morningstar

DeRank ™: 1,25

DeAge™ : 7434 days • Here since 1 february 2006

Frank Zappa The Yellow Shark

2 mar 06

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As Mandrake says, "Hot Rats" is not at all absurd; it's a very beautiful jazz-rock instrumental album, quite similar to "Grand Wazoo." The idea of this record, however, is to rearrange old rock pieces by Zappa for a classical orchestra. The influence of Varese or Stravinsky is present here just as much as in Zappa's other instrumental works.
In my opinion, you can't really place Zappa among the avant-gardes of the twentieth century (it's a lot less easy listening, I assure you), at most in the rock avant-gardes. If you want to listen to true avant-garde, check out Edgar Varese, Derek Bailey, or Xenakis; that’s avant-garde, for better or for worse. Not to take anything away from Zappa, who remains a great.

Serge Gainsbourg Histoire de Melody Nelson

2 mar 06

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I haven't listened to Mick Harvey's tribute albums, but I think it's an interesting idea (someone told me that one of them even features "Je t'aime, moi non plus" sung by Nick Cave... I absolutely must get my hands on that). There's also a tribute album curated by John Zorn, where you can hear "Ford Mustang" sung by Mike Patton, for example. I confess I haven't seen any of Gainsbourg's films yet; from the plots, they seem entertaining. Anyway, I don't think they live up to the truly exceptional production of songs.

Serge Gainsbourg L'Homme à tête de chou

2 mar 06

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There is a book that collects almost all of Gainsbourg's song lyrics: "Dernieres nouvelles des etoiles." It's not easily found, but you can buy it, for example, on the French Amazon. There are also several websites with the lyrics; for instance, try this link:

Paroles Serge Gainsbourg – Paroles des plus grandes chansons de Serge Gainsbourg

As for Italian or English translations, I'm not aware of any books on the subject.

Lou Reed Transformer

2 mar 06

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A bit commercial, it's not Lou Reed's best album; however, it actually contains some fantastic songs. The real rating is 4.5, but I round it up to 5.

Charles Mingus Mingus Ah Um

2 mar 06

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Indeed, "Ah Um" is truly beautiful. The "Pitecantropus erectus" and "The black saint and the sinner lady" are also great, but if we want to, this one is more easy listening. Highly recommended to everyone, even those who don’t own a single jazz record. Well done, Charley!

Harry Partch The Harry Partch Collection Vol. 1- 2 - 3 - 4

1 mar 06

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But Odradek, out of curiosity, does your nickname come from a story by Kafka or am I mistaken?

Harry Partch The Harry Partch Collection Vol. 1- 2 - 3 - 4

1 mar 06

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Harry Partch is indeed an interesting personality. I bought volume 2 of the series; I should listen to it more carefully. Just think that this jokester divided the interval of the octave, I believe, into 43 parts to use instead of the ordinary semitones. As John Zorn said, he basically created his own musical language from scratch. It's not exactly what you would call "easy-listening," but I think it's a rewarding listen. Well done, Odradek!

Fabrizio De André Canzoni

1 mar 06

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I also give this a 5 (it holds sentimental value for me, I think it's the first quality record I listened to, I cried at 8 years old over "Ballata dell'amore cieco," I admit it) and later it led me to discover Cohen, Dylan, and Brassens.

Jeru The Damaja The Sun Rises In The East

27 feb 06

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The ZiOn ranking is interesting; in fact, I don't know any of the three groups you've listed (I don't understand a thing about rap, I confess, I've only listened to a bit of De La Soul and DJ Shadow, which weren't bad).

Francesco De Gregori Calypsos - 9 canzoni nuove

27 feb 06

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I actually have a great opinion of both Capossela and De Gregori, I must confess. And I also agree that Capossela doesn’t have thirty years of career behind him, but only ten. Personally, I prefer Vinicio. However, I think De Gregori has occasionally handed us some rather bland albums ("Prendere e Lasciare," for example). Anyway, as Sfascia says, de gustibus.