The Alan Parsons Project "Pyr△mid" (1978)

Following a thematic and dated take on artificial intelligence with I Robot, The Alan Parsons Project return with this concept record based on the pyramids of Giza. Its title may lack subtlety but the lyrics seem mostly disconnected now learning of its conception. It could be some ignorance on my behalf but this record feels more like a continuation of what came before it, Progressive Rock with a charming reach into the adjacent sounds and styles of the time. It too seamlessly weaves between sweet moods and measured temperaments as it sways from a sporadic rump of British patriotic royal trumpets to a heart broken ballad in the flow of just a couple songs.

Classy and keen they triumph a lot of percussive groove and simple melodic pleasures as songs jive with an energetic drive rhythmically. The bass is often driving and it comes to a heard on In The Lap Of The Gods as mighty voices chime in over its dramatic climax, excited by a exuberant string section. I love how the punchy Rock grooves, jiving Funk and R&B influences rub shoulders with these swells of symphonic excellence. Its not until Hyper-Gamma-Spaces that some of the Tangerine Dream inspired sounds of 70s synthesizers return on a whirling psychedelic tangent.

Overall the album feels somewhat brief in its nine tracks with each song tending to stick to its one dimension. Its ending is another stunning track, dazzling with cinematic might in its opening and tailing off into a teary song of regret and loneliness. Its a true ending of a tale, just one I'm not sure where it started. Pyr△mid flows wonderfully but lyrically I didn't feel the connection. As much as I enjoy this project, my retroactive ears pick up on a lot of adjacent style when its comes to originality. Can't Take It With You is the biggest culprit, its wonderful guitar solo sadly to obvious in its imitation of Pink Floyd. Other than that blush, its quite a wonderful album to partake in.

Rating: 8/10

Queen "Jazz" (1978)

Now embarking on their seventh full length, the eclectic music of Queen is starting to to sound more compartmentalized. No longer an organic tapestry that ebbs and flows from theatrical pantomime to hard guitar grooves and all in between, the group have split their styles and experiments into distinct songs that had me feeling like I had a bias to the ones I knew. The reality is Jazz has a mix of stinkers and classics among its thirteen tracks. Where time has dwindled out the mediocre, the classics have lived on which leads me to believe its no bias but an album of mixed fruits, some of which are rotten and many listens couldn't sweeten the taste for me.

The album kicks off with the stale and jarring Mustapha. It conjures Arabic dialect to foster a middle eastern atmosphere. Then its dense and swaying rock guitars rub up against the stark tone with contrasting vibes. Its production is drab in halves and the song rather dull. Bicycle Race and Fat Bottomed Girls are classics that need no introduction, the latter revives the arena rock anthem ideals of News Of The World's opening songs. If You Can't Beat Them seems contrived to reach the same anthemic chorus ideals but its execution is so underwhelming, it doesn't have any juice or pizzazz. Don't Stop Me Now is a beautiful eruption of piano led music, trusted forth by Freddie's unforgettable expressions. Similar ideas can be heard on the ballad Jealousy and In Only Seven Days but again, its a template now and they don't deliver.

Many Queen tropes are being recycled, even guitar tones too. Its a creatively stagnant point but their collective genius lands on occasions. Jazz does end on a creative high with More Of That Jazz, deploying slick metallic guitar licks that gel into atmospheric vocal layering. Its a delight, played on a loop with snippets of songs from earlier in the record, a cool way to bow the album out. If Ive sounded critical it may be that opening song setting the wrong tone for the following music. At this point I just think the band have bared their fruits and its obvious what they are attempting, so when it doesn't hit the mark it falls flat in comparison to the high standard they have created for themselves.

Favorite Tracks: Fat Bottomed Girls, Bicycle Race, Dead On Time, Don't Stop Me Now, More Of That Jazz

Rating: 6/10

Jean Michel Jarre "Equinoxe" (1978)

In the mood for more of this nostalgic, imaginative yet primal electronic music, I picked up French composer Jean Michel Jarre's following record from the classic Oxygene. In the two years elapsed since, the music has advanced with a subtle refinement in composure and the evolution of bold and sharp, chirpy synths. In the brightest appearances they become reminiscent of Chiptune and 8-Bit tones in passing. The records use of environmental sound, wind, waves and the like are far more complimentary and overall the visions conjured resist any detraction from the quirkiness off these experimental noises, although blurbs, beeps, blips and barbs talk like an alien voice on Part 4 inbetween the sounds of limbs slashing through air like hasty karate chops.

It seems that in its beginning Equinoxe leans more so into the dark, paranoid and dystopian realm. With decades of music between this and now, what once may have been quite the shock now sounds more ambiguous and open to interpretation in the wake of progressively evil music. It has its upbeat and cheerful tunes too, Part 5 being a particularly playful, the soundtrack to an interplanetary cosmic fairground. These adventurous, chirpy melodies continue into the next part and then the record slowly finds its way to a darker setting before the roar of thunder and patter of rain leads us to the present with the sounds of French fairground music panning the stereo. It ushers in a contrasting conclusion to the record with more spacey, galactic wonder.

Equinoxe is seemingly a step up in production but it mostly spins similar ideas to its predecessor, which has quite the impact on first listen. Its an enjoyable record, the atmosphere and adventure is ripe and vivid but also novelty too. I can't help but feel I'll enjoy each record less as the wonder of a fresh stylistic pallet subsides. I spend a fair amount of time with these records, maybe ten or more spins before I write these blogs and Its music like this I'm sure you can form strong bonds with if it fills a gap in your musical experience or arrives at the right time. For all my listenss little has stuck with me in terms of its key melodies, they mostly fall back into the tapestry of instruments that make up its atmosphere.

Rating: 6/10

Crass "The Feeding Of The 5000" (1978)

Here's another record that the miracle of shuffle brought me back to. Reading and exploring the world of Punk music many years back Crass stood out as one of the most interesting bands, pioneers of the Anarcho Punk sound, Crass were artists who met their words with actual activism and action, true anarchists who expressed their anti establishment and authoritarian views through their DIY music. Feminists, animal rights activists and anti-war they stood for a lot of things I agree with while pointing out the hypocritical nature of punk ideology in the mainstream, calling out The Clash directly on one particular song. The bands story is fascinating, their influence on political culture and activism during their short tenure is unique and quite unheard of in the world of music today... or at any time really.

Punk can be unapologetically raw and crass, pun intended, but not quite like Crass are, with spoken word and dissonant guitar distortions, scratchy and dingy in tone, the band border on Art Punk with a continual exploration of feedback noise through their songs where you might of expected simple power chord riffs. When they do resemble more traditional styles they are buried, distant, quiet and second fiddle to the chemistry between bass guitar and drums. The core "melody" comes from the bouncy bass guitar, lining the direction of each track with a chromatic charm. The drums sound narrow but rattle away with a militant industrial vibe, keeping rhythm with snare rolls and marching rhythms between kick and snare. The symbols are quiet and often hit at the same time as a drum, rarely heard in the moments between.

They create quite the gloomy, nihilistic atmosphere, taking on the weight of the urgency they feel for their world views. Vocalist Steve Ignorant as the lead voice has quite the stark and blunt approach to his performance, almost spoken word, or shouted word as his thick London accent dominates the listeners attention. Its again unapologetic and straight to the point, a brilliant union of art and intention, you can feel the passion and fire for their beleifs. The album is also littered with creativity in the form of sampling, artsy spoken word interludes from Eve Libertine and interesting song ideas. The anti nuclear "They've Got A Bomb" sets a grim tone with crackling guitar noise and as Steve says "twenty odd years now waiting for a flash" it goes silent, as if the bomb has gone of. Fantastic. After its opening track the music starts and ends with two renditions of "Do They Owe Us A living", solidifying one of its main themes.

At thirty two minutes its fast, direct and loaded with short tracks, eighteen in total but they play like a singular experience in moments, often rolling from one into the next, sometimes with the shifts in tempo being transitioned through the drums which steadily increase or decrease in speed. The records DIY production doesn't hold it back, its a low fidelity affair and the reality and genuine nature of its construction makes complete sense given the circumstances, its part of its charm. I love this record for its character, conviction and substance, the music is grounded in reality. The people, ideas are real and meaningful, a much more intelligent form of Punk with a strong, harsh, unforgiving aesthetic.

Favorite Tracks: Do They Owe Us A Living, They've Got A Bomb, Punk Is Dead, Banned From The Roxy, Fight Wars Not War, Securior, You Pay, What A Shame

Rating: 8/10

Kraftwerk "The Man-Machine" (1978)

The world of Electronic music is one I'm fond of, but not well educated on its history and evolution. From my understanding it is Kraftwerk who are often hailed as the godfathers of all modern Electronic music. I've frequently heard about them in the highest of regards from enthusiasts who point to them as pioneers in the field who's influence is enormous and lasting. After enjoying the song "Robots" and its quirky music video on Youtube I have failed to listen to this record for too long.

It was impossible to listen to this record with out thinking about its context, era and what it would have meant for the music of the future, but this didn't effect my enjoyment of this record, what I found were 6 repetitive and minimalist songs that had a gentle, yet unusual soul about them. Kraftwerk's sound is powerful considering the lack of depth on hand. Songs mostly consisted of three to five layers of synthesizers, an electronic kit and vocoded vocals. The beauty of there music was in the expression, through limited options the four created catchy and memorable tunes with an unusual air about them, probably reflecting the new frontier they were sailing with Electronic music. It was this ingenuity to bring melodic sensibility and catchy notation to the electronic sound that I suspect is what has earned them their reputation. Previously I had heard synthesizers being used as evolving tangents of progressing sound on such a record as "Dark Side Of The Moon" or some Tangerine Dream of the same era.

As a whole the record sounds pristine, so much care was put into the mix and the texture of these synthesizers, at a time when production was not as advanced. With a fantastic sound the group craft absorbing songs that, despite the minimalism, feel rich with atmosphere and character. As the album progress the vocal content develops a little, but always sticking to a simplicity that expresses a non-human characteristic as vocoded vocals repeat words in an alien use of language. As the album sucked me in I felt the repetitive synth leads becoming more memorizing and absorbing, with a fantastic moment on "Neon Lights" as sweeping, glistening synths captivate and dance there way through half the duration of this track. Impressive album, even more so considering the era of time. That being said nothing here feels dated, Kraftwerk didn't just experiment or push boundaries, they created honest music as they did it.

Favorite Tracks: Metropolis, Neon Lights, The Man Machine

Rating: 9/10