No idea - I imagine he might have just given up on them after To Each. I almost did but then there was some good singles, including "Knife Slits Water", which I bought. I can't remember if I ever heard Sextet at the time, though. Money was tight... I am of the opinion that Graveyard and the Ballroom, which I have in the little green plastic pouch with the gold letters, the mail-order cassette, is pretty much the definitive ACR recording. That and "Flight" - but then are two versions of "Flight" on Graveyard/Ballroom...
People found their funk in funny places in 1981. What about a nice early Level 42 record, or something by Incognito or Paz? But that would breach the tribal rules of the day. One of the interesting things about your Rip It Up thesis - i.e. that the post-punk creators of the day had their ears to the ground to pick up cross-cultural currents emanating from funk, reggae etc - is that this didn't particularly translate to encourage wider listening among consumers. Listening to funk, reggae, soul etc would typically continue to be via approved proxies (e.g. ACR, Scritti). But as you mention above, funds were a problem for many, and would inhibit wide purchasing. Also, distribution of and exposure to Black sounds at the time made John Peel look positively mainstream . . .
Well, Level 42 won in the end insofar as ACR got better at playing and eventually sounded more or less like Level 42!
Seem to remember Level 42 had supporters in the music press - Morley wrote a big piece, called them a "pop ECM" which is a bit generous
Most Britfunk was a bit insipid, compared to the stuff coming out of America. So there's that. I think a lot of people progressed from postpunkfunk listening to buying disco and funk - I certainly did. But yeah Beggar & Co etc sounded a bit weak on a production level. Probably the best British soulfunk group of that time was Imagination, they had great sounding records. And Freez did the wondrous "Southern Freez".
Linx, though - they got a huge amount of favorable press from inkie music papers. A little overblown, in retrospect.
There's a record from 1979 that in places sounds eerily like ACR - Neil Ardley's Harmony of the Spheres. Particularly the drumming and the bass. But he's a serious British jazz musician, who then veered in a jazz-rock-funk direction. But nothing to do with the jazz funk, all-dayer scene etc
But yeah the jazz-funk scene and vibe would have been rather remote from the world of ACR, Skidoo and Cabs fans, that's for sure.
Dry Your Fears M8 (sadsack UKpop of the 2000s)
-
An interesting piece on *The Streets*'s *A Grand Don't Come For Free* by *Fergal
Kinney* at *The Quietus*...
.... it got me thinking about "Dry Your Eye...
Ich verwurzele mich streng
-
(via Dan Selzer)
Love the ultra-New Wave - or I should ultra-Neu-Deutsche-Welle - sleeve
with that type-on-tape, sticky-back print...
future-talk down under
-
Had a great in-depth talk with Melbourne radio host *Charlie Miller* about
*Futuromania* for his show *Frantic Items*, which is airing on *3RRR FM*
later...
Glam from Elsewhere in the Anglophonosphere
-
Well, if Canadian hauntology wasn't surprising enough, here's a *whole book*
on Canadian glam
Yes it is an "untold story".
When I w...
-
“Branca had me shaking . . . I found myself responding in ways that
brought me back to my ego. My feelings were disturbed.... I found in myself
the will...
Futuromania chat
-
Had a great in-depth chat with Melbourne's Charlie Miller for his 3RRR
FM show Frantic Items, which airs later today (meaning Sunday, since
Australia is al...
Totally Frye-d (You Got To Slow Down)
-
" The first chapter of the book, called “City of the End of Things,”
describes “*the alienation of progress*,” one of the elements which
constitute the m...
Steve Albini RIP
-
Shocked and shaken by the way-early death of *Steve Albini*.
Saddened too.
People I've met through this music thing are thinning down in number, it
fe...
four favorite riffs
-
Not actually my four absolute favorite riffs (Lord alone knows where I'd
start with that) but four *of* my favorite riffs, commented on for The
Wire's *G...
angel delights
-
https://rada-ve.bandcamp.com/track/saturn-rings-songs
*Go on* - listen to that gorgeous bubble bath of synthtronica!
Another vintage release, with a vi...
I wonder what I.P. made of the (I think) altogether more fabulous 'Sextet' - ?
ReplyDeleteNo idea - I imagine he might have just given up on them after To Each. I almost did but then there was some good singles, including "Knife Slits Water", which I bought. I can't remember if I ever heard Sextet at the time, though. Money was tight... I am of the opinion that Graveyard and the Ballroom, which I have in the little green plastic pouch with the gold letters, the mail-order cassette, is pretty much the definitive ACR recording. That and "Flight" - but then are two versions of "Flight" on Graveyard/Ballroom...
DeletePeople found their funk in funny places in 1981. What about a nice early Level 42 record, or something by Incognito or Paz? But that would breach the tribal rules of the day. One of the interesting things about your Rip It Up thesis - i.e. that the post-punk creators of the day had their ears to the ground to pick up cross-cultural currents emanating from funk, reggae etc - is that this didn't particularly translate to encourage wider listening among consumers. Listening to funk, reggae, soul etc would typically continue to be via approved proxies (e.g. ACR, Scritti). But as you mention above, funds were a problem for many, and would inhibit wide purchasing. Also, distribution of and exposure to Black sounds at the time made John Peel look positively mainstream . . .
DeleteWell, Level 42 won in the end insofar as ACR got better at playing and eventually sounded more or less like Level 42!
DeleteSeem to remember Level 42 had supporters in the music press - Morley wrote a big piece, called them a "pop ECM" which is a bit generous
Most Britfunk was a bit insipid, compared to the stuff coming out of America. So there's that. I think a lot of people progressed from postpunkfunk listening to buying disco and funk - I certainly did. But yeah Beggar & Co etc sounded a bit weak on a production level. Probably the best British soulfunk group of that time was Imagination, they had great sounding records. And Freez did the wondrous "Southern Freez".
Linx, though - they got a huge amount of favorable press from inkie music papers. A little overblown, in retrospect.
There's a record from 1979 that in places sounds eerily like ACR - Neil Ardley's Harmony of the Spheres. Particularly the drumming and the bass. But he's a serious British jazz musician, who then veered in a jazz-rock-funk direction. But nothing to do with the jazz funk, all-dayer scene etc
But yeah the jazz-funk scene and vibe would have been rather remote from the world of ACR, Skidoo and Cabs fans, that's for sure.
Who reviewed 'Slates' on the same page?
ReplyDeleteI don't know - Andy Gill maybe?
Delete