Doom & Gloom Dispatch #6
Songs of Horamar, Stereolab, Garcia/Wales/Mahavishnu, Sandy Denny, John Fahey
Mohammad Mostafa Heydarian - Songs of Horaman
Some serious tanbur jams from Karaj, Iran. Mohammad Mostafa Heydarian is a masterful musician who (despite the vintage look of this album cover) lives in current-day Iran and recorded these incredible improvs in the past few years. The music on Songs of Horaman is both beautiful and knotty, going into trance-like zones at one moment and then dazzling with technical skill the next. Much of the album is solo, but the best stuff might be the pieces with percussionist Behzad Varasteh, which see the pair pushing one another into elevated realms.
Stereolab - The Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, California, September 20, 2022
The last time we checked in with Stereolab, we were digging into one of the band’s very first shows all the way back in 1991. The groop was back on the boards in 2022 — and the show I caught in Denver a few months back was excellent.
The setlists this time around were pretty interesting; Gane, Sadier and co. eschewed a lot of their more well-known material for a deep-cut heavy show. It worked out well — check out the ambitious rendering of the “Refractions In The Plastic Pulse” song suite on this nice San Francisco tape, which unfolds beautifully over the course of a quarter-hour. Or the Microbe Hunters rarity “I Feel The Air (Of Another Planet)” … There are some tried-and-true tunes, of course — the ‘Lab can still absolutely destroy on tunes like “Super Electric” and “French Disko.” No new material, but when you’ve got a repertoire this deep and wide, who needs it?
I also recommend you check out the band that opened most of the Stereolab North American tour — the extraordinary Fievel Is Glauque! Here’s a solid live video of one set, but you’ll definitely want to go get their just-released Flaming Swords LP, too.
Howard Wales & Jerry Garcia / Mahavishnu Orchestra - Symphony Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, January 26, 1972
Before Europe 72 … Boston 72! That winter, Jerry Garcia went on a short tour of the east coast with organist Howard Wales in support of their Hooteroll? LP, which had been released a few months prior. Joined by guitarist Jim Vincent, bassist Roger Troy (AKA Jellyroll) and drummer Jerry Love, Jerry and Howard find a nice middle ground between earthy grooves and interstellar interplay. As those of you familiar with the Side Trips release know, this is perhaps as fusion-y as Garcia ever got, though he’d bring some of these avant-jazz textures to the Dead over the next decade or so. (FYI, things get a little less killer when Jerry takes a smoke break and Jellyroll starts singin’ the blooze.)
Wales Says: The Hooteroll? tour, that was basically a blur. We had two hours of sleep a night and by the time we got finished we were ready to be delivered to the emergency room. It was a great tour because none of it was rehearsed. Some people are surprised when they hear that but we were capable of being out of the box. The way people get that way is because they’re jammers. Jammers have no fear.
Ads for the tour promised “the greatest cosmic music event of the century” … and well, sure! Especially since the bill included Mahavishnu Orchestra, too. Here, John McLaughlin leads the Orchestra through some dazzling musical calisthenics, sounding a bit rawer and dangerous than the group would be in later years. Everyone shines, but we might have to give the MVP to Billy Cobham, who is unbelievable throughout MO’s hour-long set. Superhuman! Jammers have no fear!!!
Sandy Denny - Beatgæst, October 1970
Beatgæst! Thanks to Records Crates United for pointing me in the direction of this new-to-me rarity — a guest DJ spot from the one and only Sandy Denny on Danish radio. Some very nice selections: Steeleye Span, the Stones, Dylan, Judy Collins, etc, all giving us a little glimpse into Sandy’s listening habits as she moved from Fairport to Fotheringay. The real draw, however, is just hearing her lovely speaking voice. I’ve never gotten into ASMR but if Sandy Denny was involved I’d probably have no choice.
John Fahey - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, California, July 14, 1976
"I feel so great," John Fahey announces at the beginning of this tape. "I haven't slept in three nights!"
Yes, it's going to be a wild night in San Francisco with Blind Joe Death. He sounds like he's at the end of his tether, delivering long, rambling monologues, the most harrowing of which have to do with his recent stay at a mental facility. In typical fashion, he makes light of it all, but John is obviously in a fairly deranged state of mind.
And yet! Somehow, Fahey manages to play some pretty goddamn amazing music over the course of two sets (almost three hours!) — a fact that seems to surprise even John himself. A few tunes are out of tune, but for the most part, this is utterly brilliant stuff, with long, verging-on-psychedelic medleys that burrow deep into the subconscious. Hypnotic and more than a little scary ... Listen in, if you dare!
From The Doom & Gloom Archives
Pell Mell - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, California, 1995
Something extremely cool – a previously uncirculated soundboard recording of the awesome instrumental rock group Pell Mell, live in San Francisco. Thanks a million to the band’s drummer Robert Beerman for passing it along for me to share with y’all. I’ve recommended them before, but if you’re not familiar, Pell Mell existed in various forms throughout the 1980s and 1990s, releasing albums on such labels as K Records, SST, DGC and Matador. Sadly, a fair amount of their work remains in limbo – you can get this fantastic early live release via Bandcamp and Interstate from 1995 is available over on Amazon. Discogs is probably your best bet for the rest …
A recent Perfect Sound Forever feature by Dave Lang sums the Pell Mell vibe up nicely: “Pell Mell took the twang of Duane Eddy and the Ventures and mixed it up with a jagged, post-punk approach and a beautiful, evocative lyricism which has a wonderfully cinematic quality (no wonder they have had their music used on screen, notably on the HBO series Six Feet Under). A vocalist would only clutter things. The perfectly complimentary interplay between the bass/drums rhythm section and the expressive guitar lines possess a sublime beauty which few others have ever matched. Just imagine Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd playing the Dick Dale songbook… then imagine a music writer struggling to put in words what it is Pell Mell did exactly.”
Right on. This 1995 live show is fantastic, capturing Pell Mell on tour in support of Interstate, the band’s lone major label release. The guitars sparkle, the rhythm section crackles and Steve Fisk’s keyboards add layers of atmosphere and ambiance. The lineup here is Beerman, Fisk, bassist Greg Freeman and guitarists David Spalding and Mike Leahy, and they sound groovy from start to finish. I’m struck by how strong Pell Mell’s melodies were at this stage – each tune is lovely, while still maintaining an edgy, restless quality. So good. In addition to a bunch of songs from Interstate and its predecessor Flow, we also get two great outtakes, which I don’t think are available anywhere else. For a visual add-on, check out a couple nostalgia-stoking videos from the day after down at LA’s Rhino Records.
Currently Reading: Needles and Plastic: Flying Nun Records, 1981–1988 by Matthew Goody