Basically
this is solo work by Manuel
Göttsching who
was probably one of the best guitarists around the Krautrock scene in
the early 70s. He was part of Ashra Ra Temple, but by the late 70s
was releasing solo work. All though some of the 80s tracks by him
sound a bit of the time, there is elements that almost predates music
that was to come. A strange person to compare him to I would say
Steve Hillage, both guitarists that are capable of searing guitar
work over electronic music.
OK
so maybe not an artist in the true sense, but over his career there
was a musical output. Such a varied work of comedy from stand up,
young ones , ,Black Adder New Stateman and Bottom and so much more
besides. I was gutted when he died in 2014. I suppose most of the
true cutting edge comedy of the 80s and 90s featured his work. I like
this clip and would perhaps consider it amongst Jools Hollands best
work, it features Bill Wyman(who was still in the stones then), John
Otway(remember him). Anarchic, mad , much missed.
For
quite a few years I have been running online shops. In buying the cds
you get promos and cds by artists you have never heard of. This is
the case with this artist, Okihide has only released one album and a
collabaration with another artist on a sampler. If anyone has any
firther information about the artist, let me know. In terms of the
track its almost like Japanese ambient music, the song does not shift
that greatly with varying percussion. I think when you buy things
there is an element of pot luck, it could have been heavy metal from
its packaging, but the EP with this track on was clever ambient music
from over 23 years ago.
In
the previous post from Robert Fripp I use the word prog very lightly,
King Crimson were bunched in with that scene due to their early 70s
output. But in 73/74 there music became very complex. Really
intricate guitar work, shifts of tempo. This clip is instrumental,
features two drummers, 2 guitarists and 2 bass players. But they all
know their parts and dont over elaborate their parts. The oriignal
was recorded in 1974 and at that time they were a 3 piece band. They
sort of split up for a while and Fripp contributed to the Bowie
albums and resurfaced in 1979 with the Exposure album. King Crimson
then started on in 1981 with the Discpline album. Adrian Belew is the
common thread he is on the Frank Zappa track as well.
Matt
Johnson announced in a interview a while back that he had retired the
project, but recently has activated the project for some live
concerts. In the 80s his output was an album roughly every 4 years.
Initially they were on 4AD but then moved to a some bizarre and onto
better distribution. My starting point with The The was the
'Infected' video EP. Which was a film of every track on the album,
unheard of at the time. Then the 'Mind bomb' album which featured
Johnny Marr. It wasn't until later I went back into the discography
and found 'Soul Mining' the album is very direct lyric wise, cynical,
observer, hopeful. I suppose if Ian Curtis was the bleak lyrical
genuis, then Matt Johnson was more like a cynical and insightful
lyrist.The album has a past, present and future outlook. 'This is the
day' and 'I've been waiting (for tomorrow all of my life). This
track features Jools Holland on Piano, the track and album is The The
.
From
the QE2 album, but unlike most tracks on the album. Is in fact a
cover version of a track by The Shadows. I think Mike Oldfield music
had always been around, was always a safe option for early 80s TV
programs to play his instrumental works. It was good in 1992 that
the Orb remixed some of his tracks and I think this meant he sort of
reinvented his sounds, has done some good albums. But on the other
hand has released some poor one as well. Probably Incantations part 4
is my favorite. The Crisis and 'Discovery' albums have some good
tracks.
This
is a track from the EP called 'Echoes in a Shallow Bay', which was
the first proper independent record I
brought. With the Cocteau Twins they had such complex music, in that
the lyrics were indecipherable but worked
and the guitar and bass was so layered, you could hear something new
with each listen. I look online now and there is an unhealthy
obsession with Liz Fraser and the band getting back together. What
made the Cocteau twins so great at the time was that they were
creating this other worldly music, but were down to earth in their
interviews and not aloof like some of the Gothic
bands of the time. I think some people much prefer the 'heaven and
Las Vegas' album but for me its 'Head Over
Heels' era and the 85-86 releases. They split up 22 years ago but
what a legacy of music to leave behind.
Lastly
I notice in the clip that they use Cabaret Voltaire clips. Why I'm
not really sure.
When
I say Human League don't think of the two women dancing around Phil
Oakey. Its hard to not visualize that as the success the band had was
in part due to production of their sound and their image. But go back
to 1977 there was a band called 'The Future'. The Future was made up
Of Martyn Ware and Ian Marsh, Phil Oakey and I believe Adi newton who
went onto form Clock DVA. Their early works were a mismatch of sounds
some industrial others sort of like a Donna Summer meets Kraftwerk
kind of thing. The band moved on and got more serious and recorded
Peel sessions. As they got known locally this spread to radio and
within two years they were being named dropped by David Bowie and of
course of the Undertones single 'My Perfect cousin'. I do run a
group for Human League on FB and Its strange because I do not like
anything they have recorded after the 1981 period. Yet the band holds
this fan base that is almost obsessional For me the Human League were
right there behind Cabaret Voltaire in Sheffield music in the late
70s. They were on the brink of success and breakthrough only to split
into two bands (BEF/heaven 17). They left behind two albums of
almost sparse electronica before splitting. This track is typical of
the time, scifi clips shown to match the electronic music they were
creating. I suppose I am into the synths they used, although now
antique(ish) they sound so futuristic, which ha meant their records
have not date in a true sense.
I
think the Police in the late 70s and early 80s were a band that was
heavily international. By that I mean they toured worldwide and most
of their videos were filmed in different destinations. It was a
deliberate ploy by Miles Copeland, who was the bands manager. I got
into Sting around the 85/86 mark but I was drawn to the Police track
on his live album at the time. I sort of ignored the work of the
police until I was at University. People kept on recommending
albums like Ghost in the Machine and Zenyatta Mondatta. They are
brilliant albums. The drums of Stewert Copeland are genius
and the work of Summers was abstract but
worked. Sting sort of became more politically motivated behind good
causes, apart Ten Summers Tales there were few highlights. This track
reminds me of watching TOTP when I was younger.
On my facebook over the last few months I have done a set of video links to mostly clips and rare material that I come across. Initially it stemmed from a top 10 album post that was going on at the time, I was finding with all the group I was running there was all these videos that I could not share as they did not fall within the groups I was running. Initially all these video links were on wordpress but are now going to be on Blogger from post 95 onwards.
As a guide this is the 94 so far.
1. RAGTM-bulls on parade
2. S Express-hey music lover (william orbit)
3.U2-Rejoice
4.Paramore-Now
5.Sabres of Paradise-Still fighting
6.Suede-We are the pigs
7.BT-Flmaing June
8.Tori Amos-Crucifty
9. the Prodigy-Mindfields
10.Durruti Collumn-Contra-dictions
11. Leah Mcfall-Loving you
12.Killing Joke-Requiem
13.Daf-Love at first sight
14. daft Punk-Harder faster stronger
15.Magazine-The Light pours out of me
16.Sunscreem-Perfect Motion(boys Own remix)
17.Muse-Hysteria
18.Gus Gus-Lies are more flexible
19.Kate Bush-Baboshka
20.The Passions-Im in love with a german film star
21.Lindsey Buckigham-Go Insane
22.Prefab Sprout-Life of Suprises
23.orb little Fluffy clouds underworld
24.Sly and Robbie-Weeping Willow
25. JMJ-Equinox7
26. Cult -She Sells sanctuary-Isolated
27/Dreadzone-Soundman
28.Bauhaus-Ziggy stardust
29/Waterboys-A girl called johnny
30. Stone Roses-She bangs the drums
31. simple Minds-Colours fly
32.Who-I dont even know myself
33. Nick Drake-River man
34.A grumh-The Kill
35. Led Zeppelin-For your life
36.SPK-Metal Field
37. John Maryn-Id rather be the devil
38. Muse-Back in Black
39/XTC-general and Majors
40.Gary Clail-Human Nature
41.Discolsure-magnets
42.FSol-Herd Killing
43.YMO-Rydeen
44.Colourbox-baby I love you so
45.Tears for Fears-Working Hour
46. Robin Guthrie-borduex
47. Squeeze-Another Nail in my heart
48. Clean Bandit-Rather be
49/ Cabaret voltaire-sensoria
50. Shamen-Hear me o my people
51. Orbital-Doctor Who
52. Kraftwerk-Musique Non top(helsinki)
53. Aphex Twin-5 corrier
54.Hus Gus-airwaves(Melt)
55. AA-Liquid Insects
56/ Big Black-Ill Duce
57. Prefab Sprout-Tiffanys
58. Sysstehsiana-lifeless
59. Goldfrapp-U never know
60. Porcupine Tree-Voyage 34
61. Depeche Mode-Behind the wheel(devotional)
62. LCD-Dance Yourself clean
63. Paul MCcartney-Carpool
64 Energy 52-Cafe del Mar
65. Manic Street Preachers-Motorycyle emptiness
66. Dead can dance-children of the sun
67. Kraftwerk-Musique non stop-3d version
68. Yazoo-Goodbye 70s
69.VNV nation-prelude
70. Talk Talk-Life what you make it
71. Marillion-Punch and Judy
72;. JMJ -Oxygene 1976 versio0n
73. Mike Scott-Forever young
74. New Order-Bizzare Love Traingle(Glastonbury)
75. Joy Division-Decades(Martyn Hannet mix)
76..Chris and Cosey-Fantaistique
77.Brian Eno-2.1
78. FSOL-Lifeforms
79. RutsBablyons burning
80. Portion Control-Intro and Under the skin
81. Vangelis-china
82/ The Cure-Push-A forest(Glastonbury)
83. Pink Floyd-Echoes
84. A Certain Ratio-Mickey way
85.Skids-Into the Valley
86.Barmy Army-Sharp a a needle
87. John Lennon-Nobody told me
88. kraftwerk-trans europe express
89.Bowie-Life on Mar
90. Tangerine dream-Ricochet coventry catheral
91/ David Sylvian-Red Guitar
92. Finiflex-TX20
93. Frank Zappa-Muffin Man
94. Biosphere-Seal and hydrophone
Now officially back on blogger and have decided to go for an uncluttered look. With intergration with twitter, pintrest and Facebook. Now apart from the spotify playlists I will upload I can get on with the work.
Not one to normally talk in personal terms on my web sites. For those of you who check my Fb groups and pages, there was a massive delay caused by outside influences.On the whole up until my 40s I had not experienced any health issues at all. If I got anything like a cold, I would be able to shrug it off with out any issues. In september last year I caught a cold and could not shrug it off, originally it started in my nose, the pain was so bad I went to doctors and I think ultimately it was the quick thinking of the doctor that saved me. Over the following two week period my cold got worse. I started to notice my chest feeling wheezy and having to wrap up in many layers to protect myself from the cold.
After this cold I went to my place of work and had a massive pain in my upper chest, originally not thinking it could be heart. I went back to my doctor and they ordered a blood test. Next day I got a phonecall saying ‘Dont be alarmed, but ambulance on its way’. So I went into hospital that time not feeling like I had any issues with my heart. But as they did more tests I had to accept that I had had a minor heart attack. After a few days it was diagnosed as ‘Myocarditis’ which is inflamation of the heart muscle.
So I was treated with antibotics and returned home for a period of recuperation. Problem was that I was feeling wretched some days. I would go to work and then spend the rest of the day recovering.
In early January on a day off I got pain in my chest, so I was taking heartburn tablets. Then the pain went into my arms and I thought to myself thats not right. I was being apologetic to the ambalance crew. ‘This could be the worst case of heartburn’. When I got into hospital they did a blood test and it was showing high levels of traponin. So it had indicated to them that I had heart attack.
When faced with the pain, the only thing you can do is rest and recuperate. I was told for three days not to move from the bed. This in some ways affects the body in different ways. At one point i was thinking have a had a heart attack, but when the cardiologist said , if there is any deterioation then we will send you in an air ambulance I realised the seriousness of the situation.
If anything what has happened has re-motivated me a bit to make things work better across everything. When you are in hopsital you realise that you are closer to death than you were at home. Its a great leveller. Changes, well diet, exercise and eating the right things and not letting little things stress or regretting things you cannot change.
Orbital are one of those band that made a move away from being part of a danc e scene to moving towards more abstract Electronica. I always feel that in some ways Orbitl never truly get the recognition they desereved in terms of the legacy of their music. I think in some ways it might be in part due to the nature of breaking up, reforming and then breaking up again. My start with orbital was probably with the Omen single, which was released after ‘Chime’ it was a dance record that features Liz Fraser samples and sort of stood out. I remember also in 1992 there was an article in one of the press that showed their influences. In the artcile they mentioned Cabaret Voltaire and Severed Heads. So I went from asociating them with other dance bands to setting them apart from what was around at the time.Personally I love the ‘Insides’ album from around 1996/7, the 3 x CDs singles of Satan Live are a pinnacle in their output.
Im hoping Orbital release more material soon and get their music more back into the media networks.
The thing with the Police I am old enought to remember when Sting was so up himself in terms of the message and politics of the music. So normally you overlook what was obvious, that you can be blinded by the messages but overlook the music.
I think many of us , over the age of 40 can remember the Police and how big they were aroun the early 1980s. When I was at University I had people come up to me, ‘this album is brilliant, you should listen to it’. I was a bit dubious. The Police and sting brought to mind Save the rainforest and a sort of AOR rock that I dispised.
I was given two albums to listen to ‘Syncronocity’ and ‘ Ghost in the machine’. I have to say when I herd ‘Syncronicity’ I was like that tracks good, then it was followed by an album filler. Then you realised on the Police’s timeline they were close to breaking poing at that time. With ‘Ghost in the Machine’ that just shocked me, its probably a snaphot of the band at their prime in terms of power.
The main thing I cant get over is how complex the drumming is on some tracks, almost using every part of the drum kit and filling in the gaps of the sound. As for Andy Summer’s guitar work its complex as well in terms of how its played but fits in with the song.
I am posting a three tracks. the first is the ‘Peel Session’ from 1979. ‘The Beds to big without you’ is Copeland at his best. The other two tracks are isolted guitar mixes of hi tracks.
Now its easy to think of the Human league as ‘Don’t you want me’ but the band 2 years before that track. Were more experimental in nature than the later commercial efforts. Human league was formed in 1977 as a project called The Future. Which Had originally Adi Newton (clock DVA) in the line up. The Future had basic synths but its was the overall feel of the music that showed promise. Adi Newton left and the Human league performed concerts locally around Sheffield.
The original line up was Martyn Ware, Ian Marsh, Wright and Phil Oakey. The first single was ‘being Boiled’ which got them notice, but would not be a succesful single until it was re released on the back of success of the Dare album. Their first album ‘Reproduction’ featured some sparse electronic compositions amongst cover versions. The Human League was basically at this time two musicians , a vocalist and a slide show/projection. On paper it should not of worked but the early human league of this time worked on many levels.
Their was an under current with the human league . As a result of their exposure there was an expectation that success should follow. It did not quite work out like that. Singles like ‘Empire State Human’ and ‘Dignity of Labour EP’ gave the band more exposure, but their was not a crossover into the charts.
The Travelogue album followed and was followed by the Holiday 80 EP. You can see from the EP there was potential there and their was definate progression. At the moment they were due to make the crossover. Bob Fast who was the manager divided the band by his actions. So the band became two seperate bands BEF and the Human League, BEF would later become Heaven 17.
Looking back with Hindsight I feel that the Human League MK1 probably did split at the right time . As the music scene at that time was very much DIY orientated, but their was also the influence of Joy Division influencing other bands. So its hard to know where they would have fitted into the scenes and Genres around at the time.
Human League Mk2 is another story for another time. But they may have only released two albums and a few singles. But they were unique to the time and left behind a legacy of early electronic music. Almost in the vein of Girogio Moroder and Donna Summer with a bit of Kratwerk in the mix.
In many articles about A grumh they were a band that were linked to the EBM scene as much by the bands they toured with. But their sound was almost beyond EBM, to the harshness of early Nitzer Ebb. Mixed in with a bit of imagery aka Throbbing Gristle, you got a unique band that were of their influences but ultimately unique sounding.
A grumh were formed in 1981 and released albums called ‘Mix Yourself, ‘No way out’ and ‘rebirth’. The best album and EP came around 1988/89. The EP called ‘Bloody Side’ was a powerful mix of industrial with a hint of EBM. This was followed by the album ‘We are a grumh and you are not’ and ‘Black Vinyl under cover’.
The ‘Black Vinyl’ Undercover album was a brilliant mix of power with quieter pieces. In some respects some of their album artwork was designed to shock. So in terms of commercial success they probably reached as far as they could at the particular time.
At the time their record label was putting alot of pressure on the band for new material. At the moment they were due to record new material the band were branching out into other areas and music took a back seat. About 2 years ago A Grumh reformed and are currently looking for record labels to release their new material.
Not to be confued with the Light Funky Ones. LFO were originally a duo who worked on drum machines and basically produced mix tapes which they gave to their friends. The band gave one of the tapes to a local DJ who mixed it into his sets. So the reaction they got from the crowd meant that the band went from being a hobby to a serious career choice.
LFO was Gez Varley and Mark Bell. They released the Seminal tracks ‘LFO’ which the link is underneath for the track. Around 1990/91 the track was getting major airplay and the band went into the charts for a short term. It was followed by ‘We are back’ which was a nod to Kraftwerk which they openly admitted in interviews at the time. Other classics tracks that were recorded(but Im not sure if it was officially released was ‘Take Control’ which was recorded for a peel session in 1991/2.
LFO released three albums ‘Frequencies’, ‘Advance’ and ‘Sheath’. Varley left in 1996 and mark Bell continued on. He also worked on projects for Depeche Mode(exciter) and Bjork among other artists.
Sadly Mark Bell died in 2014 after complications after an operation.
Before I start. In these discussion threads the opinions are my own. If there is things I miss feel free to add comments at the end. Now starting with New Order in the discussion thread I feel i quite logical a band that a band who probably influenced so many others. Essentially New Order were a band born out of tragedy but also of the need to continue. The early work of New Order especially around 1980 was a band working on the last material or working songs done before Ian Curtis death. The songs ‘Ceremony’ and ‘In A Lonely Place’ kept them in the public eye, where as they were playing live and working on new material. It was followed in 1981 by the album ‘Movement’ which remains one of my favourites, but for the newly converted to the New Order music its pretty much the sound of a band experimenting and finding their feat. If anything the Peel sessions probably had more clearer focus at this time. Looking back with hindsight you could tell that there was a more optimistic angle to their music. Tracks like ‘Procession’ , ‘ Everything’s gone green’. Were not in the mode of say ‘In a Lonely place’.
The ‘temptation’ track of 1982 was a success on the indie charts and was giving the band new listeners who might not have heard of Joy Division. Its been well documented that they were trying out a new drum machine which formed the basis of the track ‘586’ which went on to become ‘Blue Monday’. The track was unique in terms of sound, but was also packaged differently. In late 1983 they released ‘Confusion’ which was still successful. Their second album called ‘Power Corruption and Lies’ which was produced at Pink Floyd Studios gained the band more recognition and critical acclaim.
1984 was a quiet year for New Order apart from touring and releasing ‘Thieves Like Us’ and the import ‘Murder’. They were working on the next album. ‘Lowlife’released in 1985 was a classic album, 8 tracks which were a mixture of new sounds, but also there was tracks like Sunrise which gave hints to Joy Division. Even though they had moved on. The Singles ‘Perfect Kiss’, Subculture’ followed.
Further singles followed in 1986 ‘ Shame of the nation’. Followed by the album ‘Brotherhood’ which roughly around the same time they released ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’.
After that they released ‘true Faith ‘ and followed that up with the best of compilation ‘Substance’ . In some ways not original material but it howed New Order upto being a great singles band. Things were quiet until 1989 when they released ‘Technique’. Which was more dance orientated, but was also a sign that Bernard songwriting was more settled and as a result the experimental side of their sound took a back seat.
Apart from the 1990 single ‘World in Motion’. They took another break and followed this up with ‘Republic’ in 1992. In and around the mid 90s, New order disbanded and Gillian left the band. The album called ‘Ger Ready’ and ‘Waiting for the Sirens call followed with line up changes. Then in the late 2000s. The working relationship between Hook and the rest of the band broke down. With the band split into two factions.
Personally I always felt when New Order performed live Peter Hook was more for the rocky songs, where as the experimental electronic edge was more a collective effort between the other two(Gilbert and Morris).
Recently New Order re -emerged on Mute records and released the album ‘Music Complete’. Where was Peter Hook has toured Joy division and New order work under the light.
To conclude I think the New Order output from the 80’s was right up there with other classic bands. It was a band that could play electronic or play guitar rock, it could be argued that they combined both. It was a band knowing their history that you wanted them to succeed.
The material of the concerts I have seen from their last tour is showing an updating of their sound, which is really good to hear. Gillian Gilbert being back in the band has enabled New Order to move on and not stand still.
Now Im not one for trying to push forward my own political agenda onto people. So in this article I am not pushing the blame at any one politcal party as this problem has been there for some time. looking at facebook I can see people have entrenched political views and that stems from upbrining, background and life choices. My biggest problem has not been with any political party in the UK, it has been with the system itself. Now what is a credit reference agency, well you would think it is an impartial organisation that gives you a decision based on certain factors. In some ways that is correct it will make decisions based on a persons background, a process they call credit scoring. The problem is with this system is that you have to have good credit to begin with. But how do you get it?
The system itself bases a decision based on being able to ofset a risk against a gurrantor. So in theory the way to get good credit is to try to take out a slow attitude to credit. It might also take two years from beginning to end to achieve the result. Most people think that their household bills generte good credit, apart from british gas I cannot think of any utilities that check the information. Basically my advice for good credit is to create one or two saving accounts and keep a balance active in your bank. So for instance you save 1000 in two savings accounts and then in your main account use a balance but always keep a float. Thats how to build up credit.
now you may ask what is my problem with credit reference agencies? I feel they are flawed , its a deeply rooted thing in my pschye in that at the age of 20 I had worked for three years with bank statements , no overdraft facilities used. I went to university and mainly a bank in the Uk called Natwest really affected my opinion of banks, credit. Now on the whole Natwest were a responsible bank and I never had any arguments. But what I found was there was people starting at univerity at the same time. They would be with the same bank but would have additional facilities. So I was the same age, with a working background, no adverse credit. So ultimately the decision of credit was linked to a family member. On the other hand in 1996 I changed bank and was given a credit card and bank account with no main checks(HSBC), so they probably got around the credit system to hit targets.
So basically my first point is basically fianancial oragnisations can alter credit decisions when they enter the applications. So all though a individual has done things right there end, a organisation can alter the information to suit there targets. So in some ways people get credit that are not truly expected to get it. But on the other hand companies can make reprentations to agencies knowing that they will not get credit but the organisations will hit a targets.
My second point is that financial organiations like experian as an example are linked to other companies. I am sure but might be wrong here, but experian was linked to the great universal cataolgue group who in turn where owned by Argos. All though I understand that might have now changed. So people would be applying for credit with said companies and be rejected and have their files affected.
The thrid point is that I feel a sense of injustice to the whole thing about credit, a few years ago I was working in a holiday camp a couple were saving left right and centre trying to get their own home. Combining their income and savings, they keeped on getting rejected. This comes down in part to the property system, but ultimately the property system is linked to the credit reference system. So its almost like an exclusive club for the wealthy.
This is where the real crux of what I am getting at. A person with no credit history can with the reight decisions get an umlimited amount of credit, with little income. Where as a couple with a combined income of say 25000(2 lots of 12500) are not able to obtain credit. This just strikes me as completely and utterly mad.
On a personal level I have to state that my resentment of credit companies does not stem from rejections in the past. Its an over riding concern and annoyance I have had going on for 30+ years. It started at university in that I could see a ‘have and have not kind ‘of banking system. So when I finished university I did not want to go into a mortgage vs job scenario. Luckily my wife feels the same, all thought owning a house outright is a dream. We know the systems that are in place do not help and realitically there is no chance.
Everyone on the Kraftwerk group has a starting point. The part where the interest in a band becomes slightly obsessional or the interest deepens. For me the story of Kraftwerk in my life as a major part was sealed by the policy of the tape libary of Kenilworth Libary. It was 1988 and I had a list of albums I wanted to hear, I went down with a list and found myself picking this slightly strange yellow tape(computer World). Obviously it was an excellent album to start with and I was fascinated by the structure and composition on the songs. The drum sounds were unique and everything was in its correct place. In 1989 i had an intrest in industrial bands so I went to see Front 242 and Front Line Assembly as well as other acts. Waiting to see Kraftwerk was like the impossible dream, there was talk in the press that two members had left and initially there was an artcile in the November 1990 issue of select magazine outlining they had performed live.
When it was announced they were playing live it was really hard to get tickets in a straight forward way. I thought the bigger chains in Birmingham like HMV would sell it. They had contracts with the other major venues. The Hummingbird was a reasonable size venue but it was not the Birmingham NEC. In Birmingham at the time there was Richer Sounds(hifi shop) and a comic shop next door. The most unlikely place to get a ticket was a shop selling comics. I was told by an old school friend that if I could get a ticket could I buy two as he wanted to suprise his sister. However when it came down a week before she was trapped by university and as a result my friend came instead. He was like completely unconverted to Kraftwerk.
The Hummingbird itself was just out of town and was a medium size venue. Although the concert was advertised in the adverts of the music press the queue oustide the venue was long but not excessive. When going into the venue the bands equipment was all set up behind the curtain. I recall a red and black feel to the curtain. Which I thought was in keeping with their designs. The mixing desk was more at the back at the venue and their was music played , but the changing of the music was not good. So there were times you would hear a track and then there would be silence for a good 5 minutes until they put something else on. When I saw Front 242 the premusic played before the gig was stunning, stuff like Nocturnal Emissions ‘No Seperation’ played through a large PA system. With Kraftwerk the band might have had a hand in the decision to have no support act and little music. If anything although I thought it weird at the time it meant when the band started you were ready. The crowd was getting rowdy at one point. Then about about an hour of waiting the lights dimmed and then their was a projection onto the curtains. ‘Numbers’ started as the curtains opened , with no band on the stage. Then they all came on to a massive applause.
The sound was stunning but in the first track I was left of the stage by the speakers. The sound of the numbers being sang in the song came out almost sped up and muddled, but also low and slighly high pitchedin frequency. The sound of that was really loud , almost to loud so I went more to the back and centered. As I was hearing the mix(excuse the pun) more left sided rather than central. I can wax lyrical about how every song and note was played to perfection. But in reality there was a sort of difference between the clarity of the albums which i had listened to over and over again. I remember at the time I thought that they were obviously a little rusty as they had not toured for so long.
In terms of track the highlights were ‘Computer World’, ‘Trans Europe Express’ and ‘Musique Non Stop’. Which was not the complete album version. Other tracks like ‘Numbers and ‘the robots’ were not the best. But it was still good to hear them in a live setting.
The band itself were quite animated. Hutter and Scnieder were like the teachers , Schnieder almost gave the impression that he did’nt want to be there and was resisting eye contact with the audience and other band members. Fritz and Abrantes were more outgoing. I have read articles about Kraftwerk at this time, especially on the youtube videos from the 1991 tour. Abrantes was animated during Pocket Calculator but it was Fritz who was the more outgoing and smiling a lot.
The finale was almost like a track you did’nt want to end. The sound itself is only what I can describe as surround sound. But I’m not sure if it was intentional as it could of been due to the venues acoustics. I always liked ‘Musique non stop’ but it was almost hypnotic. When the song finished the audience stayed for a while expecting an encore that never happened.
One last thing i remember was that I was expecting the band to have an audience that was going to be full of people in like rave gear and tracksuits, which was a common sight at raves. What struck me about the audience it was probably about 60/40 male to female ratio. Alot of couples and not really the audience I was expecting, most of the audience was in that 20-40 age range. That was an over riding thought I had at the time that the band had obviously influenced a new generation but they stayed away.
I think why the concert was so important to me. Was it was a vindication that my interest in computers and music was becoming more consuming. I was gaining a massive interest in Computers applications like Databases, Speadsheets. So I had a band that were touching on issues and showing a way forward. At that time you were aware they were touring and possibly doing new material(well you hoped) and you felt like the best was yet to come.
After leaving the concert I remember waiting at the train station and there was loads of fans of the band called It Bites(Calling all the Heroes). So there I was with short hair and wearing black and there was all these long haired almost hippe types around me. Then a group of them starting to sing It Bites songs, that train journey was the longest I have ever known.
After the concert I think I went from being a fan to knowing I would have a lifetime interest in the band. It also shown me that their vision of the future , even though it was 13 years previous was still just as relevant , if not more so. The conceptual albums were artistically stunning but it was the sonic nature of their sound that set them apart from their competition.
Been listening alot to their material. In about 2008/9 I got hold of a rare version of the ‘somersault’ cd. Which had better tracks. The video Im posting below is the album from 1997 called ‘Far from the madding crowds’. I was suprised to see the full album there as normally Chicane is quite hot on stuff being shared.
Its very strange writing this post. Forgive me for a bit of naiveity but normally when you publish something it stays online for a long time. Well it would seem it does in the UK, but not on US sites. Over the past year I have had 7 different accounts on tumblr closed, for the one reason that a photo was shared that had a copyright issue. Then Youtube decides to close an account that had been operational since 2011. In some ways me starting this site is a link to all the things that are published. I feel the youtube is a bit contradictory in that you pot a video and they send you an email informing you the song is owned by a company. But its normally OK as they link advertising to it. But not now so it would seem. In 2009 facebook deleted all group posts without warning.
So in the end you end up self publishing and using external sites.So in theory you stop using the site althogether. Tumblr is a site built on photo’s owned by other people.
In the first of many links these are the web sites that I ran up until recently, just sort of posting them as a link so they are easily reachable from this site. This is a web site that was interlinked with Tumblr. Obviously with Tumblr some of the posts have dissapeared. Sort of a review of various albums I have liked from 1984 onward. With a link to spotify and background.
Alot of the posts were posted on a FB group New Wave .
