Doom & Gloom Dispatch #22: Grooving On An Inner Plane
Katrina Krimsky, Neil Young, Bert Jansch, Robyn Hitchcock, Doug Yule
A beautiful selection of solo piano minimalism, recorded live at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY back in — you guessed it — 1980. Katrina Krimsky’s keyboard style can be slotted comfortably alongside the “well-tuned piano” situations of Terry Riley and La Monte Young, but I occasionally get the welcoming, exploratory vibes of Keith Jarrett’s solo pieces, too. Over the course of three long compositions, 1980 blossoms into a subtly shifting, deeply textured whole. Highly recommended.
Neil Young :: Time Fades Away (Again)
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Time Fades Away tour, I’ve put together an alternate version of the album — one that spans from 1971 to 2015. It’s a good listen, with plenty of rarely played numbers and oddball arrangements. “Don’t Be Denied” with Trans-era synth drums?!?! Hell yeah.
Time Fades Away has long been a favorite of mine, not only for the amazing music, but for the fact that it was one of those records that Neil refused to reissue back in the 1990s. That meant you had to make your way to a used record store and dig through the crates to find your own copy (Granted, it wasn’t exactly rare — copies of the Harvest followup were plentiful!). You couldn’t dial it up on the YouTube back then, kids! It was just another little revelation that some of the best things weren’t going to just be handed to me. I was going to have to go searching for them. This isn’t only a good lesson for music, but for life, mannnnn.
And hey, I’m not the only one celebrating TFA’s golden anniversary: here’s Yo La Tengo playing the title track with Minneapolis punk legend Mark Freeman this past weekend.
Bert Jansch - Sounds of the 70s
A Bert At The BBC collection came out last year collecting decades of Bert Jansch sessions — and lo, it was good. At eight discs, you’d assume that it would be fairly comprehensive … but this Sounds of the 70s broadcast from 1971 only emerged a few months back. And, holy smokes, it is amazing, peak Jansch!
“It has long been the holy grail of Bert’s BBC career - songs almost all from the ‘Rosemary Lane’ LP that in several cases he would never perform again,” writes uploader / author / songwriter Colin Harper. Really beautiful stuff, thanks a million to Colin and Christopher Gardiner, the guy who taped it all those years ago. My only complaint is that it isn’t long enough. Oh well, you can also listen to Gardiner’s recording of Bert at the Royal Festival Hall from right around the same time, which has just been shared in upgraded sound quality. A dream a dream a dream.
Robyn Hitchcock - The Chapel, San Francisco, California, March 21, 2023
I was filled with pangs of jealousy when several friends sent reports from the west coast about Robyn Hitchcock’s current tour — it’s definitely been too long since I’ve seen this guy. Fortunately, he’s coming out to my neck of the woods in June. Hallelujah. Until then, Michael Zelner’s great tape of this SF gig will have to tide us over. (Robyn’s making his way to the east coast as we speak.)
Any Hitchcock gig that kicks off with “Raymond Chandler Evening” is going to be good — and this one is no exception. From the opening acoustic set (bolstered by some Emma Swift harmonies) to the raucous electric portion, it’s a crackling performance, with plenty of tunes from the new Shufflemania! and dips into the back catalog. Robyn’s 2023 west coast band includes Kelly Stoltz on drums, Bart Davenport on bass and Fastback/Young Fresh Fellow Kurt Bloch on guitar. Bloch is a more-than-solid foil for Robyn, adding some Rew-ish moves. I dig the Ebow drift he adds to a long, almost-menacing re-arrangement of “Autumn Sunglasses” here. And elsewhere, Kurt shows he can certainly jangle with the best of them.
The evening ends with a suitably grooving “Grooving On An Inner Plane,” sending the audience bopping out into the San Francisco night (which “was rainy with gale-force cyclonic winds”). That raining twilight coast …
(And hey, my interview with Robyn from last year is still fresh! Very happy with how that turned out …)
“Satellite of Love” - Lou Reed with Doug Yule, Marseilles, France, March 15, 1975
I love this pic (taken by Gijsbert Hanekroot in Amsterdam in March of 1975) capturing a nice moment between Doug Yule and Lou Reed during their mid-70s reunion. Doug toured as lead guitarist with Lou for much of 1974 and 1975, and in some alternate universe, the duo continued collaborating over the decades. Alas, I think this period was the last time they played together. But Doug and Lou had real chemistry — how often do you see such a genuine smile on Lou's face onstage, especially in the 1970s? Not often.
And how often did Lou let someone else take lead vocals during his solo years? Not often (though Antony and Fernando Saunders would be given solo spotlights much later on). But here, we’ve got Doug stepping up to the mic for “Satellite of Love,” which suits him very nicely indeed. Thanks to Michael at the awesome Weapons, etc Lou Insta account for sharing and to Steve Stroud for audio restoration. Things like this drive me out of my mind.
Doug Says: I thoroughly enjoyed playing with Lou through 1974 and 1975… it was wonderfully fun to organize and the band we had was a lot of fun. Lou was solid, and his spirit was positive because he had his girlfriend there, Rachel. It was very different from touring with the Velvets; there was actually an audience that knew who we were… and we played to thousands, instead of just a dozen people! There were hassles, but that was only management’s fault. Same as with the Velvets.
From the Doom & Gloom Archives
Yo La Tengo - Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, England, June 8, 1995
Yo La Tengo managed to get one Hanukkah gig in this year, by way of an awesome livestream benefit for the Greene Space that featured Ivan Julian, Amy Rigby, Wreckless Eric and Ira’s mom. The band played a somewhat extended “From A Motel 6″ — which whetted my appetite for even more YLT jam-centric material. Lo and behold, here they are a quarter century ago, with a half-hour set that consists of just two songs: “From A Motel 6″ and “Blue Line Swinger.” A journey to the outer reaches! And hey, I just discovered that someone has synched the soundboard audio to this video, so you can watch as well as listen …
Currently Reading: Flyboy 2 by Greg Tate