True, true. But if they really wanted to showcase non-classical Moondog, they should have selected the children’s album he did with Julie Andrews:
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I would add Dave Brubeck’s Take 5 to the list.
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I’ll second the confusion over Ornette’s Science Fiction on the list but not Free Jazz or Shape of Jazz to Come. I mean. . . what definition of “groundbreaking” are we using here? Or for that matter “avant garde”?
For example, Zappa/Mother’s We’re Only in it For The Money is more groundbreaking and more avant garde than Uncle Meat, because it combined pop music with music concrete, and actually worked rather than being a tired academic experiment. Plus Uncle Meat is pretty similar to Lumpy Gravy which came out a couple years earlier, so how could it break new ground?
I will also take umbrage with the reviewer’s overuse of the phrase “free jazz”-- a lot of what he’s calling free jazz is pretty thoroughly composed stuff, there might be short free sections in Zorn’s or Zappa’s work but that stuff is mostly written out.
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(Sun Ra’s on the list, buddy.)
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Oh shit—you’re right! Not sure how I missed that.
Well I guess I just really wanted to post his picture.
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For me, the definitive versions of a lot of Uncle Meat and Lumpy Gravy tracks are found on The Yellow Shark. I binge on it when Mrs. F has decamped to visit family. A minute or so of The Girl in the Magnesium Dress is enough to tip her over into a migraine.
I’m a fan of Henry Cow in general and Fred Frith specifically, but not so much Dagmar Krause’s vocals. I remember liking both Legend and Unrest more than I like In Praise of Learning.
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As a fan of AG and experimental music, I cannot help but to notice that most if not all of this list doesn’t seem to contain many, if any, entries from the last few decades or so.
Things that make me go “hmmm”.
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“The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet” once caused my mother to literally throw dishes around the kitchen and exclaim, “How can he listen to that! That’s not music!”
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Again, YMMV.
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In terms of influence, I’d say Can is a pretty major omission. But this is a cool list, great to see The Pop Group on there (they actually posted this list on FB a few days ago). Y is a fantastic album. That, Trout Mask and Naked City have all been very significant albums for me.
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Favorite off it. Need to hear the bass clearly though. Doesn’t sound as good through my tinny computer speaker.
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I really really love that Zorn Naked City release! There’s a consecutive series of 8 tracks where the longest cut is 44 seconds, mostly hard, heavy blasts of sax-and-vocals-driven jazz metal. Must be heard to be believed.
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Since they mentioned Heliocentric Worlds as a launchpad, I’d instead suggest Soundtrack to Space is the Place where Sun Ra is concerned. It’s the first of his albums (CDs) I owned; in hindsight it’s a good grab-bag of his work up to that point.
As for Eno I’d substitute On Land.
And I guess they’re too far in the classical world (see above), but no I Am Sitting in a Room? No Pauline Oliveros?
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I prefer it, too. I just thought that MfA might be more groundbreaking.
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Phillip Glass: North Star (or Music in 12 Parts)
Laurie Anderson: Big Science
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Captain Beefheart – Trout Mask Replica (1969)
I was blown away when I learned that the seemingly slapped together and improvised songs on this album were all carefully planned and rehearsed.
It must have really broken the brains of the poor musicians Beefheart recruited. Can you imagine someone trying to write the sheet music for this?
A great explainer on this album:
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I love Laurie Anderson… I do a class on her and Lou Reed each time I teach the US survey…
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Do you show her dog movie at the end? Lou is in it too.
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I love that movie, but no. They watch the clip from her Habeas Corpus project, so they can connect the production of art to the war on terror and the torture at gitmo.
http://www.laurieanderson.com/?portfolio=habeas-corpus
I might make them listen to one album from each of them prior to class that week, tho!
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