Oh Captain, My Captain: Captain Beefheart 1941-2010

I was saddened to open up the Pitchfork web page on Saturday afternoon and see the headline at the top: "R.I.P. Captain Beefheart". It was accompanied by a sad photo of the Captain from his (now) final 1982 album Ice cream for crow.

I first stumbled upon the music of the eccentric Don Van Vliet (the Captain's real name) after reading an interview with Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who named the 1969 album Trout Mask Replica as his favourite record of all time. Being a long time Simpsons fan, I respected the opinion of Matt Groening, so I sampled a few songs like Ella Guru and Dachau Blues from Trout Mask Replica. It was a little while later that I purchased the album, and to this day it remains one of the strangest and most enigmatic 78 minutes of music in my extensive collection.

I have since picked up many more of his albums: Safe as Milk, Strictly Personal, The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot. While they are all much more "normal sounding" than Trout Mask Replica, this term is used very relatively. They are all avant-garde blues-rock creations that helped pave the way for much musical experimention and boundary-pushing in the decades to follow. If it weren't for the work of Van Vliet, Tom Waits may not have made the dramatic (and much needed) stylistic u-turn in 1983 when he released Swordfishtrombones.

Rest in peace, Captain Beefheart. May the dust blow forward, 'n the dust blow back.

"Moonlight on Vermont" (from Trout mask replica)

"Big Eyed Beans From Venus" (from Clear spot)

"Yellow Brick Road" (from Safe as milk)

RIP: Pete Quaife 1943-2010

[Hardly breaking news]: Pete Quaife, the original bassist for British invasion band The Kinks, passed away last month at the age of 66. This makes him the first of the original four band members (including Ray Davies, Dave Davies and Mick Avory) to no longer be with us.

The Kinks formed in 1964 and first hit the charts with their classic rock song You really got me. Over the remainder of the decade they demonstrated tremendous musical evolution not unlike their contemporaries, a little known Liverpool act known as The Beatles.

They released several fine conceptual albums in the late 60s and early 70s -- Face to face, Something else, Village green preservation society, Arthur and Lola. Their 1971 album Muswell hillbillies is my personal favourite, an underrated and lost classic which you should definitely pick up if you get a chance.

At the core The Kinks were a very singles-dominated band and picking up one of their many singles compilations is the best way to get into them. From the power chords of All day and all of the night, the wry character portraits of Well respected man and Dedicated follower of fashion, the gorgeous story-telling of Sunny afternoon and the perfect pop of Dead end street and Lola, they left a remarkable legacy on the British musical landscape.

Their work influenced countless bands in subsequent decades, and they were in many ways the Godfathers of Britpop.

Rest in peace, Pete.

RIP: Alex Chilton 1950-2010

Alex Chilton, former front man for 70s power-pop pioneers Big Star, has died in New Orleans at the age of 59. Chilton was also well known as the vocalist for the 60s blue-eyed soul band The Box Tops, whose biggest hit The letter reached number 1 in the US in 1967 (when Chilton was still in his teens).

I became a fan of Big Star in 2003 when I picked up their classic 2-for-1 album set of #1 Record and Radio City. I later picked up the dark, tortured Third/Sister Lovers which was basically an Alex Chilton solo album in all but name (former member Chris Bell had already left the band by this stage).

Alex Chilton made the news in 2005 when he went missing in New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Thankfully, he was found safe a few days later.

Alex has left behind a wonderful musical legacy which has influenced countless musicians.

RIP.

---

Here are a few of my favourite Big Star songs with Chilton on vocals:

• The Ballad Of El Goodo was included in my top 100 favourite songs of all time.
• Thirteen is probably their most famous song, and has been covered by Elliott Smith and Wilco, amongst others.
• Blue Moon is a stunning ballad from Big Star's dark final album Third/Sister Lovers.

MP3: Big Star - The Ballad Of El Goodo [Link removed]
MP3: Big Star - Thirteen [Link removed]
MP3: Big Star - Blue Moon [Link removed]

Update: Song links removed.

RIP: Michael Jackson 1958-2009

I was watching a recorded episode of Seinfeld during my breakfast this morning. When I stopped the recording on the PVR, I was shocked to see a headline at the bottom of the screen. There were unconfirmed reports that Michael Jackson had passed away after falling into a coma after a cardiac arrest. It soon because apparent that these unconfirmed reports were true. The king of pop had died at the age of 50.

Being a child of the 80s, there were 3 undisputed popstars who you worshipped as a youngster - Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson. I have never been a huge fan of Madonna, and although I've recently started getting into Prince's music, I wasn't a fan at the time. But I was always a huge fan of Michael Jackson, and he was the first musician I was truly obsessed with.

The songs from Thriller were a massive part of my growing up. The film clip to Thriller is still the best music video clip ever made, an absolute masterpiece of modern film making. It used to scare the living crap out of me when I was younger, and is still a lot scarier than a lot of the modern "horror" movies released these days.

When we used to visit some of our close family friends, they had a copy of the Making of Thriller documentary on VHS. Every time I used to go there, I would ask to watch it. I distinctly remember that there was a video clip of All night long by Lionel Ritchie, and Master blaster by Stevie Wonder directly before the documentary. It's amazing how one remembers little details like that.

Michael didn't really put a step wrong throughout the 80s. Bad was an incredibly solid follow up to an album that couldn't really be followed up. Subsequent follow-up Dangerous had some great songs, but it was really the start of his decline. The HIStory album released in 1995 can almost be seen as a bookend to his career which started out with the Jackson 5: 1 disc of his greatest hits, and 1 fairly patchy disc of new songs which showed the state of his life in 1995.

More recently, I started getting into some of his older music released with the Jackson 5 and, later, the Jacksons. It's hard to believe that the R&B pop masterpiece I want you back, with lead vocals by Michael himself, was recorded when he was only 11 years old.

Let's put the latter, tragic, part of his life aside, and remember Michael Jackson as the fresh-faced African-American musical genius from the 70s and 80s.

Rest in peace, Michael.

MP3: Michael Jackson - Gone too soon [Link removed]

Update: Song links removed.

RIP: John Martyn 1948-2009

British folk singer-songwriter John Martyn has passed away in Ireland at the age of 60.

I only have one of his albums, Solid air, which is considered by many critics to be a classic of the folk genre. The title track from that album was Martyn's tribute to his friend and Island label-mate Nick Drake, who was suffering from depression at the time and passed away less than 2 years after the album was released. Another song from that album, May you never, was also made famous by Eric Clapton when it was released on his 1977 album Slowhand.

John was a unique vocalist, amazing songwriter and highly underrated guitarist. While he never had huge commercial success, he had a pretty big cult following, and he will be sadly missed by his fans.

R.I.P.

MP3: John Martyn - The man in the station [Link removed]

Update: Song links removed.

RIP: Ron Asheton 1949-2008

Ron Asheton, guitarist and co-songwriter with Iggy Pop in the proto-punk band The Stooges, has died at the age of 60.

The Stooges were a major influence to the punk movement of the late 70s. The original line-up released 3 albums in the late 60s and early 70s, all now considered classics: The Stooges (1969), Fun house (1970) and Raw power (1973). They recently re-formed, releasing The weirdness in 2007 to mostly negative reviews.

I personally own Fun house and Raw power, but the self-titled debut is on my list of CDs to purchase.

Fun house is a fantastic album which didn't do a lot for me on initial listens, but eventually grew on me. It's got an amazing vibe to it which is hard to explain but easy to appreciate. As an album it has a crazy structure -- it starts out fairly traditional hard rock, but by the end it completely dissolves into chaos. A crazy album that is definitely worthy of purchase.

The original version of Raw power was produced by David Bowie, but Iggy Pop personally remastered it in 1997. The Iggy Pop remaster (which I own) is turned up to 11 for the entire running time, and is considered by many to be the loudest album ever, although I have a feeling that Metallica's Death magnetic may have recently overtaken it. The opening two tracks, Search and destroy and Gimme danger, are classic proto-punk songs.

Rest in peace, Ron. Your riffage will live on.

MP3: The Stooges - Gimme danger [Link removed]

Update: Song links removed.

RIP: Richey James Edwards 1967-1995

Hmmm...this is quickly turning into an rockstar obituary blog.

And while it looks like I'm reporting 13-year-old news (hear it first on Wireless Cranium!) there's a twist to this one.

Richey Edwards, rhythm guitarist, lyricist and founding member of Welsh band Manic Street Preachers, disappeared on 1st February 1995. It's almost 14 years on, and no body has been found. On 23rd November 2008 he became officially "presumed dead". Hence, this obituary.

Richey embodied the spirit of early Manics. They released 3 albums in his lifetime: the patchy and overlong (but brilliant in parts) debut Generation terrorists (1992), underrated follow-up Gold against the soul (1993) and dark tortured masterwork The holy bible (1994). While he was a pretty poor rhythm guitarist by all accounts (James Dean Bradfield made up for it with his stellar lead guitar work), it was his dark, tortured lyrics which he became known for.

Richey was also quite a troubled young man, into self-mutilation and the like. In hindsight, it's no surprise that he became a member of the not-so-exclusive 27 club. Like Elvis, there have been many Richey sightings over the years. But I think we can safely say that if he is alive, he doesn't want people to know about it.

It's been a long time, but rest in peace Richey, wherever you are.

Here's one of the Manics' darkest songs (about anorexia) from The holy bible.

MP3: Manic Street Preachers - 4st 7lb [Link removed]

P.S. Apparently the Manics' 9th studio album, Journal for plague lovers, will contain many lyrics from the late Richey. It will also be produced by Steve Albini.

Update: Song links removed.

RIP: Mitch Mitchell 1947-2008

[This news is just over a week old now, so this is hardly a newsflash. For some reason I never posted about it last week.]

Mitch Mitchell, the drummer from the superb musical trio The Jimi Hendrix Experience, passed away of natural causes last Wednesday at the age of 61.

Guitarist and singer Jimi Hendrix, an unfortunate member of the 27 club, passed away at the peak of his talent in 1970. In what has now become a rock-star cliche, he died after asphyxiating on his vomit after an overdose of sleeping pills (although it may have not been his vomit; after all, you can't really dust for vomit).

Bassist Noel Redding died in 2003, at the age of 57.

That makes The Jimi Hendrix Experience one of the few bands I can think of where none of the band members are with us anymore.

If you don't have any albums by this brilliant trio, be sure to pick one up now. They only released three albums in their short lifetime, and all of them are worth getting. And I would probably recommend buying them in chronological order.

Their debut Are you experienced? is their most accessible, with a lot of their well known hits like Foxy lady and Manic depression (and a lot of fantastic bonus tracks like Purple haze and Hey Joe).

Their follow-up Axis: Bold as love is a bit more psychedelic and experimental, with some of my favourite JHE tracks like Castles made of sand and Little wing.

Their swansong Electric ladyland is an epic album (double vinyl album on a single CD) which is easily their bluesiest effort, and in my opinion their finest hour (or 75 minutes). It's a massive jam, but because it's a bit less accessible it's probably better to wait until the first two albums make you a fan before you pick this one up.

Here's a taste of the genius of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Enjoy!

Rest in peace, Mitch. Your music will live on.

MP3: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Burning of the midnight lamp [Link removed]

Update: Song links removed.

RIP: Rick Wright 1943-2008

Rick Wright, founding member and keyboardist from progressive rockers Pink Floyd, has sadly passed away at the age of 65 after a battle with cancer.

Dark side of the moon is one of the most popular albums of all time, and for good reason. It was voted the best album of all time in a recent Australian television show. Not just a critic's darling, it truly is a masterpiece. Even if it isn't a secret soundtrack to The wizard of oz, as the conspiracy theorists would lead you to believe.

As good as DSOTM is, you can't forget other excellent PF albums like Meddle and Animals. At their peak, they were a band who were truly ahead of their time.

I'm sure Rick is playing with Syd at the great gig in the sky(TM).

MP3: Pink Floyd - The great gig in the sky [Link removed]

This song was composed by Rick Wright, and is one of my favourite Pink Floyd songs. Truly stunning.

Update: Song links removed.

RIP: Isaac Hayes 1942-2008

Isaac Hayes, pioneering funk/soul singer-songwriter, record producer and actor (amongst other things) has passed away at the age of 65.

In recent years, Mr Hayes has become more known for being the voice of the Chef character on South Park, and also his belief in Scientology. He eventually left the show after the South Park creators made an episode lampooning Scientology.

I only recently picked up his landmark 1969 album Hot buttered soul, and it's a good listen. Many of the tracks on this album have been sampled by other artists, the most notable being Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic which was sampled by Public Enemy on Black steel in the hour of chaos, from their classic It takes a nation of millions to hold us back album.

Rest in peace, Isaac.

MP3: Isaac Hayes - Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic [Song link removed]

UPDATE: Song links removed.

RIP: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 1918-2008

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, once a spiritual leader for the Beatles and certainly a big influence on their later music, has reportedly passed away.

Out of respect for the deceased, I'd like to post an MP3 of Sexy Sadie, which is one of my favourite Beatles songs and was inspired entirely by John Lennon's not-so-positive experiences with Maharishi. Replace the name 'Sexy Sadie' with 'Maharishi' in the lyrics, and that's pretty much how John had originally written the song.

Enjoy!

MP3: The Beatles - Sexy Sadie [Link removed]

UPDATE: Song link removed.

RIP: Arthur Lee 1945-2006

Arthur Lee, of seminal 60's band Love, died on August 3rd of acute myeloid leukemia.

The core Love lineup released 4 albums from 1966 to 1979 - Love (1966), Da Capo (1967), Forever Changes (1967) and Four Sail (1969). The most critically acclaimed of these albums, Forever Changes, is rightly lauded as a lost classic and one of the greatest albums of all time.

Unlike many other highly acclaimed albums of the era, it has aged remarkably well and I agree that it is a brilliant album which deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles, Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys and Odessey and Oracle by the Zombies. It definitely has the sound of the psychedelic 60's but there's a dark undercurrent to songs like The red telephone and You set the scene which give it a timeless eerie quality as well.

Unfortunately, Forever changes never gave Love the commercial or chart success which they clearly deserved. But we all know that talent and commercial success are often mutually exclusive.

Rest in peace, Arthur. Your contribution to popular music will live on forever.

Downloads

Love - The red telephone [Link Removed]
Love - You set the scene [Link Removed]

UPDATE: Song links removed.

RIP: Syd Barrett 1946-2006

Syd Barrett 1946-2006

I arrived at work yesterday to the news that Syd Barrett, founding member of Pink Floyd, died at the age of 60.

Syd only played on their first 2 albums, Piper at the gates of dawn and Saucerful of secrets. His songs had a very different sound to the space-rock which Pink Floyd were most known for on mega-popular albums like Dark side of the moon and The wall, having a much more whimsical element to them. His sound was largely influenced by his experimentation with LSD, the use of which led to him leaving the band after their 2nd album, and eventually to his isolation from the world in the early 70's due to mental illness. The 1975 Pink Floyd album Wish you for here contained the 10-part epic Shine on you crazy diamond, which was apparently a tribute to Syd. A common story states that an overweight and hard-to-recognise Syd actually appeared in the studio during the Wish you were here sessions, only adding to his mystique.

I'm not going to be one of those bandwagon jumpers who says that I've been a huge fan of his just because he died; the truth is, I'm not. I only have 2 albums which he contributed to: the aforementioned Piper at the gates of dawn, and his solo debut album from 1970 The madcap laughs. While his songs on Piper definitely add a unique element to the Floyd sound, I can't say it's the kind of stuff which warrants repeat listens for me. And his solo album has its charm, but it's also incredibly dated. I'd much rather give Dark side of the moon or Meddle a listen over any of those albums.

There's no doubt he has had a lot of devoted fans over the years, and his music has influenced countless musicians. Rest in peace, Syd.

Downloads

Pink Floyd - Scarecrow [Link Removed]
Syd Barrett - Octopus [Link Removed]

UPDATE: Song links removed.

RIP: Grant McLennan 1958-2006

I was very saddened to hear of the sudden death of Grant McLennan (founding member of the Go-Betweens) on the weekend at the age of 48.

I have been a fan of the Go-Betweens since about 2003, when I purchased their 2nd album Before Hollywood (a great recommendation from Pete). Since then, I have purchased all of their albums except for their debut Send me a lullaby which is quite hard to find. Their 1988 masterpiece 16 Lovers Lane is now one of my favourite albums of all time. Their last album Oceans apart made my top 10 albums of 2005 list. It's highly unlikely that Robert Forster will continue without him, so I guess it will also be their last album :-(

I'm so glad that I got to see them in concert in July last year. It's so easy to say "I'll see them next time they are around", and even easier to say that about a band who only have to come from Brisbane. I guess there's a lesson to be learnt -- if you really want to see a band, see them now! You never know what's around the corner.

Last night I listened to No reason to cry on my iPod, a Grant-sung song from Oceans Apart which is all the more poignant now.

Rest in peace, Grant. You will be sadly missed.

UPDATE: Song links removed.

25th anniversary of John Lennon's death

John Lennon
1940-1980

I completely forgot to post this last week, but on Friday December 9th @ 3pm (or Thursday December 8th @ 11pm New York time) it was the exact 25 year anniversary of the assassination of John Lennon.

I was only a little bub when he died, and can only imagine how the world reacted to his senseless murder. When I was in New York earlier this year, I visited the Dakota building where he spent the last few years of his life and where he was tragically gunned down after returning from a long day at the recording studio with his wife Yoko Ono. I also visited Strawberry Fields in the nearby section of Central Park, where I was surprised to see such a modest memorial for one of the 20th century's most talented musicians.

The world is definitely a worse place without you, John. But your music will live forever.

RIP: Paul Hester 1959-2005

I was very saddened to hear of the death of Paul Hester, drummer for the legendary NZ/Australian band Crowded House. He always came across as a very charismatic and witty man, and his suicide leaves a big hole in the Australian music scene.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends in this very traumatic time.