Channel 3 - A Compilation of Output Recordings

various artists
label:: Output Recordings

Channel 3 is Output Recording's third compilation. Despite having 3 unreleased tracks (by MU, Rekindle, and Circlesquare) plus tracks from several upcoming Output releases, I only found three tracks that really wowed me.

The compilation has 9 bands that were also on last year's Channel 2 comp. Bands on this comp that were not on last year;s comp are Lopazz, Dead Combo, Yello and MU.

Fela Kuti

title:: Expensive Shit / He Miss Road
label:: Barclay Records

Fela invented Afrobeat back in the 1960s and perfected it during his prolific and fascinating career throughout the 1970s. Afrobeat follows up the sounds of James Brown's funk with the added combination of African rhythms, chanted background vocals, Fela's half rapped/half sung lyrics, jazzy keyboard and horn solos, and fiery political themes.

The album Expensive Shit consists of two songs - the title track starts out this disc with an intense Afrobeat and electronic keyboard feel. The second album included on this two-fer is He Miss Road, a very rare Fela album which I had never seen before since it had been out of print for years.

The Pop Rivets

title:: MT Sounds From Anarchy Ranch
label:: Damaged Goods

The early career recordings of Billy Childish continued on the 2nd album MT Sounds from Anarchy Ranch released by his first band The Pop Rivets in 1979.

A compilation which consisted of studio work and some live recordings, it makes for more added listening and extends the work he had done on The Pop Rivets first release Greatest Hits.

Seelenluft

title:: The Way We Go
label:: Klein Records

On their first album, The Rise and Fall of Silver city Bob, Seelenluft came across as a darker, edgier, less peppy cousin of sampling masters Tipsy. On their second, Synchroschwimmer EP, they mastered their craft. The pieces were slicker, yet more enjoyable. It was a beautiful collection of instrumentals with a slight edge and some originality to them. It was like Hawaiian flavored offbeat jazz.

I don’t know what happened. This is perhaps the worst piece of pop trash I’ve even been tasked with reviewing. I tried hard over three listens to find anything redeeming about the album and I was able to find… 3 songs that I liked, two instrumentals and one with lyrics.

The David Whitaker Songbook

various artists
label:: Tricatel

David Whitaker is best known for the symphonic arrangement of the Rolling Stones' The Last Time performed by The Andrew Oldham Orchestra which The Verve nicked to include in their hit Bittersweet Symphony, but he was a prolific artist in both soundtrack work and with pop artists.

If I have one complaint, it is that not enough of David Whitaker's pop work is included here. It really is sprinkled throughout sparingly amongst his soundtrack and soundtrack inspired work which all tends to be on the lounge soundtrack tip.