Frank Zappa took no prisoners with the cover for 1970’s Weasels Ripped My Flesh. And fitting it was for the music found inside – equal parts brilliant and painful, particularly the suite of stuff that finishes Side Two, starting with doo-wop anti-flower power anthem Oh No! and then onward via Orange County Lumber Truck to the flesh tearing finale that was the title track. It has been argued that the whole hippie thing stopped right here. Certainly the Mothers of Invention already had, Weasels Ripped My Flesh being one of two albums to be released after their demise. Though Zappa would, of course, quickly reform them for further assaults upon society through the first half of the 1970s.
The Mothers of Invention, Engelse groep bij aankomst Schiphol *17 oktober 1968
Podcast (Solid Time begins at around the 5 minute point). Youtube playlist (not completely accurate).
This continues to be Randophonic’s main focus, our overlong yet incomplete history of the so-called Prog Rock era (presented in countdown form) – 661 records from 1965 through 1979 with which we hope to do justice to a strange and ambitious time indeed, musically speaking.
Part eleven of the journey went as follows:
Frank Zappa – peaches in regalia
Mothers of Invention – dog breath in the year of the plague
Led Zeppelin – friends
Bo Hansson – the sun [parallel or 90 degrees]
Chicago – a hit by Varese
Chicago- dialogue [part-2]
Pink Floyd – take up thy stethoscope and walk
Pink Floyd – biding my time
Khan – Space Shanty
Khan- hollow stone [including Escape of the Space Pirates]
Yes – madrigal
Genesis – a trick of the tail
Genesis – entangled
Genesis – Fountain of Salmacis
Shawn Phillips – She was waiting for her mother at the station in Torino …
Shawn Phillips – whaz’ zat [etc]
Fresh episodes air pretty much every Saturday night, starting 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and download options available within twenty-four hours via our Facebook.
The Solid Time of Change is Randophonic’s latest project, an overlong yet incomplete history of the so-called Prog Rock era – 661 records from 1965 through 1979, presented in countdown form, with which we hope to convey some sense of what was indeed a strange and ambitious time.
Part seven of our journey went as follows:
Van der Graaf Generator – theme one
Roxy Music – in every dream home a heartache
Godley + Crème – I pity inanimate objects
Horslips – King of morning Queen of day
Horslips – ride to hell
Captain Beyond – as the moon speaks
Captain Beyond – Armworth – myopic void
Brian Eno – dead finks don’t talk
Mothers of Invention – oh no
Mothers of Invention – Orange County Lumber Truck
Mothers of Invention – weasels ripped my flesh
Chilliwack – changing reels [edit]
Annexus Quam – osmose 1
Mike Oldfield – Hergest Ridge [fragments]
Anthony Phillips – Henry: portraits from Tudor times
Steve Hackett – hands of the priestess
Steve Hackett – a tower struck down
Steve Hackett – hands of the priestess (2)
Solid Time of Change #8 airs Saturday, July 2nd at 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and download options available within twenty-four hours.
Also known as as the 661 Greatest Records of the so-called Prog Rock era, the Solid Time of Change is Randophonic’s latest countdown — an overlong yet incomplete history of whatever the hell happened between 1965 and 1979 – not in all music, not even in most of it, but definitely in a bunch of it.
What is Prog Rock? Is it different from progressive rock, or for that matter, rock that merely progresses? Four programs in and sixty-five selections down and you’d think we’d have a solid answer to these questions, but like the proverbial zoom into an old photograph, the closer we look, the murkier things get. Which isn’t to say the music isn’t great and thus, here’s to the best kind of confusion and a year’s worth of radio to figure it all out.
Part four of our journey went as follows:
Focus – harem scarem
Frank Zappa + The Mothers – Inca Roads
Strawbs- tomorrow
Rick Wakeman – Catherine of Aragorn [+ excerpts]
Rick Wakeman – Anne of Cleves
King Crimson – moonchild (part 1)
Moody Blues – the word
Justin Hayward + John Lodge – nights winters years
Sweet – love is like oxygen
Procol Harum – Grand Hotel
Klaatu – prelude
Klaatu – so said the lighthouse keeper
Klaatu – hope
Gentle Giant – Mister Class + Quality
Gentle Giant – three friends
Steve Hillage – om nam Shivaya
Steve Hillage – hurdy gurdy glissando
Cream – as you said
Installment #5 of The Solid Time of Change airs Saturday, June 4th at 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and download options available within twenty-four hours.
From the album Uncle Meat, wherein Mr. Frank Zappa and his Mothers of Invention mostly reject any notion of pursuing a consistent, definable direction, but settle instead for pretty much everything in all directions. And almost no one complained, except a few assholes in the back, but they all quit the freak scene soon anyway, and became Eagles fans.
Randophonic’s first ever attempt at a proper Christmas show aired December 20th on CiTR.FM.101.9.
Here it is in two Mixcloud streams.
Plus a very special Movie of the Week — Monty Python’s Pleasures of the Dance.
The podcast of the full program is available for download here …
A special program in which we look back with fondness at cherished memories of Christmases past. Try to anyway, as it turns out the Jukebox is still stuck in minimum 49-percent prog-rock mode after the previous week’s 1974 blowout.
Which isn’t to say there aren’t plenty of highlights, seasonal and otherwise.
Sorry about that. The rest are guaranteed highlights, presented more or less in the order they were broadcast.
Van Der Graaf Generator – theme one
Written by George Martin for some TV show or other. Reimagined for drums, keyboards and various horns by Van Der Graaf Generator at their 70s freakout peak.
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Joybringer
Ripping off Gustav Holst, and owning it.
Jethro Tull – King Henry’s Madrigal
They don’t say which King Henry, though this strikes us as decidedly Shakespearean. Which raises the question. Where the hell are all the rocked up Shakespearean Christmas carols?
The Clash – if music could talk …
… then we truly would have peace on earth.
Delaney + Bonnie – where the soul never dies
What it’s really all about.
Beatles – Christmas time + The Word
The word is love. The time is now.
Emerson Lake + Palmer – Jerusalem
An interpretation of William Blake’s cosmic musing on Britain’s industrial revolution (those dark Satanic mills) and Jesus Christ himself taking a little walk ‘cross England’s green and pleasant. ELP at their least annoying.
Waterboys – December + Spirit
December even mentions the Christ child, but it’s not so much a Christmas song as a meditation on the gloomiest time of year, and how we always seem to find the light to see our way through, which seems to be what spirit’s all about.
Van Morrison – St. Dominic’s Preview
A song about many things, most of them indecipherable, but there is homesickness at the root of it. You think Buffalo’s a long way away? Try Belfast.
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – father of night, father of day
In which the Earth Band manage in ten minutes what Bob Dylan’s original accomplished in less than two. And yet, we’re pretty damned sure that the good Lord has love enough for both.
Philip Random’s favourite Christmas carol is not completely ruined by this sort of jazz rock arrangement … with small orchestra.
Gryphon – second spasm
The band that brought bassoons and krumhorns to rock. And one more time, why is there not more of this sort of Shakespearean groove available this time of year?
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