Orchestral Works Vol. 1

On belatedly catching up with Twin Peaks: The Return a few years ago, in the middle of its very striking eighth episode where a slow-motion monochrome nuclear explosion is accompanied by the sound of harshly screeching strings, I recognised the music right away as Krzysztof Penderecki's 'Threnody For The Victims Of Hiroshima'.

The 'Threnody' is among the pieces on this CD that I'd picked up in an anodyne small-town shopping-mall about twenty years ago. I'd been curious to hear it having previously read some reference to it (possibly by Lester Bangs) as an exemplary slice of horrible noise. I expected it to sound abrasive and discordant, but its expressive power caught me off-guard. It apparently took its composer by surprise too: beginning life as a something of an abstract piece, it was only when he first heard it performed that its "emotional charge" became apparent to him.

The main part of this disc is devoted to Penderecki's 3rd Symphony, a work completed in '95 that didn't grab my attention as much as the earlier and wilder compositions included here. Besides the 'Threnody' there is 'De Natura Sonoris II', part of which featured in the soundtrack to Kubrick's The Shining; and 'Fluorescences', where Penderecki coaxes an extraordinary racket out of an orchestra expanded to include such unconventional instrumentation as an alarm siren, cowbells, and a typewriter.

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All Wrapped Up

Here's another of the compilation cassettes I bought this summer, having taken home a Denon twin-deck hi-fi cassette player from the local charity shop. All Wrapped Up is a 1983 compilation of singles by The Undertones, with Side One filled with A-sides, and B-sides on Side Two. A cassette must be the least desirable medium for such an arrangement, with a long rewind required if one just wants to hear the hits repeatedly. The Undertones were unapologetically provincial and anti-fashionable, with their songs sharply-written slices of life that pointedly avoided any mention of politics, or of the then-continuing violence in their native Derry. My favourite tracks are the obvious choices: 'Teenage Kicks', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'Here Comes the Summer', 'My Perfect Cousin' & 'Wednesday Week'. Their later singles showed increased sophistication but lack the some of the straightforward charm of their earlier work. The B-sides, not unexpectedly, are mo...

In Heat

Having acquired the soubriquet "the walrus of love", Barry White thereafter became something of a figure of fun, something that misled me (and presumably others) into disregarding his music. Only within the last few years have I begun to pay it more attention. After picking up a copy of his '74 album Can't Get Enough last summer, which I loved, I sought out some of the music by his protegés Love Unlimited. From a Discogs seller I ordered well-used copies of Under the Influence of... ('73) and In Heat ('74) for only £6.25. The only unappealing thing about In Heat is its awful title. The songs and the singing are strong; the arrangements rich & warmly enveloping. As one would expect from White, the thematic focus is firmly fixed on amatory matters. The opening number 'Move Me No Mountain' (the only one on the record not written by White) offers a refreshing rebuttal to the kind of lyrical hyperbole in songs like 'Ain't No Mountain High E...

Bananas Are Not Created Equal

I knew Jay Berliner's name from his contributions to Van Morrison's Astral Weeks and Charles Mingus' The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady , so when I saw this curiously-titled LP at the local charity shop I was intrigued, and bought it even though I had no idea what kind of music it might contain. This was after the days when one could still buy records there for a pound apiece, but I don't think I paid more than a fiver for it. The music turned out to be an all-instrumental blend of funk, soul & jazz. Berliner's virtuoso lead guitar is only one of many attractions here. The band of first-rate session musicians behind him are all uniformly excellent too, and, crucially, sound like they're having a blast. Cornell Dupree's supporting guitar work, while less showy than Berliner's, is beautifully-judged, and the rhythm section is terrific. Arranger/conductor Wade Marcus was no slouch either, judging from the way everything comes together. Two of the funk...

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