Category: Lost Albums (Page 11 of 14)

Lost Albums: BRIAN ENO Another Day On Earth

3 October 2013 /

eno another day on earth

Released in 2005, ‘Another Day On Earth’ was Brian Eno’s first full vocal offering for many years although there had been the 1990 collaboration with John Cale ‘Wrong Way Up’ and 1991’s disappointing, partially voiced, solo effort ‘Nerve Net’.

It displayed an emotional connection with the second, more esoteric side of his highly regarded 1977 album ‘Before & After Science’, in particular songs such as ‘Spider & I’ which was later covered by DEPECHE MODE’s Martin Gore for his ‘Counterfeit 2’ album.

Recorded over four years, on the gap between vocalised albums Eno explained to Sound-On-Sound magazine: “Song-writing is now actually the most difficult challenge in music”. Although often regarded as a synthesizer pioneer working notably with ROXY MUSIC and David Bowie, Eno’s experimental approach often centred around being a non-musician and working to limitations of the instruments being used, be they “simplistic keyboards”, guitars with strings tuned to the same note or found sounds like typewriters.

This methodology often extended to the techniques of the players themselves. On the 1974 track ‘Put A Straw Under Baby’ from ‘Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)’, Eno famously employed the Portsmouth Sinfonia, a classical combo who were noted for not being able to technically play their instruments. This suitably achieved a naïve string palette for the song’s almost nursery rhyme feel. With his noted allegiance to the avant garde and use of his Oblique Strategies cards, his philosophy was to use all methods, whether musical, technological, motivational or concrete to achieve a final outcome, as opposed to purposely sounding electronic.

After ‘Before & After Science’ (which incidentally was partly engineered by the legendary Conny Plank), Eno concentrated on acclaimed ambient instrumental output such as ‘Music for Airports’, ‘Another Day On Earth’, ‘Thursday Afternoon’, ‘The Shutov Assembly’ and ‘Neroli’ for his solo work. While ‘Deep Blue Day’ from ‘Apollo: Soundtracks & Atmospheres’ was famously used in the toilet scene of the drug drama ‘Trainspotting’, ‘Neroli’ in particular drew harsh criticism.

One observer noted ‘Neroli’ made ‘Thursday Afternoon’ seem like thrash metal while Q Magazine said: “Eno makes a muted synthesiser go bong for a couple of minutes short of an hour!” During this period, Eno’s song based interests were confined to production work for bands such as TALKING HEADS, U2 and JAMES. Eno’s influence on U2 in particular was startling, encouraging them to tone down their more overtly rockist leanings and coating their work with his self-programmed Yamaha DX7.

The organic intro of songs like ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ was clearly rooted to ‘An Ending (Ascent)’ from ‘Apollo: Soundtracks & Atmospheres’… U2 would ape Eno’s Berlin period with David Bowie on ‘Achtung Baby’ and ‘Zooropa’ before then going the full Eno-esque hog with the polarising PASSENGERS project in 1995.

And on ‘Another Day On Earth’, it was the Eno-steered U2 who were the immediate reference for the album’s wonderful opening track and calling card ‘This’. Based around a distorted percussive loop, minimal harmonic guitar by Leo Abraham shimmered around the song’s surreal synthesizer textures. The infamous William S Burroughs cut-up technique was employed to formulate some of the lyrical content via a computer programme while a repeating “this” sample sent the listener into a beautifully induced state. The majestic middle eight was also something to savour.

Eno’s dry vocal style was an acquired taste. Profoundly English and always in tune but almost non-descript, it was this that probably contributed to Eno’s reluctance to use it over the years. However with voice colouring technology having moved beyond the vocoder in the 21st Century, Eno now had an opportunity to play more with overall atmospheres while incorporating a larynxed hookline. The vocals on the album as a result were quite deliberately abstract: “There’s just enough voice in there to make you hear it as a song, making it a bluff, a deceit” he pronounced.

This was most apparent on the dreamy sparseness of ‘And Then So Clear’ where using the gender-changing function on a Digitech Pro-Vocalist box, Eno was pitch-shifted up an octave for quite a spacey, yet humanoid effect. Additional human touches were provided courtesy of Korg’s Kaos pads. There was more inventive playfulness in the vocal department with the processed neo-acapella of ‘Bottomliners’.

The sparse ambience of ‘A Long Way Down’ and its tinkling ivories over backing generated by the Koan software used on 1997 album ‘The Drop’ kept up this exploratory stance while ‘Going Unconscious’ recalled the artful demure of Laurie Anderson courtesy of some vague monologue by Inge Zalaliene.

A number of the tracks on ‘Another Day On Earth’ recalled his many collaborative adventures in previous years. ‘Caught Between’ drifted between MOBY and PASSENGERS ‘Beach Sequence’ with its beautiful piano and guitar while ‘Passing Over’ harked back to Eno’s Germanic period with CLUSTER.

Held down by a synth drone, the resigned ‘Just Another Day’ maintained the meditative qualities of the album despite being beat driven.  Featuring percussionist J Peter Schwalm who Eno recorded the ‘Drawn From Life’ album with, it was proof that rhythm could be constructed without being imposing.

This drifting quality was also apparent on the electro-nautical journey of ‘Under’, a recognisable cousin of ‘And Then So Clear’. Those who wished to hark back to Eno’s early solo works got what they wanted with the melancholic folkisms of ‘How Many Worlds’. Recalling the ‘Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)’ album, this thematic link was particularly apt with the busy Chinese street market on the cover of ‘Another Day On Earth and the observations on Chinese Communism (seven years before JAPAN’s ‘Tin Drum’!) of the former.

And further highlighting Eno’s political and social concerns, a musically incongruous item closed the album but it was appropriately impactful; the unsettling ‘Bone Bomb’ was a narrative collage voiced by Airlie Cooke with a suicide bomber contemplating their death and their bone becoming shrapnel…

‘Another Day On Earth’ was a pastel palette reflecting on the human condition over beautiful audioscapes that could have been the follow-up to ‘Before & After Science’ had the technology been available then. In this hectic world, it still is a satisfying and thought provoking listen providing auditory relief and gentle reflection.

‘Another Day On Earth’ is still available on CD via Opal Music at Amazon

http://brian-eno.net/

http://www.enoshop.co.uk/

http://enoweb.co.uk

Text by Chi Ming Lai
3rd October 2013

Lost Albums: MAISON VAGUE Synthpop’s Alive

3 August 2013 /

“Living in a dream since 1983”, MAISON VAGUE’s ‘Synthpop’s Alive’ was one of the surprise albums of 2011 and possibly the best wholly independent release of that year.

Paying homage to Synth Britannia and in particular, Gary Numan, it was the work of Clark Stiefel, an Essen domiciled American musician based in a modern day Neudeutsche Schule. A classically trained virtuoso who studied piano and electronic music at a conservatoire, it was there that where he got to grips with both the Moog and Buchla modular systems that lit his passion.

With the eccentric demeanour of Hungarian 19th Century composer Franz Liszt, Stiefel added some quality musicianship and a wry sense of humour to the quirkily authentic proceedings. ‘Synthpop’s Alive’ was very much an album with air synth potential. The title track with its arching battlecry was initially a reaction to a YouTube video entitled ‘Synthpop Is Dead’. Totally disagreeing with its creator, Clark responded but instead of protesting via the comments section, he composed a song in a classic synthpop style.

Like the result of coitus between DEVO and PLACEBO, the opening Sci-Fi synth salvo and the line “Everyone’s entitled to opinion…you have yours and well, I have mine” was wryly countered with a retort of “And though it seems that our opinions differ… you’ll agree in time!” The blistering solo using an Oberheim OBXa is a total delight: “The OBXa has more of a rock’n’roll tone to it. I like that!” Stiefel told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK

Another familiar, stirring sound came courtesy of the Arturia Virtual Minimoog and its meaty octave bass drive. “One of the most brilliant pieces of software ever” added Stiefel. That particular VST dominated many of the album’s chunky riff laden tracks such as the immediately enjoyable ‘Pixelated Lover’. The combination of OBXa and Moog colours effectively revived The Gary Numan Principle and on the bouncily brilliant ‘Give Them Away’, ‘Observer’ from ‘The Pleasure Principle’ was developed into a far more complete composition. It also climaxed with a simulated violin solo that recalled ULTRAVOX’s Billy Currie who incidentally played on that same album.

Its more steadfast cousin ‘Buried In Sandstone’ was also decidedly Numan-esque in a ‘Conversation’ style while ‘My Situation’ took its inspiration from THE HUMAN LEAGUE but presented itself with a more symphonic overlay. Voiced by Stiefel’s snarling mid-Atlantic tone, it was as if PLACEBO had come from industrialised Sheffield.

Slightly punkier, ‘We’re Not Human’ was also cut from a similar cloth. The album however was not all Numanoid pastiche. Changing the rhythm stance slightly, the superb reggae inflected electro of ‘Tunnel Vision’ featured a terrific chorus high which was punctuated by lovely string layers and some fluid bass guitar. Meanwhile, ‘Colored Glasses’ journeyed into more cerebral depths via some terrific classical interludes in the muse of Beethoven but using multi-tracked Roland Jupiter 4s.

Affirming the multi-dimensional aspirations of the album, the hilarious and appropriately titled ‘No Show’ was a fine example of Bette Midler gone electro or even ‘Bugsy Malone’ with lasers instead of splurge guns… inspired by death of Michael Jackson, its sense of irony was an amusing musical diversion and wholly fitting in the context of MAISON VAGUE.

But to bookend ‘Synthpop’s Alive’, album closer ‘Living On Ice Cream’ returned to the former Gary Webb and looked back at his TUBEWAY ARMY days to ape ‘Replicas’ outtake ‘We Have A Technical’. As icy and surreal as the title, ‘Living On Ice Cream’ was a terrific closer that was both exhilarating and fun. As a whole, ‘Synthpop’s Alive’ combined midlife paranoia with fish-out-of-water eccentricity but a tongue-in-cheek slyness allowed the listener not to take it all too seriously…

The future could be seen though ‘Colored Glasses’ but for the follow-up, there may be some other plans as Stiefel has surmised: “I definitely feel musically I’m heading in a more minimal and transparent direction. This is an extreme example but if you could imagine Leonard Cohen playing synths. When one thinks of singer / songwriters, the first thing that comes to people’s heads is a guitar. You don’t really think of a singer/songwriter with a synth. But if the song is strong enough, then maybe you could just have a minimal accompaniment – perhaps only a Jupiter 4 and TR 606 drum machine? It’s only a dream at this point but this is definitely brewing in the back of my head.”

MAISON VAGUE ‘Synthpop’s Alive’ uses the following synthesizers and drum machines: Oberheim OBXa, Roland Jupiter 4, Roland Promars CompuPhonic (MRS 2), Roland MKS 50, Roland JP8000, Roland XP60, Arturia MinimoogV, Digidesign Xpand, Roland CR8000 CompuRhythm, Roland TR606 Drumatix, Native Instruments Battery and Submersible Kitcore Deluxe.

‘Synthpop’s Alive’ is still available as a download album via Amazon

http://www.maisonvague.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maison-Vague/43000159265

Text by Chi Ming Lai
3rd August 2013

Lost Albums: SPARKS Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins

19 January 2013 /


After a quiet number of years even by their standards, the original synth duo SPARKS secured the backing of DEF Management and made a triumphant return in 1994 with ‘Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins’.

It was very much a determined comeback released on the German based Logic label, then home to trendy dance acts like SNAP! and COSMIC BABY.

SPARKS’ career had been very up and down, but the Mael brothers were never deterred by public or media ambivalence and always returned like a phoenix from the flames just when people least expected it.

First finding fame with the glorious ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’, they had originally been HALFNELSON whose Todd Rundgren produced debut was released on Bearsville Records founded by Bob Dylan’s former manager Albert Grossman.

They changed their name to SPARKS when Grossman suggested they should rename themselves ‘The Sparks Brothers’ after the comedy siblings Marx. Following an appearance on ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ in late 1972, presenter Bob Harris was unimpressed and said they were the worst thing he had ever seen… this same esteemed music expert had poured scorn on ROXY MUSIC a few months earlier by announcing they were “unimpressive hype” and later called NEW YORK DOLLS “mock rock”!

Luckily, British promoters were fascinated by the quirky brothers and they were booked for a series of well-attended club dates. At one of their headline gigs at The Marquee, they were supported by a group of upstarts named QUEEN! Ironically, the US would later embrace the music of QUEEN and indeed SPARKS, but it was indifference towards Ron’s classical keyboard interludes and Russell’s camp operatic falsetto that led to the Maels leaving America and uprooting to the UK to find fame and fortune.

They recruited a new backing band where one of the audition adverts had the prerequiste of: “a really good face that isn’t covered by a beard”! Although one of those who failed the audition was Warren Cann, later to join ULTRAVOX, the rest as they say is history.  Who wasn’t frightened to death by the snarling stares of Ron Mael with his Chaplain-esque moustache (…well, that’s what we are going to say!?!), sitting motionless behind his RMI Electra-piano on ‘Top Of The Pops’ in the late Spring of 1974?

Photo by Gems/Redferns

Released on Island Records, their quirky glam albums ‘Kimono My House’ and ‘Propaganda’ bizarrely found a screaming teenybopper audience. But beneath the hit appeal of ‘Amateur Hour’, ‘Something For The Girl With Everything’ and ‘Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth’ was an artistic eccentricity that captured the imaginations of notable soon-to-be songsmiths like a certain Steven Patrick Morrissey.

Meanwhile a Basildon lad named Martin Lee Gore was to later cover ‘Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth’ in a busman’s holiday from DEPECHE MODE! However, despite an appearance in the George Segal film ‘Rollercoaster’ in 1976, SPARKS spent a number of years in the artistic doldrums.

Eventually, Russell and Ron opened their ears to the burgeoning electro-disco sound as heard on DONNA SUMMER’s ‘I Feel Love’ and were put into contact with her producer Giorgio Moroder. With aspirations to work with a band, the Munich based Italian set to work with them immediately, the result being the tremendous ‘No1 Song In Heaven’. Released in 1979, it actually only made it to No14 in the UK charts but this was a few months before TUBEWAY ARMY’s seminal ‘Are Friends Electric?’, often seen as the cultural turning point for the synthesizer.

Eventually the sound of the synth was everywhere, but despite a Top10 follow-up hit in ‘Beat The Clock’, the album ‘No1 In Heaven’ failed to sell and SPARKS eventually got lost among all the British acts they had helped pave the way for like SIMPLE MINDS (just listen to ‘Life In A Day’ and ‘Chelsea Girl’!), OMD (ditto ‘Motion & Heart’), DEPECHE MODE (Founder member Vince Clarke would go on to remix SPARKS) and SOFT CELL (ditto David Ball!).

SPARKS returned to America with a rockier band sound produced by QUEEN cohort Mack. Tracks like ‘Angst In My Pants’ and ‘Funny Face’ were radio hits on LA New Wave station KROQ, but the rest of the world were starting to fall under the poptastic spell of PET SHOP BOYS and ERASURE, two duos who owed more than a small debt to the Maels’ image blueprint of one who does something and the other who does nothing! With the rise of dance culture and the music technology now available to work totally on their own terms, SPARKS came up with ‘Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins’.

The bold artwork with headlines such as “Room service cover up! It was hot but it wasn’t on the menu!” and “America’s Most Miserable Man” laid down their tongue-in-cheek intentions. The centrepiece was the launch single ‘When Do I Get To Sing My Way?’, a masterclass in electronic pop. It had everything; atmospherics, subtle rhythmical infections, an anthemic uplifting chorus and a narrative on sibling rivalry which was superbly illustrated in the vintage Hollywood blockbuster styled promo video directed by Sophie Muller.

The follow-up ‘(When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing’ was very much in the frantic Eurodance vein of the period sounding like ‘Yesterday When I Was Mad’ being covered by Freddie Mercury! Actually, it was quite difficult to get through this album without thinking of PET SHOP BOYS and their stomping 1993 LP ‘Very’.

Despite the lush synthonic strings and beat driven template, Russell Mael brought his obviously more quizzical character into proceedings, particularly on the cutting ‘I Thought I Told You To Wait In The Car’ with its Arabic overtones and unsettling multi-tracked chants of “CAR! CAR! CAR! CAR!”.

‘Now That I Own The BBC’ was obviously more like ERASURE, the Maels ironically reflecting on their return to the fame game and using The Beeb as its metaphor. Also on the uptempo side of proceedings, ‘Let’s Go Surfing’ was perhaps a less accomplished relative of ‘Now That I Own The BBC’, but immediately enjoyable just the same, with orchestra stabs and an anthemic chorus thrown in for good measure.

But the album was not just an electropop experiment in idiosyncratic accessibility. ‘Frankly Scarlett, I Don’t Give A Damn’ was an amusing musical skit based around the acclaimed Oscar winning epic ‘Gone With The Wind’. Spot-on observations in the narrative of Rhett Butler such as “That soft southern accent delivered without the slightest trace of a British accent, even that’s starting to wear on me” confirmed the Mael Brothers’ lyrical humour had remained intact over the years as SPARKS sent up a great American institution!

Best of all was the brilliantly chilling ballad ‘Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil’, now in hindsight sounding like MUSE gone synthpop! ‘The Ghost Of Liberace’ was like an update of ‘Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth’ but like with all good albums, there was the inherent inconsequential filler and that came with ‘Tsui Hark’… it consisted of acclaimed film director Tsui Hark repeatedly announcing “My Name Is Tsui Hark, I’m a film director” over an inconsequential dance number! Thanks heavens for CD programmers!

Photo by Sophie Muller

Although ‘Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins’ was not a huge seller in the UK, it re-established SPARKS as a viable cult act with a headlining tour and notably, an invitation to support BLUR at their 1995 Mile End Stadium gig. In Germany however, the album was a big success when ‘When Do I Get To Sing My Way?’ got to No7. In a country where age and artistic wisdom were not seen as a barrier to cultural acceptance, they found a brand new young audience.

However, the Maels lost it all again with the pointless 1997 reworkings album ‘Plagiarism’ featuring special guests ERASURE and FAITH NO MORE, and then capped it all with the poorly received follow-up ‘Balls’ in 2000.

But as always, they bounced back again in 2002 with the acclaimed classical concept album ‘Lil’ Beethoven’ and have been discretely playing to their fanbase throughout the world since, most recently with the well received ‘One Mouth Two Hands’ tour. Their eccentric sound continues to be heard in modern acts such as MARINA & THE DIAMONDS and GOLDFRAPP.

For the song titles alone, ‘Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins’ is worthy of rediscovery. This collection is from a time when Britpop was taking a hold and electronic pop generally meant dance music; as an item of buried treasure, this album is a fabulous document of when the Maels briefly joined the house party that they had obliquely helped to inspire.

“And instead of the usual bass and drums, he heard…”

‘Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins’ was released by Logic Records and is available on remastered CD via Lil Beethoven Records

http://allsparks.com/

https://www.facebook.com/sparksofficial

https://twitter.com/sparksofficial

Text by Chi Ming Lai
19th January 2013

Lost Albums: THE BARRY GRAY ORCHESTRA No Strings Attached

29 December 2012 /

Stand By For Action!

For many of a particular generation, the sad passing of Gerry Anderson was like the loss of a childhood friend. His pioneering shows ‘Fireball XL5’ (1962-63), ‘Stingray’ (1964-65), ‘Thunderbirds’ (1965-66), ‘Captain Scarlet’ (1967-68) and ‘Joe 90’ (1968-69) all used a bespoke technique christened Supermarionation.

These heroic Sci-Fi stories set in Century 21 all boasted high cinematic production values. This was unheard of at the time within children’s television programme making, especially when compared to the charming if amateurish cardboard sets of the BBC’s ‘Dr Who’ series. The magnificent range of spaceships, aircraft, submarines and vehicles featured only added to the appeal while the subsequent Dinky Toys merchandising helped complete the emotional connection for those youngsters watching.

Made in association with Lew Grade’s ITC organisation and the now defunct ITV regional channel ATV, ‘Thunderbirds’ in particular was a worldwide success that allowed Anderson to branch into live action with ‘U.F.O.’ (1970-71), ‘The Protectors’ (1972-73) and ‘Space 1999’ (1975-78) before a return to marionettes with ‘Terrahawks’ (1983-84).

These shows also acted as an apprenticeship for special effects designers like Brian Johnson who would go on to work on ‘Alien’, as well as influencing films such as ‘Star Wars’. Anderson’s legacy is present in today’s popular culture, most notably with the hilarious puppet satire ‘Team America : World Police’.

Photo by RG Balkham, Rex Features

It was the era of The Cold War; the world was in state of turmoil following the Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination of John F Kennedy. China was in a volatile period with The Cultural Revolution while the United States were entering Vietnam and the Soviet Union soon invaded Czechoslovakia.

But there was also The Space Race where the two super powers were vying with each other to get a man on the moon as a symbol of their technological AND ideological superiority.

This culminated on 20th July 1969 with America’s Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to set foot on the lunar surface. It was within this backdrop that Gerry Anderson, together with his wife Sylvia, would create an array of escapist fantasy civilisations in space, under water and on earth.

But as well as iconic programmes, Gerry Anderson’s creations also featured iconic theme music composed by the genius of Barry Gray. The best of these Supermarionation signature tunes were gathered on a 10 inch mini-album entitled ‘No Strings Attached’ in 1981.

Subsequently reissued as a CD in 1999 by Castle Music, most of the material like the unforgettable ‘Thunderbirds’ theme, the conga madness of ‘Stingray’ and the lush crooner ballad ‘Aqua Marina’ (both sung by Gary Miller) was obviously orchestral based.

But several of the latter-era compositions featured assorted electronic experiments. These futuristic embellishments trod a similar musical path to THE TORNADOS’ 1962 international hit ‘Telstar’ with its memorable Selmer Clavioline organ line but were perhaps not as haunting as the BBC Radiophonic Workshop’s ‘Dr Who’ theme. Incidentally, Gray did create the special audio effects for the 1965 Peter Cushing film ‘Dr Who & The Daleks’ which also starred Roy Castle!

A case in point is ‘The Mysterons Theme’, an eerie piece that now sounds like the sonic prototype for LADYTRON’s ‘Aces High’ from ‘Gravity The Seducer’. It was also quite obviously the inspiration for ‘Mysterons’, the opening track on PORTISHEAD’s ‘Dummy’ album. The shimmering lead melody was achieved by Gray using an Ondes Martenot; this was an early electronic keyboard which featured a proximity sensor in a similar vein to the Theremin to implement the pitch bend qualities often associated with vintage horror movies.

He had been interested in using electronics since acquiring the Ondes Martenot for the earlier Anderson vehicle ‘Supercar’. The same spacey tones can also be heard accessorising the main ‘Captain Scarlet Theme’ with the indestructable timpani motif being absorbed into a lively spy number that spelt action and intrigue like every good TV theme tune should.

The most synthesized track on ‘No Strings Attached’ however was ‘Joe 90′ which began with pulses from an audio sweep oscillator. Only just missing out on the advent of the VCS3, Britain’s first commercially available synthesizer, this would have been one of the only ways at the time to produce such an effect other than a importing an expensive Moog or Buchla from the US. In 1968, only a millionaire musician like George Harrison could have afforded such a luxury.

Thus composers like Barry Gray had to be extremely innovative in order to find the sounds they had only imagined in their heads. Although the track’s main thrust came from some melodic surf style guitar and a healthy percussive groove, it was complimented by a superb counterpoint via a reedy transistorised organ not unlike the Vox Continentals used by acts such as (rather appropriately) ? & THE MYSTERIANS on ’96 Tears’, and much later ELVIS COSTELLO and OMD.

Barry Gray would go on to compose brilliantly memorable themes for other Gerry Anderson productions like ‘U.F.O.’ and Year One of ‘Space 1999’.

But rather like a lot of great artistic output from the UK, Year Two of ‘Space 1999’ fell victim to an American market revamp in 1976 so Gray, along with several of the cast and scriptwriters became surplus to requirements. His involvement in film scoring effectively ended there and he retired to further his hobby of drawing and calligraphy.

He occasionally appeared at Anderson related fan events and continued to play his music for his own pleasure. There had been talk of him working with Anderson again but he passed away in 1984 leaving behind a fine catalogue of music.

Although operating in different artistic spheres, Gerry Anderson and Barry Gray both complemented each other to provide a spirit of adventure and enjoyment that still resonates in many childhood memories and is likely to continue to do so for many generations to come as more discover the joy of Supermarionation through today’s modern media. As Commander Shore in ‘Stingray’ used to say: “Anything can happen in the next half hour!”.

Dedicated to the memories of Gerry Anderson (1921-2012) and Barry Gray (1908-1984)

Selected Fanderson Trivia:

The Tracy bothers from ‘Thunderbirds’ were named after five of the Mercury 7 Astronauts; Scott Carpenter, Virgil Grissom, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper and John Glenn. In the Thunderbird 2 launch sequences from the show, there was never any footage of Pod 2 being carried although it did feature obliquely in an episode entitled ‘Security Hazard’ when a young boy was taken home from Tracy Island after stowing away aboard T2.

The Angel pilots in ‘Captain Scarlet’ were based on real media personalities; Destiny Angel was a likeness of sexy Swiss actress Ursula Andress, Melody Angel was Eartha Kitt, Rhapsody Angel was British model Jean Shrimpton while Harmony Angel was based on Chinese actress Tsai Chin who played Fu Manchu’s daughter in the infamous film series. She also had a hit with ‘The Ding Dong Song’ in 1959 and played Helen Rubenstein in ‘Grey’s Anatomy’!

The vocal version of the ‘Captain Scarlet Theme’ was recorded by THE SPECTRUM. Their drummer was Keith Forsey who went on to work with Giorgio Moroder. Forsey became a producer in his own right, working with Billy Idol and THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS. However, he hit pay dirt by jointly penning ‘Flashdance’ and ‘Never Ending Story’ with Moroder while also co-writing SIMPLE MINDS’ US No1 ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’!

Captain Peter Carlin, the skipper of Skydiver 1 in ‘U.F.O.’ was played by the late Peter Gordeno. However, he left after only 7 episodes of the 26-part series when his agent warned him about being typecasted. He was better known as a dancer and, cabaret singer, later hosting the 1978 ‘World Disco Dancing Championships’. His son, also named Peter, has been DEPECHE MODE’s live keyboard player since ‘The Singles’ tour in 1998!

Minor Year Two ‘Space 1999’ character Yasko was played by Yasuko Nagazumi who is now a print advertising campaign manager in Hollywood, handling clients such as Guess Jeans, Donna Karan, Armani and Pirelli. Along with Tsai Chin, she also appeared in the James Bond film ‘You Only Live Twice’. Her daughter is Mikki Berenyi, singer / songwriter from indie band LUSH who had hits such as ‘Single Girl’ and ‘Ladykillers’ during the Britpop era!

‘No Strings Attached’ is still available on CD by Castle Music

‘Stand By for Action! – The Music of Barry Gray’ is available on CD via Silva Screen Records

‘Fireball XL5’, ‘Stingray’, ‘Thunderbirds’, ‘Captain Scarlet’, ‘Joe 90’, ‘U.F.O.’ and ‘Space 1999’ are available on DVD via Carlton Entertainment.

http://www.barrygray.co.uk/

http://gerryanderson.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/GerryAndersonOfficial/

http://www.fanderson.org.uk/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
29th December 2012, updated 24th April 2017

Lost Albums: RIECHMANN Wunderbar

18 November 2012 /


The story of Wolfgang Riechmann is tragic and had his life not been cut short, he certainly had the potential to become a revered and respected cult musical figure like his German contemporaries Michael Rother from NEU! and Manuel Göttsching of ASHRA.

With regards his only solo album ‘Wunderbar’, the resonant melancholy of its content becomes even more poignant once it is learnt that Riechmann was murdered in Düsseldorf just weeks before its release by Sky Records in August 1978. The victim of a random knife attack, he tragically died two days later.

Riechmann is the forgotten man in the Düsseldorf axis which spawned NEU! and KRAFTWERK. Indeed, he was even in a band called SPIRITS OF SOUND with Michael Rother and Wolfgang Flür before each separately joined KRAFTWERK at stages of Kling Klang’s development.

In 1976, he became a member of Düsseldorf rockers STREETMARK whose first album ‘Nordland’ was produced by the legendary Conny Plank. Despite recording an album ‘Eileen’ with them, in Autumn 1977 Riechmann headed down to Star-Studios in Hamburg to make his first solo record.

With his multi-instrumental virtuoso ability, he recorded a beautiful collection of instrumentals using an electric violin, guitars and a Röhrophon-studio vibraphone plus various synths; these included an ARP 2600, an ARP Odyssey and a corresponding ARP sequencer. STREETMARK’s Hans Schweiß added live drums as required but otherwise, this was a true independent work.

The opening ‘Wunderbar’ title track chimes with a Cold War spy drama intro before the melodic, almost oriental piece becomes PINK FLOYD meets CLUSTER over a delicate schaffel beat. Swimmy Jarre-like string machine washes float over ‘Abendlicht’ and in particular, ‘Silberland’. The latter is a lengthy piece not dissimilar to a downtempo ambient rendition of KRAFTWERK’s ‘Metropolis’. They were coincidentally both conceived around the same time!

The influence of the Berlin axis such as Klaus Schulze and TANGERINE DREAM looms on the trancey pulses of ‘Weltweit’ but clocks in seven at rather than twenty minutes, while ‘Himmelblau’ heads back to Düsseldorf, driven by a light Motorik beat. In a nod to the manic NEU! drummer, ‘Himmelblau’ even reprises the style of ranty vocal gibberish that was the preserve of Klaus Dinger circa LA DÜSSELDORF. The shimmering synth textures and the hypnotic rhythms lift the listener to a blue heaven as suggested in translation.

A mightily sweeping tune, it’s up there with La D’s epic ‘Rheinita’, Rother’s dreamy ‘Flammende Herzen’ or even RFWK’s ‘Ohm Sweet Ohm’ in the history of great melodic Kosmische musik. The six track album ironically closes with a short unsettling mood piece ‘Traumzeit’, a Wendy Carlos type tribute that chillingly recalls ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and the film’s ultraviolence with which Riechmann sadly met his end.

‘Wunderbar’ is an elegant and ultimately fragile collection with a fine balance of electronic technology and real instrumentation where none of the elements are overdone. Perhaps ahead of his time, on the cover Riechmann sported an iceman look that Gary Numan used six years later for ‘Berserker’. Who knows what could have happened had he lived and how much more brilliantly brooding music there might have been to come.

‘Wunderbar’ is available as a download via Bureau B under license from Sky Records GMBH

Vinyl LP available from https://shop.tapeterecords.com/riechmann-wunderbar.html

http://www.bureau-b.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
18th November 2012

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