Simon Joyner - Pocket Moon - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Artists are not athletes. The career of the athlete is, by mortal necessity, compressed and brief. No one expects to see a professional slugger in their sixties out on the diamond, much less see them vying for a pennant. Artists, on the other hand, tend to age like wine-think Dylan, Cohen, and Cash-with the most rarefied among them capable of swinging for the fences with every at bat. Omaha singer-songwriter Simon Joyner, who recently turned fifty, is such an artist, and while I'd certainly enjoy seeing his face grinning at me from a box of Wheaties, I'd rather he continue making albums like Songs From A Stolen Guitar. Songs From A Stolen Guitar was recorded across several different cities. Joyner recorded his vocals and guitar live in Omaha; bassist Wil Hendrix added his parts at home in San Francisco, Michael Krassner recorded his guitar and piano overdubs at home in Phoenix, and drummer / percussionist Ryan Jewell recorded in Colorado. This musical chain letter then made it's way back to Omaha where David Nance (guitars and backing vocals), Ben Brodin (organ and vibraphone), and Megan Siebe (viola and backing vocals) overdubbed-separately-their respective contributionsInchThe remoteness of the individual players on Songs From A Stolen Guitar, while necessarily eliminating some of the ragged spontaneity of much of Joyner's previous work, yields a sort of silver-lining effect Joyner's songs, produced more meticulously and perhaps more intentionally here than on any of his previous albums, cut through that much cleaner, foregrounding both his dazzling wordplay and his clarity of vision. If Ghosts [2012] was his Tonight's The Night-clamorous, naked, and unmoored-Songs From A Stolen Guitar may just turn out to be his Harvest.Inch -James Jackson Toth aka Wooden Wand

Nicolai Malko - Leonore Overture No 3 [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/10/2009

Formed in 1976, by 1990, The Fall had been through 18 line ups, releasing 14 albums and 24 singles - The only constant was leader, vocalist Mark Edward Smith - welded to the work ethic, creating music that stunned in it's obscure brilliance; railing against mediocrity, flailing against the status quo. It was all change when The Fall signed to Fontana. Guitarist Martin Bramah, who had founded the group with Smith, returned, replacing Smith's ex- wife Brix, who had been in the group since 1983. There were few cries of sell-out, however, when The Fall signed to a major; it was just part of an evolutionary process. The three Fontana albums, Extricate, Shift- Work and Code Selfish were stunningly consistent. With Martin Bramah and keyboard player Marcia Schofield dismissed from the band, The Fall worked as a four- piece (Craig Scanlon, guitar; Steve Hanley, bass; Simon 'Funky Si' Wolstencroft on drums) for the first time in the group's career. Shift- Work from April 1991 is another commercial Fall high- water mark; it contains Idiot Joy Showland, Smith's rant against bandwagon- jumping Madchester bands (InchThe shapeless kecks flapping up a storm, look at what they are a pack of worms. Inch), the one- time album title track, The War Against Intelligence, and the bucolic Edinburgh Man, a love letter to Mark E. Smith's then- adopted home city. This re- issue faithfully replicates the original 1991 Fontana Records UK and is pressed onto high quality 180gm vinyl.