CD reviews

[rosen@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU (Rob Rosen)]

	Well, I bought a few CDs during my recent sojourn to Hong
Kong.  I was under the impression that I might be able to find some
delectable items that are not generally possible to find here in the
U.S.  Luckily, I guessed correctly; however, it took quite a bit of
looking around to find these things.  If you ever find yourself in
Hong Kong, drop by the Temple Street Night Market on Kowloon side
(about two miles from the ferry terminal, in the direction of the New
Territories) and check out the larger CD and tape stores.  Some of
them have pretty good selections of stuff you might not be able to
find wherever you happen to live.  Keep in mind that Hong Kong people
have a different method of sorting CDs - it's called "explosion sort"
- where everything is lumped together as if it were gathered up after
a small explosion.

	Anyway, I picked up three interesting pieces, which I'll
briefly summarise, since I know some folks out there enjoy listening
to the same stuff I "dig."  First off, found a CD of Mick Karn's
newest solo effort, entitled "Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters."  I
was aware from experience in S.F. that this particular CD is close to
impossible to find (in my area, anyway).  It's an ADD release
(digitally mixed) and the sound is tremendous.

	Karn forsakes his usual slippery fretless work found on his
efforts with Japan to display some of his well-rounded skills on
keyboards, brass and reeds.  Quite typically an oboe will play a
counterpoint melody with some thunderous drumming provided by former
Japan-er Steve Jansen.  Most work is instrumental, with guest vocals
and lyrics provided by none other than our perennial favourite David
Sylvian on two rather commercially oriented tunes ("Buoy" and "When
Love Walks In").  Jansen also composes two pieces, and displays bits
and pieces of Ghanian Ewe drumming as well as the usual gamelan
inflections, which become quite prominent (complete with imbal playing
techniques) on "Land."  Overall, this CD is quite strong.  The pieces
DO tend toward excessive repetition, however, and often strongly
resemble Mark Isham with Percy Jones sitting in on fretless bass.
Worth a shot.

	In the same vein, I managed to finagle "The Waking Hour," a
Dalis Car collaboration between Karn and Bauhaus' Peter Murphy.  This
DDD release is much more bottom-heavy than "Dreams..." and features
plenty of thumping drum machine work, with the odd sampled dumbek
provided by Karn.  All writing, instrumentation and musicianship is
done by Karn, making this release essen- tially a Karn solo effort.
Quite a bit more fretless work is here, especially evident on the
convoluted opener "Dalis Car."  The instrumental "Artemis" is also
strong, opening with backwards fretless work followed by a strong
melodic development.  Its follower, "Create and Melt," features an
interesting sampled dumbek pattern and is also quite good.
Unfortunately the remainder of the album is mundane at best, with the
overmixed drum machine playing a rather obnoxious role in the whole
affair.

	Finally, I glimpsed a collaborative effort between Kazumi
Watanabe (famed jazz/fusion guitarist) and Ryuichi Sakamoto, formerly
of YMO and also familiar to many readers due to his collaborations
with Sylvian and others.  I bought it immediately, thinking it would
be a beautiful fusion of crunching guitar work with angular wavo synth
efforts.  Instead, "Tokyo Joe" is a very polished bit of --- JAPANESE
DISCO.  Recorded in 1985, it features a lot of vocal work from
Sakamoto's wife, Akiro somebody-or-other, and as IED has mentioned in
the electronic pages of this very digest, she has a rather distinctive
American drawl to her voice.  Unfortunately, we see most of it in a
live disco setting, with most of the lyrics provided by her with the
exception of two covers (the title track, a Bryan Ferry tune, and "The
River", originally penned by Gino Vanelli).  Lots of processed
strings, stupid Roland e-drum fills, and obnoxious bass that does only
octave doubled riffs.  A great disco album, if that's what you like.
Unfortunately I hate disco.  Sigh.

	Oh yeah.  Also got "Jazz from Hell" before I left for HK.
Typical of what you might expect from someone who uses a Synclavier
only because it's "so hard to find musicians to play my music the way
I write it."  Save your bucks, unless you are a die-hard Frank fan or
enjoy listening to pre-processed unspontaneous yet technically
difficult pieces.  Question of the day: is this music, or merely
competent arrangement?  Who's PLAYING here, anyway?

	I start working full time on Monday.  Having graduated, I
enter the world of the working stiffs with a yawn.  See ya.

	Rob
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				Rob Rosen			
	University of California, Computer Systems Support Group
ucbvax!rosen [UUCP] rosen@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU [Internet] rosen@ucbvax.BITNET