Motherlight - bobak, Jons, Malone (Eftertraktad Psychedelic/Progressive Rock UK 1970)

250:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Utgången utgåva sedan länge och är nu mycket svår att hitta. Rekommenderas.)

Official reissue of this highly sought after psychedelic progressive /folky UK album from 1970. Mixing equal quantities of spidery psychedelia and progressive instrumentalism, the otherworldly feelings grow with each listening, as the use of dissonance is highlighted. Plenty of fuzz guitar too!! 

Known by the name of an album rather than the name of the group, Motherlight produced an album full of spooky psychedelia with progressive leanings, which works really well. Almost all tracks have a slightly unsettling atmosphere, originating in a clever use of dissonance, without being quirky. On A Meadow - Lea has good fuzz guitar paired to pastoral lyrics, while Mona Lose bears overt traces of malice. Burning The Weed sounds quite surprisingly akin to US Kaleidoscope. The Lens is Procol Harum on a bad trip and even foreshadows Joy Division! The lyrics are downright chilling: 

"I view the lens with terror and in my spellbound fear,
brightly dim in, steady shimm'rin, icy eyes see."

A beautiful album. Malone played subsequently for a host of other acts. 

A seemingly random one-off album from England in 1970, Motherlight is one of those odd little delights that, as the 2001 reissue's liner notes freely acknowledge, gains its reputation in large part given what happened to the three people behind it, with later production credits ranging from Paul McCartney to Iron Maiden and Television. A studio creation given a green light by Morgan Blue Town label owner Monty Babson, the trio consisted of recording engineers Mike Bobak and Andy Johns (that actually being the correct spelling of his last name) teaming with Wilson Malone, lead figure of never-quite-stars Orange Bicycle. Without trying to draw an exact parallel, one can say this was the equivalent to something like Curt Boettcher's work with the Millennium or Sagittarius, though on a smaller scale and with slightly different goals. 

With Malone on guitar, keyboards, singing and most songwriting chores while Bobak and Johns handled rhythm and recording duties, the trio created an easygoing and often quite attractive collection of eight songs, generally pitched somewhere between acid folk bliss-out and the kind of heavy riffage starting to coalesce into heavy metal, with sometimes strident piano tying all the songs together.

 A song like "On a Meadow-Lea" shows the various sides well, as Malone's calm repetition of the chorus towards the end offers him a chance to turn in a nicely fried solo over the top. Motherlight isn't deathless, and a couple of songs probably could have been dropped (though the ridiculous pseudo-country "Burning the Weed" is a classic novelty goof), but it's still a nice peek into a time and place. 

01. Motherlight 3'28"
02. On A Meadow Lea 4'38"
03. Mona Lose 3'00"
04. Wanna Make A Star Sam 2'09"
05. House Of Many Windows 3'39"
06. Chant 4'09"
07. Burning The Weed 3'24"
08. The Lens 6'48"

Dionne Warwick - Anyone Who Had A Heart (Mycket Bra R&B US-1964)

290:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Utgåva i både mono och stereo. Mycket bra R&B från 1964)

Anyone Who Had a Heart is the second album by American singer singer Dionne Warwick, released in 1964 on the Scepter label. It was produced by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

The album is notable for including the title track, which became Warick's first top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Also featured are three tracks which appeared on her first album, Presenting Dionne Warwick issued the year before: "Don't Make Me Over", '"This Empty Place", and "I Cry Alone". These three tracks are exactly identical to the versions on the previous album, and are not different takes or remixes. The album was digitally remastered and reissued on CD on November 29, 2011, by Collectables Records.

This is pop vocalist Dionne Warwick's second long-player, which builds off of her debut LP, Presenting Dionne Warwick (1963). Anyone Who Had a Heart (1964) continues her association with songwriters Hal David and Burt Bacharach. Her rich tonality is perfectly suited to their haunting and slightly noir material, although Warwick's immediate success with "Don't Make Me Over" was nearly stunted, as the tune was initially rejected by Scepter Records co-founder Florence Greenberg. 

Her mind was changed when the song, which had been relegated to a B-side, began to outperform the A-side, "I Smiled Yesterday," on both the pop and R&B charts. Perhaps that is why "Don't Make Me Over" is one of three prominent tunes to have been unceremoniously duplicated from Presenting Dionne Warwick -- the others being "This Empty Place" and "I Cry Alone." More likely than not the label was more eager to release a new platter than to wait for a dozen new recordings. 

In addition to the timeless lead composition, Warwick's version of "Wishin' and Hopin'" not only predates Dusty Springfield's hit, it was admittedly the framework for the Brit's blue-eyed soul rendering. "Make It Easy on Yourself" and the title track to Warwick's second album, Anyone Who Had a Heart, also garnered copious airplay and became concert staples. Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman's Latin-tinged "Shall I Tell Her" and the soulful reading of "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" -- which may have been the blueprint for the Jackson 5's cover -- are likewise keepers.

~~ Stereo ~~ 
01. "Anyone Who Had a Heart"  3:11
02. "Shall I Tell Her" (Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman)  2:33
03. "Don't Make Me Over"  2:46
04. "I Cry Alone"  2:37
05. "Getting Ready for the Heartbreak" (Lockie Edwards Jr., Larry Weiss)  2:30
06. "Oh Lord, What Are You Doing to Me" (Luther Dixon, Bert Keyes)  3:14
07. "Any Old Time of Day"  3:08
08. "Mr. Heartbreak" (Barbara English, Al Cleveland)  2:33
09. "Put Yourself in My Place" (Reggie Obrecht, William Drain) 2:20
10. "I Could Make You Mine"  2:25
11. "This Empty Place"   2:55
12. "Please Make Him Love Me"  2:33

~~ Mono ~~
13. "Anyone Who Had a Heart"  3:11
14. "Shall I Tell Her" (Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman) 2:33
15. "Don't Make Me Over"  2:46
16. "I Cry Alone"  2:37
17. "Getting Ready for the Heartbreak" (Lockie Edwards Jr., Larry Weiss)  2:30
18. "Oh Lord, What Are You Doing to Me" (Luther Dixon, Bert Keyes)  3:14
19. "Any Old Time of Day"  3:08
20. "Mr. Heartbreak" (Barbara English, Al Cleveland)  2:33
21. "Put Yourself in My Place" (Reggie Obrecht, William Drain) 2:20
22. "I Could Make You Mine"  2:25
23. "This Empty Place"   2:55
24. "Please Make Him Love Me"  2:33 

Kevin Ayers - Shooting at The Moon (Progressive Rock 1970)

250:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Med original "flikomslag", utgången utgåva.)

Shooting at the Moon is the second solo album of Kevin Ayers.

In early 1970, Ayers assembled a band he called The Whole World to tour his debut LP Joy of a Toy that included, a young Mike Oldfield, David Bedford, Lol Coxhill, Mick Fincher, the folk singer Bridget St. John and Robert Wyatt. After a UK tour, Ayers took the Whole World into the studio to cut an LP, produced, like his debut, with Peter Jenner.

The line-up produced a heady mixture of ideas and experimentation with two distinctive styles emerging; carefree ballads like “Clarence In Wonderland” and “May I?” abutted the avant garde experimentation of songs like “Reinhardt and Geraldine” and “Underwater”. The album has since become a best seller in Ayers' catalogue.

Although The Whole World disbanded shortly after the release, the nucleus of the group would contribute to Ayers next LP, Whatevershebringswesing. Ayers released a single of exclusive material at the time "Butterfly Dance" coupled with "Puis Je?" (a French language version of “May I?”)

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, who were big fans of Ayres, referred to 'Shooting At The Moon' as "the best album ever made" in the sleeve notes to their 1994 album 'Tatay'.

01."May I?" (Ayers) (4:01)
02."Rheinhardt & Geraldine" (Ayers) / "Colores Para Delores" (Ayers) (5:41)
03."Lunatics Lament" (Ayers) (4:53)
04."Pisser Dans un Violon" (Ayers) (8:02)
05."The Oyster and the Flying Fish" (Ayers) (2:37)
06."Underwater" (Ayers) (3:54)
07."Clarence in Wonderland" (Ayers) (2:06)
08."Red Green and You Blue" (Ayers) (3:52)
09."Shooting at the Moon" (Ayers) (5:53)
10."Gemini Child" (3.16)
11."Puis Je?" (3.41)
12."Butterfly Dance" (3.45)
13."Jolie Madame" (2.26)
14."Hat" (5.27)