Curiosity Corner #1

Alan Parsons Project - I Wouldn't Want To Be like You

Speaking of incoherent concepts, ladies and gentlemen, please be upstanding for... the very first Curiosity Corner at CMFCP!

Simply put, this is where we will celebrate a fine moment or two of music history... the odder the better.

Who better to start with than the king of prog himself, Alan Parsons. People love to hate on prog rock, but the Alan Parsons Project wrote some of the finest music ever recorded, so please don't dismiss them as mere prog rockers... if you did, I Wouldn't Want To Be like You

From the 1977 album I, Robot, it's a spectacular proto-disco rock jam that feels utterly timeless.

Charity Shop Gem of the Week 10 - The Neutrons - Black Hole Star

Not to be confused with Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun, I stumbled across The Neutron's Black Hole Star on a recent flea-market rummage, and mainly bought it because tyhe cover is all silvery and spacey. Current obsession with space-pop and synthy-psychedlia meant I was compelled.
What actually comes out of the speakers when needle hits groove is quite unexpected. Where I expected to hear Moogs and Mellotrons I basically get traditional Prog Rock arrangements. Which is fine, and some of the songs are really good. But I was a bit disappointed.
It is, nevertheless, a gem... the album works as an opus, each song leading into the next in a really pleasant way, and there are some lovely changes of pace. It's not John Keating, but it is rather good. Plus it's got a song called Dance of the Psychedelic Lounge Lizards. Which can't not be a good thing.
Best track: Mermaid and Chips

Pick up a copy yourself here

Chicago - I'm a Man (7" version 1969)

The eagle-eyed may notice that Week 3 and 4 have been announced on the same day. Your CMFCP correspondents were sunning themselves in Turkey last week so you'll excuse our poor time-keeping...

Continuing with the Chicago theme, middle of the road Dad-rockers Chicago step up for Week 4's instalment of Charity Shop Gem of the Week. Except on this record, found in a charity shop bin for 99p, they're about as far from middle of the road as can be!
1969 single I'm a Man, a cover of the Spencer Davis Group hit, is a brutal, almost tribal freakout that has been a mainstay of my DJ sets for 10 years. I just had to share it with you as it has possibly the greatest drum solo of all time. Where the later studio recording is clean, polished and by comparison unremarkable, this is an assault on the ears from a band going full throttle!
The first drum solo lasts about 90 seconds and starts about a minute into the song... it's a fucking bold move but the intensity and raw energy is astonishing. I haven't found this version anywhere on the web so I may upload it to youtube myself, but in the meantime, here's a similar live recording from about the same era. You get the gist, but trust me the 7" version is bonkers!

August Podcast!

August 2015 Podcast now up!
We're delighted to bring you our very first podcast! We dig into some very odd records and talk bollocks. What more could you want.
It'll be up on iTunes shortly, but for now you can hear it Mixcloud...

Tracklist

• Idris Muhammad - Soulful Drums
• La Batteria - Scenario
• Tullio de Piscopo - Drum Fantasy
• Dr Strangely Strange - Strangely Strange yet Oddly Normal
• Belle Epoque - Taste of Destruction
• The Night Terrors - Pavor Nocturnis
• Awolnation - Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf)
• Propagandhi - Haile Selasse Up Your Ass
• Powerglove - Blood Dragon Theme
• David Hasslehoff - True Survivor

Curious Music for Curious People - August 2015 Podcast by Curious Music 4 Curious People on Mixcloud

Self Defense Family - Heaven is Earth

A bit like normal rock music, but slower and without any hooks, and a singer who just angry talks over it all. Self Defence Family manage to be particularly weird by sounding so close to normality, coming off as simply too lazy to actually bother finishing writing songs - and yet, their songs have an underlying cleverness. Hints of unexpected keys, extreme repetition that seems to border on classical minimalism, and that relentless, grating voice that doesn't seem to be saying anything. The last album came with a whole extra slab of vinyl consisting entirely of one long interview with a 70's porn star. This time round, themes seem to veer between reports of explosions at science laboratories, buying the wrong flavour of teas by accident,  to existentialist discussions at King Arthurs table.

And to top things off, its produced by that chap from Converge and comes on see-through vinyl.

Get it at Deathwishinc. - http://store.deathwishinc.com/product/DW170v.html