The album that is never mentioned. Ask someone about their favorite Pink Floyd album and the answer is usually a variation on a fixed theme. Here they come again: The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall. But More? No, rarely, I’d say never actually. It is after all a soundtrack of a film that nobody has seen. An already quite dated motion picture about drug use and its consequences. But the beauty of More is that you don’t need to have seen the film to appreciate the music.
Continue readingHarry Prenger
Music producer Conny Plank worked with major artists such as Kraftwerk, but he wanted nothing to do with U2
At some point he had had enough. The collaboration with the gentlemen of stature Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel was beginning to irk him considerably. He found the music of the avant-garde composers artificial, not to say “lifeless”. He would rather work as a recording technician at concerts of Marlene Dietrich and Duke Ellington’s orchestra. With only one goal in mind. Saving money for his big dream. Konrad Plank was determined to convert a pig farm into a music studio in Wolperath, 35 km south of Cologne.
Continue readingThe wonderful bleak movies of Michelangelo Antonioni
Whoever has never watched a movie by Michelangelo Antonioni has never truly seen a film. The Italian director demands not only empathy from the viewer but also the willingness to confront the uncertainty and unpredictability of life.
Continue readingThe bizarre tragedy of the brilliant musician Hermann Szobel
The story about Hermann Szobel is incredible and bizarre. An undeniable highlight is the only album the pianist made in 1976. At the age of 17! Although a commercial flop, it has now become a huge cult album. Attention, fans of Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Mahavishnu Orchestra and jazz rock.
Continue readingBob Dylan: the myth overtaken by an almost sobering reality
While most people are busy getting their lives in order, Bob Dylan embraces the chaos. In the mechanism of the rock industry, where everything happens by the book, the singer has remained uninterested up to this day. Artist releases an album, goes on tour, plays songs from the record exactly as they are, ad infinitum.
Continue reading50 years of music: the best albums from 1966-2016
At the end of 1981 I walk into a record store looking for Prince’s lp Controversy. At that time, the Minneapolis man is still a bit of an unknown in many ways, but he’s rapidly evolving into a new pop phenomenon. As a 19-year-old fanatic lp buyer, I get curious. Despite my slight doubts about the musical content, I decide to keep following his career. I’ll keep that up until Sign O’ The Times.
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