William Nowik: Pan Symphony in E Minor (Guerszen) by Steve Holtje

There’s a buzz about this 1974 album among collectors of vintage psychedelia and prog-rock; quite a rarity, the original LPs — only 200 pressed — were supposedly going for as much as $1000 in online auctions (the highest I saw was $800).

Magnetic Fields - Realism (Nonesuch) by Steve Holtje

This album was inspired by Merritt’s image of ’60s folk music – big-production folk with dazzlingly complex arrangements.

Steve Holtje’s Top Ten — December 27 by Steve Holtje

I wanted to start running my best of 2009 lists this week. Instead, I’ve sadly spent the past two days writing a Vic Chesnutt obituary. So I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about him and his work; here are my favorite Chesnutt albums in order.

Also, Kristin Hersh (Throwing Muses) is collecting donations at http://kristinhersh.cashmusic.org/vic to be given to Chesnutt’s family. Her heartfelt and highly personal tribute/reaction is well worth reading.

Tim Buckley - Live at the Folklore Center, NYC, March 6, 1967 (Tompkins Square) by Steve Holtje

A spectacularly intense yet intimate performance by a still-hungry young artist on the rise.

Thomas Watkiss - Ancestor Phase II: Machine - (The Seventh Media) by Steve Holtje

The music here is denser, heavily grounded in low drones; its thrums and buzzes are more genuinely industrial in tone than the Industrial genre ever was.

Steve Holtje’s Top Ten — October 4 by Steve Holtje

Top Ten Albums I Reviewed for the Next Print Issue of The Big Takeover

Castanets - Texas Rose, the Thaw & the Beasts (Asthmatic Kitty) by Steve Holtje

This album often suggests the feelings from a nerve stretched taut and sawed at. Don’t put this on for a comfortable listen; put it on for intense and disturbing catharsis.

Rain Machine - s/t (Anti) by Steve Holtje

Some of the songs here seem like folk disguised with electric guitar, beautiful and personal in their expression.

Steve Holtje’s Top Ten — August 23 by Steve Holtje

Larry Knechtel Top 10

Larry Knechtel, who died on Thursday in Yakima, WA, was a musician’s musician. Born in Bell, CA in 1940, he had his first taste of recording success at the age of 16 with an instrumental single. He quit college in 1959 when Duane Eddy offered him a spot in his touring band, the Rebels; he ended up recording many albums with Eddy. His first instrument had been piano, but he started branching out and eventually added not only other keyboard instruments but also bass, guitar, and harmonica. His big break was playing keyboards on the Ronettes’ Christmas album, which got him regular work on many Phil Spector productions. In 1964 he became the bassist in the house band on the Shindig! TV show.

Soon Knechtel was a first-call session player with the revolving cast of L.A. studio virtuosi who became known as “the Wrecking Crew.” Among the many well-known sessions he played on: bass on The Doors’ debut, Hammond organ on The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, most of the key albums by The 5th Dimension and The Mamas & the Papas, Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction,” and plenty of TV work including The Monkees and The Partridge Family.

It’s hard to pin down the specifics of some of these; for instance, The 5th Dimension’s “Stoned Soul Picnic” definitely has Knechtel, but both he and Jimmy Rowles are credited for “piano & keyboards,” and it’s hard to say who does what. Interestingly, The 5th Dimension’s producer, Bones Howe, who often used Knechtel, more than once had him come back to the studio to cut a song he’d already cut with another band, as on “Go Where You Wanna Go” (which he’d already done with The Mamas & the Papas) and “Never My Love” (The Association had already had a hit with it that featured Knechtel). Knechtel’s website says he played with four bands at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967; it doesn’t say which ones, but a good guess would be The Mamas & the Papas, The Association, Simon & Garfunkel, and Johnny Rivers, all of whom he recorded with.

David Ackles, The Association, Chet Atkins, Hoyt Axton, Joan Baez, Elvis Costello, John Denver, Neil Diamond, Dixie Chicks, Fats Domino, England Dan & John Ford Coley, the Everly Brothers, gospel vocalists The Fairfield Four, Jerry Garcia, Art Garfunkel, jazz vibraphonist Terry Gibbs, The Grass Roots, Thelma Houston, Jan & Dean, Billy Joel, Jim Lauderdale, Dave Mason, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Poco, Elvis Presley (bass on The 1968 Comeback Special), Emitt Rhodes, The Righteous Brothers, Tommy Roe, Diana Ross, Lalo Schifrin, Seals & Crofts, Paul Simon, Nancy Sinatra, Spanky & Our Gang, Steppenwolf, John Stewart, Barbra Streisand, Tina Turner, The Turtles, Conway Twitty, Townes Van Zandt, Gene Vincent, Doc Watson, Jimmy Webb, and many more also used his talents over the years.

After Robb Royer left soft-rock pioneers Bread, Knechtel was asked to replace him and accepted the offer. While aficionados may have been aware of Knechtel’s resume before that, joining Bread raised his profile considerably. Certainly that’s where I first heard him: In the mid-‘70s, when as a young teen I first started buying pop LPs, Bread was my favorite band.

Bread co-founder David Gates later stated, “It was an incredibly different band after Larry joined. He brought such fine musicianship, in terms of his time, his rhythm, and his overall spark. We were almost embarrassed to go on stage before, but when he was with us, it was great. He could really solo, and he added a tremendous credibility to us.”

But Bread broke up, reformed, and then broke up again. Knechtel recorded and toured with Gates, but also occasionally returned to studio work, though he had moved to Washington (where, aside from a seven-year sojourn in Nashville, he lived for the rest of his life). He also recorded two albums under his own name; they’re said to be jazzy (I haven’t heard them, though I’ve been meaning to track down copies).

24-Caret Black - Gone: The Promises of Yesterday (Numero) by Steve Holtje

This is soul offering little uplift (some hypnotic grooves and the momentum built from insistent repetition) but plentiful painful catharsis.

XTC - Drums and Wires (Virgin/Geffen) by Steve Holtje

Drums and Wires, released 30 years ago (August 17, 1979), initiated XTC Mark II.

Steve Holtje’s Top Ten — August 16 by Steve Holtje

Most Iconic Songs from Woodstock

40th anniversary of Woodstock commentary/reminiscences are everywhere, but I’m enjoying them and figured I’d add a little myself. I stick to performances in the movie and on the first two albums issued. (In ascending order.)

Rashied Ali 1935-2009 by Steve Holtje

Jazz drum great Rashied Ali died on Wednesday after a heart attack.

Jónsi & Alex - Riceboy Sleeps (XL) by Steve Holtje

The way the droning, slowly percolating textures are electronically treated is redolent of the fuzzy friendliness of laptop ambient, while the arc structures sound completely composed and their long, slow crescendos will sound familiar to post-rock fans, but with mirroring decrescendos instead of pounding climaxes.

Steve Holtje’s Top Ten — July 26 by Steve Holtje

1979 singles

Feeling nostalgic for 1979 (just had my high school reunion) had me thinking of what I liked back then. I confined my choices to singles and stuff that came out before I went to college that September and had my musical horizons vastly expanded.