quinta-feira, 22 de dezembro de 2022
Robin Trower - Where You Are Going To 2016
Kevin Brown - Tin Church 2005
Fad Gadget - Gag 1984
For all intents and purposes, Frank Tovey was best known as the man behind Fad Gadget, one of the most significant cult acts of the post-punk boom. As Fad Gadget, Tovey and his revolving door of conspirators released several singles and four full-length albums that stretched the boundaries of pop music during the late '70s and early '80s. And after Tovey started making records under his own name in the mid-'80s, he continued to remain as unpredictable as ever, working within the realms of Cajun, blues, and folk, in addition to furthering his journey into experimental electronics. Humorous, dark, strange, puzzling, wild, honest, confrontational -- these adjectives exemplify Tovey's lengthy body of work and his legacy of daringly physical performances. (Tovey's stage antics included numerous acrobatic feats and a penchant for shaving his copiously foamed body.) While Fad Gadget's contemporaries included the likes of Cabaret Voltaire, the Human League, Wire, the Normal, and Soft Cell, Tovey and company's records never quite achieved the underground notoriety or the chart success enjoyed by his peers. Regardless of the level of recognition, Tovey's unique contribution to electronic music is undeniable, and so is his influence upon it. As the years go on, the recognition continues to gather steam.
As a youngster, the London, England-born Tovey became a fan of Iggy Pop, Marc Bolan, and Lou Reed. He knew from an early stage that he wanted to become involved with music and eventually earned a degree in fine arts from Leeds Polytechnic in 1975. After finishing his schooling, he returned to London and put together some songs made with an electric piano, a drum machine, and a tape recorder. Through the help of a flatmate, Tovey met up with Daniel Miller at the local Rough Trade shop and gave the man behind the Normal's "Warm Leatherette" his primitive recordings. Miller loved what he heard and signed Tovey to his Mute label, a groundbreaking pro-electronic label that was just lifting off the ground. Tovey made his first public appearance as Fad Gadget in July of 1979. Two months after that, the first Fad Gadget single, The Box, was issued. Just as funny as it was frightening, the predominantly electronic single featured two songs that remain touchstones of Tovey's lengthy career. Another key single, Ricky's Hand, was out in shops the following March. The sleeve boldly claimed that, save for an electric drill and the vocals, the two songs on it were made entirely from synthetic sources. A third single was released just prior to the first full-length, Fireside Favourites, which was released by the end of 1980. While Tovey did the lion's share of synth work on the album, percussionist John Fryer, bassist/guitarist Eric Radcliffe, drummer Nick Cash, and synthesist Miller chipped in with contributions. Incontinent, the second Fad Gadget LP, was issued almost exactly a year after the debut. Aside from the return of most of the usual suspects, Wire's Robert Gotobed played some drums, Peter Bahner played some bass and guitar, and David Simmonds provided extra synth and percussion work. Slightly darker than its predecessor, a decrease in the reliance upon electronics made for a wide-eyed, if unfocused, sophomore album.
The albums Under the Flag and Gag were released in 1982 and 1984, respectively. The move into dance and soul-influenced territories -- along with relatively traditional production values for the time -- resulted in lighter and less urgent music, but Tovey's lyrics steadfastly refused to approach anything resembling mundane or fantasy-based. Tovey was more likely to be compared to Bob Dylan than Gary Numan, as his lyrics favored the everyman over machines and aliens. Personnel-wise, Under the Flag, featured guest vocal turns and saxophone blurts from Alison Moyet (Yaz), and Gag included some guitar work from Rowland S. Howard (the Birthday Party). After Gag, Tovey decided to start recording under his own name and released six albums on Mute between 1985 and 1992. Just prior to that phase, he also paired up with Non's Boyd Rice for 1984's Easy Listening for the Hard of Hearing. These records were frequently more challenging than the ones released as Fad Gadget, and Tovey's switch in names allowed him to expand his creativity. He decided to learn how to play instruments properly, a move that was prompted by his daughter. Asked by his daughter to play one of her songs, Tovey realized he couldn't really play anything, so he took up the guitar and made a conscious decision to write and record with more traditional instrumentation. 1989's Tyranny & the Hired Hand witnessed Tovey at his most organic. The labor-inspired album featured covers of modern and traditional protest songs. And for his following two albums, 1991's Grand Union and 1992's Worried Men in Second Hand Suits, Tovey continued his folk streak with a trio of Irish musicians dubbed the Pyros. In 2001, Tovey dusted off Fad Gadget and began performing again under the name. In addition to an appearance at London's Elektrofest, Tovey opened for Depeche Mode on his labelmates' Exciter tour. Mute released The Best of Fad Gadget, a two-disc set of ace material, B-sides, and remixes. New material had been written and plans for new recordings were laid, but Tovey unexpectedly passed away in his home on April 3, 2002. AMG.
Rory Gallagher - The Bullfrog Interlude 1990
Even with a career cut short by illness and a premature death, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Rory Gallagher left his mark in the blues and rock worlds. His hard-charging, intensely rhythmic playing style on his 1961 Stratocaster still casts a long shadow over rock & roll: Queen's Brian May imitated not only his playing but his gear early on; he credits Gallagher with the root of his sound. Eric Clapton said it was Gallagher who got him "back into the blues." Johnny Marr acknowledges a great debt as well: After learning how to play the guitarist's classic Deuce album track-for-track at 13, he revealed Gallagher's influence throughout his career. Marr also said that he received mentorship and advice on his conduct on-stage and off. Even U2's the Edge and Slash sing his praises and credit his influence. While Gallagher didn't tour the U.S. very often, he lived on the stages of Europe. But he was well-known on Yankee shores for his marathon-length, no-holds-barred live shows at clubs and theaters across North America. While never a major presence on radio in the United States, Gallagher nonetheless racked up a handful of semi-hit singles with "Laundromat," "I Walk on Hot Coals," "Shadow Play," and "Philby," as well as a slew of acclaimed albums from 1971's Deuce and the remarkable Irish Tour in 1974, through Calling Card in 1976 and Top Priority in 1979. Even after the hits, Gallagher continued to pump out high-quality albums including 1982's Jinx and 1990's Fresh Evidence. And following his accidental death on an operating table in 1995, Gallagher continued to win over new fans and influence artists of many stripes, including the mystery writer Ian Rankin, who created a posthumous compilation called The Continental Op in 2013 featuring the guitarist's many songs about spies and suspense. Gallagher was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Irish Republic, on March 2, 1948. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Cork City in the south, and at age nine he became fascinated with American blues and folk singers he heard on the radio. An avid record collector, he had a wide range of influences, including Leadbelly, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, Albert King, Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker. Gallagher would always try to mix some simple country blues songs into his recordings. He began his recording career after moving to London when he formed a trio called Taste. The group's self-titled debut album was released in 1969 in England and later picked up for U.S. distribution by Atco/Atlantic. Between 1969 and 1971, with producer Tony Colton behind the board, Gallagher recorded three albums with Taste before they split up. He began performing under his own name in 1971, releasing his 1970 debut, Rory Gallagher, for Polydor Records in the U.K. The album was picked up for U.S. distribution by Atlantic, and later that year he recorded Deuce, also released by Atlantic in the U.S. His prolific output continued, as he followed up Deuce with Live in Europe (1972) and Blueprint and Tattoo, both in 1973. Irish Tour 1974, like Live in Europe, did a good job of capturing the excitement of his live shows on tape, and he followed that with Calling Card for Chrysalis in 1976, and Photo Finish and Jinx for the same label in 1978 and 1982. By this point, Gallagher had made several world tours, and he took a few years of rest from the road. He got back into recording and performing live again with the 1987 release (in the U.K.) of Defender. His last album, Fresh Evidence, was released in 1991 on the Capo/I.R.S. label. Capo was his own record and publishing company that he set up in the hopes of eventually exposing other great blues talents.
Some of Gallagher's best work on record wasn't under his own name; it's the music he recorded with Muddy Waters on The London Sessions (Chess, 1972) and with Albert King on Live (RCA/Utopia, 1977). Gallagher made his last U.S. tours in 1985 and 1991, and admitted in interviews that he'd always been a guitarist who fed off the instant reaction and feedbacks a live audience can provide. In a 1991 interview, he said: "I try to sit down and write a Rory Gallagher song, which generally happens to be quite bluesy. I try to find different issues, different themes, and different topics that haven't been covered before...I've done songs in all the different styles...train blues, drinking blues, and economic blues. But I try to find a slightly different angle on all these things. The music can be very traditional, but you can sort of creep into the future with the lyrics." Gallagher passed away from complications after a liver transplant on June 14, 1995, at age 47. In 2019, to mark what would have been Gallagher's 50th year of recording, his estate released the four-disc anthology Blues, featuring rare and unreleased recordings from the '70s to the '90s. listen hereVanish Valley - Queen of the Concert 2015
Robert Fripp - Let The Power Fall 1981
Laughing Clowns - Law of Nature 1984
Catfish And The Bottlemen - The Ride 2016
A Giant Dog - Pile 2016
Verma - Sunrunner 2014
sexta-feira, 30 de setembro de 2022
David Crosby & Graham Nash - Another Stoney Evening 2003
Gary Duncan Quicksilver - Live at Fieldstone 1997
listen here or here