RhoDeo 1747 Grooves

Hello,

Todays Artists  are the renowned horn-driven funk outfit Tower of Power have been issuing albums and touring the world steadily since the early '70s, in addition to backing up countless other musicians. The group's leader since the beginning has always been tenor saxophonist Emilio Castillo, who was born in Detroit but opted to pursue his musical dreams in Oakland, California. They played regularly in the Bay Area throughout the late '60s, as their lineup often swelled up to ten members, including such other mainstays as Greg Adams on trumpet and vocals, Lenny Pickett on sax, and Rocco Prestia on bass. ........ N'joy

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In the summer of 1968, tenor saxophonist/vocalist Emilio Castillo met Stephen "Doc" Kupka, who played baritone sax. Castillo had played in several bands, but Castillo's father told his son to "hire that guy" after a home audition. Within months the group, then known as The Motowns, began playing various gigs around Oakland and Berkeley, their soul sound relating to both minority and rebellious listeners. Castillo wanted to play Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, but he realized he would never get in with a name like The Motowns. The band agreed on Tower of Power and the name stuck.

By 1970, the now renamed Tower of Power—now including trumpet/arranger Greg Adams, first trumpet Mic Gillette, first saxophone Skip Mesquite, Francis "Rocco" Prestia on bass, Willie Fulton on guitar, and drummer David Garibaldi—signed a recording contract with Bill Graham's San Francisco Records and released their first album, East Bay Grease. Rufus Miller performed most of the lead vocals on this debut album. The group was first introduced to the San Francisco Bay area by radio station KSAN, which played a variety of artists such as Cold Blood, Eric Mercury and Marvin Gaye. The single "Sparkling in the Sand" received airplay on the Bay Area soul station KDIA.

Augmented by percussionist/conga/bongo player Brent Byars, Tower of Power was released from their San Francisco label contract and moved to Warner Bros. Records. With Rick Stevens now replacing Rufus Miller as lead singer, 1972's Bump City gave the band their first national exposure. This album included the hit single "You're Still a Young Man", which peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Stevens' pinnacle vocal performance before leaving the band.

Tower of Power, released in the spring of 1973, was the third album for the band. It featured Lenny Williams on lead vocals and Lenny Pickett on lead tenor saxophone. Bruce Conte replaced guitarist Willie Fulton and keyboardist Chester Thompson also joined the band during the recording of the album. This was the group's most successful album. It peaked at #15 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and was RIAA certified as a gold record (for sales in excess of 500,000 copies). The album also spawned their most-successful single "So Very Hard to Go". Although the single peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, it landed in the Top 10 on the surveys of many West Coast Top 40 radio stations, hitting #1 on many of them.

1974's Back to Oakland spawned another hit, "Don't Change Horses (in the Middle of a Stream)", that reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Time Will Tell", which charted at #69. The funk-jazz classic instrumental "Squib Cakes" also came from this album. On Urban Renewal (1974), the band moved more toward funk than soul; however, they continued recording ballads as well. Williams left the band in late 1974, and was replaced as vocalist by Hubert Tubbs. While Tower of Power remained a must-see live act, as disco became the new trend in R&B the group's original funk-laden style fell out of favor, and disco-oriented albums like 1978's We Came to Play and 1979's Back on the Streets didn't please critics or fans, and the band would go nine years without releasing an album.

Despite it all, Tower of Power -- in particular their horn section -- remained a much in-demand backing group for some of pop/rock's biggest names, including Elton John, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Huey Lewis, Little Feat, David Sanborn, Michelle Shocked, Paula Abdul, Aaron Neville, Aerosmith, Public Image Ltd., and many others. In 1988, Tower of Power returned to the studio for the album Power, and in 1991 they signed with Epic Records, where they released five albums by the end of the decade.

Into the new millennium, Tower of Power kept up their reputation as a strong live band, maintaining a steady touring schedule, and in 2009 they launched their own TOP Records label with The Great American Soulbook, in which they covered a dozen soul and R&B classics in the trademark Tower of Power style. In 2007, Tower of Power celebrated their fourth decade together with a special concert at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium, and a year later the show was issued in a special CD/DVD package, simply titled 40th Anniversary. In 2013, Tower of Power took a look back with the release of Hipper Than Hip: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, which documented a live radio broadcast from 1974. The bandmembers also announced they would be touring in 2013 and 2014 with two other iconic acts from Northern California, Journey and the Steve Miller Band.

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Tower of Power was very much in its prime in 1974, when the Bay Area outfit tore up the soul charts with the outstanding Urban Renewal. Lenny Williams, a passionate, wailing, gospel-influenced dynamo of a singer, had joined Tower the previous year, and he worked out remarkably well; whether digging into tough funk or romantic ballads, Williams is in top form. Funk doesn't get much more invigorating than horn-driven gems like "Maybe It'll Rub Off," "Give Me the Proof" and "Only So Much Oil in the Ground" (a commentary on the mid-'70s energy crisis), and soul ballads don't get much richer than "Willing to Learn" and "I Won't Leave Unless You Want Me To." Tower (an influence on everyone from L.T.D. to the Average White Band) recorded a number of essential albums in the '70s, and Urban Renewal is at the top of the list.

Tower Of Power - Urban Renewal      (flac  221mb)

01 Only So Much Oil In The Ground 3:46
02 Come Back, Baby 3:21
03 It's Not The Crime 1:45
04 I Won't Leave Unless You Want Me To 3:28
05 Maybe It'll Rub Off 3:15
06 (To Say The Least) You're The Most 2:28
07 Willing To Learn 4:35
08 Give Me The Proof 2:35
09 It Can Never Be The Same 4:43
10 I Believe In Myself 2:00
11 Walkin' Up Hip Street 5:30

Tower Of Power - Urban Renewal  (ogg  85mb)

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In the Slot came off a four-year string of classic singles and albums. As Bump City era lead singer Rick Stevens exited, the phenomenal Lenny Williams replaced him. With Williams, Tower of Power became a hit-making machine as albums like Back to Oakland and Urban Renewal became R&B standards. In the Slot marks the first album of vocalist Hubert Tubbs. he possessed a throaty more muscular voice a few shades lower than his predecessor. While it was serviceable, Tubbs' voice didn't have the same grace and agility as Williams'. On the rollicking "Just Enough and Too Much" the difference is slight and the track is one of the band's most potent tracks. The ballads were where the contrast is most striking. "As Surely As I Stand Here" and the "The Soul of a Child" display not only a drop off in lyrical quality, but also the clearest indication that the band did indeed miss Williams' skill at making even bromides ring. Oddly enough, the great and too brief B-side "Stroke '75" wasn't included here. After many failed attempts, band and singer do end up on the same page. On "Drop It in the Slot" and "On the Serious Side" the groups' trademark rhythm section and the horns come on stronger and match Tubbs' more volatile style. This effort in effect put an end to the string of "classic" albums from the group. In The Slot, despite its enviable firepower, finds the band missing Lenny Williams' skill at putting all of the pieces together.

 Tower Of Power - In The Slot      (flac 221mb)

01 Just Enough And Too Much 3:25
02 Treat Me Like Your Man 3:08
03 If I Play My Cards Right 3:12
04 As Surely As I Stand Here 5:15
05 Fanfare: Matanuska 0:16
06 On The Serious Side 2:51
07 Ebony Jam 6:44
08 You're So Wonderful, So Marvelous 3:51
09 Vuela Por Noche 1:34
10 Essence Of Innocence 0:36
11 The Soul Of A Child 4:58
12 Drop It In The Slot 3:13

Tower Of Power - In The Slot  (ogg  87mb )

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Edward McGee turned in mostly above-average performances on their first post-Lenny Williams release, but it was the beginning of the end for the group. With funk losing its foothold among R&B audiences, they couldn't keep it together. Hearing this on compact disc (and it's not one of Columbia's better mastering jobs) reveals that McGee was an energetic, exuberant vocalist who held his own on uptempo tunes like "You Ought To Be Havin' Fun" and the title song, but lacked Williams' range or tonal quality on ballads. The group always had a weakness for ponderous message cuts, and "Can't Stand To See The Slaughter" and "While We Went To The Moon" were well-intentioned but clumsy tracks. This was almost The Tower of Power's swan song.

Tower Of Power - Ain't Nothin' Stoppin' Us Now   (flac 229mb)

01 Ain't Nothin' Stoppin' Us Now 3:53
02 By Your Side 4:29
03 Make Someone Happy 2:45
04 Doin' Alright 4:46
05 Because I Think The World Of You 2:58
06 You Ought To Be Havin' Fun 3:05
07 Can't Stand To See The Slaughter 2:47
08 It's So Nice 5:39
09 Deal With It 3:20
10 While We Went To The Moon 4:00

. Tower Of Power - Ain't Nothin' Stoppin' Us Now  (ogg  86mb)

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The band's final album for Warner Bros. before it decamped to Columbia, the absolutely stunning 1975 Live and in Living Color ensured that Tower of Power left in a blaze of glory. Recorded at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium and Cerritos College, the group brought what remains one of the era's finest live albums to glorious fruition. Leaving behind the dismal soul of its previous In the Slot, the band fell back on its two great strengths -- classy live performance and unerring funk. With every ounce of the group's full energy packed into the grooves and a little more added for emphasis, Live squeezes out five tracks of epic proportions. Reaching back to its debut LP, East Bay Grease, Tower of Power jammed on a majestic 23-minute rendition of "Knock Yourself Out" and the sleepy classic "Sparkling in the Sand," before continuing its sonic domination across two songs pulled from Bump City. "Down to the Nightclub (Bump City)" is effusive, while "You're Still a Young Man" is an absolutely outstanding performance of one of TOP's finest songs -- and judging by the audience enthusiasm, it packed as much power in 1976 as it did in 1972 (and indeed, still does today). Courageously, only one track, "What Is Hip?," emerges from the group's most successful era, but with its rock riffing slices and roiling organ solo, you really don't need anything else -- it stands well as a lone representative of what many hail as TOP's finest hour. There's nothing to fault here except, possibly, the decision to release a mere single disc at a time when live double albums were becoming de rigueur, a move guaranteed to leave listeners crying for more. But perhaps that was the intent all along -- too little is always sweeter than too much.

Tower Of Power - Live And In Living Color   (flac 259mb)

01 Down To The Nightclub (Bump City) 2:26
02 You're Still A Young Man 5:12
03 What Is Hip? 6:25
04 Sparkling In The Sand 8:05
05 Knock Yourself Out 23:40

.Tower Of Power - Live And In Living Color  (ogg  102mb)

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RhoDeo 1747 Re-Ups 122

Hello, who do you think you are Klea Waht posting 5 requests in succesion, I've said before "I'm not here to fill hard disk space", 1 request at the time please, I will ignore the rest. I'm still amazed how many of you request but don't take the effort of checking whether it has been re-upped in the 12 months before..


In came 10 correct requests this week, here we are a small batch of 36 re-ups (11 gig)

These days i'm making an effort to re-up, it will satisfy a small number of people which means its likely the update will  expire relatively quickly again as its interest that keeps it live. Nevertheless here's your chance ... asks for re-up in the comments section at the page where the expired link resides, or it will be discarded by me. ....requests are satisfied on a first come first go basis. ...updates will be posted here remember to request from the page where the link died! To keep re-ups interesting to my regular visitors i will only re-up files that are at least 12 months old (the older the better as far as i am concerned), and please check the previous update request if it's less then a year old i won't re-up either.

Looka here , requests fulfilled up to November 21th.... N'Joy

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4x Sundaze Back In Flac (Steven Brown - Music For Solo Piano, Winston Tong - Theoretically Chinese, Peter Principle - Tone Poems, B.L. Reininger - Colorado Suite / still in ogg Paris En Autumne)


3x Aetix Back in Flac (Thin White Rope - Moonhead, Thin White Rope ‎- In The Spanish Cave, Thin White Rope - Sack Full of Silver )


3x Sundaze Back In Flac (David Sylvian - Brilliant Trees, David Sylvian - Secrets of the Beehive,  David Sylvian - Dead Bees on a Cake)


3x Alphabet Soup Back In Flac (Wolfgang Press - Queer, Patrick Wolf - Lycanthropy,  still in ogg The Story Of The Who)


3x Sundaze NOW In Flac (Daedelus - Invention, Twine - Recorder , Jello - Voile)


3x J-Roots NOW In Flac (still in ogg Ensemble Nipponia - Kabuki & Other Tradional Music, Riuichi Sakamoto and Danceries – The End Of Asia, Dry & Heavy – One Punch)


3x Grooves Back In Flac (Arthur Conley - Sweet Soul Music / Shake, Rattle & Roll , Arthur Conley - Soul Directions, The Mar-Keys - Last Night & Do The Pop Eye)


4x Grooves Back In Flac (VA - Stax Funk: Get Up & Get Down, VA - Stax Funx , VA - Stax Of Funk. The Funky Truth, VA - Stax Of Funk Vol. 2 (More Funky Truth) )


7x Berlin NOW In Flac (To Rococo Rot - Hotel morgen, Allien, Ellen - Stadtkind , Tanzwut - Labyrinth der Sinne, T.Raumschmiere - Radio blackout, Malaria ! - Delirium (Remixed*Remade*Remodelled) , Thomas Fehlmann - Good Fridge 90-98, Rammstein - Live aus Berlin)


3x Aetix Back In Flac (Love And Rockets - Seventh Dream, Love And Rockets - Express, Love And Rockets - Earth·Sun·Moon)


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RhoDeo 1747 Aetix

Hello,

Today's artists are British vocalists/multi-instrumentalists Kevin Godley and Lol Crème they have one of the most eclectic resumés in rock & roll. They were session musicians when they joined 10cc in 1970. Originally called Hotlegs, 10cc were an art pop group that frequently appeared on the U.K. charts in the early '70s, eventually hitting number two in the U.S. with "I'm Not in Love." The two departed from 10cc a year later so they could experiment with the Gizmo, a gadget that enabled the guitar to create sounds with symphonic textures. .....N'Joy

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Kevin Godley and Lol Creme met in the late 1950s and for a brief time were in a band together. Through the 1960s they played in different bands, with Godley briefly in The Mockingbirds with Graham Gouldman, who would later work with Godley and Creme in 10cc. After recording a one-off single under the name of 'Yellow Bellow Room Boom' for UK CBS in 1967 ("Seeing Things Green" b/w "Still Life"), the pair began their professional music career together in 1969, performing pop music in Strawberry Studios at Stockport near Manchester with Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman (often mistakenly referred to as being "Bubblegum Music", perhaps because they were contracted by Kasenetz & Katz, who produced bubblegum sub-teen pop in the US on the Buddah label). Their first chart success (Neanderthal Man) was as members of the short-lived Hotlegs, which evolved into 10cc in 1972. 10cc enjoyed chart success, most notably with their 1975 single "I'm Not in Love", a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

After the recording of 10cc's fourth LP, How Dare You! (1976), Godley and Creme left the band to perfect a device they dubbed "The Gizmo" (Gizmotron), a module which attached to the bridge of an electric guitar. The Gizmo used small motor-driven rotating wheels which were pressed into contact with the strings, thus creating a continuous, violin-like "bowing" effect on all or any combination of strings, generating infinite sustain in voicings ranging from a single note to a full chord. The device was originally conceived as a cost-saving measure for 10cc. The group already owned and operated their own studio, and all four were talented singers and multi-instrumentalists who could also produce and engineer their own records, so their plan was that by using Gizmo-fitted electric guitars, with additional studio processing and overdubbing, they could create an almost infinite variety of sonic effects and orchestral textures "in-house", saving them the considerable expense of hiring session players to add these textures using traditional instruments.

After recording a demonstration single using the Gizmo, their label (Mercury Records) allowed them to continue the project, and over the next year it expanded into a sprawling 3-LP concept album Consequences (1977) with an environmental theme. It contained vocals by Sarah Vaughan and an extended comedy performance by Peter Cook, and was issued in a lavish boxed set package with an accompanying booklet. According to the album's liner notes, the duo's original plan was to hire an all-star cast of comedians (including Peter Ustinov) to perform the album's spoken-word components, but this was soon abandoned, partly due to the cost and logistical difficulty, but also because they quickly realised after meeting Peter Cook that he was able to perform all of the major roles himself. Unfortunately, by the time Consequences was finally released in late 1977, punk was in full swing, and the album was savaged by critics.

Unfortunately, the band wasn't democratic or smart enough at that time to allow us the freedom to go ahead and do this project and we were placed in the unfortunate position of having to leave to do it. Looking back, it was a very northern work ethic being applied to the group, all for one and one for all. If we'd been a little more free in our thinking with regard to our work practices, the band as a corporate and creative entity could have realised that it could have been useful rather than detrimental for two members to spend some time developing and then bring whatever they'd learned back to the corporate party. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be. The duo gradually regained critical favour with a trio of innovative albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s – L (1978), Freeze Frame (1979) and Ismism (1981, released as Snack Attack in the United States).

Freeze Frame (1979) included several songs that gained airplay on alternative radio in many countries, notably "I Pity Inanimate Objects" and "An Englishman in New York", which was accompanied by an innovative music video. Several notable guest performers contributed to the album: Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera played guitar on and co-produced the album tracks "Random Brainwave" and "Clues", Paul McCartney contributed backing vocals to the song "Get Well Soon" and Roxy Music saxophonist Andy Mackay played saxophone on the single-only track "Wide Boy" and also appeared in the song's innovative promotional video. Alongside the album tracks released as singles, the duo also released two singles (both of which failed to chart) that contained tracks not included on the LP - "Wide Boy" b/w "I Pity Inanimate Objects" (March 1980) and the instrumental single "Submarine" b/w "Marciano" (September 1980).

They made the UK Top Ten with the singles "Under Your Thumb" (a song about the ghost of a suicidal woman who returns to haunt a rail commuter) and "Wedding Bells" in 1981, both from Ismism (1981). The single "Snack Attack" was also a minor hit.

In 1983, they released Birds of Prey which took their music in a more electronic direction, using electronic drum machines for the entire album. Their 1984 single "Golden Boy" was included on 1985's The History Mix Volume 1 album which celebrated 25 years of recording together. The album, co-produced by J. J. Jeczalik of Art of Noise, remixed samples of their previous recordings to a disco beat. This album also contained the single "Cry" which, helped in part by the video, became their biggest US hit, reaching No. 16. The song reached No. 19 in Britain. A video cassette was also released with visual imagery to complement the music.

Godley & Creme released their final album, Goodbye Blue Sky, in 1988. This album abandoned electronic instruments and used harmonicas, organs, and guitars to tell the story of the earth on the brink of nuclear war. The pair ended their working relationship soon after the release of the album, and reformed 10cc three years later. In a 1997 interview, Creme explained: In '89, certainly in '88, maybe before, Kevin changed, I think his priorities in life changed. He'd had enough, he'd simply had enough of me and the way we worked, the things we did, the priorities we had. It was time for a shift in all that and he was obviously right. ”

Godley and Creme achieved their greatest success as the innovative directors of more than fifty music videos in the early 1980s. They created memorable videos for The Police ("Every Breath You Take", "Synchronicity II", "Wrapped Around Your Finger"), Culture Club ("Victims"), Duran Duran ("Girls on Film", "A View to a Kill"), Herbie Hancock ("Rockit"), Go West ("We Close Our Eyes"), Frankie Goes to Hollywood ("Two Tribes", "The Power of Love"), Sting ("If You Love Somebody Set Them Free", "Fields of Gold"), Toyah ("Thunder in the Mountains"), Visage ("Fade to Grey"), George Harrison ("When We Was Fab"), Wang Chung ("Everybody Have Fun Tonight"), and Yes ("Leave It"), among many others, up to Godley's video for The Beatles' 1996 single, "Real Love", from the Beatles Anthology.

The pair's innovation extended to their videos for their own songs, notably "Wide Boy" and "Cry". The latter's 1985 video consisted of faces blending into one other using analog cross-fading, anticipating the digital effect of morphing, later used in a similar way in Michael Jackson's 1991 video, "Black or White". This has often been seen as "groundbreaking", though the promotional video accompanying King Crimson's single "Heartbeat" had used a similar effect two years earlier.

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Unlike their previous 2 albums which depended on music quirks, here the emphasis is on lyrical quirks.  Each track tells some kind of story or conveys a scene in which something weird is happening.  Consequently (if I dare use that word in reference to these guys) the music is mostly oddly constructed grooves that do their best to stay in the background while the words twist your brain with that peculiar brand of insanity that is Godley & Crème.This apparently made them more accessible, as they had 3 singles off this album The mix puts their voices higher than usual, highlighting some truly bent tales of munchy madness, desert skullduggery, and JFK assassins. For contrast, there's the gorgeous "Wedding Bells," a rare AM hit for the former 10cc mates. Throughout all of this, you get the nagging feeling this pair was capable of so much more.

 Godley and Creme - Ismism   (flac  422mb)

01 Snack Attack 7:15
02 Under Your Thumb 4:47
03 Joey's Camel 5:29
04 The Problem 4:06
05 Ready For Ralph 2:24
06 Wedding Bells 3:26
07 Lonnie 4:51
08 Sale Of The Century 4:28
09 The Party 8:11
Bonus
10 Power Behind The Thrown 3:41
11 Babies 4:43
12 Snack Attack (Extended Version) 6:48

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The least successful inclusion in the Godley & Creme catalog, Birds of Prey finds the duo stripping back the crazier idiosyncrasies that made its earlier albums so intriguing, and working more in the realm of melody and, dare one say it, easy listening. Lyrically they remain as offbeat as ever, and an evening with the Birds of Prey lyric sheet will send you scrabbling to hear the music. Bad move. "Save Me a Mountain," the album's almost-hit single, is a saccharin lament that might be directly descended from 10cc's "Brand New Day" and "Don't Hang Up," but lacks both the melodic and the emotional punch that made those earlier ballads work so well, while "Samson," "My Body the Car," and "Madame Guillotine" simply sound as though they were recorded the moment the ideas first stumbled into view, as opposed to waiting around to make sure the songs were even worth pursuing. So a major disappointment from a duo that was traditionally so reliable and, if you do buy the album today, it'll be for the bonus tracks -- no, not the dance mix of "Samson," but for the sheer madness of "Welcome to Breakfast Television," a topical B-side at the time of its release, and a self-fulfilling prophecy that could not have been proved more accurate.

Godley and Creme - Birds Of Prey (flac 402mb)

01 My Body The Car 2:24
02 Worm And The Rattlesnake 3:24
03 Cats Eyes 3:43
04 Samson 5:29
05 Save A Mountain For Me 3:34
06 Madame Guillotine 5:02
07 Woodwork 4:38
08 Twisted Nerve 4:03
09 Out In The Cold 4:51
Bonus
10 Welcome To Breakfast Television 2:31
11 Samson (Dance Mix) 5:52
12 Golden Boy 3:49
13 Samson (UK 7" Promo Single Edit) 3:56
14 Golden Boy (Long Version) 5:48

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A decade after Kevin Godley and Lol Creme walked out on 10cc and took half of that band's magic with them, the pair convened a reunion of sorts with The History Mix, Vol. 1, the ultimate ideal of all that the then-infant industry of remixing had to offer. The utterly gorgeous (and surprisingly successful) "Cry" notwithstanding, the basic premise of the album was to assemble a batch of the duo's past triumphs -- 11 in all, with only four pre- or postdating the 10cc era -- and then recycle them into five separate cuts that fall somewhere between Frank Zappa and a deranged interpretation of an early Residents album. All of which makes for a collection that is alternately infuriating (ten minutes of the hook line from "Business Is Business" spliced with the "humdrum" intro from "The Dean and I"), intriguing (the combination of key elements from "How Dare You" and "Neanderthal Man"), and plain compulsive (the gentle drift from "I'm Not in Love"'s whispered "big boys don't cry" into "Cry" itself is a masterpiece in its own right). With producer Trevor Horn at the helm, the overall sound of the album is very much a child of its age -- however, the only moment that has truly dated is the insertion of a reference to Hill Street Blues into a fragmented "Rubber Bullets." Nevertheless, it's an album that is best recommended only to fans who actually know the original songs, and who'll appreciate the fresh landscapes into which they've been spliced -- one reason, presumably, for the CD reissue of the album adding in a handful of other, more conventional Godley & Creme concoctions. They, at least, give the impression of a commercially valid experience. In its natural state, it's simply the sound of invigorating sonic madness.

 Godley and Creme - History Mix (Vol. 1)   (flac 545mb)

01 Wet Rubber Soup medley 18:56
   ~Rubber Bullets~Minestrone~I'm Not In Love
02 Expanding The Business 17:05
03 Light Me Up 4:32
04 An Englishman In New York 5:54
05 Save A Mountain For Me 3:37
06 Golden Boy 5:49
07 Cry (Extended Remix) 7:27
08 Snack Attack (Extended Remix) 9:48

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In their final major-label release before heading for a video-making career, these two veteran English music-makers tackle environmental degradation and nuclear annihilation. After earlier releases full of detached sarcasm and sardonic wit, it's refreshing to hear the pair actually care about something, although they sometimes hector. Musically, the songs are linked by the use of harmonicas on every track. This is one of their stronger albums because of thematic consistency and typically terrific production, including the usual gorgeous, multi-tracked harmonies. In spite of the gloomy subject matter, the album-closing "Desperate Times" ends on an optimistic note.

Godley and Creme - Goodbye Blue Sky (flac  483mb)
 
01 H.E.A.V.E.N./A Little Piece Of Heaven 5:03
02 Don't Set Fire (To The One I Love) 3:25
03 Golden Rings 4:17
04 Crime & Punishment 7:23
05 The Big Bang 2:30
06 10.000 Angels 5:15
07 Sweet Memory 4:48
08 Air Force One 3:38
09 The Last Page Of History 4:00
10 Desperate Times 3:40
Bonus
11 A Little Piece Of Heaven (Extended Mix) 6:06
12 Bits Of Blue Sky 5:45
13 Hidden Heartbeat 4:31
14 Rhino Rhino 3:19
15 Can't Sleep 2:08

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RhoDeo 1747 Roots

Hello, as our time in Argentina's music scene finishes, we end on a high with one of the country's most interesting artists, Juana Molina would have been a household name if not for the fact the musicindustry and press rarely look beyond their immediate sphere, an artist like Bjork managed to break through that ceiling but than Iceland lies between the US and Europe, Argentina however is far away.....



Today's artist is a singer/songwriter from Argentina whose atmospheric blend of folk, electronica, and experimental pop have brought her, despite coming from 'out there' international acclaim. She's a deeply original and visionary artist who, pulls off the most out-there material with melodies nearly as accessible as conventional pop. She has variously been described as pure genius, beguiling, and is said to be one of the most extraordinary singers around, who is creating a slippery soundtrack for the subconscious ......N'Joy

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Juana Molina was born to a family of artists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 1, 1961. She is the eldest daughter of Horacio Molina, a popular tango singer, and Chunchuna Villafañe, a celebrated actress and model. She has a younger sister who has also worked as an actress and musician. The family lived in the central Buenos Aires barrio of Caballito. Her mother was a record collector, exposing her to various types of music. She began to learn to play the guitar at age 5. In 1967, Juana recorded her first song with his father, "Te regalo esta canción" ("I gift you this song"), as a gift to her mother for Mother's Day. Horacio Molina released the song as a single —without her young daughter knowing—which sold 45 thousand copies. She also performed the song live with her father on national television.

In 1976, the family left for Paris, France, due to the military dictatorship that overthrew president Isabel Martínez de Perón. While in Paris, she listened to what is now known as "world music" on French radio stations. In various interviews, Molina has recalled a visit to a Spanish hippie family friend who introduced her to Indian classical music, whose drones have had an enduring influence on her music. In 1981, Molina returned to Buenos Aires. To finance her architecture studies, she had various small jobs, including an unsuccessful experience as a backing vocalist in small bands.

As she could not make a living through music, Molina decided to find a job that paid well and did not consume much time. She decided on a career in television as the means to this end, and spent some months looking for a show that could use her services. She recorded a homemade audition tape for the studio and was offered a contract the same day. Molina began her television career in 1988 with the ATC show La noticia rebelde ("Rebel News", a word playon La novicia rebelde), where she would record one day a week and but get paid for five. Her popular sketches parodied Buenos Aires' women of various social classes. In October of the same year, Molina joined the cast of El mundo de Antonio Gasalla ("Antonio Gasalla's World"), led by comedy actor Antonio Gasalla. The show, which ran until 1990, further cemented her popularity as a sketch comedy actress and writer. The show was also performed live at the Teatro Gran Rex and in Mar del Plata.

The pinnacle of her success came with her own show, Juana y sus hermanas ("Juana and Her Sisters", a wordplay on Hannah and Her Sisters), which premiered in 1991. Molina arguably became Argentina's most popular comedian, having her show syndicated to other Latin American countries. Molina was dubbed "the new Niní Marshall" by the press, and won two Martín Fierro Awards. A compilation album of songs by Molina featured in the show was released. In 1993 Molina became pregnant with her only child, Francisca, and had to suspend her show. She found herself reflecting on her rapid rise to stardom and decided that her success on TV was holding her back from pursuing her music. She decided to cancel the show, even though it was at the height of its popularity; something that many critics would hold against her for years. She recalls: "There was a moment when I imagined myself watching MTV as a decrepit old woman (like MTV would last a lifetime), thinking 'I could have done that.' I pictured myself feeling an infinite grudge, hatred, envy."

Produced by Gustavo Santaolalla and recorded in 1995, Molina's debut album, Rara, was released in 1996. The album was poorly marketed; Micaela Ortelli of Página 12 wrote: "Never did an Argentine radio play a song from that album, – too pop to be folk and too folk, perhaps, to be radio material." Live shows were also problematic, as audiences expected her to act like on television. The album was better received in Los Angeles, United States, where Molina settled in 1998. Having learned how to record her music, she began to self-produce new material at the request of DreamWorks Records. Although the company ultimately did not sign her, these recordings would become Segundo, her second studio album. By 2000, she had finished recording the album and, back in Buenos Aires, she met Daniel Melero, who mixed the record. The music of Segundo was the result of Molina's new insights in timbre and her meeting with Alejandro Franov, who taught her "the endless sound possibilities that keyboards allow."

Electronic effects permeated Segundo (2003) to the point that they (the effects) became the protagonists of the stories, and the ethereal ambience became the ultimate meaning of those stories. Molina's whispered vocals are just one of the instruments, a sort of flute that meanders in a labirynth of audio tricks. African polyrhythms bestow a swampy, "forth world", disoriented feeling on Martin Fierro, with Molina's voice working almost like Jon Hassell's trumpet. The spacey vocals and the raga-jazzy arrangement of El Desconfiado evoke the hippy chants of the 1960s. The folkish lullaby El Pastor Mentiroso is like a deformed mirror image of Enya's music. Molina does not seem to hold on to a center of mass as she drifts from the mellow lounge muzak of Quien? to the bouncy pop of Que Llueva!, from the sinister voodoo dance of Misterio Uruguayo to the odd instrumental fanfare of Medlong. The longer pieces have time to unravel more than just a cute arrangement: the trippy downtempo shuffle of El Perro, the electronic bubbling and tribal dancing of Mantra Del Bicho Feo (virtually an instrumental), and the fast blues rigmarole and electronic jazz-blue jam of Sonamos. Molina's music found some success in Japan, and, to a lesser extent, in Europe. American musician David Byrne bought Segundo — intrigued by its artwork — and quickly became and admirer of the record. He contacted Molina, and she became the opening act of his American tour.

Molina sounded something like a colder Bjork on the more elegant Tres Cosas (2004). The anemic instruments did not do much to strengthen the fragile vocals in the tenderly waltzing No Es Tan Cierto and the ethereal nursery rhymes El Cristal and Salvese Quien Pueda, sunnier and more accomplished melodies than in the past. The renewed melodic emphasis is confirmed by Tres Cosas, despite the out of tune keyboards, and by the folkish lullaby El Progreso, while the wordless shuffle iUh! injects some rhythm into a fundamentally apathic act. Yo Se Que is instead typical of Molina's humbler and shier mode, in which both the vocal and the instrumental parts are hinted and not fully fleshed out, and even hijacked by alien effects. Her voice is protagonist of the hymn Isabel and of the lament Curame, songs that are as rarified as possible. The voice often manages to straddle the border between neoclassical and childish, notably in the piano-based aria Insensible that closes the album. On the other hand, Filter Taps is pure surreal ambience.

Son was a more organic and "adult" album, almost a return to the format of the pop song. She had rarely sounded as conventional as she sounds in Rio Seco and La Verdad, the songs that emphasize the melodic skills of the previous album. Molina attains a bizarre kind of enlightenment in the more atmospheric pieces, like the wordless Yo No that towards the end coalesces into an upbeat melodic ditty, or the feathery Son, drenched in dilated sounds, or the ecstatic wordless jam Un Beso Llega, that ends in sidereal vacuum.

Un Dia was at the same time more intimate, more abstract and more hypnotic, with the voice increasingly turning into an instrument and the rhythms increasingly turning into a voice. It starts with the minimalist repetition and the traditional chanting of Un Dia. It continues with the evanescent vibrations of Lo Dejamos (7:31) that segue into the hypnotic fibrillation of Los Hongos De Marosa and the gentle pulsating harmonies of Quien. These three lengthy pieces constitute the emotional core of the work.

Wed 21 (13) boasts a trio of lively effervescent songs: the boogie Eras, the samba Ferocisimo, and the android ballet Wed 21. But most of the rest, such as the Enya-esque Lo Decidi Yo, sounds inconclusive and messy. The longer El Oso De La Guarda has vocal and percussive elements that may be intriguing, but the song fails to merge them.

By several accounts, Molina is a a musical tinkerer whose sound is more the result of random results in the studio than of ordered composition. According to the Washington Post, the artist's goal was not to create more of the ubiquitous "hypnotic electronica," but rather something "distinctly sultry, insinuating and dreamlike," in which studio experimentation played a big part. "When I have a little idea, even before playing it once, I put on the tape recorder. I know there's going to be mistakes, because I don't really where to go and I'm not really sure how to get back, and I'm sure there's going to be something in all this that I'm going to like," Molina explained in record company promotional material. "And then I try to make it so all that has lyrics that go with that melody and meshes harmonically with this, that and the other. But I prefer to stick to that first footprint, which in the end is what sticks out in the piece."

Despite the initial negative reaction to her music in her home country, music critics have consistently championed Molina's body of work, praising her music and experimentation. In 2013, El País wrote, "she established herself as the star of the avant-garde sound of her country in the world." Writing for The Guardian, Robin Denselow called her the "one-time Queen of Latin chill" and wrote: "[she] has built up a global cult following as one of the most experimental musicians in Argentina.

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Juana Molina is an unlikely indie music star, having risen to prominence in South America as an actress on TV sitcoms, but between 2000 and 2006 she released three albums of increasingly ambitious, distinctive, and beautifully constructed electronic folk-pop. The third of these releases is arguably the best: SON is as reverence-inducing as a country church (albeit a postmodern country church from the future!).

Molina's music is hushed and introspective, taking its dynamic cues from the likes of Nick Drake, yet it is boldly experimental. Electronic textures pulse around acoustic guitars, vocal lines are layered in lush and startling ways, and pitches bend gently like tired brain waves. Molina sings in Spanish, but a language barrier makes little difference in music as sensual, evocative, and thoroughly creative as this.

Juana Molina - Son   (flac  290mb)

01 Río Seco 3:32
02 Yo No 4:57
03 La Verdad 6:40
04 Un Beso Llega 7:18
05 No Seas Antipatica 4:22
06 Micael 3:04
07 Son 3:24
08 Las Culpas 2:42
09 Malherido 4:23
10 Desordenado 2:21
11 Elena 4:32
12 Hay Que Ver Si Voy 8:30

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Juana Molina's sound is so precious and rare that tampering with the formula is akin to tearing down a singular example of great architecture, or witnessing the extinction of a rare and beautiful animal. Fortunately, Un Dia is immediately recognizable as a Juana Molina album. Yes, there are slight differences between this and her previous work, but fortunately, she's still retained most of what made her special in the past. In place are the gentle but propulsive vocal-based rhythms, the airy feel to the proceedings, and the occasional chirping polyharmonies. Also present (and appreciated) is the fine balance between organic instruments (wood, metal) and post-production processing (delays, distortion) that makes her records sound as experimental as Björk's but much more inviting. Differences appear, however, in the hypnotic rhythm that powers several songs with a driving energy. If her breakout albums, 2000's Segundo and 2002's Tres Cosas, were so diaphanous that they threatened to dematerialize altogether, Un Dia makes rhythm a central proposition, sometimes so machine-like that she approaches techno (albeit, techno from the standpoint of an Argentinean obsessed with native instruments).

Juana Molina - Un Dia (flac  248mb)

01 Un Día 5:35
02 Vive Solo 5:58
03 Lo Dejamos 7:31
04 Los Hongos De Marosa 7:27
05 ¿Quién? (Suite) 7:22
06 El Vestido 4:31
07 No Llama 5:20
08 Dar (Qué Difícil) 6:41

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In the five years since Argentine singer/songwriter Juana Molina released Un Dia, her sound has undergone a subtle but distinct shift. On Wed 21 (named for the date she finished the title track, Wednesday, November 21), the intricate layering of electronics, from rhythms to delays and adornments, remains intact, as does her organic reliance on lyric melody. What is immediately apparent is the wider instrumental palette at work. In addition to acoustic guitars and drum machines, Molina employs myriad electric guitars, basses, a drum kit, organ samples, a horn, and more detailed electronics. Her voice still dominates, though. This is true in primary and chorus vocals. Check the lilting, breezy, multivalent harmonies in "Lo Decidi Yo," where they engage a faux Brazilian melody as a mutant forro meets the stretched bossa of tropicalia. Despite rumbling tom-toms, a wandering analog synth, and interspersed electric guitars engaged in a separate dialogue, her voice dictates the song's direction and flow. On the opening track/single, a rhythmic vamp similar to "Pump Up the Volume" is framed by controlled feedback and an insistent polyrhythmic pulse. As the electric guitars kick in, her vocal establishes a breezy, labyrinthine melody that dances across rhythms that embrace samba and cumbia. "El Oso de la Guarda" is quirky in the extreme, with bubbling polyrhythmic twists and turns, wobbly guitars, and voices; only the bassline holds its structure together -- though Molina's guitar, charango, and harpsichord bridge is so intoxicatingly ethereal, one almost wishes it took over entirely. Set-closer "Final Feliz" commences as merely a series of guitar chords that begin to build in tempo and intensity, until they dictate a dominant series of layered rhythms on the six-string, bass drum, hand percussion, and even a saxophone. All that's left is for her to sing above it all in waves and layers, stretching her harmonics; she pays attention to the galloping pace, yet refuses its density; she cruises seemingly effortlessly above it all. As usual, humor is part and parcel of Molina's musical architecture on Wed 21. You can hear it in the whimsy of her delivery and in her numerous, almost incalculable juxtapositions of rhythms and melodies. Wed 21 progresses from her previous recordings, but it's an extension of them, not a departure.

Juana Molina - Wed 21   (flac  275mb)

01 Eras 4:25
02 Wed 21 3:17
03 Feroc 3:23
04 Lo Decidí Yo 4:06
05 Sin Guía, No 4:52
06 Ay, No Se Ofendan 5:30
07 Bicho Auto 4:34
08 El Oso De La Guarda 6:39
09 Las Edades 4:17
10 La Rata 4:18
11 Final Feliz 3:47

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From the album cover of Juana Molina's seventh album, Halo, a bone bearing two human eyes stares shrewdly out at the viewer. It's an image as comical as it is unnerving, though not entirely unexpected from the inventive Argentinian singer/songwriter, who for two decades has danced nimbly around the boundaries of experimental pop, art, and design. Since abandoning her successful career as a comedic television actress in the mid-'90s, Molina has served up a constantly evolving pastiche of maverick sound that usually includes erratic beats, glowing electronics, fractured guitar loops, and all manner of treated vocals. What has kept her outsider music consistently appealing is the whimsy and melodic warmth that imbue her catalog with an underlying sense of humanity. Halo, Molina's first release since 2013's Wed 21, feels like a logical snapshot of her ongoing journey, presenting 12 new tracks that are as eccentric as they are inviting. From the woozy strings poured gently atop the dark digital grooves of "Paraguaya" to the fractured Latin guitar riff that carries lead single "Cosoco," the instrumentation is subtly layered and the production pleasantly disorienting in what has become her signature style. On the wonderful "Sin Dones," a neat bass groove develops slowly under Molina's effected vocals for three minutes before finally breaking into a seductive drum pattern that utterly transforms the song. Many of the tracks are built this way, taking their time to unfold, sometimes reaching their destination and sometimes just out for a stroll. On "Cálculos y Oráculos," one of Halo's most understated tracks, hazy muted synths warble around a sweet two-chord refrain that seems to be constructed out of the windy tone made from blowing on a bottle top. It's an enchanting mix that falls at the center of the album's sequence like an interlude. Training an audience to expect the unexpected is a tough trick, but after two decades, Molina's reputation as a bold sonic explorer is well established.

Juana Molina - Halo (flac  283mb)

01 Paraguaya 3:44
02 Sin Dones 5:41
03 Lentísimo Halo 5:24
04 In The Lassa 4:39
05 Cosoco 4:58
06 Cálculos Y Oráculos 4:47
07 Los Pies Helados 5:23
08 A00 B01 4:30
09 Cara De Espejo 5:03
10 Andó 3:50
11 Estalacticas 4:53
12 Al Oeste 3:38

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RhoDeo 1747 Lifehouse

Hello, the next 4 weeks here


Today's artist  is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the lead guitarist, backing vocalist, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Who. His career with the Who spans over 50 years, during which time the band grew to be considered one of the most influential bands of the 20th century.

Townshend is the main songwriter for the Who, having written well over 100 songs for the band's 11 studio albums, including concept albums and the rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia. He has also written more than 100 songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as radio jingles and television theme songs. Although known primarily as a guitarist, he also plays keyboards, banjo, accordion, harmonica, ukulele, mandolin, violin, synthesiser, bass guitar, and drums, on his own solo albums, several Who albums and as a guest contributor to an array of other artists' recordings. He is self-taught on all of the instruments he plays and has never had any formal training. Townshend has also contributed to and authored many newspaper and magazine articles, book reviews, essays, books, and scripts, and he has collaborated as a lyricist and composer for many other musical acts. Due to his aggressive playing style and innovative songwriting techniques, .... N'joy.

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Everybody who hasn't been sleeping under an umbrella on some beach in the Greek Islands or on some rock off the coast of New Zealand has heard by now of the Lifehouse Chronicles. Lifehouse was a rock opera Pete Townshend worked on feverishly and then abandoned -- due to outside tinkering and betrayal -- between the issues of Tommy and Quadrophenia. According to legend, Townshend couldn't get anybody interested in his allegedly disjointed ideas. The truth was all wrapped up in music and film-biz politics. Townshend's Lifehouse was to be a rock opera all right, but it was to be a musical for screen with footage of the Who performing the story's soundtrack. This desire of Townshend's to move into film had a practical purpose: in part, it was to get the Who off the endless slogging of the road for sometimes years at a time. It was also Townshend attempting to move himself into other areas like fiction and theater and away from the constrictions placed on him as a "rock musician." This contradicted the ambitions of the Who's then-manager Kit Lambert, who wanted to make a film of Tommy by any means necessary -- even without the approval and participation of Townshend -- as his first feature, a project Townshend wanted nothing to do with. In short, according to Townshend, who had made contact with Universal about Lifehouse, Lambert made his own film, the disastrous Tommy, by derailing the Lifehouse project using his influence with people at the band's label and elsewhere by telling them the entire thing was too big and unruly for pop music, that Lifehouse was unworkable. The project was abandoned, but never let go of. The Who recorded a number of the songs for Lifehouse, produced by Glyn Johns, who talked them out of a concept album and into a strong pop album. Those sessions, minus the classic "Pure and Easy" also recorded then, resulted in the record Who's Next.

Townshend eventually became obsessed with telling the story of his greatest failure, the same great failure that gave us Who's Next, "Pure and Easy," and other Lifehouse ideas such as "Sister Disco" and "Who Are You?" Even later, when Townshend's radio play Psychoderelict was released in 1993 as an album, it contained ideas that had been adapted from the Lifehouse sessions. In 1999, Townshend worked with collaborators to create a two-hour BBC radio play for Lifehouse. The box set tells the story of the failure and presents the evidence for what he believed was possible in 1970 and up until the time Who's Next was recorded and released in 1971.

Lifehouse is the story set in a "near distant" future, where government was no longer interested in interpersonal relationships between humans; their interest was the complete dependence of the individual on the power structure. To that end, they manufactured a story of a pollution crisis so bad, everyone was required to wear "lifesuits." Lifesuits were articles of clothing that simulated all experiences so the person wearing it wouldn't have to leave her or his dwelling place if he or she didn't want to. They were designed, programmed, and plugged into a huge mainframe grid by a media mogul named Jumbo, who was more powerful than the government who appointed him to head this project. His media company provided medicine, sleeping gas, food, and programming so intense and compressed it would allow, according to Townshend's notes, "an individual to live out tens of thousands of lifetimes in a very short period." It also did away with any need for art. (Yep, virtual reality 15 years before William Gibson's novel Neuromancer.

The story begins when a dropout farming family in a remote part of Scotland hears about a subversive rock concert in London that their daughter runs away from home to attend. The farmers don't wear lifesuits because they live far to the north and are supposedly out of the pollution's range. They are tolerated by the power structure because the farmers grow produce the government is only too happy to buy. Bobby is the story's hero. He hacks into the grid and discovers its fatal flaw. He plans to stage a concert called the Lifehouse in which each individual will be able to become a unique, blueprinted part of a piece of music, a song that hacks into the mainframe of the grid, distorts its data, and short circuits its fictions, allowing everyone to shed their suits and start living again. That song would have the power of liberating not only their minds, but also their bodies from the lifesuits as well -- all through the power of rock & roll -- which would have been supplied by the Who, of course. His experiment succeeds better than he could have ever dreamed with totally unexpected results -- I'll leave the rest to those of you actually interested enough to purchase the set.

The Lifehouse Chronicles are six CDs of all the material associated with the project, past and present, including the original demos for the songs Townshend planned to include as he was developing it. It is divided into two CDs of demos of songs such as "Teenage Wasteland" -- that later evolved into "Baba O' Riley" -- with somewhat different lyrics -- at one time an instrumental conceived as a different song altogether. Others include virtually every song from Who's Next, and "Slip Kid," "Let's See Action," "Relay," as well as "Sister Disco" and "Who Are You?" among many, many others.

The first two discs are worth the price of admission alone. There isn't a weak second on either of them, and the sound is pristine, professionally recorded from the jump, and remastered for CD. Perhaps nothing is more revelatory about Townshend that hearing his sketch "Teenage Wasteland" become the "Baba O'Riley" we know -- a nine-minute instrumental version of "Riley" is on the demos, and it's awe inspiring. The song's lyrics and the tune's melody set out the story of a transition so profound it changes everything. It's the story of people moving into something from outside, having no idea what awaits them on the other side of "teenage wasteland." The instrumental track is more anthemic than anything the Who ever recorded. "Pure and Easy," "The Song Is Over," "Behind Blue Eyes," and others are not sketches, but fully realized versions of songs before they were given to the Who. Hearing Townshend sing them sends chills down the spine as the songs take on even deeper meanings. "Sister Disco" is radically different than the one the Who recorded -- the later one served the aims of a pop song far better than Townshend's original -- but in his hands, it's a novel.

Disc three is full of experiments and themes Townshend worked and reworked as he revisited the Lifehouse material years later. There is a remixed version of "Who Are You," and redone versions of "Baba M1" and "M5" as well as a redone "Pure and Easy" that is far superior to the originally released version. All of the material here was recorded in 1998 and 1999 when Townshend was conceiving and working on the radio play.

The fourth disc consists entirely of orchestral themes and arrangements employed both in the original concept and augmented in the radio play. The works are not only by Townshend, but by classical composers Henry Purcell, Corette, and Domenico Scarlatti as well. This CD might seem a stretch as interesting to some, but given Townshend's vision and sense of drama, it fits perfectly inside it. The emotional and dynamic range of the pieces, their colors and textural elegance in this particular sequence make for a deep -- and rousing -- listening experience.

Finally, there are the last two discs that comprise the radio play. These are what everyone is wondering about, if they're "worth it" for the price tag; if it is possible in the "sound and word byte" age to sustain listening to an almost two-hour bit of aural theater. Make no mistake, the radio play is brilliant, an essential addition to the literature of Townshend and the Who. Concept goes out the window when the voice of a young boy introduces the work, and gives way to a short orchestral reading of "Baba O'Riley." What replaces it is pure drama, worthy not only of a radio play, but if reworked slightly, for stage as well, and perhaps even a film. Whoops, been there already, better to let sleeping dogs lie. But the work is so compelling it would be wonderful as a film, with only one catch, finding the proper vintage footage of the Who performing the soundtrack, and melding it in, because it wouldn't work with any other band performing the material. Lifehouse is a chilling vision of a future where control and individuality no longer have a place in everyday life. This is the film the Matrix without the special effects or kung fu, and as a result, Lifehouse is far more subversive and instructive.

The Lifehouse Chronicles is a bit of rock history that finally gets its proper hearing and as a result begs the question in capital letters, "What if?" It's fitting that it's only available from Townshend's own website. The price is a bit steep, but the package was far from cheap to assemble and is a lavishly designed wonder. The set comes in a 12 by 12 box, with a corrugated impressed sleeve with and folds into a triptych. The CDs are laid out in individually colored and lettered glossy sleeves, four on the left panel, two on the right (the play), and a handsome 50-page book slips into its own spot in the middle bridging them. The book, with a long, no-holds-barred introduction by Townshend also contains Matt Kent's own, somewhat more objective history of the project, contains complete lyrics to all the songs, and the script for the radio play. Everything printed lavishly on different colored pages with no regard for expense. There isn't another item on the rock or pop market that resembles The Lifehouse Chronicles or even comes close to its vision or integrity.

Pete Townshend - Lifehouse Demos I (flac  411mb)

01 Teenage Wasteland 6:47
02 Going Mobile 4:13
03 Baba O'Riley 7:38
04 Time is Passing 3:26
05 Love Ain't for Keeping 1:31
06 Bargain 4:30
07 Too Much of Anything 5:35
08 Music Must Change 4:41
09 Greyhound Girl 3:05
10 Mary 4:17
11 Behind Blue Eyes 3:26
12 Baba O'Riley (Instrumental) 9:50
13 Sister Disco 6:50

Pete Townshend - Lifehouse Demos I (ogg  158mb)

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In 1998, Townshend's dream of bringing Lifehouse to a wide audience finally came true, when BBC Radio approached him with the idea of developing a radio play based on Lifehouse and incorporating the original music written for the project. The play, just under two hours in length, was transmitted on BBC Radio 3 on 5 December 1999.

Lifehouse is the story set in a "near distant" future, where government was no longer interested in interpersonal relationships between humans; their interest was the complete dependence of the individual on the power structure. To that end, they manufactured a story of a pollution crisis so bad, everyone was required to wear "lifesuits." Lifesuits were articles of clothing that simulated all experiences so the person wearing it wouldn't have to leave her or his dwelling place if he or she didn't want to. They were designed, programmed, and plugged into a huge mainframe grid by a media mogul named Jumbo, who was more powerful than the government who appointed him to head this project. His media company provided medicine, sleeping gas, food, and programming so intense and compressed it would allow, according to Townshend's notes, "an individual to live out tens of thousands of lifetimes in a very short period." It also did away with any need for art. (Yep, virtual reality 15 years before William Gibson's novel Neuromancer.)

The story begins when a dropout farming family in a remote part of Scotland hears about a subversive rock concert in London that their daughter runs away from home to attend. The farmers don't wear lifesuits because they live far to the north and are supposedly out of the pollution's range. They are tolerated by the power structure because the farmers grow produce the government is only too happy to buy. Bobby is the story's hero. He hacks into the grid and discovers its fatal flaw. He plans to stage a concert called the Lifehouse in which each individual will be able to become a unique, blueprinted part of a piece of music, a song that hacks into the mainframe of the grid, distorts its data, and short circuits its fictions, allowing everyone to shed their suits and start living again. That song would have the power of liberating not only their minds, but also their bodies from the lifesuits as well -- all through the power of rock & roll -- which would have been supplied by the Who, of course. His experiment succeeds better than he could have ever dreamed with totally unexpected results -- I'll leave the rest to those of you actually interested enough to purchase the set.

Directed and produced by Kate Rowland

Cast

Ray ........... David Thredfall
Sally........... Geraldine James
Mary........... Kelly Mcdonald
Hacker........ Shaun Parkes
Caretaker.... Charles Dale
Rayboy........ Phillip Dowling

Pete Townshend - Lifehouse Chronicles 1-5 (flac  155mb)

01 Lifehouse Radio Play No. 1 3:28
02 Lifehouse Radio Play No. 2 4:45
03 Lifehouse Radio Play No. 3 7:00
04 Lifehouse Radio Play No. 4 7:56
05 Lifehouse Radio Play No. 5 5:30

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Sundaze 1747

Hello, today we start of with a 'chain' post as Laraaji (previous Sundaze) is present on Daniel Lanois first posting


Today's Artist a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released several albums of his own work. However, he is best known for producing albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Brandon Flowers. He also collaborated with Brian Eno: most famously on producing several albums for U2, including the multi-platinum The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. Three albums produced or co-produced by him have won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Four other albums received Grammy nominations......N'Joy

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Daniel Lanois was born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec; his French-Canadian family was firmly rooted in music, with his mother a singer and both his father and grandfather noted for their prowess on the violin. Following his parents' 1963 separation, Lanois and his mother moved to the English-speaking suburbs of Hamilton, Ontario; there he learned to play guitar, and with his brother, Robert, began making primitive home recordings on a cheap cassette player. In 1970, the siblings purchased a four-track machine, setting up a recording studio in the laundry room of their home and offering their services to local bands for a $60 fee.

Regularly aiding their clients not only as producers but also as songwriters and arrangers, the Lanois brothers' reputation quickly spread, and as the decade drew to a close, they were able to graduate to larger recording facilities, which they dubbed Grant Avenue Studios.  He worked with a number of local bands, including Martha and the Muffins (for whom his sister Jocelyne played bass), Ray Materick, Spoons, and the Canadian children's singer Raffi. Daniel first worked with Brian Eno there, who in the decade to follow would emerge as Lanois' chief mentor and frequent collaborator. Together, they spent several weeks working on instrumental ambient material, experimenting heavily with sonic manipulation techniques; when Eno eventually returned to the U.K., Lanois remained in Ontario, recording a series of LPs for the local band Martha & the Muffins and, in 1983, producing improvisational trumpeter Jon Hassell's album Aka/Darbari/Java. In 1984, after working with Eno on Hybrid (a collaboration with guitarist Michael Brook) and The Pearl (another collaborative effort, this time with Harold Budd), Lanois responded to Eno's call to co-produce U2's The Unforgettable Fire; the album was a major hit, and it so impressed another superstar, Peter Gabriel, that he invited Lanois to co-produce the soundtrack to the motion picture Birdy. In 1985 he earned a CASBY award for his work on a Martha and the Muffins album.

Lanois next scored with 1986's So, Gabriel's brilliant commercial breakthrough. However, it was his and Eno's second collaboration with U2, 1987's The Joshua Tree, which launched him to true fame: after the album won a Grammy -- and after he subsequently co-produced Robbie Robertson's long-awaited solo debut -- Lanois emerged as one of the best-known and most respected producers in contemporary pop music. In 1989, he masterminded Bob Dylan's Oh Mercy -- widely regarded as Dylan's best work in over a decade -- as well as the Neville Brothers' Yellow Moon, an artistic watershed for the venerable New Orleans group. By this time. Lanois himself was a resident of the Crescent City, setting up Kingsway Studio in a mansion in the heart of New Orleans; there he crafted his own hotly anticipated solo debut, 1989's Acadie. Two years later, he reunited with U2 for the stellar Achtung Baby, and in 1992, re-teamed with Gabriel for the wonderful Us. In 1993, Lanois issued the lovely For the Beauty of Wynona; however, like Acadie, it failed to reap the same commercial awards as his other production ventures. Other albums of note include Emmylou Harris' 1995 masterpiece Wrecking Ball this 1995 collaboration with Emmylou, won a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. More productions for Luscious Jackson's Fever In Fever Out, Willie Nelson's Teatro, and Dylan's 1997 comeback Time Out of Mind; in between, Lanois also recorded the score to the 1996 film Sling Blade.

Lanois scored again with U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind at the end of 2000, along with working with Joe Henry and others in a support capacity. 2003 saw the year of his third and finest recording, Shine, which featured guest performances from Emmylou Harris and Bono. In 2005, he released the outtake-filled "renegade CD" Rockets through his website, which was followed quickly by Belladonna, a proper album release on Anti. Soon after, photographer Adam Vollick started filming the next year-and-a-half of Lanois' life, following him on the road, with celebrity friends, and in his second home, the recording studio. Lanois premiered the documentary entitled Here Is What Is at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007. The film chronicles the recording of his album of the same name, and includes footage of the actual recording. The album Here Is What Is was released, first by download, then in compact disc, in late 2007 and early 2008. Soon after, Lanois released a three-disc recording called Omni.

Lanois spent time working on a new band project for the next couple of years, with bassist Daryl Johnson, drummer Brian Blade, and vocalist/keyboardist Trixie Whitley. This culminated in the self-titled album Black Dub in 2010. The band toured internationally. Lanois was working on Neil Young's record Le Noise in June 2010 when he was hospitalized after suffering multiple injuries in a motorcycle crash in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. He has since recovered. Lanois' production is recognizable and notable for its 'big' and 'live' drum sound, atmospheric guitars and ambient reverb. Rolling Stone called Lanois the "most important record producer to emerge in the Eighties."

Daniel served as executive producer for Rocco DeLuca's self-titled album and released it on his own Red Floor label through 429 Records in August of 2014  On October 28 2014 Lanois, released an album, entitled Flesh and Machine on ANTI- Records, based on Brian Eno's Ambient albums. The fully instrumental album consists primarily of original atmospheric and process-based sounds, blending pedal steel guitar and a variety of digital and analog sound processing devices. He was assisted by the drummer Brian Blade. In 2016, he released the album Goodbye to Language with Rocco DeLuca..

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Music for Films, Vol. 3, is a set of mismatched pieces by Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (aka Eno). They are from his voluminous works for cinema, installations, shorts, and other related media. The disc contains 15 short pieces (only one is over five minutes). In that regard, there is a distinct similarity to his new wave pop music from the '70s. This album is, however, all instrumental, largely electronic, and distinctly Eno. Despite their dissimilar origins, these tracks have definite cohesion. Eno injects avant-garde timbres and metallic textures into each composition. The flow is smooth, the atmospheres are vast, and the soundscapes are vivid. This is a very cool montage of Eno's work.

VA - Music For Films III (flac 227mb)

  Brian Eno ▪ Daniel Lanois ▪ Michael Brook ▪ Roger Eno ▪ Laraaji ▪ Harold Budd

01 Daniel Lanois & Brian Eno - Tension Block 3:13
02 Michael Brook - Err 4:03
03 John Paul Jones - 4-Minute Warning 3:57
04 Misha Mahlin & Lydia Theremin - For Her Atoms 3:36
05 Harold Budd - Balthus Bemused By Color (Mix II) 5:19
06 Brian Eno - Theme From 'Creation' 3:05
07 Brian Eno - Saint Tom 3:38
08 Daniel Lanois & Brian Eno - White Mustang 3:03
09 Daniel Lanois & Brian Eno - Sirens 3:10
10 Brian Eno - Asian River 4:24
11 Laraaji - Zaragoza 3:08
12 Roger Eno - Quixote 3:34
13 Roger Eno - Fleeting Smile 2:32
14 Roger Eno & Brian Eno - Theme For 'Opera' 2:33
15 Laraaji - Kalimba 2:54

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This stunning debut album by an artist that had hitherto been known only as a producer is priceless, and stands up well to repeated listening. It is a blend of New Orleans rhythm, rock, new age mysticism, and folk. It is not mushy but it is as caressing to the ear as to the mind. It has the very distinctive ethereal sound of the albums he produced for among others the Neville Brothers and Robbie Robertson. All the songs were written or co-written by Lanois, with the exception of the traditional "Amazing Grace" (done in an untraditional manner and sung by Aaron Neville). The songs affect a rural and uncomplicated yet very complete and full sound that brings the listener into their mood, swing into the full lilting joy of "Under a Stormy Sky," to the haunting and ominous "Where the Hawkwind Kills." His sound is a distinctive signature, that holds well with each different song and with each artist for whom he has fashioned albums.

Daniel Lanois - Acadie   (flac  332mb)

01 Still Water 4:29
02 The Maker 4:13
03 O Marie 3:13
04 Jolie Louise 2:41
05 Fisherman's Daughter 2:47
06 White Mustang II 2:54
07 Under A Stormy Sky 2:20
08 Where The Hawkwind Kills 3:51
09 Sillium's Hill 3:00
10 Ice 4:26
11 St. Ann's Gold 3:31
12 Amazing Grace 3:47
Bonus Gold Edition
13 The Maker (Early Bass And Lyrics) 4:38
14 The Maker (Calypso Demo) 4:23
15 Still Water (From Eno's House) 4:33
16 Jolie Louise (Before Dublin) 2:38
17 Early Dourado Sketch 2:51
18 The Source Of Fisherman's Daughter 4:28

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Superproducer Daniel Lanois took a rare turn on center stage as a performer on his second solo release, For the Beauty of Wynona. Released in 1993, the album follows his earlier release, Acadie. Unlike that album, which had some superstar appearances, For the Beauty of Wynona is a more low-key affair and has a more subtle impact. Lanois has a limited range as a vocalist, but he possesses a warmth that draws in the listener. Producing himself, Lanois also is an accomplished guitarist, although his protégé, Malcolm Burn, also adds some guitar as well as keyboards. The music is often moody and watercolored, but there are some more upbeat moments like the jaunty melody of "Sleeping in the Devil's Bed," which has a country feel, and the single "Lotta Love to Give," which is wispy but anchored by twang guitar and has a catchy chorus and serrated guitar solo. For the Beauty of Wynona is not an immediately striking album but rather one that slowly grows on the listener. It also proves that Lanois has something to say on his own.

Daniel Lanois - For The Beauty Of Wynona (flac  295mb)

01 The Messenger 5:27
02 Brother L.A. 4:19
03 Still Learning How To Crawl 5:19
04 Beatrice 4:21
05 Waiting 2:00
06 The Collection Of Marie Claire 4:17
07 Death Of A Train 5:47
08 The Unbreakable Chain 4:19
09 Lotta Love To Give 3:38
10 Indian Red 3:46
11 Sleeping In The Devil's Bed 3:02
12 For The Beauty Of Wynona 5:50
13 Rocky World 2:55

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Wrecking Ball is a leftfield masterpiece, the most wide-ranging, innovative, and daring record in a career built on such notions. Rich in atmosphere and haunting in its dark complexity, much of the due credit belongs to producer Daniel Lanois; best known for his work with pop superstars like U2 and Peter Gabriel, on Wrecking Ball Lanois taps into the very essence of what makes Harris tick -- the gossamer vocals, the flawless phrasing -- while also opening up innumerable new avenues for her talents to explore. The songs shimmer and swirl, given life through Lanois' trademark ringing guitar textures and the almost primal drumming of U2's Larry Mullen, Jr. The fixed point remains Harris' voice, which leaps into each and every one of these diverse compositions -- culled from the pens of Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Earle, and others -- with utter fearlessness, as if this were the album she'd been waiting her entire life to make. Maybe it is. Deservedly, Wrecking Ball won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording.

Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball  (flac 334mb)

01 Where Will I Be 4:15
02 Goodbye 4:52
03 All My Tears 3:42
04 Wrecking Ball 4:49
05 Goin' Back To Harlan 4:51
06 Deeper Well 4:19
07 Every Grain Of Sand 3:56
08 Sweet Old World 5:06
09 May This Be Love 4:45
10 Orphan Girl 3:15
11 Blackhawk 4:28
12 Waltz Across Texas Tonight 4:46

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RhoDeo 1746 Grooves

Hello,

Today's Artists  are the renowned horn-driven funk outfit Tower of Power have been issuing albums and touring the world steadily since the early '70s, in addition to backing up countless other musicians. The group's leader since the beginning has always been tenor saxophonist Emilio Castillo, who was born in Detroit but opted to pursue his musical dreams in Oakland, California. They played regularly in the Bay Area throughout the late '60s, as their lineup often swelled up to ten members, including such other mainstays as Greg Adams on trumpet and vocals, Lenny Pickett on sax, and Rocco Prestia on bass. ........ N'joy

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In the summer of 1968, tenor saxophonist/vocalist Emilio Castillo met Stephen "Doc" Kupka, who played baritone sax. Castillo had played in several bands, but Castillo's father told his son to "hire that guy" after a home audition. Within months the group, then known as The Motowns, began playing various gigs around Oakland and Berkeley, their soul sound relating to both minority and rebellious listeners. Castillo wanted to play Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, but he realized he would never get in with a name like The Motowns. The band agreed on Tower of Power and the name stuck.

By 1970, the now renamed Tower of Power—now including trumpet/arranger Greg Adams, first trumpet Mic Gillette, first saxophone Skip Mesquite, Francis "Rocco" Prestia on bass, Willie Fulton on guitar, and drummer David Garibaldi—signed a recording contract with Bill Graham's San Francisco Records and released their first album, East Bay Grease. Rufus Miller performed most of the lead vocals on this debut album. The group was first introduced to the San Francisco Bay area by radio station KSAN, which played a variety of artists such as Cold Blood, Eric Mercury and Marvin Gaye. The single "Sparkling in the Sand" received airplay on the Bay Area soul station KDIA.

Augmented by percussionist/conga/bongo player Brent Byars, Tower of Power was released from their San Francisco label contract and moved to Warner Bros. Records. With Rick Stevens now replacing Rufus Miller as lead singer, 1972's Bump City gave the band their first national exposure. This album included the hit single "You're Still a Young Man", which peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Stevens' pinnacle vocal performance before leaving the band.

Tower of Power, released in the spring of 1973, was the third album for the band. It featured Lenny Williams on lead vocals and Lenny Pickett on lead tenor saxophone. Bruce Conte replaced guitarist Willie Fulton and keyboardist Chester Thompson also joined the band during the recording of the album. This was the group's most successful album. It peaked at #15 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart and was RIAA certified as a gold record (for sales in excess of 500,000 copies). The album also spawned their most-successful single "So Very Hard to Go". Although the single peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, it landed in the Top 10 on the surveys of many West Coast Top 40 radio stations, hitting #1 on many of them.

1974's Back to Oakland spawned another hit, "Don't Change Horses (in the Middle of a Stream)", that reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Time Will Tell", which charted at #69. The funk-jazz classic instrumental "Squib Cakes" also came from this album. On Urban Renewal (1974), the band moved more toward funk than soul; however, they continued recording ballads as well. Williams left the band in late 1974, and was replaced as vocalist by Hubert Tubbs. While Tower of Power remained a must-see live act, as disco became the new trend in R&B the group's original funk-laden style fell out of favor, and disco-oriented albums like 1978's We Came to Play and 1979's Back on the Streets didn't please critics or fans, and the band would go nine years without releasing an album.

Despite it all, Tower of Power -- in particular their horn section -- remained a much in-demand backing group for some of pop/rock's biggest names, including Elton John, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Huey Lewis, Little Feat, David Sanborn, Michelle Shocked, Paula Abdul, Aaron Neville, Aerosmith, Public Image Ltd., and many others. In 1988, Tower of Power returned to the studio for the album Power, and in 1991 they signed with Epic Records, where they released five albums by the end of the decade.

Into the new millennium, Tower of Power kept up their reputation as a strong live band, maintaining a steady touring schedule, and in 2009 they launched their own TOP Records label with The Great American Soulbook, in which they covered a dozen soul and R&B classics in the trademark Tower of Power style. In 2007, Tower of Power celebrated their fourth decade together with a special concert at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium, and a year later the show was issued in a special CD/DVD package, simply titled 40th Anniversary. In 2013, Tower of Power took a look back with the release of Hipper Than Hip: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, which documented a live radio broadcast from 1974. The bandmembers also announced they would be touring in 2013 and 2014 with two other iconic acts from Northern California, Journey and the Steve Miller Band.

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The first Tower of Power album, when the band was only honing its concept and seeking a lead singer. On some songs, notably "Sparkling in the Sand," you can hear the group beginning to come together. They already had a fine horn section, and were only some good arrangements away from becoming one of the best pop and soul bands in the nation. The vocals were uneven, although Rick Stevens would later emerge as the prime vocalist. Despite its flaws, it's worth having because the diamond was being cut on these selections.

Tower Of Power - East Bay Grease      (flac  265mb)

01 Knock Yourself Out 7:08
02 Social Lubrication 7:28
03 The Price 6:09
04 Back On The Street Again 5:50
05 The Skunk The Goose, And The Fly 5:55
06 Sparkling In The Sand 9:06

Tower Of Power - East Bay Grease    (ogg  100mb)

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The second Tower of Power LP, Bump City was the first to make any impact. The group went to Memphis, cut their first great single in "You're Still A Young Man," and learned firsthand about funk and soul. The production and arrangements were much improved over the debut album, as was the engineering and overall technical quality. Their lines were crisper, the unison and ensemble passages much sharper, and they were beginning to round into shape.

 Tower Of Power - Bump City    (flac 227mb)

01 You Got To Funkifize 4:31
02 What Happened To The World That Day? 4:12
03 Flash In The Pan 3:35
04 Gone 3:42
05 You Strike My Main Nerve 2:53
06 Down To The Nightclub 2:43
07 You're Still A Young Man 5:36
08 Skating On Thin Ice 3:39
09 Of The Earth 4:33

Tower Of Power - Bump City  (ogg  94mb )

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The Tower of Power finally found their ideal lead singer on this album. Lenny Williams came aboard and gave them both the up-tempo belter and convincing balladeer they had previously lacked. They landed their biggest single hit, "So Very Hard to Go," and also had two other top tunes in "What Is Hip" and "This Time It's Real." The arrangements and production were also excellent, and the horn section was at its explosive best.

Tower Of Power - Tower Of Power   (flac 226mb)

01 What Is Hip? 5:03
02 Clever Girl 2:52
03 This Time It's Real 2:52
04 Will I Ever Find A Love? 3:48
05 Get Yo' Feet Back On The Ground 4:51
06 So Very Hard To Go 3:37
07 Soul Vaccination 5:10
08 Both Sorry Over Nothin' 3:22
09 Clean Slate 3:20
10 Just Another Day 4:38

. Tower Of Power - Tower Of Power  (ogg  93mb)

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Tower of Power followed their self-titled gold album with an even better album that didn't enjoy similar sales success. Back to Oakland had tougher, funkier and better-produced cuts, stronger vocals from Lenny Williams (who was more comfortable as their lead singer), and included an excellent ballad in "Time Will Tell," and a rousing tempo in "Don't Change Horses (In the Middle of a Stream)." The Tower of Power horn section reaffirmed its reputation in both soul and pop circles, and the album included a powerhouse instrumental.

Tower Of Power - Back To Oakland   (flac 245mb)

01 Oakland Stroke... 0:53
02 Don't Change Horses (In The Middle Of A Stream) 4:28
03 Just When We Start Makin' It 6:30
04 Can't You See (You Doin' Me Wrong) 3:00
05 Squib Cakes 7:49
06 Time Will Tell 3:11
07 Man From The Past 4:00
08 Love's Been Gone So Long 4:47
09 I Got The Chop 2:59
10 Below Us, All The City Lights 4:20
11 ...Oakland Stroke 1:08

.Tower Of Power - Back To Oakland  (ogg  93mb)

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