NAKED CITY John Zorns thrash jazz project. "Torture Garden"
has 42 tracks, mostly well under a minute long. They often go through
several musical styles in a few seconds. Thrilling stuff, although sometimes
at the end of a side you feel a bit like you've been in a fight.
NAPALM DEATH Or The Nappies, as we affectionately call them. The original and best
death metal thrashers. At first they were mainly preoccupied with speed,
and had several perfect songs that lasted 1 or 2 seconds. The singer Lee
Dorian was the original walrus sock stuffer, in that he could reduce lyrics
like
Delude yourself with the notion
That life's viewed defiantly through your eye
Subconciously following the flock
From which appearance is the only exemption
The stagnant illusion of change
Concealed behind your disguise
What's perspicious on the surface
Is artificial inside
When views are merely symbolic
Of an image you hid behind
to a series of grunts and screams. Lee and guitarist Bill Steer left after
the second album, cos they thought the band were getting "too commercial".
Lee was replaced by Barney Greenway, who had a similar vocal style, but
the novelty was you could actually make out the odd word or two. Bill was
replaced by two guitarists, and they moved away from speed for the sake
of it; and concentrated on perfecting grinding, chugging riffs to become
the ultimate Death Metal heroes we know and love today.
Another thing I love about them is that although the music is brutal
and uncompromising, in interviews they come across as quiet, unassuming
guys that buy their mums flowers on Mothers day.
Essential "From Enslavement to Obliteration", "Harmony Corruption", "Utopia Banished",
"Fear, Emptiness, Despair" (worth it for the title alone), "Diatribes"
and "Inside the Torn Apart" l.p.s.
Napalm
Death NUCLEUS Ian Carr's pioneering jazz - rock collective, with a young Chris Spedding
on guitar .A lot of the musicians ended up in later versions of Soft
Machine.
Essential "Elastic Rock" and "We'll Talk About It Later" l.p.s.