Crazy Penis - Wicked Is Music (UK 2002)

An Uncle Roddus album Review

1. There's A Better Place! (7:20)
2. You Started Something (7:29)
3. Soulmutation (7:55)
4. Keep On (7:10)
5. Give It Up (7:14)
6. You Are We (6:49)
7. Change (5:37)
8. Beautiful People (6:34)
9. Bad Dismount (6:43)
10.Mind Wind Open (6:20)

I was defiantly curious about this when I came across it in one of the chain record stores several years ago, why? Well the name of course. I didn't buy it at the time but I knew it when I came across it in Blog-land a while back and so got the opportunity to check it out. House music I think is what this is classified as, slower tempo electronic based dance music, kinda funky with soul influenced vocals quite commercial sounding but not outstanding. "There's A Better Place" is my favourite track and "You Started Something" is a pleasant radio friendly number with a nice vocal. The rest of the album cruises along nicely with a nice late night laid back feel, good back ground music, with "Keep On' reminding me a bit of Sade. Gets a bit tedious over its 70 odd minutes with the music blurring into itself and failing to really hold my attention and even after being on the Ipod  for a week, no tracks really stand out as being familiar, for lack of impinging themselves on my subconscious, except the first track. Worth keeping though as a nice piece of mood music and gets a rating of 2.5/5

Mt Oxford loop - 6th November 2011

Uncle Roddus Tramping Diary: Tramp No. 108

Mt Oxford loop 6th November 2011

My Annual Mt Oxford Loop trip to kick start my tramping season for the third year in a row. A very pleasent day with little wind and mostly clear skys after snow earlier in the week.

 

 

Rail Band - Belle Epoque Vol.1 Soundiata (Mali 1975)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

A much admired and successful band from Mali, this double CD release of their brand of traditional Malian music fused with elements of western soul and jazz is not one that I really enjoyed. Some of the tracks went on far to long and the whole sound is far more traditional than I prefer. A slow tempo music with plenty of  monologue over the music. Rating 1.5/5

VA - Fabric 35 - Ewan Pearson (UK 2007)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

1. Ali McBills - Jahcoozi

2. Nimrod - Marcashken

3. Push In the Bush - Gui.Tar

4. Honeymoon's Over - Snax

5. Tranquillite - Jens Zimmerman

6. Bellhead - Liquid Liquid

7. Treat 'Em Mean, Keep 'Em Keen - Lee Burridge

8. Trustlove - 100 HZ

9. Paspd Ft. Big Bully - Samim

10. Looking For God - Laven

11. Plastik - Simon Baker

12. Can You Relate - Samuel L Sessions

13. All For One - Johannes Heil

14. Panopeeps - Kaos

15. Medley: 'Tides'-C's Movement No.1/Berghain - Beanfield

An Electronica remix album from the long running Fabric series,and as you can see we have volume 35 here, without having heard too many of the other volumes yet, I am not sure how this one compares but I am quite enjoying this mix although it is quite hard to stay with it for 80 minutes. I think I prefer this music when I am doing something or as background sounds while reading, gets a bit repetitive in places. Not a form of music I listen to a lot but good enough to give a go. Rating 3/5.

Apples In Stereo - Science Fair (USA 1996)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

1) Tidal Wave; 2) Motorcar; 3) Turncoat Indian; 4) Haley; 5) Not The Same; 6) Stop Along The Way; 7) Running In Circles; 8) Hypnotic Suggestion; 9) Touch The Water; 10) Glowworm; 11) To Love The Vibration Of The Bulb; 12) Time For Bed/I Know You'll Do Well; 13) Rocket Pad

60s inspired 90s indie pop is the order of the day on this compilation of early recordings from The Apples.... Jangly guitars, some ok melodies and a few slightly interesting tracks which are keeping me indecisive as to weather I will keep this or not. Could be worth some closer investigations, which means it is not too bad, but doesn't really grab you straight away. I will rate it 2.5/5.

Sticken-In - Chinese (Germany 1985)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Back in the world of Mutant Sounds again with this German release from 85' and this album is firmly rooted in the indie post-punk  of the period. This could have easily be a record by any number of English, Can influenced, alternative types of the time. Think shades of PIL, Mekons, Pop Group et al. The question is, is it any good, and the answer is definitely yes. This set stands tall with the rest of the esteemed company mentioned above and stays interesting throughout. An album that appears to be one that will grow in stature as one becomes more familiar with its intricacies and digs deeper into its subtleties. Rating 3.5/5  

Buddy Scott - Bad Avenue (USA 1993)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Here we are with another of those "Gitanes" releases. As we know by now, this is well polished and well played contemporary Blues and the highlight of this release is the slow blues of "Bad Bad Feeling" which I first heard on the Gitanes comp I mentioned in an earlier post. Overall a pretty average album, Buddy has a good blues voice and some nice licks, but the song selection isn't the strongest and I will rate this with 3/5
Oh, and this album is brought to you by the letter B.

Destroy All Monsters - Swamp Gas (USA 2001)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Another obscure item from the aptly named Mutant Sounds Blog, This strange release consists of some weird sound-scapes used as background for extended spoken monologues and other tracks of strangeness without singing or monologues at all. Some humorous and some interesting but mostly doesn't really hold my interest and although there are also some interesting sounds therein I find my self loosing patience with this. But don't take my lack of interest as a bad sign, as this is a quality and worthwhile release of this sort of thing and the industrial/minimal synth and overall tripped-outness of this release will bring enjoyment to others.  Rating 2.5/5

Demon Fuzz - Afreaka! (UK1970)

An Uncle Roddus Album review

This release has really caught my attention over the last week. A seven peace, all black, progressive  rock band from England, releasing this, their only album in 1970 and this CD reissue also included 3 bonus tracks from a maxi- single they also released, which appears to be their complete recorded output. Although I have read about the supposed Latin and African influences on this album, this, to my ears sounds pretty much like Prog, and very good prog it is too. Long, extended, mostly instrumental numbers with plenty going on, like tempo changes and stylistic changes within a track and some nice jazzy breaks as well. An accomplished set with track one, "Past, Present and Future" being the stand out track for me. A highly recommended album and I give it a Roddus rating of 4/5.

Chewck this out over at Rare MP3 

Well we Survived the end of the world again but we almost didn't survive the Rugby World Cup Final, which would have really been the end of the world, but thankfully the All Blacks downed the French 8-7. So all in all a successful weekend.

The End Of The World! Again.

Due to the impending end of the World, Again, this Friday, this blog will take a short recess. See Ya Monday, After we win the Rugby World cup.

VA - Absolute Funk Vol 1 (2005)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

What with all the Afro funk I enjoy so much, it stands to reason that I would also groove to the original funky sounds that came out of the USA from the late 60s. I have quite a large collection of these funk compilations, many yet to be explored. This first volume from the recent Absolute Funk series is chock full of excellent funk and is a very enjoyable listen. A well selected compilation and looking forward to checking out the rest of the series.3.5/5

Axolotl - Abrasive (France 1981)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Travelling across to the other side of the musical universe with this release of some avant-garde free jazz from France. Free form random sounding horn blowing with some other random sound effects thrown in for good measure. No song structure, no melodies, boring and pretentious. I don't mind this sort of music incorporated into other music or the occasional track blended into normal sounding music on an album, i.e John Zorn or even Frank Zappa play this stuff but a whole album of this just leaves me cold and board and wondering why?

Rating 1/5.

Jake Holmes - The Above Ground Sound Of Jake Holmes (USA 1967)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

What a surprise this one has turned out to be. The surprise being that this guy is the original composer of the mighty "Dazed and Confused" from Led Zeppelins first album. The depth if their thieving appears to be bottomless. A sort of Psych/Folk  album with some pretty cool sounding psych guitar infused into these powerful folksy songs .A Fairly lo-fi recording but that doesn't take away from the quality of these tracks. Jake sings with plenty of emotion, these strong lyrics and although this is not very commercial music it is powerful. This guy is up there with the likes of Nick Drake and Tim Buckley in the Singer/Songwriter stakes and I highly recommend this set. An interesting surprise and worth a Roddus Rating of 4.5/5.

Stack - Above All (USA 1969)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

More obscure psych rock from the US with this ultra rare sole LP from Stack, an above average Psych/acid rock outfit from Los Angeles. Re issued on CD in 1999, it is still available online and definitely worth checking out if you are into this sort of thing. Kicks off with a good version of the classic "Poison Ivy", "Da Blues" is a cool slab of acid blues that could only come from the late 60's and the highlight of this set is the awesome "Everyday", which is so good that I put it on one of my Roddus samplers some time back, a Classic of  underground late 60s rock. Blue Cher is another reference point for the music on this release and overall it is a fine release of it's genre. Rating 3.5/5

Head,Hands & Feet - Head, Hands & Feet (UK 1971)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

01. I'm In Need Of Your Help (1:51)

02. Send Me A Wire (3:54)

03. Look At The World, It's Changin'/You Beacuse You Know Me (8:42)

04. Green Liquor (5:45)

05. Country Boy (5:32)

06. Tryin' To Put Me On (3:21)

07. I Wish You Knew Me (4:26)

08. Devil's Elbow (5:02)

09. Pete Might Spook The Horses (5:18)

10. Everybody's Hustlin'/Hang Me, Dang Me (8:09)

11. Delaware (4:55)

12. The More You Get, The More You Want (6:54)

13. Song For Suzie (7:12)

14. Tirabad (3:30)

15. Little Bit Lonely (2:22)

Another excellent find on the Roddus hard drive today, this wonderful debut album by this short lived but much regarded country rock group from the UK. This is another great rarity from the awesome Rare MP3 Blog. Had this on repeat for the later part of the day and for a double album by such an obscure act, it sure holds up well throughout and has also aged very well. Alt country or Americana was alive and well in England  with this bunch way back then, with some nice jazzy bits and plenty of great pop/rock and a bit of prog thrown in for good measure. Plenty of great guitar licks and the impressive and beautiful guitar break in Song for Suzie foreshadows Dire Straits. A quick review as the rugby is on, rating 4/5.

VA - The Keine Experimente (Germany 1983)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

It's great having so much unexplored music on my hard drive. A big change of pace with this German punk compilation and it is amazing what a difference 12 years made to the German rock scene. This is one of the best Punk Compilations I have heard in a very long time. Full on hardcore punk of the second wave of the style and if it weren't for the singing in German, I'd swear this was a London comp. Really enjoying this lot and glad that this type of music still impresses me. Rating 4.5/5.

Haze - Hazecolor Dia (Germany 1971)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Very good German Progressive rock with some wonderful guitar melodies happening throughout these extended musical musings. The singing is the albums weakness with the singer hitting some cringe inducing notes. Apart from that I am enjoying this a lot, with the music staying consistently good throughout. Rating 3.5/5.

Haystacks Balboa - Haystacks Balboa (USA 1970)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Early 70's heavy psych rock is the order of the day for this obscure release and a damned fine example of the genre it is too, definitely one of the better ones I have heard so far. Plenty of cool here, rocks out with great fuzz guitar playing and totally cool rockin' songs. That describes the first three tracks . "Auburn Queen" starts with a quantum shift to something a lot slower and a lot lamer for the first 3 minutes before turning into Deep Purple and blasting off to the stratosphere for the middle section and then going a bit weird for the last part.

"Sticky Finger" gets us back on track with some straight out psych before we get to the second epic of the set  "Ode To The Silken Men", another organ driven progressive number and perhaps the weakest track here. The last track is an acoustic pop number and finishes the album on a much tamer note than the way it started. Good on them for not just sticking to the formula but mixing it up a bit, but they don't quite pull it off  and the album looses momentum on the second half. Rating 3.5/5

Asakawa Maki -Maki II ( Japan 1971)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

1. shounen (3:29)
2. nemurunoga kowai (3:40)
3. gin house blues (4:16)
4. hanaichimonme (5:05)
5. govinda (4:02)
6. shounen(part 2) (3:22)
7. mekurabana (3:32)
8. yuki no umi (3:24)
9. minato no higanbana (2:53)
10. watashi ga shoufu ni nattanara (3:45)
11. godown moses (2:26)
12. asahi no ataru ie (6:08)

Sticking with the Japanese scene for this release and this set fits very well with the last review I did, except this one is a far superior album than the previous one, to my ears. Maki has a lovely voice, smooth and clear and easier on my ears than Kiyoko Itoh. A real interesting mix of styles with a strong jazz flavour and blues on some tracks, alt pop on others and even a fairly heavy psych number to make it really interesting. A couple of surprises with the last two tracks, with track 11 we are presented with a very good version of "Go Down Moses", a Spiritual I know quite well and even more surprising is a live Japanese folk type version of "The House Of The Rising Sun", which is brilliant. " Govinda" is very Indian sounding with Sitar and Maki sounds very authentic with her singing. "Shonunen" sounds like something out of the soundtrack to a Western movie, with that melancholic harmoniker in parts before straying into more Blood, Sweat and Tears territory. The Western theme belongs even more strongly to "Yuki No Umi" and to make sure they didn't miss out incorporating every style of modern western music into this album, track ten has a real jazzy funk vibe to it. A wonderful musical journey and worthy of a Roddus rating of 4/5.