Led Zeppelin - Mothership

For two and a half years (from about April 1975 to the end of 1977) I worshipped Led Zeppelin. It started when I heard "Physical Graffiti" through our next door neighbour's wall. I borrowed it and loved it. The thing that made the most impression was John Bonham's drum sound. But when I bought "Led Zeppelin II" later that year (after the school carol service, if memory serves) I knew that it was the real thing. It's a bit sad, I suppose, that great as Led Zeppelin were, they never surpassed the music on their first two albums. It may, then, have been a long slow decline, but what a decline.

I don't think I've listened to any Led Zep for 30 years, and I was expecting to be underwhelmed, especially since heavy metal has long been a derided cliche, and Rolf Harris and Dread Zeppelin have done their worst, but I was bowled over by the immediacy and power of the early stuff on this compilation, especially "Good Times Bad Times" and "Whole Lotta Love".

Tchaikovsky - Symphony No 5

When I first started listening to classical music I rather stupidly gave Tchaikovsky a wide berth because he was "popular" (think 1812 Overture and Swan Lake). Later on I got to like the Sixth Symphony (Pathetique) and the Violin Concerto, so I was expecting to like this. But I really didn't, I found it turgid and boring. A bit like early Sibelius without the sparkle. I'm trying to work out why. I think that maybe it was because Tchaikovsky was trying to express really extreme emotional states within too rigid a tonal framework. Mahler is, of course, emotional, but his freedom with tonality gives him the language.

Mahler - Symphony No 5

Well, I finally felt up to listening to Mahler 5 this week, and it was fantastic. I used to love Mahler, but about 3 years ago I listened to the Fourth and didn't enjoy it. It was a weird experience, a bit like meeting an old friend again after a long separation and not getting on with them. I want to listen to it again soon, more carefully, analytically, movement by movement, because it is easy to be borne along by the emotion. The thing I noticed most this time was the third movement scherzo, which has somehow washed over me before. I think I found it a bit over-long and incoherent.

Brad Smith - Moon8

This is a re-creation of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" using primitive (moop!) Nintendo (neek!) sound effects (8-bit, hence the title). It's an interesting idea, but it didn't work for me. It seemed a bit like those reproductions of the Mona Lisa with Lego.

Free download at http://rainwarrior.thenoos.net/music/moon8.html.

J S Bach - Cello Suite No 3 (not Mahler 5)

I was planning to listen to Mahler's Fifth Symphony last week but because of the way things are at the moment I wasn't feeling up to it, so I listened to this again (see http://terrapinlistens2.blogspot.com/2010/02/j-s-bach-cello-suite-no-3.html), and really enjoyed it this time. It's austere but still sensual. I don't think this is the best possible performance: the rhythm gets "lost" sometimes, but it is still very good.