Andrew Hill, Edith Nesbit's "Man-Size in Marble," Music Machine's Turn On, Keats' speakers, '61/'70 + '68 Rolling Stones, Kinks Queens '71, touching CBSRMT episode, Kolchak, best Who Leeds complete?

Saturday 10/17/26

There aren't many better debut LPs in jazz than Andrew Hill's Black Fire, recorded over two days in November 1963 and issued in early spring 1964. Hill was one of the medium's greatest writers, a post-bop Ellington. Philly Joe Jones was supposed to be the drummer but couldn't make the date, so Roy Haynes played instead--that'll work, too--with Joe Henderson on tenor and Richard Davis on bass. An apt record, for autumn; Hill's music functions like that. Play "Pumpkin" on a chilly October morning.

Reading recommendation: Edith Nesbit's 1887 story, "Man-Size in Marble," which I touched on in my book on the 1951 film Scrooge with Alastair Sim. The story is set at Halloween and concerns a man and wife in an English cottage and a marble statue at the nearby village church doing things a marble statue ought not to be able to do. There's also a really good radio adaptation from November 1, 1968, by Beyond Midnight, a South African show, titled "The Marble Knights."

My affection for the Music Machine's 1966 debut LP, Turn On, has been extreme since first hearing it at sixteen. No one I knew listened to any of the things I listened to; I sought them out and have always been a seeker. "Talk Talk," like the Beatles' "She Loves You" and the Who's Live at Leeds version of "My Generation," was life changing for me. There is no music that sounds like "Talk Talk." It knocked me over and still does. I like how the singer levels with you; "Here's the situation..."

Are there high school-aged kids who like good things now? Who find good things on their own? Or is there no one alive anymore who isn't a slave to the algorithm? I thought nothing of the things I liked and loved; that is, I never once thought it odd or unlikely that I liked and loved them, found them, read, watched, listened to them. I went to hockey practice at sixteen, got in the car, popped in a tape of the Rolling Stones' Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, or the Seeds' debut, Highway 61 Revisited, or Five Live Yardbirds, and off I went down the streets of Ridgefield, CT.

Other kids had their own personal interests that they sought out. It wasn't most, obviously. A friend down the street had a large Grateful Dead tapes collection, for instance. I had no interest whatsoever in them at the time; isn't that ironic? He lent me the Who's Who's Better, Who's Best compilation.

Listening to a nascent version of the Rolling Stones perform Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie" in late 1961 one notices how they weren't that far off, in some ways, from the band they'd be on Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, especially as pertains to Mick Jagger. The technique obviously isn't there, but a pretty solid clue about how this ought to sound is. These guys loved this music they were learning from, which they sought out. Hunted for. You'd never get that in today's algorithm-addicted world.

John Keats' 1819 poem, "La Belle Dame sans Merci," involves two characters: a traveler passing through an eerie, lonely forest spot, and a knight loitering there. Keats uses no quotation marks; you're supposed to know who is speaking. The passing traveler is responsible for the first three verses. The next nine verses are the knight sharing the ordeal he had on account of the beautiful lady without mercy from the poem's title. Having said that: there's an argument to be made for the knight being the speaker of the last two lines of the first and second verses. This notion is somewhat scotched--at least in terms of the first verse--by the final two lines of the poem, but I think Keats meant to suggest the possibility, anyway.

Downloaded a March 1971 Kinks gig from Queens College. They perform a bunch of numbers like "Autumn Almanac" acoustically. You can tell they're really into it. One of the better Kinks boots. Also downloaded volumes one and two of Misterclaudel's Imagine the Universe, ten discs of session material from John Lennon's Imagine. What else? Some Bear Family boxes: Johnnie and Jack and the Tennessee Mountain Boys; Bill Haley and his Comets: Rock 'n' Roll Arrives - The Real Birth of Rock 'n' Roll 1946-1954 and The Decca Years and More; Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner: Just Between You and Me. A stereo remix of Bob Dylan's 10/7/02 Red Bluff show as well as two versions of his 11/4/02 Seattle show, which was the first with him at the piano. Upgraded my Radiohead Reading 2009 source.

The Rolling Stones sound considerably better in their rehearsals for the Rock and Roll Circus than on the program itself. The rehearsal version of "Ruby Tuesday" is divine. They're all super rare, but there are actually a number of outstanding unofficial renditions of "Ruby Tuesday." Recently acquired an improved tape source of their Paris 1967 gig that has one. Could have been one of the strongest live albums of the 1960s. I pitched a piece on this to someone a couple years ago. They weren't interested.

Also downloaded someone's efforts to make the Who's complete concert at Leeds on Valentine's Day 1970 sound better than ever, and they may have. As I've written here, Live at Leeds the album and Leeds the entire show make for markedly different listening experiences and this isn't primarily a length thing. It's almost bewildering how well Live at Leeds--the original six song version--functions as a proper album. There's no live album like it in that way.

The official "full" concert put out back in 2001 is trash. It's not the full show, crucial parts of performances are edited out, it's not in the proper order. Before that there was a bootleg release from Midas Touch in good sound, but rough at its edges. (Actually, the Tommy portion was put out as a stand-alone set as well by this same label.)

In recent years, Captain Acid turned his masterful hand to the full tapes, and now this other person has turned their hand to Captain Acid's efforts. What I've heard of it thus far blows me away. I can't give a full verdict yet, but damn, what I'm listening to is impressive. This set is conceivably on equal footing with Live at Leeds the album, with each still remaining autonomous. Two distinct listening experiences. One could be your favorite all-time album and the other could be your second.

Watched The Night Stalker, the 1972 made-for-TV horror film with Darren McGavin (who will play the dad about a decade hence in A Christmas Story) as Carl Kolchak, newspaper writer detested and eventually fired by all his editors who tries to prove that a Las Vegas killer is a vampire. Teleplay was by Richard Matheson, so you know it's bound to be pretty good. One of the better TV horror films. They all come from the 1970s. Nice to see old buddy Claude Akins, and we also run into Elisha Cook, Jr. for a few seconds. Dan Curtis of Dark Shadows produced. Strong roster. The television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker--also with McGavin--would follow in 1974 and last for a single season of twenty episodes. Those in the know know. Probably won't be any who remain before too long.

Watched ATM, a Christmas horror movie, for a Christmas horror movie piece I'll write. Also watched Cold Creek Manor, an unoriginal, unimaginative horror film from 2003 which rips off Cape Fear. Listened to an episode of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater I've heard a number of times called "The Crack in the Wall" from May 20, 1974, which is a basement-based twist on W.W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw." Has some silly parts but is a decent listen on an October night.

Listened as well to an episode from July 11, 1978, called "Guardian Angel." This was rather different and it moved me and made me think. A man on the rise in business meets a woman that some consider...well, mentally ill? I don't want to say crazy. People aren't cruel to her. But she believes in things others don't. That she's been reborn, can communicate with animals. She has views on life that no one does. The man, who is rather older than she is, comes to look forward to his exchanges with her each day. They're these five minute conversations or whatever when he's coming and going.

She comes to live in a sanitarium, and the man...comes to fall in love with her. He begins to see the world differently. Or more openly. They have a beautiful bond. He gives up his life in business. For a while, he lives at the sanitarium, earning his keep--he's more like a boarder than patient--by doing menial tasks. Eventually, they both leave, get married, begin a life together. I read some comments from listeners. They said it sucks. "Wasn't scary at all." People have these circumscribed expectations. These tiny landing strips in their tiny minds. And if something doesn't fit on the tiny strip, they trash it. You should listen to this episode. Trust me. I bet it would do you some good.