REVIEW - BIG STAR THIRD, BARBICAN, LONDON

An up-down, up-down, sideways evening.

Review here: The Arts Desk Big Star Third Barbican

YOUNG FLOWERS ON RPM INTERNATIONAL - TAKE WARNING: THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS

Denmark was cool years before The Killing and Borgen hit British TV screens. Julian Cope said Young Flowers’ “The Moment Life Appeared”, from their first album was, “magical”. He also praised their “totally full on freakout style” and pointed to them as precursors of Krautrock.

Take Warning: The Complete Studio Recordings is the first time all of Young Flowers’ recording have been brought together and anthologises both their albums, their non-album debut single, contributions to the film soundtrack Quiet Days In Clichy and a trio of live tracks which show how raw they could be. This is the Denmark of 1967-1969 at its freakiest.

Young Flowers formed in summer 1967. They headlined Copenhagen’s Festival of the Flower Children in September 1967. The first Danish hippy band, the first Danish rock - rather than pop or folk-derived - band to sing in their native language on album, and the first Danish to play the States, they were pioneers. Members later played with the legendary Culpeper’s Orchard and Savage Rose. They immediately hit big with debut album Blomsterpistolen (Flower Gun), recorded as the soundtrack to surreal TV series. A trio, and although influenced by Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience, their intense music had an experimental edge. They set Walt Whitman's poetry to music.

Take Warning: The Complete Studio Recordings is RPM International’s definitive, band-approved, collection, is a tribute to a unique band

The release date is 25 June.

CD1

Blomsterpistolen (Sonet SLPS1258, 1968)

1. Overture/Take Warning stk. 1
2. The Moment Life Appeared stk. 2
3. 25 Øre)
4. Oppe I Træet stk. 3
5. To You stk. 4
6. Down Along The Cover stk. 5
7. April ’68

Bonus tracks

8. Like Birds (Sonet T7252, 1967)
9. City Of Friends (Sonet T7252, 1967)
10. Behind The Golden Sun (Quiet Days In Clichy, Vanguard VSD 79303, 1970)
11. Menilmontant
12. (Quiet Days In Clichy, Vanguard VSD 79303, 1970)
13. Party (Quiet Days In Clichy, Vanguard VSD 79303, 1970)

CD2

No. 2 (Sonet SLPS 1511, 1969)

1. You Upset Me Baby
2. And Who I Should Be 4
3. Calypso 4
4. Won’t You Take My Place In The Queue
5. Slow Down Driver
6. The Daybreak
7. Kragerne Vender

Bonus tracks

8. Hey Princess (Live, Århus Stadionhal, 25 Sep 1969)
9. Tonight (Live, Århus Stadionhal, 25 Sep 1969)
10. Won’t You Sit Down (Live, Århus Stadionhal, 25 Sep 1969)

REVIEW - SIGUR RÓS: VALTARI

What a confounding album.

Review here: The Arts Desk Sigur Rós Valtari

TV/FILM REVIEWS - THE BRIDGE (BRON/BROEN), SHE MONKEYS (APFLICKORNA), L'ATALANTE AND THE FILMS OF JEAN VIGO, BRAQUO, THE BLACK PANTHER

She Monkeys (Apflickorna): The Arts Desk She Monkeys

The Bridge (Bron/Broen): The Arts Desk The Bridge

Jean Vigo - L'Atalante and the Films of Jean Vigo: The Arts Desk L'Atalante and the Films of Jean Vigo

Braquo: The Arts Desk Braquo

The Black Panther: The Arts Desk The Black Panther

REVIEW - SPOT FESTIVAL 2012, AARHUS, DENMARK

Really interesting and great that there was bit of looking back this year at established Danish music and celebrating that too. Some super new discoveries and it was great fun going on Jan Sneum's DR radio show too.  

Billboard review here: Billboard SPOT 2012

The Arts Desk Review here: The Arts Desk SPOT 2012

And MOJO here: MOJO SPOT 2012

Here's a pic of Penny Police (photo by Mikkel Drewsen).

REVIEW - MY BLOODY VALENTINE REISSUES: ISN’T ANYTHING, LOVELESS, EPS 1988-1991

Yes, let’s find out what they did for Island. These have to be viewed as a starting point.

And also, let’s a have a proper multi-label, multi-line up box set including things like, say, “The Coral Sea”.

Review here: The Arts Desk My Bloody Valentine Isn’t Anything, Loveless, EPs 1988-1991

REVIEW – 10CC, ROYAL ALBERT HALL, LONDON

More than the Graham Gouldman show, and it also brought home what a superb, unique thing 10cc were.

Review here: The Arts Desk, 10cc, Royal Albert Hall

REVIEW - BEACH HOUSE: BLOOM

Repeated listening hasn’t brought anything, it’s very project-like. The organic would have helped.

Review here: The Arts Desk Beach House Bloom

REVIEW - SMALL FACES REISSUES: THE DECCA ALBUM (DELUXE EDITION), FROM THE BEGINNING (DELUXE EDITION), THE IMMEDIATE ALBUM (DELUXE EDITION), OGDEN'S NUT GONE FLAKE (DELUXE EDITION)

 

 

Boy, that’s a lot of extra tracks – pretty much overshadowing the actual albums themselves (except for Ogden’s).

Review here: The Arts Desk Small Faces

REVIEW - HAIGHT-ASHBURY 2: THE ASHBURYS

Great album, a seamlessly elegant exposition of what could easily be stale. Them at Trans Musicales here.  

Review here: The Arts Desk Haight-Ashbury 2 The Ashburys

FRANCE GALL ON RPM INTERNATIONAL – MADE IN FRANCE: FRANCE GALL’S BABY POP

Made in France: France Gall’s Baby Pop is the definitive collection of Gallic girl France Gall’s upbeat, irresistible girl pop.

She won the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest with “Poupée De Cire Poupée De Son”, written specially for her by the legendary cultural icon Serge Gainsbourg. She was the first pop singer he written for. Made in France: France Gall’s Baby Pop includes all the songs he composed for her, bringing them together for the first time outside France. It’s also the first time “Poupée De Cire Poupée De Son” has been released in the English-speaking world since the 60s.

As well as satirising Swinging London on “Made in France” she brought her naive magic to subversive Gainsbourg songs like “Teenie Weenie Boppie” (about LSD) and “Les Sucettes” (a barely cloaked metaphor for oral sex – she had no idea what the song was about).

Also unique are the first chance to hear her shelved take of Gainsbourg's "Bloody Jack" outside France, and the first-ever reissue of her Japanese-language version of “Poupée De Cire Poupée De Son”.

Release date is 28 May.

1. Poupée De Cire Poupée De Son (Philips 437.032, 1965)
2. Made In France (Philips 437.358, 1967)
3. Teenie Weenie Boppie (Philips 437.358, 1967)
4. Tu N’As Pas Le Droit (France Gall LP, Philips 70387, 1966)
5. Laisse Tomber Les Filles (Philips 434.949, 1964)
6. Chanson Indienne (Philips 437.393, 1967)
7. Nefertiti (Philips 437.317, 1967)
8. Les Sucettes (Philips 437.229, 1966)
9. Cet Air Là (Philips 437.159, 1966)
10. Attends Ou Va-T’En (Philips 437.095, 1965)
11. Bébé Requin (Philips 437.358, 1967)
12. N’Ecoute Pas Les Idoles (Philips 434.874, 1964)
13. Baby Pop (Philips 437.159, 1966)
14. Nous Nous Sommes Pas Des Anges (Philips 437.125, 1965)
15. Dady Da Da (Philips 437.423, 1968)
16. Le Temps De La Rentrée (Philips 437.125, 1965)
17. Mon Bateau De Nuit (Philips 437.095, 1965)
18. Les Rubans Et La Fleur (Philips 434.874, 1964)
19. Quand On Est Ensemble (Philips 437.229, 1966)
20. Rue De L’Abricot (Philips 437.446, 1968)
21. Bloody Jack (1967 recording, unreleased at the time)
22. Poupée De Cire Poupée De Son (Japanese-language version, Philips Japan FL-1173)