Sun Ra - Jazz In Silhouette (USA 1958 or 59)

So I'm trying to work my way forward through Sun Ra's discography in order of release dates, which isn't easy as so many of his albums were assembled from recording from different dates and most of the discographies I have seen list by recording dates and so lots of earlier recording were not released till much later. This set was his third full album from a recording date in 58' and I have already posted about this album before(Here) as I have had it in my collection for some time. A great album and one of my Ra favourites.

John Zorn - The Hermetic Organ (USA 2012)

Uncle Roddus New CD of the Week

Zorn let loose on a church organ. The first 5 minutes offers up a throbbing industrial soundscape as John improvises his way through a 30 minute presentation on this monstrous instrument. No religious sounding music here, and not a lot of tunes either. I have had this a couple of weeks and although it is an  interesting listen, I am finding that I not all that inclined to keep coming back to it. Still an interesting addition to the John Zorn discography and worth having in my collection as it is not all together unpleasant at all.Rating 3/5

John Zorn - Film Works XXV (USA 2013)

Zorn's first release of what is looking to be another very prolific year for the man, has finally arrived in the mail box after seeming to go AWOL for several weeks after I ordered it. Was quite pleased when it arrived and even more pleased to find how pleasant a recording it is.

"City of Slaughter"  consists of the first 14 tracks and is for solo piano, as is the rest of this CD, and is superbly played by young Israeli pianist Omri Mor. More of Zorn's Jewish inflected jazz melodies prevalent here which always turn me on. Just beautiful music. Pleasant background music, which is kinda what it was designed for, backing a video installation at the new Russian Museum Of Jewish History and Tolerance,  although I could imagine some of the images this music was set to were not so pleasant. On closer inspection there are some great melodies here and some superb playing. John fills out the CD with some improvised piano pieces, played by himself for a friends documentary and fit well with the previous music, although not as melodic. The final track is a solo piano interpretation of a piece from the Goddess Album which I brought and reviewed a while back. It is a great listen and just oozes minimalism a-la Phillip Glass, who's early stuff fascinates me. So after a long wait for it to arrive, I can say that I am quite impressed with this release and can give it a rating of 4/5.

Sun Ra - Supersonic Jazz (USA 1957)

India
Sunology
Advice To Medics
Super Blonde
Soft Talk
Sunology Part II
Kingdom Of Not
Portrait Of A Living Sky
Blues At Midnight
El Is A Sound Of Joy
Supersonic Jazz
Medicene For A Nightmare

The second release from Sun Ra is the first full album released on his legendary Saturn label and is now in my collection via the Four Classic Albums set I recently purchased.  The first thing I notice is that the sound quality has dropped a bit from the first album, although it appears this one was recorded earlier in 56' than the first one. This album kicks off with something far more unconventional and Ra-like with "India", although He could have called it Egypt, but it was a taster of what was to come. Sunology is a slow jazz number followed by Ra playing a little piece on a primitive electric piano."Super Blond" and "Soft Talk" get us back into the swing of the first album but although good, somehow lack the magic of the debut album. The set kinda plods along with another slow number and some more up-tempo stuff and although reasonably enjoyable and likeable, overall this album fails to really get me excited like the previous one, still good Ra though but understandable why it didn't take the Jazz World by storm back in the day. Still worthwhile having in my Ra collection. Rating 3/5 

Mt Berard - Akaroa 24 March 2013

Uncle Roddus Tramping diary:Tramp No 135

Mt Berard - Akaroa 24 March 2013 

I was allowed out for a days tramping again this weekend. There wasn't too much happening from The CTC that interested me and I only had Sunday available. I put it out to some tramping friends to do something and a got a couple of responses of interest but no suggestions. I put forward doing Dome in Arthurs park and this was agreed and a couple of others also came on board, all were CTC members. By late Thursday, it was clear the forecast for Sunday wasn't going to play ball for a pleasant day in the hills at that particular location, and on Friday, alternative suggestions were put forward, with this trip in the hills above Akaroa being the most popular.

I duly arrived at one of the groups house at 8:00am on a warm but overcast day and 6 of us set of for Akaroa Harbour. Parking near the waterfront we set off up a public access track across old farmland, climbing until we connected with Stony Bay Rd. We then dropped into the property of Richard, who had suggested this trip. After morning tea at his holiday house, he led us up through the native bush following old stock tracks that he had re-cut and checking traps he had set. We then climbed up onto point 790 and enjoyed the great views of Akaroa harbour and other parts of Banks Peninsular. 

Going down, we followed a track below a pine plantation before dropping down a ridge and getting onto Lighthouse Road near Brasenose peak. Then it was the slog down the road back to the car.

A pleasant walk in an area we don't visit much.

There were a couple of cruise ships in the harbour.

Sun Ra - Jazz By Sun Ra(aka Sun Song) (USA 1957)

1. Brainville
2. Call For All Demons
3. Transition
4. Possession
5. Street Named Hell
6. Lullaby For Realville
7. Future
8. Swing A Little Taste
9. New Horizons
10. Fall Off The Log
11. Sun Song

Although not the earliest recordings by Sun Ra, this was Ra and his Arkestra's first full LP, recorded in 1956 and originally released on Transition TRLP J-10 in 1957(See first image above). Ra had recorded several singles and made other recordings with different groups and in different styles from the late 40s most of which would turn up on later releases. The second set of images above are from the Delmark DL-411 (1967) release. The version I have on CD if from the Real Gone Jazz boxset of 4 Sun Ra albums of which I recently acquired and mentioned in an earlier post.

Anyhow, this is the set that kicked off a very long and varied recording career with a discography second only to John Zorn in size. Robert L. Campbell's difinitive discography lists over 130 albums.

This album finds Ra in full swing mode with the Arkestra, mostly played straight but tinged with that slight eccentricity that distinguished Ra's early recordings from the rest of the scene. Its' a great album with strong tracks that really get the toe tapping and I feel is one of his better late 50s efforts that captures my attention throughout. This style of music isn't something I get into in a big way but I think it is a great introduction to Sun Ra. Rating 4.5/5.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication (USA 1999)

Uncle Roddus CD Of The Week.

I dragged this one of my CD shelf for review this week but am having a hard time finding the motivation  to listen to it what with all the John Zorn and Sun Ra CDs that have turned up this week and with that being the type of music that is moving me right now this just seems far less interesting. Immensely commercial pop/rock from the Chili Peppers with a couple of tracks that probably 2/3's of the human race is familiar with and this is considered one of their best albums. I don't mind this music but it seems really tame nowadays and less likely to get played much  with my attention elsewhere. Rating 3/5 would reflect my overall feeling for this album in the long term but probably less at this moment in time.

Sun Ra - Four Classic Albums Plus Bonus Singles (USA 2013)

Uncle Roddus New CD Of The Week

I stumbled across this CD box set on Amazon recently and I decided to purchase it due to the very cheap price for 4 CDs and also due to one reviewer mentioning how good the sound quality was. I didn't have three of the albums and at that price I wasn't bothered that I now have three versions of "Jazz in Silhouette". The sound quality is pretty good but I was slightly disappointed by the bonus disc of singles as I already had all that stuff on CD. This has inspired me to start getting my hands on some more Sun Ra CDs as he is vastly under-represented in my collection. I will be reviewing his albums in their original forms although many come doubled on CD. This set is a good buy and I will give it a rating of 3.5/5 .

Thunderhead - Thunderhead (USA 1975)

Rare MP3 Album Of The Week

Southern hard rock is the flavour of the day here and initially it sounded promising but soon degenerated into bland unremarkable generic slosh of the aforementioned genre and really doesn't keep me interested.  I mean the guys are competent enough but there is no magic here. Rating 2/5.

Greetje Bijma Kwintet - Dark Moves (Netherlands 1987)

Mutant Sounds Album Of The Week

Another random selection from Mutant Sounds and I'm gonna dispense with this one pretty early cos it don't really appeal to me much at all. This album starts of mellowish enough with a sort of cabaret jazzy feel on the first track and the singer has a powerful voice and uses it quite unconventionally The album continues with humming and yodelling and degenerate into all sorts of weird vocal sounds. Fans of Dimanda Galas may take to this. The first couple of tracks are ok and I don't mind the off beat jazz backing music but the descent into madness kinda puts me off. Rating 2/5.

Koropuku(Big Tops) Hut 16-17 March 2013

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No 134

Koropuku(Big Tops) Hut 16-17 March 2013.

This was my second attempt to get to this hut after last years attempt fell short due to fading daylight(see report Here). This year we had more daylight hours available and Alan walked in to Lake Kaurapataka on Friday night to get a good head start. I left home at 6:45am and made really good time to the Aickens car park before 8:20 due to the light traffic, I was on the trail by 8:30.

It was a pleasantly warm and fine morning as I crossed a very low Otira river, due to there being no rain on the West Coast for nearly 8 weeks, I didn't even get my feet wet. Made the lake in just over 2 hours and stopped for refuelling but it was a very short stop as the sandflies swarmed and had me for their lunch. Next I stopped at the Otehake and after crossing the river and finally getting wet feet, even though that river was very low also, I had the rest of my morning tea without being quite so bothered by the sandflies. Now that I was familiar with the track up to the Koropuku tops I saved a bit of the time we wasted on out last attempted going the wrong way and made the bushline in just under 2 hours, where I stopped to refuel and dry out after sweating my way up this steep track. The track was still in good nick and the forest is just stunning. Still no sign of Alan, I set off again and made good time along the tops again due to now being more familiar with the route I needed to take. The track and markers are a bit vague in this section for those on their first attempt at this route. Somewhere around 2:30pm I reached the Tarn where we drop off into the Koropuku and where we camped last year. It was here I found Alan's pack, but no sign of Alan. I settled down to wait and refuel as I figured he might be on a womble on the ridge. After about 30 minutes of waiting the breeze was getting quite cool, so I decided to carry on down to the hut and left Alan a sign I had been there(although I didn't need to as he had seen me from the ridge).  The route down was quite interesting but with the route description I had from the Remote Huts Web Site I managed to find the right route without any difficulties, although it was physically quite challenging. I found the track that entered the forest lower down and enjoyed the fabulous trees and moss while following the vague but well marked track to the hut, which I duly arrived at at about 4:15PM. 7 and 3/4 hours from the road.
Koropuku  hut is a very cool hut in a beautiful location and is well worth the effort to get there. The hut has been a bit legendary within the Christchurch Tramping Club, with the club running regular trips there through the 90s and early 2000s with some interesting items being lest at the hut, like a telephone, two greens bowls balls, a light and switch screwed to the wall, a guitar and at some time in the past there was apparently a vacuum cleaner there.
Alan duly arrived about 1 hour after me and we settled in for the night enjoying the cosy little hut, having dinner and reminiscing about past trips and possible future ones before sleep took us not long after dark.
The weather forecast was for rain overnight Saturday and continuing into Sunday with possible heavy falls. We were hoping that this forecast might hold off for another day as sometimes happens and things were looking good when I got up for a call of nature in the early hours of the morning, but just on dawn the sound of rain hitting the hut skylights put a damper on our hopes of getting out dry. Alan left sometime just before 8:00am to get a head start up the hill and I left the hut about 8:30 in full wet weather regalia and a steady drizzle. Once I started the climb back up the tops I soon started to overheat in all that gear and as the rain was quite light I put the parker and over trousers away and got just as wet from sweating than from the rain. The climb back up the creek bed wasn't as bad as it looked going down and it didn't take long to get back onto the tops, I would have been a lot more challenging if there was actually any water flowing down it. Alan was making good time and although I saw him briefly as he was nearing the tops, I didn't catch him till we were nearly back at the bushline. The visibility on the tops was quite limited with the low cloud and heavier drizzle and I was quite wet by now and having trouble seeing due to the amount of rain on my glasses which made it quite frustrating when I was trying to find where the track started to drop back down through the scrub, there weren't all that many markers. I soon found what I was looking for and very soon after caught up with Alan. Back in the forest heading back down to the Otehake the rain penetrating the forest canopy was intensifying and so I put on a dry top and raincoat again. By the time we stopped for lunch at the Otehake the rain was quite steady. After Lake Kaurapataka I left Alan and  stepped up a gear for the rest of the trip back to the car. By this time this area was getting a much needed drink of water and I was getting quite wet again. Thankfully got to the car and dry clothes at 3:45PM, taking 7 and 1/4 hours.

In the Taramakau Valley

The forest near Pfeifer Stream

The lake looking much lower than last year.

The gnarly forest 

The lake from the bushline.

The tops.

The forest near the hut.

First view of the hut.

Guitar, phone, light switch.

Looking up Koropuku valley

The stream near the hut

Uncle Roddus at the hut.

The track very near the hut.