundtrack writer ever, the dream of a movie director... if I made a movie I'd write a contract with my blood to have music like this scoring it.
There have been many rumours in the past of McAloon having hours and hours of unreleased adventurous music projects, like a box set about the history of the world, or an instrumental album called I Trawl The Megahertz about voices from the radio. At some point it was believed they were just legends and there was nothing true. Well, now we have this album and we can see at least one rumour was founded. Here there aren't pop songs, this is contemporary music of the highest quality.
The concept behind the album is really emotional and I'd let explain it to the words of Mc Aloon himself, from the booklet of the CD:

Paddy Mc Aloon: I Trawl The Megahertz seems to be a portrait of a woman who is trying to make sense of her life by reviewing selected memories. She is like someone with their hand on a radio dial, tuning into distant stations, listening to fragments of different broadcasts... In 1999 I went through a period of ill health that meant I was unable to write music in my usual manner... the problem was eye surgery followed by shingles followed by eye surgery... so, unable even to read I passed the time by listening to and taping all kinds of TV and radio programmes, concentrating on phone-ins, phrases that originated in different time zones and different frequencies would team up to make new and oddly affecting sentences... it was organising what I had collected into something that was part love song and part lament. Have you an idea how many sad stories are floating over the airwaves after midnight?

So we have the touching title track, 22 minutes long, with a superb orchestration, a really melancholic theme recurring and evolving and the voice of Yvonne Connors reading phrases which speak of really sad and poetic stories... "I said: your daddy loves you very much, he just doesn't want to live with us anymore" or "Oblivious to the opinions of neighbours I will bark to the moon like a dog"...
This masterpiece is followed by wonderful shorter tracks which are entirely instrumental, where sometimes a theme returns but mostly there are amazing melodic evolutions, they have all great orchestral performances and reveal McAloon as the Morricone of the 21st century.
Anyway there are two more tracks with voices, one is I'm 49, which seems like an appendix of the title track, voices from the radio start saying "Do you feel completely abandoned and lost? What's wrong? I'm 49, divorced...".
The other track is Sleeping Rough, and this time the voice is the sublime voice of Paddy McAloon, singing "I'm lost... I'll grow a long and silver beard... and let it reach my knees. I'm lost... and duty will not track me down... asleep among the trees", and while we see now the beard has finally gone, at the turn of the millennium he actually did grow a very long and silver beard...
Believe me, it's one of the most touching moments in music history, the melody, the lyrics and the way he sings, rarely music has seen such emotional music... I think of Billie Holiday singing I'm A Fool To Want You at the end of her glorious but troubled life, or Bjork singing Scatterheart in Dancer In The Dark... I don't think there's anything else that can be compared to this. Sleeping Rough is an unvaluable precious gem, it's just a pity it won't be heard from the pop masses usually purchasing Prefab Sprout albums.
Mc Aloon says this album is a one off, he doesn't plan a solo career, he's working on the next Prefab Sprout album, and while I can't wait for it to listen again to their perfect pop I also hope more of those legendary solo works will surface one day, if only they're as good as a small fraction of I Trawl The Megahertz it's unfair they stay unreleased.

Rating: 9/10

Monday 2 June 2003

NEW ORDER interview on RockSound, April 2003

neworder2001 This is the rough translation of the interview to New Order appeared on the April 2003 issue of Italian music magazine RockSound. 


NEW ORDER
Our first twenty years

The band from Manchester, without any doubts, was the first and the most believing to bring the punk and new wave audience to the world of dance music, influencing irrevocably the last twenty years of pop culture.


Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Steve Morris (the fourth member, Gillian Gilbert, is temporarily out of the band because of family matters) have just released a luxury 4 CD set box, Retro, and a compilation, International, marking another arriving point.
"The fans were asking us from many years to release a box set, something that could summarize, at least in part, our career. Anyway we weren't interested in the traditional concept of "greatest hits", so we involved other people in the process to choose the tracks. Two journalist friends, Miranda Sawyer and John McCready, have compiled the first two CDs, with stuff from our records, Mike Pickering, the historic DJ at the Hacienda, chose our best remixes, and finally Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream did the live selection. We usually prefer to deal with the new songs, to work on future albums and it did seem interesting to leave this project in external hands.
We were sometimes amazed from the choices too, we rediscovered some tracks we didn't even remember, like the reggae remix of Regret by Sabres Of Paradise. There are also many pictures in the booklet with Retro, which is unusual for us, we used to never use them on our records. Some are truly embarrassing...
The genesis of International, on the opposite, is very easy: it's a compilation especially for our younger audience, which maybe knows us only for our last two or three records. A sort of general introduction to New Order, then."

The most interesting choice is about Bobby Gillespie doing a work of "archeology", researching in twenty years of live recordings to extract only one CD.
"He dealt with this task as a true fan, preferring passion to digital quality, and from a certain point of view I understand him. When you're passionate about a band, yuo buy anything, even badly recorded bootlegs, just to have unreleased tracks. Let's say that between the four of them, it was the most difficult CD to make, because it made emerge again weird sensations we thought we had forgotten."

As we were saying early, New Order have been essential in the passage from the new wave to the indie scene, and the following dance explosion. The track identifying best this fact is, no doubt, the epoch making Blue Monday, of 1983.
"At the time we made a sequencer with a do it yourself kit, and we were starting to experiment with the first drum machines. Blue Monday was useful as a mean of experimentation, it was rather a casual try. The rhythm was made pressing the wrong key, but we immediately liked it. At the time we had friends in Berlin who were sending us boxes with German and Italian dance records, and that was a huge inspiration. The bass line of the track was inspired from Sylvester, the one of You Make Me Feel, while the instrumentation from Dirty Talk by Klein And The MBO, an Italian disco band. We assembled everything like the DJs do today, and we recorded it in a studio where Pink Floyd had worked as well. It had giant speakers and when we heard the track for the first time we went crazy: it was really like being in a club, it was perfect to dance. "

Between 1983 and 1989 New Order had their maximum frenzy period, with a dozen of singles and four albums.
"In that period there wasn't anything else in our lives other than music: we were vampirized by that. We couldn't go on like that, it didn't make sense, we would have stayed one dimensional men, with no alternatives. They were crazy years, and we passed them with a full immersion in the club culture, with all its excesses. We played, we took small amounts of acid, we stayed awake all night to dance in the club: we stopped before it was too late."

For almost their entire career, New Order refused external collaborations. In the recent years things did change. Why?
"Actually it's strange. Only recently we started to deal with external musicians like Bobby Gillespie or Billy Corgan. I think part of that past attitude came from Rob Gretton, our manager, who wanted to protect us from the outside. We are self learning musicians and the easiest way to learn for us is to deal with other people; for this reason, when we start to work on a new album, before playing the instruments, we prefer to listen to all the new music around, and make us indirectly influenced by that. It doesn't always work, though. At the time of Republic, in 1993, our idea was to listen to the Top 10 of Dance music to find some possible source of inspiration. It wasn't possible, they were all just shitty records. "

Interview by Stefano Gilardino

Tuesday 6 May 2003

Solo album from Prefab Sprout's Paddy McAloon

Prefab Sprout's ( http://www.prefabsprout.com ) leader Paddy McAloon will release his debut solo album (mostly instrumental), I Trawl The Megahertz, on June 2.

Monday 5 May 2003

New album by Steely Dan!

Steely Dan ( http://www.steelydan.com ) will release their new album, Everything Must Go, on June 10.

Sunday 20 April 2003

New Order's cover of Vietnam

You can hear streaming New Order's cover of Jimmy Cliff's Vietnam, included on the forthcoming benefit album Hope of the War Child series, and other tracks of the compilation on the site dedicated to the release: http://www.hope-cd.com/ .

Tuesday 8 April 2003

Gabrielles Wish - Portal

A review written in April 2003, six months before doing the first fan site dedicated to GabriellesWish which will evolve into their new official site.

This band has been circulating for, like, ten years or something. The first time I became aware of them was at New Order's comeback concert at the Apollo in Manchester in 1998. The support bands were Doves (formerly known as alternative dance act Sub Sub), at their debut as an indie rock band with that name, and Gabrielle's Wish.
New Order's bassist Peter Hook told me before the concert they were bands from their manager Rob Gretton's label, Manchester Records (formerly known as Robsercords, home also of A Certain Ratio in the 90s). And it was Rob who made New Order speak to each other again after five years. One year later he died of a hear attack. We won't ever be grateful enough to his memory for what he did just before reaching Ian Curtis and Martin Hannett. It's not weird this album is dedicated to him on the back cover.
When Gabrielle's Wish opened the gig I was instantly blown away by their impact. They were amazing, an explosive mix of Joy Division, The Fall, Section 25 and Nine Inch Nails, attacking the audience with emotive, violent and powerful music. Music which was the very essence of Manchester to me, the perfect soundtrack to the Apollo Theatre's spooky surroundings, big empty buildings, shut down shops which still had their final sale banners on the window after years and years, a ghost suburb.
The day after I immediately run into the record shop to buy their EPs on Manchester Records, two releases of the year before which put together could as well be their first album, with eleven tracks (plus a hidden one). They wanted to satisfy the customers including many extra tracks and ended making a debut album almost without noticing it. And what an album... everything I expected from the gig and more...
Then I knew nothing about them, I just wondered what happened after Rob died (was he still alive, I think he'd have found the way to make people aware of this criminally underrated band) and found their website. The uncompromising kids had been releasing 10" vinyl only singles or something (some tracks had luckily been uploaded as MP3s to their site), alright, it seems they don't want Top Of The Pops, but I strongly believe this would have been a very important band at the height of Factory days... it just seems natural: Joy Division - New Order, Section 25, Crispy Ambulance, The Wake and Gabrielle's Wish. The fact they're just an obscure contemporary band doesn't make them less brilliantly essential. They're just that good, a timeless new wave band refreshed with quite some modern sound.
And so comes their first proper album, Portal. With the current new wave revival (Interpol, Radio 4 etc.) you'd expect the indie labels to fight for this band which doesn't just do revival, but instead is just the incarnation of Manchester new wave in the 21st century, a band that could conquer loads of fans of a certain target, because they do the real thing with their extreme intensity. Instead they release this self financed CD with admirable Do It Yourself punk ethic, and they'll stay music's best kept secret, the most precious hidden jewel for few lucky fans, and I'm proud to be one of them.
Portal is simply one of the best records ever released in the last ten years, an absolute masterpiece. Just look at The Vines, Datsuns and other useless simplistic stuff on the cover of NME. Then hear this and remember how music can be devastatingly powerful. The album is opened by what curiously sounds like a jam between early Echo And The Bunnymen and Campag Velocet (another of the few good bands making their debut in the recent years, although disappearing shortly thereafter). You can hear a sample of Blue Skies on the site of Piccadilly Records, the Manchester shop where I bought the album from. They do a great job and accept International Money Orders, so also people outside England can get this album without a credit card.
The following Scream is one of their best songs, with its deep bass and touching guitar. This track and the wildly angular Stag just show us Gabrielles Wish (now without the apostrophe) have an obvious new wave influence, but can do the thing in their own unique way. After the glorious madness of Vinegar Milk comes what's probably their best track of Portal, Midnight Itch, where they seriously come close to the intensity of Joy Division, Interpol just do lightweight pleasant efforts but this is the real thing and that's why this band should have been on Factory, the last band at this level was early Section 25 at their very best.
The violence of Dateless Wonder and Glash Ashtray (the song which definitely confirms the band's abilty to create a sound of their own) and the darkness of All Day Long and Orange Light (with the wonderfully melancholic guitar in the finishing part) complete this masterpiece with two instrumentals, a short interlude (Panphobia) and most of all a touching atmospheric ambient keyboard (Human Arms) which makes a peaceful final after such extreme emotions.
Do you want to stay out there with all the others ignoring such a great band or do you want to come inside and discover how music can still be so powerful and emotional? Welcome in the lucky few.

Rating: 10/10

Tuesday 4 February 2003

New Order - Retro

noretro So, here's the box set. Retro, that's for Retrospective, certainly not for the music attitude, as New Order have always been the most forward looking of the bands. No truly rare tracks for the fans. Disappointing? Not at all! Well, I'd have liked if they included rarer tracks like Mesh, which is so good it gives the name to my personal site, but still there's plenty of good stuff here.
Four CDs, and a booklet which alone is worth the price, and another wonderful artwork (a disco mirrorball attacked by an eagle?). Since compiling the set would have made the band members argue for months, they gave the task to four fans who are also friends. The first CD was compiled by journalist Miranda Sawyer and she did a really good job. She compiled a sort of alternative International, the greatest hits compilation, but there are some priceless gems here, like two electro masterpieces: the original 12" version of Temptation from 1982, even better than the most popular 1987 version, which was previously available on CD only on the 1981-1982 compilation, which is hard to find in the most of the world, and most of all the wonderful original 12" version of Confusion, even better than the most popular 1987 version as well, previously never available on CD.
John McCready is another journo, and he compiled a CD with more obscure tracks, at least to those who have not all the albums... this box set is an excellent way to start with New Order, because there are four CDs which cover the most of their unique career, and quite enough to convert you into a devoted fan who buys everything else... There's Let's Go, which appeared only on the 1963 single before, and Cries And Whispers (except we all thought it was Mesh, but now we know, thank you Steve...), and other album tracks which will want you to get them all at once.

Mike Pickering is part of the history of New Order. He was A&R at Factory, member of Quando Quango and DJ at the Hacienda. He made a CD of remixes (except some classic 12" versions like Everything's Gone Green), where we find Koma & Bones from the new Confusion 2002 12", the rare Paradise 12" remix and other great remixes from singles like World In Motion and Crystal.
Then there's the live CD, compiled by Bobby Gillespie, which now is leader of Primal Scream and was part of Jesus And Mary Chain, but most of all was the bassist of Wake, a great Factory band very inspired by New Order. The band members thought his selection was too oriented to the early tracks and so managed to argue with such a devoted fan to change the tracks to a wider compilation, which features wild performances of Procession and In A Lonely Place (with Bernard's fierce screams) and brilliant live tracks of Everything's Gone Green, Age Of Consent, The Perfect Kiss, Fine Time (from the mad American 1989 tour) and Turn My Way with Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins (fan and friend of the band since a teenager) in Liverpool, and I witnessed that bit in history.
There's also a limited edition including a fifth bonus CD with more rarities, like Temptation 1998, Transmission live, the video version of Perfect Kiss and the full 17 minutes version of Elegia.

And then there's the booklet, with some wonderful photographs never seen before, and some interesting, emotional and hilarious bits. I could have written some of the words of the guests in my own review... Here are some (don't read if you don't want to spoil them before having the booklet) which tell better than any others what New Order are:

Steve MorrisIt was Rob's idea originally, God rest his soul. He wanted to do a box set and put every single version of every single and all the stuff tied in and then somebody realised it was going to be 20 CDs and we wouldn't make any money... There's something for everyone at Christmas. McCready's CD is for the snotty nephew who didn't get the trainset he wanted, but a sweater instead. The frustrated housewife would go for Mike Pickering: not been out clubbing in a while, get a groove while doing the dishes. Granny would go for Miranda's, she can hum along, cos she'll know them already. And Bobby's live one would be for the getting-slightly-tubby ex football hooligan.

Bernard SumnerWe were using electronics live in the early days, when nobody else was using electronics, they were using tapes. We insisted on using the sequencers that we used in the studio.

BarneyIf we got back together after all that we'd been through, we know we're not going to split up again.

Miranda SawyerThose of us who grew up in Manchester in the 80s and 90s have much to thank New Order for: they gave us our good times, by creating the places to go, and then by keeping them open with their own hard-come-easy-go cash... they gave us the cool passion of their music... and they did it all without turning into twats. Which is nigh-on impossible in pop music, and uttelry heroic when you think of the trauma new Order endured. The deaths, the debts, the playing, the partying, the long tours, the slow grind of love and friendship. And all for this. The music, and the feeling it creates. Lucky for us.

BarneyWe never used to do encores. We used to play for forty minutes and go offstage. It wasn't arrogance. It was just that when we went to concerts we got bored after forty minutes. So we thought, it's possible that the machines could play a song, so we could just come in and press a button and we wouldn't have todo an encore, but the audience would get one and that'll confuse them and they'll all fuck off.
Steve: It didn't always work.
Barney: Blue Monday developed out of that. Except it couldn't be just machines because Hooky likes playnig his bass... and we needed a vocal...

John McCreadyThis music still stands. The era that spawned it, the era it spawned, is six feet underground inn our cultural consciousness. Yet these songs can still nag you with a thousand suggestions...

BarneyWhen we were struggling to start again after Ian died everyone had a go at singing. To be honest, I think Steve had the best voice... I didn't know how to sing, I didn't want to be a singer, I never ever thought I would be a singer, but I had to be really, if we were to carry on.

Mike PickeringIn '88 I met Derrick May and Kevin Sanderson, the creators of the Detroit sound I was playing at the Hacienda, it was evident a great part of their sound was taken from New Order, who they idolised.

Bobbie GillespieYou know the way it is now, bands release an album every two or three years and take a single off the album, but with New Order, between Movement and Power Corruption And Lies, they released Everything's Gone Green, Procession, Temptation and Blue Monday. Everything was an art statement. They were always going forward musically, and they were never scared to do something new, they were really brave.

Peter HookThat Tolworth gig in 1981 the T shirt tout guy tried to give us some money, because we didn't have any, and he felt guilty cos he was selling so many bootleg T shirts. But we thre him out, because we were very anti-merchandise, being poncey and anti exploiting your image and all that crap. And then Bernard ran down the road after him, going, 'Come back, come back! I'll have it!'.

HookyAfter Reading 1993 I was nearly in tears... you just knew it was the last one. I never thought that we would get back together again.

BarneyWe were all there (for the concert at the Olympia in Liverpool in 2001) because we wanted to be there. Obviously we have fond memories of that. It's been a pleasure to play with New Order. Even when I didn't enjoy it I always put everything I had into it.

Tuesday 21 January 2003

Diaframma - I Giorni Dell'Ira

diaframmaira Il 2002 è stato un anno davvero intenso per i Diaframma. Durante l'anno era già uscita la raccolta Sassolini Sul Fondo Del Fiume, che raccoglieva preziosi inediti registrati col secondo cantante della storia del gruppo, Miro Sassolini (persino la bozza di un album che avrebbe dovuto sancire una reunion a fine anni 90).
Poco prima della fine dell'anno è uscito un numero del Mucchio Selvaggio Extra con allegato l'ultimo strepitoso concerto con Sassolini alla voce, Live Al Big Club 1988 (imperdibili le esecuzioni di Boxe, Marta, Spazi Immensi, Tre Volte Lacrime, Siberia, Un Temporale In Campagna, Elena, Amsterdam, Memoria, Delorenzo, Caldo, praticamente tutte!), appena prima che Federico Fiumani decidesse di rifondare i Diaframma come cantante (salva la reunion estemporanea in occasione del ventesimo anniversario dell'apertura del Tenax di Firenze, sempre nel 2002!).
Intanto è uscito anche il nuovo album, I Giorni Dell'Ira... ovviamente il titolo non ha nulla a che vedere con l'IRA, l'etichetta che pubblicò i primi album epocali dei Diaframma a metà anni 80, come no... chissà, magari si riferisce alla guerriglia cattolica nordirlandese...
Si è parlato spesso di un tentativo di Fiumani di recuperare le sonorità new wave degli anni 80, dopo la svolta a metà tra cantautorato e pub rock degli anni 90. In effetti un paio d'anni fa aveva anche realizzato un tour particolarmente dedicato alle canzoni di quegli anni, e si può individuare questo sforzo nel precedente album, Il Futuro Sorride A Quelli Come Noi, a partire dalla copertina... ma in realtà questo tentativo è stato condotto con saggezza, evitando di abbandonarsi ad una sterile nostalgia e continuando il proprio percorso originale.
In questo senso il nuovo album sembra confermare questa tendenza: ormai la canzone di Fiumani si è stabilizzata su un rock d'autore, a volte vigoroso, altre delicato, che si pone al di là della contemporaneità, ma anche del revival.
Fiumani è semplicemente sé stesso, come sempre, nel bene e nel male, senza cercare ulteriori mutazioni, che del resto non avrebbero senso dopo 20 anni di carriera come patriarca del rock alternativo italiano.
Dopo avere gettato al vento, negli anni 90, due occasioni per il grande successo, la prima perchè non voleva sanremizzarsi, la seconda (più grave) perchè non voleva aspettare Maroccolo che stava per far decollare il Consorzio, continua per la sua strada, esempio di vera indipendenza in senso artistico ed organizzativo.
A parte stampa e distribuzione, fortunatamente curate dalla Self, Fiumani si produce da solo, si fa le copertine da solo e si procura anche gran parte delle date dal vivo, forte del fatto che può contare su un eroico zoccolo duro di fans, disposti anche a viaggi lungo l'intera penisola per seguirlo, e persino ad aiutarlo nella stessa fase organizzativa. Fiumani è stato il primo ad incarnare il punk (quello vero, mica quello da fighetti dei Punkreas e delle centinaia di cloni del finto punk californiano) in Italia, rimane anche l'ultimo ad impersonarlo nel modo più autentico.
Quest'album parte bene, Il Disprezzo, robusto ed ironico punk tra wave e garage, è anche il brano migliore. Ma anche la travolgente title track è davvero ottima. Seguono buone canzoni più in linea con la tradizione anni 90 come Sua Maestà e Il Disco Dei Replacements, ed è quasi superfluo ribadire i testi splendidi, tra umorismo e poesia, e un episodio davvero divertente come Nella Firenze Degli Anni 80, anche Signore Che Pulisci Il Mare è convincente. Sei buone canzoni, a cui ne seguono altre sei che lasciano un po'più perplessi, molto più approssimative, soprattutto dal punto di vista melodico.
Certo, unendo i brani migliori di ciascuno degli ultimi album otteniamo un capolavoro. Invece Fiumani pubblica spesso i suoi album e così ci ritroviamo con un album che è diviso in due con una precisione sorprendente. Del resto molti grandi artisti pubblicano album che hanno solo tre o quattro canzoni davvero eccellenti, solo che magari le distribuiscono meglio all'interno dell'album per cui quelle mediocri passano in secondo piano e l'album viene maggiormente apprezzato nel suo insieme. I brani migliori salvano abbondantemente I Giorni Dell'Ira, senza considerare che, nell'attuale decadente panorama italiano (tenendo conto che l'unico altro album degno di nota uscito nel 2002 in Italia è Amorematico dei Subsonica... che nostalgia per i fermenti di metà anni 90...), svetta come una delle uscite migliori.

Voto: 7/10

A Certain Ratio - Early

acrearly We must be extremely thankful to Soul Jazz Records, which is resurrecting some unfairly forgotten punk-funk material. Music that is as futuristic as untrendy in these times of safe bets even in the supposedly alternative field...
There's In The Beginning There Was Rhythm, a compilation with 23 Skidoo, The Slits, Gang Of Four, Pop Group... how many teenagers know these bands? And still they were making music for today twenty years ago, but they didn't know that music in the 21st century would have sounded like their parents' music... There was still the illusion of looking forward, of mixing strong stuff, tunes and rhythms, and of Doing It Yourself, whatever your knowledge and means were...
The best band in that compilation is A Certain Ratio, who also have this very compilation of their own, a bunch of clueless teenagers which have been as lucky as unlucky...
They were lucky because they wanted to sound like Earth, Wind And Fire, they wanted to play real funky, not new wave... but they didn't know at all how to do it, and were corrupted by Tony Wilson and the Factory gang into mixing punk and funk... they didn't plan it, it came out of lack of knowledge and circumstances... Simon Topping wanted to sound like that hot rare groove stuff from America, and yet he had that voice that sounded so much like Ian Curtis... the perverted genius of Martin Hannett did the rest, not teaching the guys how to play the funk, but filtering their poor instruments through a load of new wave effects.
So you get this unique bass which is like New Order's Peter Hook playing jazz at an underground New York party, and the fact that it came all out from pure luck makes it even more funny. Unconscious funk genius corrupted by punk bastards, you'll never have a band like this on the scene anymore. Were ACR able to play as they wanted, they wouldn't have sounded so good... had they found a honest producer or manager, and we wouldn't have had such a great band... A similar story to New Order, creating their best electro stuff trying gear they didn't know how to play, especially Gillian Gilbert... they wanted dance, but made something slightly different...
ACR were unlucky because as soon as they learnt how to play the funk the most of the people lost interest in them... they did some excellent soul and funk music, but didn't sound unique anymore and Factory didn't treat them at the level of the other Madchester bands... they tried a major label deal, and of course it was a disaster, also because they couldn't completely get rid of the indie attitude, it was soul, but alternative soul... they went back home at Rob Gretton's label... small label, small success, and they were already untrendy by then... Creation rereleased the albums in the 90s, but was too busy with Britpop to give any proper attention, so ACR's music, after four good labels, may still be rare to find... The funny thing is nobody knows it, but ACR still exist and play gigs in small clubs.
But let's go back to their most glorious days, 1978-85, when they did this austere and exciting mix of punk and funk and played Banbarra's funk anthem Shack Up dressed as boy scouts and promoted their gigs with posters of Nazi parades (that was Saville, one of the perverted bastards). Of course the press accused them of fascism, deciding to ignore they were lefties with a black drummer, but that was all part of the fun. Every song here is a casual masterwork, from the funeral party of Flight to the spiky funk of The Fox... and the latin acid fo Blown Away and Skipscada... percussions were excellent, after all Donald Johnson was the onlty one who could actually play his instrument... but still you have the fabulous bass of tracks like Knife Slits Water... by Sounds Like Something Dirty they had eventually learnt how to play, and play damn well too, but they also bacame fond of the new wave attitude and actually won't ever get past it, fortunately enough...
This is not a plain compilation, you get also a booklet with a very interesting retropsective interview and a second CD full of rarities: the pearl is the video of Tribeca, ACR live in New York, 1980, black and white, they all play percussion locked into a room... they play the wonderful Forced Laugh which isn't included in the audio tracks... and what about the original 7" of All Night Party, when they hadn't yet a drummer, and Tony Wilson didn't even think to get one for the record... or the Peel Sessions, the fabulous Felch, the truly rare Tumba Rhumba and Abracadubra, a 12" which was released by the mysterious Sir Horatio... yes, it was ACR trying to sound more funk and dub, but everyone could still recognize the Mancunian indie element, however they tried to hide it... glorious punk-funk by accident.

Rating: 10/10

New Order - 316

New Order 316 DVD This DVD features two of the best New Order concerts ever. You know what? I don't even own it. I still have to buy a DVD player actually. But of course I already have the video tapes of the concerts, that's what's important to me as a fan (I'm not a collector of every item if I already own the content).
316 is not a random number. Apparently it must be read as "Three-sixteen", because it means there are three Joy Division songs and sixteen New Order songs between these concerts. It could be a coincidence, but it isn't, as the rule is followed on 511, the DVD with the Finsbury Park concert.

The first concert is early New Order at the Ukranian National Home in New York, 1981, and was released by Factory as Taras Sevchenko. So, it's ealry New Order at their best, from the start, with a powerful Chosen Time (mistitled as ICB), you already see they're on great shape, Barney's guitar, Gillian's keyboard (probably the prototype of the chords which will be used, in various sequences, on Everything's Gone Green, 586, Ecstasy and Blue Monday, I definitely see thread between these five songs), Steve's drums and Hooky's bass.
The early, wild and experimental performances of Everything's Gone Green are my all time favourite New Order moments (the best ever is the live video at the Ancienne Belgique, pure electro punk madness). This is one of those, though the song had already taken the definite shape.
Here the Movement songs sound even better, much more powerful, just like Truth, touching and fierce at the same time (Bernard especially, is amazing both as a singer and as a guitarist). And how is absolutely excellent when you have a storming Senses collapsing into a solemn Procession... One of the best things ever made in music is this earliest version of Temptation, with its pulsating minimal keyboard and the spacey, noisey grand finale, when New Order leave the stage one by one leaving the keyboard on auto-play.

The second concert is New Order at the Reading Festival, 1998. It's their triumphant public comeback (since 1993), after the secret gig at the Apollo, and the best thing is I've been at both. Unfortunately I was too young to see the early New Order at their best, but I saw the older Order, still at their best, even today, 21 years later. There are the greatest hits they had after the early period, like Blue Monday and Regret, there are some hits in new, wonderful versions, like True Faith, there are Joy Division songs, like Atmosphere, and even an amazing new version of Isolation, and a grand finale with 50,000 people (including me) singing along and jumping to World In Motion.

Saturday 18 January 2003

New Order - International

international-l This is the first time since 1987, when Substance was released, we have a collection in chronological order with the most of the main singles in the original version. This time it was harder, because they had to cover 21 years of career, and how can you fit such a career on one CD?
You just can't, in fact... "they" (those who compiled the CD, I think the band had very little to do with it) left off Temptation, certainly Shellshock wasn't as much essential... Maybe a 2CD set would have been more appropriate, here we miss also great successful singles like Fine Time and World In Motion. Also, there's not anything unreleased, though Here To Stay has been available only on sigle and on the excellent 24 Hour Party People soundtrack, which aren't so easy to find in the most of the countries.
So, what is International good for? I think the title is cool, and also shows its target. This is a compilation for the novices in the non-English markets. People who have seen a couple of video clips on TV or have only one album and want to know more about the band without spending too much before buying anything else.
And it works. If I should recommend a single album to a total novice, I'd say this. How can you resist falling in love with a band giving you all these good songs? The fact these songs cover such a long career guarantees that you'll find something excellent whatever record you'll buy next, whatever the year of release was...
And it's good for the fans as well. True, you don't have Temptation and other masterpieces, but you still have the most of the best songs the band did in 21 years. Having only one CD where you can listen to Ceremony and Here To Stay, Blue Monday and Crystal, it's a small miracle, and just makes you wonder how can a band be so great over all these years through different styles.
There's also some sort of rare track, the 12" version of Touched By The Hand Of God, you find it only here if you don't have the 12" or the CDS.
In the booklet there's a funny but sometimes pompous foreword by David Blot. There's also one of the most beautiful record covers ever, the illustration by Victoria Sawdon makes it worth the price of the CD alone. You can bet Peter Saville has still got taste. Just like New Order.

Tuesday 7 January 2003

El Muniria, il nuovo progetto di Emidio Clementi ex Massimo Volume

Da Rumore: E' stato battezzato El Muniria, dal nome dell'albergo di Tangeri dov'è stato registrato parte del prossimo disco: lo stesso in cui William Burroughs scrisse Il pasto Nudo, il progetto a cui l'ex Massimo Volume Emidio Clementi sta lavorando con Dario Parisini (già nei Disciplinatha) e Massimo Carozzi, mentre s'è perso per strada Theo Teardo.

Friday 3 January 2003

Debut by Johnny Marr And The Healers coming soon

From http://www.cdnow.com: "Boomslang", the debut album by Johnny Marr And The Healers is due Feb. 4 on iMusic, and Marr will play select club dates in the U.S. in January and February.

Thursday 2 January 2003

Live inedito dei Diaframma con Sassolini

Il Mucchio Selvaggio Extra attualmente in edicola contiene una lunga e interessante intervista con Federico Fiumani dei Diaframma sulla storia del gruppo, e soprattutto il CD con l'ultimo, splendido, concerto con Miro Sassolini alla voce prima del suo allontanamento dalla band.