Jah Wobble - Opinions

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This is another guy, like Pete Namlook and Bill Laswell, who understands that the future of music is not in the form of "give me $10 - $20 and I'll give you 50 - 70 minutes of music" but in recording a lot of material and putting it out, and people usually accessing it mp3 form as I am his catalog on emusic.com .

I've been listening to "Jah Wobble's Solaris Live in Concert". This is Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit (from Can) on drums, Harold Budd on piano, Graham Haynes on trumpet, and Bill Laswell as a featured solist on fuzz-toned guitar and bass. It is an astonishing slice of space-rock up there with Can at their best, or Pink Floyd had they ever fulfilled their potential musically. The musicians understand Miles Davis' axiom that if you have a strong beat, you can do anything on top.

His "Live at Leuven" is a stripped-down version of this sound with a DJ providing ambience on top of he and Liebezeit's thudding dub beats. It's worth hearing.

"Jah Wobble's Deep Space Largely Live in Hartlepool and Manchester" is a different animal, more like his other records in the 30 Hertz catalog. "Ethnic" like an amplified Jon Hassell fronting a Jimi Hendrix cover band. This is some very fine interesting music. Who's heard it?

― Scott McFarland (Scott McFarland), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i used to have Rising Above Bedlam and it was incredibly blah. But I am interested in the Solaris one you mentioned.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Just for his work on "Second Edition," classic.

How's "Spinner" that album he did with Eno?

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Personally, as someone who finds Eno's work unbelievably boring and irrelevant during the past 20+ years, I found "Spinner" boring and irrelevant.

― Scott McFarland (Scott McFarland), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:52 (twenty-one years ago)

i DIG the solo album he put out right after Metal Box (The Legend Lives On) that supposedly got him kicked out of PIL because he "stole" the basslines from that album and used them again in his work. weirdo songs (like blueberry hill) sung with his offkey voice (that i really like) totally dubbed out (that i REALLY like)

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:55 (twenty-one years ago)

sadly otm about Spinner and 96% of post-U2 Eno. I dig that first solo album (Betrayal) too, there was a great 12" for "Blueberry Hill".

there's some good stuff on Full Circle, especially the title track. dubbin' and jammin' weird.

Interested in Solaris, with a lineup like that.

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i have some 12" with wobble and czukay that's kinda bad weirdo new wave. really stiff. i need to pull it out again to make sure it's really not as good as i remember. snake charmer maybe?

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I enjoy that "Legend Lives On" album too. I think it's maybe better music than what PIL was making and did with some of those same tapes. If you like that you should check out some of his newer stuff because he's doing better, more mature work now.

"Snake Charmer", indeed an EP, sounds a bit overly processed. I think there are the outlines of some good music there but it got executed badly. The album Czukay and Wobble did before that, "Full Circle", is pretty great. The two longer tracks on it ("Full Circle" and "Mystery" I think are the names - I definitely remember the music) are great stuff, very much deep and heavy ala Can.

― Scott McFarland (Scott McFarland), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't heard much of his early 90's stuff. I always thought the song "Visions of You" was exquisite but the albums I heard didn't live up to that.

― Scott McFarland (Scott McFarland), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:19 (twenty-one years ago)

heard Snake Charmer once maybe 15 years ago. sold it back. yes stiff.

Full Circle starts with two 'singles' before getting into the weird dub... a respected friend prefers the singles but I always start the disc on track 3. Great stuff.

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 18 March 2005 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Dan Selzer will probably have the first of those singles, "How Much Are They?", played at his funeral. A fine soundtrack, too.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Great stuff.

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:39 (twenty-one years ago)

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4280175

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 18 March 2005 22:48 (twenty-one years ago)

i like Spinner, it's certainly better than the Drop or the last one whatever it was called.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 18 March 2005 23:45 (twenty-one years ago)

but really it's only good because of Wobble's work on it.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 18 March 2005 23:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm listening to "Deep Space", "Live at Leuven", :largely Live in hartlepool and Manchester" and "Solaris Live" lately. They are each pretty great.

― Scott McFarland (Scott McFarland), Monday, 21 March 2005 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

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