Seasonal sounds from our CD collection

It’s almost Christmas, and amongst other things that means Christmas songs have started to fill the airwaves. It’s easy to roll your eyes at the prospect, but there is actually a great deal more to Christmas music than “All I Want for Christmas is You” (nothing against Mariah’s seasonal juggernaut, if it’s your preferred Christmas jam we do have it on Merry Christmas / Carey, Mariah).

A wide variety of artists have recorded Christmas albums, the following is just a sampling of what is available at Wellington City Libraries. They range from fairly straightforward collections of seasonal standards to more personal and idiosyncratic affairs, to some which can only be described as very out of the box. Either way, if you’re looking for something to soundtrack your Christmas break, one of these might do the trick!

Ella wishes you a swinging Christmas / Fitzgerald, Ella
Christmas with the Rat Pack
The Christmas collection / Jackson 5
Christmas songs / Krall, Diana
Dr. Demento presents the greatest Christmas novelty CD of all time
Quality Street : a seasonal selection for all the family / Lowe, Nick
Tinsel and lights / Thorn, Tracey
One more drifter in the snow / Mann, Aimee
Christmas party / She & Him

Ella wishes you a swinging christmas Christmas with the rat pack The Christmas collection / Jackson 5

Christmas songs / Krall, Diana Dr. Demento presents the greatest Christmas novelty CD of all time Quality Street : a seasonal selection for all the family / Lowe, Nick

Tinsel and lights / Thorn, Tracey One more drifter in the snow / Mann, Aimee Christmas party / She & Him

 

CDs From The Vault: Progressive Rock Special

Join us on this latest CDs from the Vault podcast episode as Wellington City Librarians Patrick, Sam & Neil dive into the illustrious history of progressive rock. From its rise to popularity in the early 1970’s through various evolutions and iterations in subsequent decades, progressive rock is an enigmatic and varied musical genre that continues to capture the hearts and minds of many music lovers globally. In this episode, we focus on three classic albums from different time periods to showcase how it has developed over time.

Listen to the podcast here:

These albums (along with tens of thousands of others) are currently available to be borrowed for free by reserving them from our catalogue to be sent from our Te Pātaka storage space to a Wellington City Libraries branch of your choice.

Close to the edge / Yes

Released on the 13th of September 1972, Close to the Edge, Yes’s fifth studio album, is widely regarded as one of the seminal albums of the progressive rock genre. The band at that time were experiencing a significant tailwind in the form of the success of 1971’s Fragile which featured their biggest hit to date, ‘Roundabout’. Lead singer Jon Anderson had for some time been envisioning a ‘long-form’ approach to composition which was previously hinted at. His song writing partnership with guitarist Steve Howe was now beginning to blossom and together they were sowing the seeds of a fully realised ‘concept album’ – which would take the listener on a journey from start to finish. It has all the hallmarks of the golden age of progressive rock – characteristics which have been lauded and lambasted by critics ever since.

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50 Years of Darkness

2023 marks 50 years since the release of Pink Floyd’s classic Dark Side of the Moon.  The group’s eighth studio album, Dark Side of the Moon is a conceptual work dealing with mental illness and how the pressures of modern life (particularly the life of a rock band…) can exacerbate it. As with much of Pink Floyd’s work, the shadow of founder Syd Barrett, by then a recluse due to mental illness and drug abuse, hangs over the album.

Sessions took place at EMI Studios in London with the album being released on 1 March 1973. Although the music was written by all four band members, bassist Roger Waters was by this point responsible for all the lyrics. As well as its musical strengths the album also showcased another Floyd trademark via its extensive use of sound effects.

Dark Side of the Moon would top the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic and has at the time of writing sold in the neighbourhood of 45 million copies. It spent an astonishing 741 non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard Top 200, only finally slipping off on 8 October 1988. The two singles from the album, “Money” and “Time” are among Floyd’s most well-known songs and remain staples of classic rock radio.

The iconic sleeve was designed by Storm Thorgerson, an English graphic designer who would go on to design similarly distinctive covers for several other Pink Floyd albums (showcased in Mind over matter : the images of Pink Floyd / Thorgerson, Storm).

Since its release, Floyd have frequently returned to the album and several acts have paid tribute to it, the following is what’s available at Wellington City Libraries.

The dark side of the moon [remaster] / Pink Floyd
The original masterpiece is available in several different cd and vinyl versions, the most recent in the collection being the 2011 remastering on vinyl.

 

 

The dark side of the moon : live at Wembley, London, 1974 / Pink Floyd
Recently released as park of a 50th anniversary package, this captures a widely bootlegged concert at Wembley Arena where the newly released album was performed in its entirety.

 

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October’s New Music for Te Awe


via GIPHY

Statler: Well, it was good.
Waldorf: Ah, it was very bad.
Statler: Well, it was average.
Waldorf: Ah, it was in the middle there.
Statler: Ah, it wasn’t that great.
Waldorf: I kind of liked it.”
-‘The Muppet Show’.

I’m Mark, the Music & Film Specialist at Wellington City Libraries. I buy music for the CD & Vinyl collections, and also run the Libraries’ Wellington Music Facebook page). My Music Specialist colleague Sam, and Fiction Specialist (and avid music fan) Neil, join me every month to cast an eye over the new material we have been buying for the music collection at our CBD Te Awe library. We pick out some interesting titles across a range of music genres, and try to limit our reviews to a few lines only. Can we encapsulate an entire album in just a couple of lines? [Ed. This is probably unlikely at this point]. Do we actually know anything about new music? Or, are we just too old to understand what most of this is banging on about? [Ed. This is more than likely]. Read on to find out…

Messy / Dean, Olivia
Mark Says: ‘Messy’ is the debut album from East London’s Olivia Dean, another graduate of the famed Brit School. The hazy bedroom pop of vocoder opener ‘UFO’, perhaps gives the album a bit of a lo-fi expectation, but the rest of the album is very polished production wise, perhaps a little too much in places. Shades of Motown, the retro soul of Joss Stone, and the production & vocal techniques that reference a lot of 2010’s Neo-Soul, with some smokey Jazz touches. She has a great voice, and it’s mature-confessional-pop of the highest order. Some dead spots may mean it works better as a long EP than a full album.
Sam Says: ‘Messy’ may be Olivia Dean’s first full-length offering, however it displays a sense of musical versatility and vision that could easily be attributed to a more experienced artist. Released earlier this year, the album has already made waves in the UK scene and has even been shortlisted for the 2023 Mercury Prize. Musically, it is firmly rooted in the stylings of neo-soul, with a highly tangible sense of mainstream appeal. In saying that, Dean’s boldly creative approach comfortably sets her apart from many of her contemporaries. Containing twelve tracks over a mere thirty-five minutes, despite its title, ‘Messy’ is a neat and concise affair, with little room for filler. It will be interesting to see where Dean leads as her career develops.

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New Classical CDs: Concertos for Piano, Horn, Violin & Clarinet

October has brought us a gleaming array of new classical CDs that include well-known pieces, and music by composers who should be better-known. This blog looks at several new recordings of concertos for piano, clarinet, horn, and violin. Of particular interest are two new recordings of music by Florence Price (1887-1953), including Randall Goosby’s interpretation of Price’s violin concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Jeneba Kanneh-Mason’s performance of Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement, accompanied by the Chineke! Orchestra.

Although Florence Price’s music is, at last, becoming more widely performed, more about her life should also be known. Price was one of the USA’s foremost twentieth-century composers, producing music in a variety of genres including chamber and orchestral works, concerti, piano and organ pieces, and a significant body of art songs. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Price first learned music with her mother before moving to Boston where she studied piano, organ, and composition at the New England Conservatory, one of the only American conservatoires that would admit African-American students at that time. Price then held several prestigious teaching posts at colleges in Little Rock and Atlanta and married in 1912. 

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September’s New Music for Te Awe: Part 2

Here is part two of our new music picks for August. You can catch up with Part 1 here. Do we actually know anything about new music? Or, are we just too old to understand what most of this is banging on about? Read on to find out…

The returner / Russell, Allison
Mark says: Allison Russell is a member of Our Native Daughters (along with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, and Amythyst Kiah), but it was her critically acclaimed debut solo album 2021’s Outside child that raised her profile, receiving 3 Grammy nominations and winning several other awards. New album ‘The Returner’ expands her style of Folk into a a much broader scope, not Americana so much as ‘American’ music, as the album seems to touch on everything from Folk to R&B, rock, gospel, blues & funky pop/dance rhythms. A larger stylistic canvas gives a wider scope for her themes of blackness and triumph over adversity. Full of dense and rich lyrical stories that reveal new details with each listen.

Sam says: 4x Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and activist Allison Russell’s sophomore album ‘The Returner’ is an album of many facets. Stylistically fluid with a wide array of instruments, there is a lot to take in here, but the concise and catchy compositions brim with immediacy and are easy to get absorbed in. The recording features additions from the “Rainbow Coalition” band, a collective of all women musicians to great effect, their contributions adding much colour to the songs. Also well-regarded as a poet, Russell’s lyrics here are cathartic and captivating, perfectly complimenting the compelling and dynamic tone of the music. Overall, ‘The Returner’ is a powerful and grandiose effort.

The ones ahead / Glenn-Copeland, Beverly
Mark says: Rediscovered after decades of obscurity due to a Japanese collector’s request for copies of his 1986 album Keyboard Fantasies, the transgender Black Canadian artist became the subject of a a documentary in 2019, [Ed. IMDB] and has gone on to a late career resurgence. New album ‘The ones ahead’ is his first album of original material in 20 years. His voice is beautiful, resonant and lush, but it’s his message that shines through; a future-facing vision of unity, connection & love.

Neil says: In 1986 Beverly Glenn-Copeland released ‘Keyboard Fantasies’, an album that on its re release was hailed as one of the best ambient electronica albums of its time. On first listen to ‘The ones ahead’ there isn’t much that link the two, but closer inspection shows the same aims of healing and restoration running throughout music. The album starts of with ‘Africa calling’ where the African musical influences are obvious, but all the subsequent tracks take on a much more personal and unique character. The album could very loosely be called ambient Avant Garde jazz, with folk touches. And, as that description amply demonstrates, it is rather unique. His voice can sound like Billie Holiday or even Frank Sinatra, or any point in-between, and throughout the album he uses his voice and the supporting musical settings to spread his message of, love, inclusion, acceptance and peace.

Continue reading “September’s New Music for Te Awe: Part 2”