We won't be forced to change our viewpoints. 

Blue Oyster Cult: Subhuman

[1974]

So ladies, fish and gentlemen this is a fucking great tune from the excellent Secret Treaties LP. 

The future and the past, the familiar and the uncommon all represent in this sea-breeze-y fluid psychedelia. Mysterious and dark sci-fi subject matter amid some 70s guitar glory. 

A sound sometimes trapped in strange cul-de-sacs then freed into driving flow motion. 

1974: The Records

Chrysalis - Definition

Chrysalis - Lacewing (1968)

Chrysalis are off their rockers on this acid-folk gem. 

Back in the day New York's Chrysalis were ultra obscure, barely even a cult group despite having Zappa connections, only appearing on a couple of 90s bootleg compilations. Definition their one and only LP was just a mythical, impossible to find, "collectors scum" album until it finally got a reissue in the 00s by Rev-ola. It's another one of these almost classic records which is sometimes considered a minor masterpiece in certain quarters. There's no doubt that some of Definition's tunes are great stuff. 

Chrysalis - Father's Getting Old (1968)

The classic radio-friendly heavy psychedelic rock tune of the LP. Coulda been a hit. 

 

Chrysalis - Piece Of Sun (1968)

The great psych trick of making weird music totally accessible delicious pop music. Complete with brass and woodwinds not forgetting some insane bass and psych guitar shenanigans of the highest order. 

Monserrat Figueras/La Capella Reial de Catalunya - El Cant de la Sibil•la I

[1988]

The other contender for greatest medieval Gregorian chant record of all time. This one's a bit more on the pitch black sombre side compared to the previously mentioned Canticles Of Ecstasy from Sequentia which was a lot more on the er... ecstatic tip. The haunting atmosphere here is unbelievably eerie and solemn so I wasn't surprised to learn that the subject matter covered by these ye olde "in foreign" vocals was of an apocalyptic nature. 

El Cant De La Sibil.la (The Song Of Sibyl) has been a Christmas eve favourite in many churches for a thousand years, even getting banned in the sixteenth century.

The captivating lead vocal performance from Montserrat Figueras i García is absolutely sublime. While La Capella Reial De Catalunya's execution of their ominous choral duties and Crawford Young's consummate oud playing perfectly compliment Montserrat, sending the entire endeavour into the transcendent. 

Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, man and true eternal God, from Heaven will come to judge and to everyone will give what is fair.

Great fire from the heaven will come down; seas, fountains and rivers, all will burn. Fish will scream loudly and in horror losing their natural delights.

Before the Judgement the Antichrist will come and will give suffering to everyone,
and will make himself be served like God, and who does not obey he will make die.

His reign will be very short; in these times under his power will die martyrs, all at once. Those two saints, Elijah and Enoch.

The sun will lose its light showing itself dark and veiled, the moon will give no light and the whole world will be sorrow.

To the evil ones he will say very sourly: —Go, damned, into the torment! Go into the eternal fire with your prince of Hell!

To the good he will say: —My children, come! Lucky ones, you possess the kingdom I have kept for you ever since the world was created!

Oh humble Virgin! May you who have given birth to Child Jesus on this night, pray to your son so he will want to keep us from Hell!

The prophesy has been foretold.

The Kinks - Flash's Confession

[1974]

Right, for a start, here's just one tune from Preservation Act 2. How this is not an iconic canonical 70s rock tune is beyond me. So if you're not willing to sit through a double concept album of the rock-opera variety you're just not gonna find it but there are four or five others that are just as great. Really though the entire two record set is a misunderstood quasi minor masterpiece. Some of the tunes might not work out of context but it isn't like they're not accessible or fabulous. You may have to set aside your 60s Kinks expectations but its really not that hard because Ray Davies' genius is on display here too. 

On the instrumental front, Flash's Confession is bizarrely reminiscent of peak 70s Anatolian Psych. This insanely funky wah-wah action is indeed some of Dave Davies' best ever guitar work. Dave is on fire throughout the entire Preservation Act 2. Lyrically it is sung from the point of view of the character Flash who is having a depersonalization experience while he confesses to his evil wrongful ways and awaits his comeuppance. 

"Been a cheat, been a crook
Never gave I always took
Crushed people to acquire
Anything that I desired
Been deceitful and a liar
Now I'm facing Hell Fire
I can't believe that my time has come
For confessing all the evil
And the wrong that I've done
The reckoning's come
And now I'm just a no one
I confess to the timid and the meek
To the cripples and the beggars
And the tramps in the street
I confess my cruelty, my ego and conceit
I've opened up my body and looked inside
And I'm everything that I once despised
I confess for the thieves
The affected and deranged
I confess for the muggers and incurably insane
I confess to the ugly for being so vain
I confess to those I hurt for causing them pain"

A selection of lyrics from Flash's Confession indicating a songwriter who is undeniably on top of his game. 

Hildegard von Bingen - Canticles Of Ecstasy

Missed this cd at the time, only discovering it this year. As far as 90s atmospheric liturgical jams go this is peak heavenly gear. It might just be the best album of 1994. It's some holy Gregorian chant music from the 12th century. This Hildegard bird was certainly touched by the hand of God. Apparently she was the mbv of her era with her ecstatic yet accessible tunes pushing the boundaries of her genre (monophonic chant) to the outer limits. 

This stunning deeply devotional performance by medieval music ensemble Sequentia is notable for its spectacular soaring heavenly voices and ethereal beauty. Husband and wife team Barbara Thornton (chorus master/lead vocalist) and Benjamin Bagby (arranger/instrumentalist) along with a holy chorus of vocalists seem intent on raising the human spirit to levels near to the divine. 

Take this glorious journey and before you know it you will be closer to God and what a splendid place to be. Canticles Of Ecstasy's a mysterious celestial experience that deserves to be celebrated.  

Pavement

Summer Babe (Winter Version) - Pavement (1992)

Before their twerp-iness kicked in, Pavement ruled in 91/92. The perfect anthemic slacker jam for the 19/20 year old I was. Now it's just a nostalgia show for the sad old man I am now. For all their Fall-isms this tune also reminds me of the guitar work on the pop tunes from Bowie's Low (1977), am I right? Holy sonic data representations of remarkable lackadaisical exuberance Batman.

The tunes on Slanted & Enchanted like the Nevermind demos had an airing throughout 1991 on 3PBSFM in Melbourne, where I was, and probably other college and community radio stations throughout the western world, way before getting officially released.

Box Elder - Pavement (1989)

Tunes from the earlier eps would get an airing too. Two things got them noticed outside that pushed them into the limelight, maybe... was it?... Melody Maker's Everette True praising one of their eps then Wedding Present doing a cover of this on a b-side. At this stage Pavement were just Malkmus and Spiral Stairs with contributions and production duties from the one and only Gary Young. Once this classic line-up ended they went shit ie. post-Slanted & Enchanted. 

Box Elder's actually got a clear narrative of someone who's being held back by his girlfriend but he's gonna make a break and he's glad. I guess in the vein of The Byrds I Feel A Whole Lot Better. Pavement really capture the essence of this scenario in one of the great defiant break-up songs. Poignant yet invigorating, incredibly contagious stuff.

From Now On - Pavement (1991)

...er they were Swell Maps fans you know...

Trigger Cut - Pavement (1992)

Cool sounding words with cool sounding guitars is always a winning combination. Not to diminish the strange rhythmic stylings of Gary Young either. The whole thing has that classic low key cardboard pyrotechnical sound. 

I don't know what most of their songs were ever really about due their surreal/cut up/non sequitur style but they just had this air of "jolly to be wasting your youthful days" kinda vibe, which was a chief principle at the time. I guess that's more of a perverted or inverse principle... 

In The Mouth A Desert - Pavement (1992)

I guess this is like a quasi Pixies tribute innit. Somebody once wrote in Mojo that The Pixies were the last original rock band and no truer word has been spoken in that magazine. It isn't quite as rip off-y as Smells Like Teen Spirit or A Good Idea but hat bass-line is straight outa Kim Deal's playbook. Chuck in a bit of quiet/loud and Santiago-isms but then's it's fused with a Slint-esque darkness and a sprinkling Beefheart-esque guitar sounds. There's just enough that's intrinsically Pavement-y to make this all time 90s rock classic all their own.

Peak slacker rock right here folks! 

Preservation Act 1 - The Kinks

Sweet Lady Genevieve - The Kinks (1973)

Speaking of harmonica on outlier fan favourite records, how about this number from the 1973 Kinks record Preservation Act 1. I mean the following year's Preservation Act 2 is the real Kinks outlier but you know critics hated the fairly accessible Act 1 as well. 

Sweet Lady Genevieve is an absolute Kinks classic. 

Sitting In The Midday Sun - The Kinks (1973)

But wait this one might even be better. The great slacker jam of all time innit. 

It's my absolute anthem. Although as opposed to Ray Davies saying he's sitting in the midday sun for no particular purpose I have a very specific purpose whilst doing it. I've recovered from my ailments recently mostly by sitting in the midday sun every day. For years I was just resigned to the reality that I was just going to be perpetually ill and in a state of malaise and spiritual demise, much like Charles Darwin was for many years, for the rest of my life. But this sunshine lark has been an absolute winner. I'm sometimes spending over four hours every day in the sun. Luckily I live in one of the sunniest regions in Australia. So even in the middle of winter I'm still getting a lot of sunshine in my life. It has made everything so much better. As the song goes along you actually realize Ray does see particular benefits and purposes of lazing in the midday sun too. Getting off anti-depressants, doing daily exercise, eating more eggs, meat & veggies and cutting back on carbs has also helped. Don't get sucked into the trauma/therapy/psychology/big pharma complex, they are cultivating weakness moreover want you sick and not thriving. Soon every aspect of our personalities will be pathologized. Your existential dilemmas don't need a psychiatric diagnosis. Just Nah! That's my rant. it's probably phobic or racist or sexist or something now that we've reached peak cultural left-ism, fringe bullshit, globalist retardation and poison ideas. 

 

Daylight - The Kinks (1973)

This too... actually all of Preservation Act 1 is ace. Even on other tracks when it goes into esoteric conceptual prog rock opera territory, it's still Ray Davies and band at the top of their game.

Cricket - The Kinks (1973)

The critics who dislike the music hall aspects of The Kinks don't truly understand the band. Honestly entire records of this absurd comedic jazz would be a splendid things to these ears. Listen a little closer and you realise this a philosophical tune with cricket as the battlefield between good and evil. 

One Of The Survivors -The Kinks (1973)

One of their great rockin tunes. Steve Jones surely lifted some riffage elements here didn't he. This goes as hard as any Iggy, Ziggy, Lobby or Lou tunes of the era. I suppose Johnny Thunders got his name from The Kinks. The character Johnny Thunder, who first appeared on Village Green Preservation Society (1968), is fleshed out further as he makes a reprise appearance here as a greying, overweight old rock'n'roller biker. 

Money And Corruption/I Am Your Man - The Kinks (1973)

I guess you can't really discuss Preservation Act 1 without mention of its centrepiece. This is where the prog-folk theatrical rock opera stylings get an airing. Once you get past the fear of a tune being in that vein you will realise it still beautiful Ray Davies melodies, emotionally poignant, peak storytelling lyrics and a lovely arrangement. 

What could actually be problematic is the subject matter that veers into almost cringe naivety Imagine zones where the narrator in the second half of the song is promising classlessness and yet also great wealth. We all know where all that tragically leads in reality. Then you realise this is a song, a story, and this proposal is being presented by a character by the name of Mr Black who may well be just another charlatan with big promises. 

Mr Black turns up in the second half of the tune after the chorus of the people had been complaining "Money and corruption are ruining the land/Crooked politicians betray the working man" but then the chorus naively sing "Show us a man who'll be our Saviour" instead of just asking for some actual democracy where your hard earned money isn't stolen by corruption, given to undeserving competing victim groups or wasted on retarded governmental programmes/rorts.

I mean this is prescient to this day in the UK. Why are the people being dealt absurd shitful hands where the immigration is so insanely high for housing construction to keep up, not that anyone can afford it once it's built anyway. Setting the population up for failure, a possible collapse and sectarian violence. This isn't just happening in England either it's in Australia, USA etc... back in 1973 it might have seemed possible to get a fair go but 50 years later whatever remaining illusion of democracy has been totally shattered. The globalists, oligarchs, NGOs, multinational mega-corps, deep states etc. are not allowing western democracies to act in their own interests. Our countries don't belong to us and our overlords hate us. Sorry 'bout the bleaknesss... but...

David Bowie - Never Let Me Down

[1987]

An underrated Bowie tune from his floundering era. I guess it fits with the sophist-pop scene of the age though. You tend to forget how often he used harmonica which always seems so anachronistic because it just so early Bob. Anyway Never Let Me Down was a slight bit of a relief after terrible singles like Blue Jean, Day In Day Out, all these soundtrack things and the bloody shemozzles he did with Tina Turner and Mick Jagger. I don't think anyone in my family ever had a copy of this album but it was pretty ubiquitous in other households at the time despite its poor critical reception but according to AA it's maybe one of these outlier fan favourite records like The Kinks Preservation Act  2 (1974).