Oneness Of JuJu - African Rhythms (USA 1975)

Roddus Album of The Day

01.African Rhythms (7:18)
02.Kazi (4:20)
03.Funky Wood (1:13)
04.Tarishi (3:56)
05.Mashariki (3:25)
06.Chants (1:14)
07.Don't Give Up (5:43)
08.Incognito (8:14)
09.Poo Too (3:43)
10.Liberation Dues (4:36)
11.Liberation Dues (Instrumental) (9:07)
12.African Rhythms (45 Version) (3:30)

The awesome title track is what drew my attention to this band and I included it on my Afrofunk Roddus Sampler a while back. American based funky jazz outfit with strong African influence this album doesn't fail to live up to it's promise of  Afrocentric funky jazz music that keeps me interested throughout. Not all upbeat dance music, we get variety with some slower more jazz inflected numbers and although not pure Afrofunk like from the dark Continent itself, still a worthy effort. A Roddus Rating of 4/5.

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Sex Pistols - Nevermind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols (UK 1977)

Roddus Album Of The Day

   

This Review has been prompted by watching a video of "Pretty Vacant" on YouTube this morning. Unbelievably, I don't even own an actual copy of this classic at present, mainly because I have all the songs on the "Kiss This" CD. Are the Pistols and their raw, snotty firebrand version of basic Rock N' Roll still relevant after 33 years for this 40 something male Caucasian. The answer is a huge resounding YES. The emotions triggered by this music this morning are a combination of pure nostalgia and bliss from the raw energy of this music. I haven't heard this stuff for some time and yet still I find this so uplifting and energising, just as it has been in the past when I have been down, even though the lyrical subjects are fairly cynical. It's the awesome monster riffs of Steve,  the punky attitude of Johnny, the excellent song writing of Glen, all held together by Paul's relentless drumming. I properly can't say much about this album that hasn't already been said over the years but I have a lump in my throat and a tear of joy in my eye as my ears are assaulted by this wall of blissful noise that changed the face of  popular music forever. The image of Johnny Rotten in the "Pretty Vacant" video with his snotty, cool, nonchalant pose, dark glasses and the best  fucken T-shirt ever worn by a rock musician, speaks volumes of the attitude of these guys and their music. Compulsory listening for any body interested in "Rock" music and  do hope that the younger generation are discovering this legendary band. The Roddusometer is totally off the scale for this one 5+/5.

Ray LaMontagne - Gossip In The Grain (USA 2008)

Roddus Album Of The Day

Ray kicks off this LP with a groovy Soulful R n'B number which gets the foot tapping along before phasing into the next track which is a string and piano driven Van Morrisonesque ballad, setting the pace for the diversity of this album and showcasing the vast music vocabulary of this contemporary American Singer/songwriter. A few more mellow tracks carry us along with Rays husky/whispered style singing before the interesting dittie about Meg White of the White Stripes. "Hey Hey Mama" delves into bluegrass territory finishing with a great touch of Dixie, "Nearly killed Me" is a nice blues and"A Falling Through" has a strong country feel to it.A well recorded and produced album and enjoyable  throughout..My rating 3.5/5.

City Boy - Young Men Gone West (UK 1977)

Roddus Album Of  The Day

01. Bordello Nights (3:06)
02. Dear Jean (I'm Nervous) (5:34)
03. Honeymooners (3:56)
04. She's Got Style (3:20)
05. Bad For Business (3:33)
06. Young Men Gone West (4:05)
07. I've Been Spun (3:24)
08. One After Two (3:29)
09. The Turnaround (3:18)
10. The Man Who Ate His Car (3:00)
11. Millionaire (4:28)

Time for another post from the indomitable Rare MP3 blog with this late 70s glam/pomp rock outing from this slightly successful UK outfit. An ok album with some catchy melody's and good guitar parts. Not exactly flavor of the month in the UK music scene of 77' with this AOR styled album but a worthy effort all the same. Overall  not very inspiring and I feel is worth a Roddus Rating of 2.5/5.

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The Standard - Wire Posts To Wire (USA 2004)

Roddus Album Of The Day

01 - Metropolitan (5:56)
02 - Even Numbers (7:11)
03 - Ghosts for Hire (4:22)
04 - Runway Week (3:50)
05 - Folk Song (6:30)
06 - Unicorns and Chemicals (4:49)
07 - Monks in New Jersey (5:22)
08 - A Black Machine (5:53)
09 - Jumprope In Hell (7:06)

Have had this one on the ipod for about three days now and still haven't really absorbed it. An atmospheric, slow burner of an indie album occasionally reminiscent of Interpol and somewhere referred to as the American Radiohead, which I think is unwarranted. A not unpleasant album, but not something that set the world on fire and is pretty obscure for that reason."Metropolitan" is the strongest track but nothing on here comes near their raw indie classic "Static" which I included on one of my samplers a while back. My rating 2.5/5

Jensen Interceptor - Jensen Interceptor (Canada 1980)

Roddus Album Of The Day

01. Megatune (Prelude) (1:15)
02. Tiny Thing (3:48)
03. Freedom Fighting (3:09)
04. Heavenly Angels (3:49)
05. Do You Want Your Love To Be (3:11)
06. Crazy Monkey (3:24)
07. Fine Man (4:07)
08. Blue Boy (3:28)
09. Cats In The Window (3:03)
10. Megatune - Theme For Bonnie Lee (7:06)

Another quality rarity from the volts of Rare MP3 Music Blog. This Debut album from this obscure  Canadian pop group starts off strongly with the lovely " Megatune" piano prelude and continues to provide us with a whole album of quality pop songs. Plenty of strings, piano, keyboards, some cool guitar breaks and nice female vocals flesh out this record and reminds me of a later and slightly less jazzy version of their fellow Canadians, The Hometown Band. Highlight of this set is the extended jazz/prog of "Theme for Bonnie Lee". My rating 3.5/5.

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Stone The Crows - Teenage Licks (Scotland 1971)

Roddus Album Of The Day

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This particular album, although well produced and well played, failed to really keep me interested for too long. I do like early 70s soulful blues styled rock such as played on this LP but the songs here are only average. Maggie Bell, the singer, has en excellent voice and reminds me of a female Rod Stewart. Actually, early Rod fans will probably enjoy this more than I do.Although  I don't dislike this album, it is not one I will listen to again too much, but still a keeper. rating 2.5/5

Inception 31-7-10

 Another movie that seemed to appear out of nowhere, probably because I don't have my finger on the pulse of such things. Several friends had seen it and were raving about it on facebook and after seeing the ads on TV I figured I would have to check it out.

 Right from the go this fast paced flick challenges you to stay  focused and watch carefully if you want to keep up with whats happening and what is reality within the movie and what is a dream.The Psychological concepts of dreams within dreams within dreams and ideas and beliefs being extracted or inserted into someones subconscious is novel, interesting and challenging to keep track of. I found it quite fascinating. The story itself was ok and as usual you had to suspend your belief in several scenes even within a film based on an unlikely concept. Of course the visual effects were pretty spectacular if somewhat over the top in their depiction of dreams.My biggest gripe of this movie in the pretty young student heroine, who is the architect of the dreams, who looks about 14, but has the wisdom and experience of someone about 40. Otherwise I really enjoyed Inception and defiantly recommend  it for 21/2 hours of great escapism. Rating 3.5/5.

Monster Magnet - Greatest Hits (USA 2003)

Roddus Album Of The Day

Heavy 90s Alternative rock makes up this grungy, metal influenced very hard rock compilation from this great sounding outfit. High quality production, great songs and bludgeoning guitar make for some excellent ear shattering experiences.There was plenty of this type of stuff going down back then and these guys are up there near the top of that hard rocking scene. Great stuff and deserving of a 3.5/5 rating.

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The Monks - Black Monk Time (USA/Germany 1966)

Roddus album Of The Day

My first introduction to the legendary Monks was via one of my many 60s garage compilations and their song "Complication", next to The Litter's "Action Woman" absolutely the greatest mother of a Garage/Punk song ever produced. The distorted guitar shredding intro alone is enough to give my ears an orgasm.

 It wasn't until fairly recently that I discovered their totally brilliant and fantastic debut(and only studio)album"Black Monk Time"after I read about it in "1001 Records You Must Hear Before You Die".The brilliance of this album just doesn't let up, not a weak song here and there is just nothing at all like this anywhere. Each track follows a variation of the unusual rhythmic style The Monks employ to give the album a cohesiveness of style and they also manage to keep it thrilling throughout. Catapulted almost to the very top of my all time favorite albums, the greatest 60s LP next to The Mothers Of Invention's "Freak Out", this stunner is required listening for any 60s music fan.Don't miss it.Rating 5+/5.

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Jimmy Smith - Midnight Special (USA 1960)

Roddus Album Of The Day

A nice Jazz album from organist Jimmy Smith. A mix of quality slow and mid tempo numbers fueled by Smiths laid back organ and fleshed out by the top saxophone playing of Stanley Turrentine and some cool guitar from Kenny Burrell. This top quartet for this session is completed by drummer Donald Bailey and they all play sweetly on this 1960 session. I had to re check the date for this as the sounds here anticipate jazz/funk and acid jazz by several years. Fairly straight jazz, with nothing too out there to scare your mother and well worth my rating of 4/5.

Pentagram - The First Daze Here 1972-76 (USA)

Roddus Album Of The Day

Compilation of early material from this hard rocking Sabbath influenced American underground metal band. Mostly unreleased tracks from the first period of this long lived but under recorded outfit. Fairly lo-fi stuff recorded live with some demos and with the first single included, the songs stand up well and the guitar playing is excellent. It is surprising they didn't generate more success. Stand out for me is ":Starlady" with a stunning piece of guitar work that give me goose bumps.Overall rating 3.5/5

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John Lennon - Rock N Roll (1975)

Roddus Album Of The Day

Sticking with the big guys for this next one which I have decided to do tonight because it ain't worth putting on the ipod for tomorrows listening. Unlike Bowie's awesome "Pinups" album' Lennon fails to do anything of much interest with these covers of  early rock n roll tracks that had influenced him over the years.Apart from the standout "Stand By Me" the rest of this album should only be of interest to Lennon Fanatics and completists.and I'm gonna give it a rating of 2/5.

Epsilon Blue - We Have A Responsibility To Our Shareholders (New Zealand 2002)

Roddus Album Of The Day

1. Epsilon-blue (ft. Barnaby Weir) - we b movin (5:23)
2. Epsilon-blue - what to honour if not the planet we live on (9:21)
3. Epsilon-blue - loose in a landscape of meaning (9:02)
4. Epsilon-blue (ft. Tama Waipara) - may u b free (9:04)
5. Epsilon-blue - U R Here/Two Of Everything (9:35)
6. Epsilon-blue - being (pearl mix) (8:41)
7. Epsilon-blue - let the island recompose itself as music (6:45)
8. Epsilon-blue (ft. Josephine) - u r a star (5:23)
9. Epsilon-blue - transcendental object at the end of time (2:04)

Another strong musical statement from the New Zealand Electronica scene via this second effort from Epislon-Blue. Some cool beats and great booming effects like on the opener "We Be Movin" as well some great pop vocals from the guest vocalists giving those tracks a credible radio appeal. I have enjoyed this album overall although with the length of some of the instrumentals tracks it sometimes wavers. Another great summer driving album or chilling out with friends on the lawn with my rating of 3/5

Exuma - Exuma II (USA 1970)

Roddus Album Of The Day

1. Damn Fool (4:17)
2. Baal (6:37)
3. Paul Simon Nontooth (5:32)
4. Fire In The Hole (7:02)
5. A Place Called Earth (6:32)
6. We Got To Go (2:59)
7. African Rhythm (4:48)
8. Zandoo (4:50)

 In all the annals of contemporary music, there ain't nothing like this. A totally unique sound from this second album of tribal/African/voodoo/experimental sounding music blended with a touch of folk and weird soul into this exceptional platter. Difficult to describe whats going on here but it's good, very good. tongue in cheek stuff here as well the voodoo stuff  and his singing(think Blind Willie Johnson on acid), is so much a part of what sets this apart. One of  the best albums you have probably never heard, so change that now and see if you agree with my 4.5/5 rating.

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Help yourself - Help Yourself/Beware Of The Shadow (UK 1971/1972)

Roddus Album Of The Day

Help Yourself
DAVE CHARLES drms, vcls
MALCOLM MORLEY gtr, vcls
RICHARD TREECE gtr, vcls
KEN WHALEY bs

1.I Must See Jesus For Myself
2.To Katherine They Fell
3.Your Eyes Are Looking Down
4.Old Man
5.Look At The View
6.Paper Leaves
7.Running Down Deep
8.Deborah
9.Street Songs

Beware The Shadow
DAVE CHARLES drms, vcls
MALCOLM MORLEY gtr, vcls
RICHARD TREECE gtr, vcls
KEN WHALEY bs
PAUL BURTON bs, gtr

10.Alabama Lady
11.Reaffirmation
12.Calapso
13.She's My Girl
14.Molly Bake Bean
15.American Mother
16.Passing Through

Had this two on one reissue on the ipod for several days now as I just haven't been able to find the time to write my review, at this rate I'll never get through my music collection before I grow too old to complete.

Good quality English blues and folk influenced  pop/rock that should appeal to folks who dig FREE. I actually choose to review this one because the standout track "Reaffirmation" off the second album really caught my attention late last week. Well crafted couple of LPs which have grown on me over the last three days of listening and deserving of the 3.5/5 rating I gonna give.

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Alex Cline Ensemble - The Constant Flame (USA 1999)

RoddusAlbum Of The day

 1. Paramita (To The Memory Of Don Cherry) (6:34)
2. Evening Bell (To The Memory Of Toru Takemitsu) (12:37)
3. The Constant Flame (To The Memory Of John Carter) (12:03)
4. A Wreath Of Rain (To The Memory Of Krzysztof Kieslowski) (12:09)
5. Bridge (For David Sylvian) (13:13)
6. Summoning Spirits (For Will Salmon) (2:43)
7. Six Poems By Akiki Yosano (To Her Memory) (9:05)
8. Benediction (For Aina) (4:03)

This album by Jazz drummer Alex Cline is an appropriate follow up to yesterdays Sun Ra disc.This interesting disc is an amalgamation of  European style Jazz and avant-garde soundscapes, mixed in with some exotic Asian sounds and other world music touches, and borders on classical and new age in places. I found the soundscapes and the style of this music interesting and enjoyable, although it wears a bit thin after several listens on the ipod  while working. listening again on the Cyrus with headphones is a far better way to appreciate the different qualities of this album and the clarity of its production. Some of its reminds me of Varese and Zappa, which is properly why it appeals to me. I'll rate it 3.5.5.

Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra - Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy/Art Forms Of Dimensions Tomorrow (USA 1961/1963)

Roddus Album of the Day

01.And Otherness
02.Thither and Yon
03.Adventure-Equation
04.Moon Dance
05.Voice of Space
06.Cluster of Galaxies
07.Ankh
08.Solar Drums
09.Outer Heavens, The
10.Infinity of the Universe
11.Lights on a Satellite
12.Kosmos in Blue.

COSMIC TONES FOR MENTAL THERAPY: Sun Ra (Clavioline, drums, organ), Danny Davis (alto saxophone, flute), Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, oboe, drums), John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, drums), Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone, flute),James Jackson (flute, log drums), Robert Cummings (bass clarinet), Ronnie Boykins (bass), Clifford Jarvis (drums, percussion), Thomas Hunter (percussion).

ART FORMS OF DIMENSIONS TOMORROW: Sun Ra (piano, keyboards, drums, percussion), Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, bells, sticks, drums), John Gilmore (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, drums), Pat Patrick (baritone saxophone), Clifford Thornton, Manny Smith (trumpets), Ali Hassan (trombone), Ronnie Boykins, John Ore (bass), Clifford Jarvis, C. Scoby Stroman, Thomas Hunter (drums).

Its always  a nervous time when listening to a Sun Ra recording for the first time, his many many recordings cover the gambit from totally brilliant to unmitigated rubbish. These two original LPs from the early 60s, re released on one Cd, as were many of his records, fall some where towards the better end of that spectrum.

Mostly Avant-garde in nature with little melody or traditional structure, this experimental mixture could have easily ended up at the rubbish end of the Sun Ra musical Spectrum, but Ra manages to pull it off on these records as he often could and I find myself taken in by their exotic charms and strange sounds. some of the tracks are quite long and it can be a challenge to stay with them right through. The recording quality is quite good, another area where Ra can be inconsistent and overall I rate this 3.5/5.

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Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup (UK1996)

Roddus Album Of The Day

Krautrock! alive and well in London circa. 1996. Well not exactly Rock so to speak, more a combination of Suicide, Kraftwork, Faust and Neu! with the almost deadpan female vocals sung sometimes in what sounds like French and some German. Some of this album wouldn't have sounded out of place in the post punk of 1980s UK and it is quite catchy in places. "Percolator" is the first real catchy number and I dig the uptempo base lines."Olv 26" with the heavy synthesiser is right there in Suicide(the Band) territory and "The Noise Of Carpet" is just brilliant post pop."Motoroller Scalatron" is where Faust really comes into the picture. A mainly enjoyable album which survived the whole day on the ipod but as is the case with many releases in the CD age, goes on a bit too long and some of the tracks drone a bit. My rating 3/5

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Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (UK 1968)

Roddus Album Of The Day

  

I dig Van, I love his voice, I appreciate the quality of his muse and the clarity of his recordings, the power of his voice is phenomenal and he is a gifted composer. This album has been raved about by critics and musicians for over 40 years and I can appreciate the artistic and esoteric quality of these folky/jazzy meanderings and of course Van's singing is excellent, but I find myself  somewhat unmoved by the lack of cohesive melodies here and the songs seem to meander on forever , there is nothing here that you would hear on the radio, "The Way That Young lovers do" comes close but the chaotic base lines don't allow for smooth flow to the song, which applies to pretty much the rest of the album. Defiantly a unique artistic statement and if you could take out the freeform structure underlying these songs and make them a bit more conventional, this album could be far more. My rating 3/5