Tosh Berman's Blog, page 265

Author Photo and Book Cover for "Sparks-Tastic" by Tosh Berman

Author Tosh Berman photo by Lun*na Menoh
Painting by Lun*na Menoh

My Favorite Albums of 2012 (on vinyl)

Part 2:

Also keep in mind this is what I listened to in 2012.  I rarely listen to brand new releases.

I found a Mono copy of this album at Brand Bookstore in Glendale.  $4 and I play it at least once a day.    Glenn Gould is such a remarkable player, and when he has Bach in front of him it is sort of like watching a great dance between the minds and fingers of these guys.   Gould always struck me as a jazz player for some reason, because he teases and pulls on the melody, its very sexy and what he leaves is a form of perfection.  Fantastic album.
On Charles Mingus' record label, this album captures a brilliant series of moments in a recording studio in 1955.  Moody, textural bliss.  It also features one of my all-time favorite songs "Nature Boy."  Teddy Charles plays vibes on this album, and it really adds a smokey existence that you can still feel after the needle leaves the vinyl.  Sort of the ultimate soundtrack for the first drink in the evening, but it is also very reflective and goes beyond the surface or one may say 'under the skin.'  All I know is when I play "Blue Moods" I get lost in my thoughts.   Elvin Jones on drums.
The Walker Brothers Live in Japan.  Recorded at Osaka Festival Hall January 2nd - 4th  and yeah, a wow.  This album was originally issued only in Japan.  What I have is a British re-issue that came out sometime in the 1980's and was given to me by my friend Stuart sometime in that era.  I sort of lost it among the books and other records, but discovered it recently and I put it on, and was taken to another world.  Loud audience noise of course, but the music and more important the voices come out ringing.  They do all their hits, as well as "Land of 1000 Dances" and "Ooh Poo Pah Doo."  A great snapshot of a time where Scott soon afterwards follows his instincts to a very different area of his mind or world.  A very rare record, and a very fantastic one as well.

My Favorite Albums of 2012 (on vinyl) Part One

Due to time I am only listing three albums at a time.  And keep in mind that not all of these releases are new ones - but more what I listened to in the year 2012.  As  you can gather, I have very little interest in 'new' recordings.  But there are of course, exceptions.   All the albums are on vinyl.
As a kid, my family hung out with architects at their homes and it seems every one of them had this album.   For one, its not wild.  This is music that soothes but with a certain amount of sexual tension.  Miles is very much a sensual player and his trumpet sways like a dancer with the orchestration.  A perfect cocktail type of album where you sipping wine/martini and just floating with the haunted, but somewhat bitter melody.   I bought this at Rockaway, during their Black Friday promotion. Its a newly issued Mono version.  Really beautiful work.
There are records that you can just throw on the turntable and do something else.  Scott Walker's "Bish Bosch" is not such a record.   Once the needle hits the first track you are tied down to a chair or floor in front of the speakers, and you are not going to move an inch, because this is work that demands your full attention.   Hauntingly beautiful, this is music that takes you into today's world - all the ugliness, the bitterness, and a certain amount of beauty (or some version of it) mostly due to Scott Walker's still-incredible vocals.  Rarely do I hear new work that says 2012.   Probably the most un-bullshit album ever.  To say I love it, is like one needs water.  Without a doubt the most essential record released in the 21st Century so far.   The silence on this album is just as important as the music.
Hearing Sparks' "No 1 Song in Heaven"  on vinyl for the first time is a real 'wow' series of moments.  Released in the late 1970's this record is the shot that was heard around the world.  Without a doubt a major influence on future electro-duos like Soft Cell, Associates, Pet Shop Boys, etc.   I had this album on cassette, CD, and eventually MP3 - but the vinyl kicked me in the rear end so hard.  Its an aural masterpiece on the 12th degree.  And not one bad or weak moment.  Very rarely does one come upon such excellence.  Dreamy, hypnotic,  and sensual to the core.  A Ron and Russell masterpiece.  Do get it on vinyl!

"Red Grass" by Boris Vian

Boris Vian, Red Grass, Published by TamTam Books

Boris Vian (1920-1959) was a magnificent jack-of-all-trades--actor, jazz critic, engineer, musician, playwright, songwriter, translator--not to mention the leading social light of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés scene. His third major novel, Red Grass is a provocative narrative about an engineer, Wolf, who invents a bizarre machine that allows him to revisit his past and erase inhibiting memories. A frothing admixture of Breton, Freud, Carroll, Hammett, Kafka and Wells, Red Grass is one of Vian's finest and most enduring works, a satire on psychoanalysis--which Vian wholly and vigorously disapproved of--that inflects science fiction with dark absurdity and the author's great wit. Much in the novel can be regarded as autobiography, as our hero attempts to liberate himself from past traumatic events in the arenas of religion, social life and--of course--sex. Red Grass is translated by Vian scholar Paul Knobloch.  With an introduction by Marc Lapprand.

In The Words of Sparks... Selected Lyrics by Sparks

Coming out in June 2013.  Published by TamTam Books

 Sparks--the long-running duo of Ron and Russell Mael--are among the most respected songwriters of their generation, their songs ranking alongside those of Ray Davies (The Kinks having been a formative influence), George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim. Formed in Los Angeles in 1971, Sparks have issued over 20 albums and scored chart hits with songs such as "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us," "Cool Places" and "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Nature." While their musical style has changed dramatically over the course of 40 years--embracing the British Invasion sound of the 60s, glam rock, disco (they teamed up with Giorgio Moroder for 1979's "No. 1 in Heaven") and even techno--their work has consistently stretched the boundaries of pop music and the song form. Sparks continue to break new ground: they are currently working on a project with filmmaker Guy Maddin and are soon to embark on a world tour. Now, for the first time, the Mael brothers have chosen their favorite Sparks lyrics (to some 75 songs), editing and correcting them for presentation in In the Words of Sparks. As James Greer--novelist and former member of Guided by Voices--comments, "Sparks-level wordplay is a gift, and more than that, an inspiration." This book also includes a substantial introduction by fellow Los Angeles resident and longtime fan, Morrissey.

Sparks-Tastic: Twenty-One Nights with Sparks in London by Tosh Berman

Want to ReadRate this bookSparks-Tastic: Twenty-One Nights with Sparks in Londonby Tosh Berman 5.00  ·  rating details  ·  3 ratings  ·  1 reviewIn 2008, Tosh Berman—author and publisher of TamTam Books—got on a plane with a single motive: "Sparks Spectacular." It had been announced that the band Sparks would perform all twenty-one of their albums in a succession of twenty-one nights in London...a monumental experience for any Sparks fanatic. Part travel journal, part personal memoir, Berman takes us through the streets of London and Paris, observing both cities' history and culture through the eye of an obsessive Sparks fan's lens. Including album-by-album reviews of all twenty-one albums and beyond, Sparks-Tastic defines a place and time in music history that's too defining to be ignored.(less)From Goodreads of course.

Lun*na Menoh "Couture Salvage" at Shabon

My wife Lun*na Menoh has her pop-up shop "Couture Salvage" at the shop Shabon. Once-in-a-lifetime experience! Do come and do buy! Now!Lun*na Menoh
pop-up shop "COUTURE SALVAGE" at Shabon
7607 1/2 Beverly Blvd. L.A., CA. 90036
Phone: 323-692-0061

Friday Dec 14th - Monday Dec 31st

Lun*na Menoh is a Japanese born Renaissance artist who lives in Los Angeles.

Her dresses were exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Hayward Gallery in London, Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, and Museum of Modern Art Saitama in Japan. She also designed for the MOCA event openings with respect to the Takashi Murakami, Andy Warhol, and Lucian Freud retrospectives.

In 2006 Lunna founded a "real clothing" line called "COUTURE SALVAGE", a collection made up of remade-recycled dresses that are easily wearable.

http://shabonla.com/
http://www.lunnaworld.com/

please contact us at lunnaworld@gmail.com

"Style of Spectacle" with Lun*na Menoh and Tosh Berman

Directed by David Langford

Scott Walker's "Bish Bosch" on Vinyl

It has been a long time since i have heard an album that says '21st Century' to me.  Scott Walker is an artist that is very much part of the world.  Unlike my other favorite obsession, Sparks, who are contained in a very private world surrounded by their obsessions, Walker is very much in tuned with the environment that is out there.

Sitting down in front of a pair of speakers and having the vinyl on the turntable is very much of a beautiful series of moments.  The moment lasts over a hour and within that time-frame one goes into the world according to Scott Walker.  The complex sounds that comes out of the speaker is multi-textured to the extreme.  Off-hand it reminds me of Public Image Ltd's "Flowers of Romance,' which is a terrific album, but Walker takes it on another level that is more humorous but in a very sick way.  I think of Lenny Bruce as being the the head concept man for 'sick humor,' and I think Scott is taking it on a musical level.

The album is brutal, funny, and in your face.  But it also has incredible moments of absolute beauty, but its mixed in with the horror.  There is nothing surface about this record, its a blues album that tears into a culture that needs to bleed or to cry out its blues.  Without a doubt its a masterpiece, and its amazing how artists like Sparks as well as Scott Walker just seems to get better and better as they get older.

And like Sparks, its kind of important to acknowledge their entire career.  Because a lot of people go on about old Scott material vs. the new Scott - and basically its the same road or highway.  The early material of the Walker Brothers and the iconic Scott solo albums clearly leads to "Bish Bosch."  Listen to this album on vinyl or on a good set-up - computer speakers don't give this record the proper setting - it needs to be in front of you and it needs your full attention.  Incredible work!

Harry Houdini's "The Right Way To Do Wrong"

The legendary and totally iconic Harry Houdini wrote this book a little bit after the turn of the century - where till his death, he was a major entertainer/star.   I knew about his obsession with the after-life and the fake people that go along with that world, his silent movie serials, and his remarkable legendary escapes from various locks and locations.  What i didn't know is that he wrote a book about the nature of the con-artist, pickpocket artist, robber, scam artists, and so on.

"The Right Way To Do Wrong" is a small book, but a fascinating document on the underworld as seen through the eyes of Houdini.  "The Sword-Swallowing and the Stone-Eaters chapters are a marvel to read, because one, Houdini is very impressed with the skills of these people, and two, as a reader I am really drawn into Houdini's interest in these side-show adventures.   Houdini is very much a class act in a world that is sometimes not that classy.  Very impressive book and a must to add to libraries devoted to the criminal and their devilish ways.