Thursday, March 3, 2022

• Organum, Die Hennen Zähne
• Jim O’Rourke & Mats Gustafsson, Xylophonen Virtuosen
• Derek Bailey & John Stevens, Playing
• Lester Bowie & Phillip Wilson, Duet
• The Dead C, Repent
• The Art of Noise, Into Battle (with The Art of Noise)
• Sparks, Terminal Jive
• Sparks, Propaganda
• ZZ Top, Tres Hombres
• Suzanne Vega, Solitude Standing

A common thread connecting a lot of the music I loved in the mid-1980s was the almighty Fairlight CMI — though I didn’t know what that was at the time. Here’s an article highlighting some Fairlight favorites. The more Fairlight, the more I liked it: Herbie Hancock, Thomas Dolby, Prince, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, the “Miami Vice” theme, and most all, at the pinnacle, the Fairlight specialists, the Fairlight masters, ultimate gurus of the all-Fairlight-all-the-time lifestyle: The Art of Noise. Not just their own records, but also the songs they and/or Trevor Horn produced for other artists: Yes’s “Owner of a Lonely Heart”, Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Relax”, and so on — though again, I didn’t know there was a connection.