King of the dollar bin

[Joe "King" Currasco, 1985, "During my Mayan Hieroglyphics phase and flying sombreros"]

I'm hiding out in the basement, since ants have taken over the ground floor. The flying ants are swarming around any light source, and restlessly roaming across the windows en masse.

I've found some great $1 bin vinyl since I last posted. Currently spinning is Joe King Carrasco and The Crown's S/T [Stiff/Hannibal 1980]. Currasco's wild Zappa-esque Tex-Mex rock and roll is goofy and loose.

Next up: Bronski Beat's 12" Hit That Perfect Beat (this is a link to a MySpace site just for remixes of this track).

New Order's Kranky 2x12" (London/Warner 2005). I actually liked this single, particularly the club mix, and may need to check out the album. I'd been so let down after Technique (1989) by the follow up album Republic, that I'd avoided New Order for years.

The Sisters of Mercy Dominion 12" [Elektra WLP]. What an outstanding band, really meaty percussion, Goth just didn't get much more gothic and menacing than this.

[Photo: Andrew Eldritch, probably around 1995. The original Dr. Evil]

I recall seeing him in the press tent at Reading 1991, and it was dis-arming (and disappointing) that such a menacing vocalist would seem like a normal bloke up close.

The Communards Don't Leave Me This Way (London/MCA 1985). The mega mix has some fun orchestral moments, thanks no doubt to Jimmy Somerville's partner, the classically trained Richard Coles. I just noticed that The Communards share similar Soviet iconography with The Sisters of Mercy. The Gotham City Mix is fun too. I'm curious to hear the Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes version from 1975.

Arrested Development "Mr. Wendal" (Specialty test pressing 12"). I'd forgotten how idealistic this band was, a charming rap.

The Everly Brothers - A Date With The Everly Brothers (WB gold label stereo 1960). Despite the crackle of this beat up copy, this sounds FANTASTIC. Oddly, the sleeve is mono, the label stereo. I've been really impressed with this duo after the reunion album EB 84, and now the early years are strong. I'll be looking for more of their originals.

Dinah Washington - Dinah 63 (Roulette orange / pink label)

The Oyster Band - Step Outside (Cooking Vinyl / Rounder 1986)

The Don Scaletta Trio - Sunday Afternoon at the Trident (Trident / Verve

Gabor Szabo - More Sorcery (Impulse stereo)

Al Stewart - Modern Times (Chess/Janus 1975). The Allmusic reviewers mention of Lennon-esque melodies, and prog-folk is spot on...after Year of the Cat, I'm really liking this artist.

Little Richard - Lifetime Friend (Warner 1986)

Justin Hayward - Night Flight (Deram 1980)

The Graeme Edge Band Featuring Adrian Gurwitz -Kick off Your Muddy Boots (Threshold 1975)

The Steve Miller Band - Abracadabra (Capitol 1982)

ZZ Top - Eliminator (Warner 1983)

Dire Straights - Making Moves (Warner 1980)

Marty Robbins - Marty's Greatest Hits (Columbia six eye)

The Proclaimers - Sunshine on Leith (Chrysalis 1988)

Jerry Lee Lewis - S/T (Elektra 1979)

Marshall Crenshaw - Good Evening (Warner 1989)

The best Queen of the Night aria [Mozart's Magic Flute]

[Photo of soprano Erna Berger, nine years after her performance. Source: Sandy Steiglitz]

I've been enjoying a shoot out of various performances of my all-time favorite opera aria. It is the Queen of the Night's from Mozart's The Magic Flute. The high f3 is exhilerating.

Background: I took a CD version of highlights from The Magic Flute travelling with me back in 1990, and listened to it on headphones over and over while travelling through South East Asia and Australia. I've since lost that copy and frustratingly don't recall the details.

A few years back, while systematically watching all the Criterion DVDs through Netflix, I watched Ingmar Bergman's The Magic Flute. I anticipated a chore, since opera seemed to require undue patience, but the movie turned out to make sense of the story, and highlight a gorgeous opera (albeit sung in Swedish).

Since then, I've been collecting different performances of this opera, and the radical differences in interpretation opened my mind to the importance of the conductor. [It helped that for one of these critical shoot outs with the opera, my father, a conductor, clearly articulated the other conductors approaches].

My current favorite is Erna Berger's 1937, Berlin performance under Sir Thomas Beecham. Berger's delivery is the fastest I've heard, but also the most passionate, conveying the urgency.

Its clearly a tough role, technically demanding since few sopranos can consistently reach the high f3, and to convey the evil, vengeful character without characature is challenging. And for one of the most transcendant, beautiful moments in opera to be a mother's directive to her daughter to go kill someone: "A vengeful Hell doth pulse within my heart", once again, not easy.

I'm hoping to add more thoughts on other performances:

1. Karin Ott's 1980 performance for Karajan in Berlin
2. Edita Gruberova's 1978 delivery for Lombard in Strasbourg
3. ...for Solti in Vienna