Kraftwerk sell me a box

“Without them there would be no hip hop, no house, no ambient music, no electro.” Q Magazine

Like them or not, you cannot deny the influence of Kraftwerk on electronic music and a whole generation of musicians. Personally, I find a large part of their work cold and impenetrable. Whilst “Computer World” and “The Man-Machine” are two of my favourite albums of all time, little of the rest of their back catalogue sounds nearly as good to me. Part of my ambiguity towards Kraftwerk is as a result of their attitude towards the press, their fans and the world in general. I hate it when people are aloof ‘just to be interesting’ or ‘arty’. It’s wank. Grow up and get on with life. Yet, I am constantly drawn back to Kraftwerk and their music as if it were some irresistible force.

In order to appreciate their music more I felt I needed to know more about the band. Thus, a few years ago I purchased the book “Man, Machine and Music” by Pascal Bussy. I purchased the second edition of the book in 2001 when Flür and Bartos had departed, but the integral duo of Hütter and Schneider remained intact. Reading the book did give me a greater insight into the band and also an appreciation of the experimental nature of albums I did not like such as “Radioactivity” and “Autobahn”. Yet I still had limited admiration for people I could not connect or associate with in any way.

Consequently, I decided not to purchase any of the remastered albums or the box set ‘The Catalogue’ when it was released last year and was content with my motley collection of original releases and imports. Yet something has drawn me back to ‘The Catalogue’ and during one late night shopping trip on amazon, that irresistible force acted once again. Almost before I knew what was happening I had ordered ‘The Catalogue’ on CD and was contemplating the vinyl versions of my favourite albums.

I really didn’t think too much about what the package would actually look like or consist of and thus when my box set did arrive, I was very impressed indeed. You see, like the ultimate edition of the Pet Shop Boys album ‘Yes’, ‘The Catalogue’ is as much a thing of beauty, as it is a collection of music. As an item it is very nice to own.

But the music: the remastered audio. You will read contradictory reports about the audio on the internet. This is with good reason. Some of the albums sound better thanks to their digitalisation and some sound worse. Personally I like the dynamic range of the new ‘Computer World’ and the noise reduction on ‘Radioactivity’ makes it a more pleasurable experience for me. Yet some bemoan the lack of background noise and dislike the new mixes and reconstructed tracks. Its all a matter of taste. For some albums I will revert to my old versions, for others I will go to the remastered ones.

Orbital (but not On+On+On)

For some reason I re-evaluate my opinion on certain artists every so often. I’m never sure why I do this. Is it to ensure my taste is what I think it is? Am I really so unsure of myself that I have to check to see if I really enjoy the music in my collection? Yet, I’m glad I do this, as I sometimes learn to appreciate the genius of artists I have previously dismissed.

One group I knew carried all the ingredients for great music, yet one I never warmed to, were Orbital. My brother was always a big fan; but somehow they left me cold. I disliked their music chiefly because of the track ‘Halcyon’. The reason I hated this track was because it samples of the abhorrent ‘Opus III’ track ‘It’s a fine day’. I found the original song intensely irritating and it doesn’t matter how you reverse, fade and otherwise manipulate the sound of the vocal, I will always dislike it. Ok, so I shouldn’t dismiss an artist because I didn’t like one of their biggest hits, but I hated (and still do) that track intensely.

Another reason I never liked Orbital much was because ‘Chime’ was always too slow and had been surpassed by the time I became fully aware of it in the early 90’s. The more electronic and experimental nature of Orbital’s back catalogue passed me by as I became obsessed with the frenetic dance music that was abundant in the 1990’s. The next time I became aware of Orbital was when ‘Style’ was doing the rounds in 1999. I hated it. Still do.

So what possessed me to buy ‘Work’ in 2002 I will never know. I liked a few tracks but not enough to listen to it more than a handful of times and certainly not enough to rip it to my hard drive. Their version of the theme to ‘The Saint’ and their remix of Kraftwerk’s ‘Expo 2000’ were good and made me realise there was a true ‘Orbital Sound’, yet it didn’t really make me want to listen to their work.

For some reason 2010 finds me quite obsessed with the music of Orbital. Some kind of early 90’s nostalgia has brought me back to ‘Belfast’, ‘Satan’, ‘Remind’, ‘Lush’, and ‘Choice’. More recent work such as ‘Funny Break’, ‘Illuminate’ and ‘Nothing Left’ are also mesmerising to me.

Having purchased their entire back catalogue, I still feel it is something of a mixed bag in terms of quality. They definitely have a tendency to be over indulgent and some tracks (‘Bath Time’, ‘Style’, ‘Halcyon’ etc) I find intensely irritating (I can’t warm to ‘The Box’ at all either I’m afraid). Yet when they get it right, well, Orbital are capable of hitting highs no other artist is capable of. Listen to tracks such as the live version of ‘Remind’ from their last ever Peel Session in 2004 and you will realise that Orbital were at one time, a groundbreaking and indispensable part of not only dance music, but electronic music in general. Make no mistake: they are important.

Ambition fulfilled: Depeche Mode Live

It’s not often you get to fulfil one of your life’s ambitions. It’s even less frequent that such an ambition lives up to your expectations. Yet in the case of seeing Depeche Mode live, both things happened.

Being in the standing area of the MEN allowed me to get pretty close to the stage and as ‘In Chains’ began to start, everyone knew we were in for a great night. Dave was his usual exuberant self and Martin was clearly set for a good time. Only Fletch spoiled the party with his ridiculous hand gestures and posturing.

Following the obligatory new album tracks (they are, after all, promoting a new album) they began to churn out cracking versions of ‘Walking in My Shoes’, ‘A Question of Time’ and ‘World in my eyes’. One highlight for me was ‘It’s No Good’ which sounded as fresh and exciting as when I first heard it. Following a lacklustre ‘Enjoy the Silence’ we reached the arm waving spectacle of ‘Never Let Me down again’. This was something I’ve always wanted to be a part of ever since I saw ‘101’ all those years ago.

Quite brilliant performances of ‘Behind the Wheel’ and ‘Personal Jesus’ rounded out a truly remarkable concert that did not disappoint. Whilst the set design did not seem to have moved on much from the ‘Touring the Angel’ tour of 2005/6 and the dreadful timing and incompetence of Mr Fletcher became evident the longer the show went on (I will be interested to see if his dreadful playing of the snare in ‘Behind the Wheel’ makes it onto the live album.), all seemed to have enjoyed seeing the band in the flesh. Here’s to next time. Still miss Alan’s input though.

Ningear on eBay

Well it's not often you see a band auctioning their unwanted instruments on eBay. Yet Trent Reznor of “Nine Inch Nails” fame is auctioning a number of instruments at the moment.

Amongst the more interesting items are an MPG-80 Super Jupiter programmer, a Novation Supernova II rack and a Waldorf Microwave XT rack. There is also a number of unimpressive guitars, drums and amps, all of which are gaining bids that place them over and above their actual value. Auctions Here

Pet Shop Christmas

The latest release scheduled by the Pet Shop Boys is an EP titled ‘Christmas’. It features a remix of the album track ‘All Over the World’, a remix of the fan club only single ‘It Doesn’t Often Snow at Christmas’, and cover versions of Madness’ “My Girl” and Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’ which segues into ‘Domino Dancing’.

Now most fans have been listening to this release for a couple of weeks now as promo’s have leaked onto the internet. The verdict? Severely disappointing.

The new version of ‘All Over the World’ features an intrusive, badly mixed, annoying and out of tune orchestral arrangement. Some further minor tweaks here and there mount up to an inferior version to that featured on the album ‘Yes’.

The ‘2009 Mix’ of ‘It Doesn’t Often Snow at Christmas’ is similarly awash wish a new orchestral arrangement which features a choir and segues into a couple of carols here and there. Once again the original version is preferable.

The cover version of ‘My Girl’ is actually very good and is the highlight of the EP for me. Yet anyone who visits the official www.petshopboys.co.uk has already heard the demo recording from which this version is derived.

During their current tour Neil and Chris have played a version of ‘Viva La Vida’ which incorporated elements of their song ‘Domino Dancing’. This track became something of a highlight of the tour and its release seems a logical step. However, the version on this EP feels different to that played during the tour. Despite being an admirable effort, this track lacks punch and left me wondering what happened to the bass frequencies. A second version of ‘My Girl’ rounds out the track list but it is largely the same as the original version.

Out Dec 14th 2009

Royksopp Live: Everything is beautiful

Seeing bands live is often an underwhelming experience. What annoys me especially about electronic musicians playing live is their use of acoustic drums or guitars that don’t feature on the recordings. Not so with Norwegian band Royksopp. As the duo walked on stage it was clear that only one cymbal and an inaudible bass guitar would sully an evening of electronic entertainment. And boy did they entertain.

The rather lacklustre intro of “Royksopp Forever” with its unintentionally distorted bass and plodding rhythm was soon banished by “Happy Up Here” (once someone remembered to turn Karin’s microphone on) and a string of high energy tracks built the crowd into the frenzy that was “Poor Leno”. My clothes shook with the bass, my face had a big grin and I remembered how good electronic dance music can make you feel.

Rather than just play the majority of their tracks in their album form they chose to play remixed and altered versions which were, in the main, far superior in the live context. Despite the inaudible bass guitarist (who couldn’t help himself and proceeded to prance around the stage in typical rock n’ roll fashion) they were the personification of cool stood behind their synths and decks with broad smiles that said they were as happy to be there as we were.

My happiness was further enhanced by the fact that Royksopp have by far the most beautiful female fans of any band I have ever been to see.  A beautiful evening indeed.

Radio daze

Until the advent of DAB, the most frustrating aspect of listening to the radio for me is was not knowing what is actually playing. Often DJ’s will not tell you either the artists or the song they have just played. For many, many years I yearned to own a few songs which I had only ever heard on the radio but had no idea of who created them. I drove me to distraction at times. Songs that I heard, loved and never owned in the pre internet or DAB era were:  

Propaganda ‘Duel’ 

An instrumental section of this song was used as the music for TV coverage of the British Rally for many years on BBC television and I heard it on the radio a few times in my youth. Remembering only a few of the lyrics made the track impossible to pin down. Yet I loved it. One of my primary goals when I first became plugged into the web was to find this song.  

Eric Clapton ‘Behind the mask’ 

This one came as a surprise when I finally found out who was singing ‘Who do you love? Is it me babe?’ It was an even bigger surprise to find it was a superior cover version of a song by the Japanese synth pioneers Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Deee-Lite ‘What is Love?’ 

When I heard this track on the radio, I was immediately struck by its obvious Kraftwerk influence. Yet I had no idea who the track was by for a few years (in retrospect the lyric ‘How do you say Deee-Lite?’ should have told me really). This track was a double A side with ‘Groove is in the Heart’ in the UK but was ignored by almost everyone.

Wax ‘Building a bridge to your heart’ 

I actually knew who recorded this track but was unable to get hold of it until the internet came along. In my youth I had a cassette with a recording of this song from the radio; complete with the ubiquitous over compression added by FM radio broadcasters. In the heady days of Napster I downloaded this one.

This subject popped into my head the other day following a seemingly meaningless series of actions: I was listening to a radio show a few days after it had originally been broadcast via the internet. I heard a song I liked. I checked in the play list on the website and proceeded to amazon.co.uk and bought the track. Within a minute I had my own copy of the song. Doesn’t sound too exciting does it? Yet when I consider this in the context of the years I spent not knowing who created some of my favourite, barely heard tracks, I feel very grateful for the internet.