(idm) Black Dog Live (was Re: Ae radiomix)

From Che
Sent Mon, Oct 19th 1998, 00:35

I've been wanting to annotate brap's  fabulous review 
of the Black Dog Live In Toronto tape.
I got out my copy, downloaded a copy of his review 
(brap's comments prefaced w/ > ), and had at it.  I've
included approximate times so you can follow along if
you have a copy.  Here's the results:

SIDE A

[1] 5:15 ?

>floats in on an ethereal slice of dub n bass,
>tubby meets syd barret

[2] 3:03  "red and black"

>glorious silken strings, deep dark and mysterious
>archaic rhythms, wizened flute samples ,an ancient 
>tribal shamen communicates through modern machinery, 
>melted on top is a luxurious heard style house 
>piano motif

Another version on '97 Peel Session.

[3] 4:42 ?

>sinuous mountain moving bass line, abstract dubby beats 
>that echo and richocet off each other like the birth of
>language rocketing off a cave wall interspersed with sudden 
>tonal swoops and delicate cantonese percussion

4] 8:08 "babylon"

>wonderful lilting rhtyhms,a wailing muzen sample winds it's 
>way around the track like a merchant navigating the dark 
>streets of an ancient citadel, fragments of spoken word, 
>percussion creaks like archaic machinery activated, 
>features a dense extended drum coda -diff to peel session, 
>this track  again demonstrates ken's wonderful grasp of 
>dynamics, he seems to know *exactly* when to release the 
>tension and flood the track with spine tingling melody

[5] 4:26 ?

>deep intoning gong, elastically loose hip hop beat, heavy breathing,
>a cerebral soundtrack to an adventurersetting  sails off into 
>the sunset to discover new continents

[6] 3:26 "dissidence"

>this version has to be one of my [all time] favourite black dog tracks,
>wonderfully emotional with live bass the sci fi samples that weren't on
>the album version

"We thought...it was the end of time"..  I'm a sucker for samples of
rednecks talking about UFOs.  This version is a lot like the '97 Peel 
Session version.

[7] 5:37 "carceres ex novum remix"

>deep house stylee, stirring chimes & strings with a metallic 
>rhythm overlayed, percussive samba house beats, bassline 
>carries the melody,, 

Retains the drumloop of one of my favorite black dog tracks, features a
greatly simplified piano line (though parts of the original can be heard,
including the bassline oh so briefly.  Begins & ends w/ WSBurrough's 
paranoid rantings on telepathy.  Gorgeous.  I don't know how brap arrived
at his "deep house stylee" label, because it doesn't have a bassline and 
it's in 6/8 time.

[8] 2:40 ?

>this leads into an abstract 303 work out 
>like laurent x 'machines', lysergic sounds of acid drawn to 
>their true extremes vis the crazed sounds of sleazy d, deranged 
>where acid should have gone, 

You got that right.  I think the 303 is just as versatile as a guitar,
but acid these days has the dull sameness of heavy metal.

[9] 3:19 ?

Fast percussion & Ken gets funky on the bass.

[10] 3:43 ?

4OTMOFOF pounder w/ weird noises & a fast acidline.

[11] 8:19  "carceres ex novum reprise/meditation #4 remix"

>then a sudden gear change eases us into
>an extended version of 'meditation #4' complete with laid back
>but chattering percussion

Begins with a sped up reprise of carceres ex novum crossfades into
meditation #4.  The chattering percussion is brilliant.  I love
this version.

Has anyone noticed that the Black Dog website now has a different
trackorder for Music For Adverts?  There's a track called "Horny"
that's not on the sleeve.  Only problem is, is that this pushes
"Gerry Noman" out to track 17, and it seems obvious to me that
track 16 is "Gerry Noman".  Hmmmm.

[12] 4:15 "clan remix"

Sample of the "mongol hordes" version is slowed down, narcoticized,
then an off kilter percussion loop is brought in, things stagger
along until the original sample drops out for the last 30 seconds
of drunken rhythm madness.

I guess this solves the question of who I.A.O is, eh?


SIDE 2

[1] 3:38

>languid downtempo beats with mournful violins and thought provoking
>spoken words underpinned by a constant sub-indian harmonic
>drone, beautiful wistful breakdown with bass guitar hammering out
>projectile like notes into the darkness 

"This is the story of one man's quest into darkness...true or false?
Both."

[2]  2:33 ?

>dirty lo fi electronica with atonal, mischievous vocal sample of 
>american male complaining that he can't find  i presume a black 
>dog cd in tower or virgin,  a sketch for what could be a great 
>track

The voice was provided by David Byrne off Ken's answering machine.

[3] 11:32 ?

>urgent stabbing eastern melody, galloping percussion, 
>sweeping feedback with sinister spoken words, shocks of percussion 
>with heavy delay like electronic artillery fire, a female vocal 
>sample reverberates on top of itself heightening the tension as 
>the bass pins the proceeding to the floor, things reach boiling 
>point before a frantic drum n bass break breaches the walls and 
>releases the pressure to allow the composite elements to fly forwards

Uh, YEAH!

[4] 5:48 ?

The first minute is a phil/bolt with a weird koto sample, transitions 
to vocal samples & chords, then a beat & a restrained acidline comes
in. Mellow, yet hyper.

[5] 6:55 "virtual remix" 

>god in space mix of virtual complete with random sax 
>and spoken word interjections blends into 'virtual hmmm' 
>'vir2l' & the original mix from the days were nights 
>were bold and the days were cold

Virtual was never one of my favorite Black Dog tracks, but between
this version and the one I heard Jonah Sharp spin live, I've gained
a new appreciation for Virtual.

[6] 7:15 

>bongo fury melancholic jam with subtle synth shadings leads into an
>elastic slice of cyber funk with bowel rupturing kick drum and hi 
>hats that could slice yer head clean off, all manner of distorted
>fx swirling about the atmosphere

[7] 1:38 "phil/bolt"

[8] 6:10 "crispy bacon remix"

Jacob's ladder synths buzz away over heartbeat kickdrum, ponderous
bassline, and oceans of dubby space echo.  There's another version on 
Laurent Garnier's Coloured City single that's almost 1 1/2 minutes
longer, and adds hi hats & claps.  Buy it.

[9] 3:49 ?

Furious hand percussion and a mellow melody make for a moody mix.

[10] 7:22 ?

Begins w/ 2 minute bolt/phil, w/ cool samples about the Black Lodge
(Twin Peaks?).  Then a slowly building beat for about 4 minutes,
then a synth melody that I'd swear I've heard in another BDP track, 
though I can't find it.  Finally, about a minute of phil at the end.


That's about it - a few new clues.  Any input is appreciated. 

Since brap's tape busted, there's been a need for someone to take over
duping the Live Tape.  I'm _almost_ ready to take this on - email me 
if you need a copy for details.  I think my copy is a little cleaner
sounding than brap's.

Che