Radio Jiro #27 — MaccaAs any sensible person knows, The Beatles are the greatest band/creation ever in the entire universe but to choose 4 Beatles tracks would be completely pointless because I’m sure everyone knows every single Beatles track off by heart. So instead of that I’ve gone for 4 tracks by my favourite Beatle and quite possibly my favourite human being, Sir Paul McCartney, these are 4 post Beatle tracks that maybe slipped the radar for some people for some reason. First up a balearic classic, ‘Goodnight Tonight’, all about Macca’s brilliant bass line! Next up ‘Pretty Little Head’ from the album Press to Play, not a particularly great Macca album but a couple of nice tracks with this one being my favourite. The video to this track has Trigger from Only Fools & Horses in it but I wouldn’t bother with this version as it’s a pointless jazzed up version of the superior LP version. This next track I’ve actually had to take from my favourite radio show Noise In My Head, the track is ‘Ou Est Le Soleil?’, it’s been given the cosmic treatment and slowed down by Michael Ozone and is absolutely fucking amazing and shows the diversity and genius of the man. Finally I’ve gone for a track from one of my favourite albums of all time and definitely the best post Beatle solo album by any of the band, McCartney II. The album was absolutely slated when released mainly because critics didn’t get it (as usual) and felt Macca’s ego was getting the better of him and he was messing around with new technology making stupid music. This album has so many superb tracks including ‘Frozen Jap’, ‘Temporary Secretary’, ‘Coming Up’ and ‘Secret Friend’ but I’ve actually gone for a track that wasn’t even included on the original release and only officially released last year on the excellent re-issue and the song is ‘Blue Sway’. Also check out the video for it by surf filmaker Jack McCoy, so good!

Radio Jiro #27 — Macca

As any sensible person knows, The Beatles are the greatest band/creation ever in the entire universe but to choose 4 Beatles tracks would be completely pointless because I’m sure everyone knows every single Beatles track off by heart. So instead of that I’ve gone for 4 tracks by my favourite Beatle and quite possibly my favourite human being, Sir Paul McCartney, these are 4 post Beatle tracks that maybe slipped the radar for some people for some reason. First up a balearic classic, ‘Goodnight Tonight’, all about Macca’s brilliant bass line! Next up ‘Pretty Little Head’ from the album Press to Play, not a particularly great Macca album but a couple of nice tracks with this one being my favourite. The video to this track has Trigger from Only Fools & Horses in it but I wouldn’t bother with this version as it’s a pointless jazzed up version of the superior LP version. This next track I’ve actually had to take from my favourite radio show Noise In My Head, the track is ‘Ou Est Le Soleil?’, it’s been given the cosmic treatment and slowed down by Michael Ozone and is absolutely fucking amazing and shows the diversity and genius of the man.

Finally I’ve gone for a track from one of my favourite albums of all time and definitely the best post Beatle solo album by any of the band, McCartney II. The album was absolutely slated when released mainly because critics didn’t get it (as usual) and felt Macca’s ego was getting the better of him and he was messing around with new technology making stupid music. This album has so many superb tracks including ‘Frozen Jap’, ‘Temporary Secretary’, ‘Coming Up’ and ‘Secret Friend’ but I’ve actually gone for a track that wasn’t even included on the original release and only officially released last year on the excellent re-issue and the song is ‘Blue Sway’. Also check out the video for it by surf filmaker Jack McCoy, so good!



Radio Jiro #26 — ECM Records Next up, German record label ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) I wanted to leave the music to do the talking on this one but to set the tone heres ECMs motto ‘The Most Beautiful Sound Next to Silence’ Listen & Enjoy!

Radio Jiro #26 — ECM Records

Next up, German record label ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) I wanted to leave the music to do the talking on this one but to set the tone heres ECMs motto ‘The Most Beautiful Sound Next to Silence’ Listen & Enjoy!

Radio Jiro #25 — El Cometa de Madrid El cometa de Madrid was created by Spanish musician Luis Delgado as a sub label to Grabaciones Accidentales. A label that produced a number of beautifully crafted Spanish records throughout the 80’s with a mix of traditional Spanish guitar combined with ambient, Mediterranean and Asian sounds with all albums produced by Delgado himself. First up one of the first tracks I heard from the label, ‘El Viento’ by Miguel Herrero, an absolutely stunning track that has that bass sound that I have no idea what it’s called but is very 80’s and European sounding (which is a great thing). One of the many bands Delgado was involved in and who also released an LP on el cometa de Madrid was Ishinohana and their track ‘Lucia’ is a beautiful Asian influenced piece. Another LP from the label that was heavily inspired by Asian sounds and in particular the sounds of India was Luis Paniagua’s fantastic Neptuno with the track of the same name being a definite highlight. Finally a track from the man himself and the only album he actually released on el cometa de Madrid under his own name, ‘El Llanto De Nouronihar (Trompa Marina)’ is like everything else on the label an incredible ambient textured piece of music.

Radio Jiro #25 — El Cometa de Madrid

El cometa de Madrid was created by Spanish musician Luis Delgado as a sub label to Grabaciones Accidentales. A label that produced a number of beautifully crafted Spanish records throughout the 80’s with a mix of traditional Spanish guitar combined with ambient, Mediterranean and Asian sounds with all albums produced by Delgado himself. First up one of the first tracks I heard from the label, ‘El Viento’ by Miguel Herrero, an absolutely stunning track that has that bass sound that I have no idea what it’s called but is very 80’s and European sounding (which is a great thing).

One of the many bands Delgado was involved in and who also released an LP on el cometa de Madrid was Ishinohana and their track ‘Lucia’ is a beautiful Asian influenced piece. Another LP from the label that was heavily inspired by Asian sounds and in particular the sounds of India was Luis Paniagua’s fantastic Neptuno with the track of the same name being a definite highlight. Finally a track from the man himself and the only album he actually released on el cometa de Madrid under his own name, ‘El Llanto De Nouronihar (Trompa Marina)’ is like everything else on the label an incredible ambient textured piece of music.

Radio Jiro #24 — Sampled/Beastie Boys With the recent sad lose of Adam Yauch I felt that it would be appropriate to do my next Radio Jiro on the huge influence the Beastie Boys had on me as a teenager. More than any other band or artist the Beastie Boys had a massive affect on not just the music I listened to but also the clothes I wore and the movies I watched, thanks largely to Grand Royal magazine. Although classed as a hip hop act, what made the Beasties unique and such a great band to listen to was their ability to play their own instruments and combine a whole world of different musical genres and styles that no other band would have dared do. Here are a few band/artists that I discovered because they were in some way sampled or exposed by the Beasties who opened my ears to a whole world of music starting off with the first sample off my personal favourite Beastie Boy album ‘Check Your Head’. The sample is from Cheap Trick’s ‘Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace’ off the awesome ‘At Budokan’ but the track I have chosen is possibly my favourite Cheap Trick song ‘I Want You To Want Me’ from the same LP, very different in tempo to the studio version of this song, it’s all about the enthusiasm of the Japanese kids singing along, so good! Next up not an actual sample as such but a design reference on their instrumental album ‘The In Sounds From Way Out!’ with a clear reference to album cover of the seminal electronic album of the same name by Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley and their track ‘Cosmic Ballad’. Of all the samples the Beasties used probably the one act that I enjoyed the most was that of Krypton nut Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and the music coming from the Black Ark. As well as being sampled on their tracks the Beasties also made a brilliant article on the music of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and his Black Ark in issue 2 of Grand Royal magazine (this issue also had the seminal article ‘Mulling Over The Mullet’), here I’ve gone for the track ‘Space Dub’, a perfect slow summers day number. Finally a track that was sampled off ‘Paul’s Boutique’ which I’m pretty sure is the album with the most samples ever used thanks largely to the production of The Dust Brothers. This album has a huge funk and soul influence with samples from Funkadelic, Sly & The Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Kool & The Gang, Zapp and the Commodores but the track I’ve gone for is The Eagle’s brilliant ‘Those Shoes’ which was sampled on ‘High Plains Drifter’. Like many Eagles/Don Henley tracks this song would be perfect stripper music, if I ever end up being a stripper this is the song I’d dance on stage to. RIP MCA.

Radio Jiro #24 — Sampled/Beastie Boys

With the recent sad lose of Adam Yauch I felt that it would be appropriate to do my next Radio Jiro on the huge influence the Beastie Boys had on me as a teenager. More than any other band or artist the Beastie Boys had a massive affect on not just the music I listened to but also the clothes I wore and the movies I watched, thanks largely to Grand Royal magazine. Although classed as a hip hop act, what made the Beasties unique and such a great band to listen to was their ability to play their own instruments and combine a whole world of different musical genres and styles that no other band would have dared do. Here are a few band/artists that I discovered because they were in some way sampled or exposed by the Beasties who opened my ears to a whole world of music starting off with the first sample off my personal favourite Beastie Boy album ‘Check Your Head’. The sample is from Cheap Trick’s ‘Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace’ off the awesome ‘At Budokan’ but the track I have chosen is possibly my favourite Cheap Trick song ‘I Want You To Want Me’ from the same LP, very different in tempo to the studio version of this song, it’s all about the enthusiasm of the Japanese kids singing along, so good! Next up not an actual sample as such but a design reference on their instrumental album ‘The In Sounds From Way Out!’ with a clear reference to album cover of the seminal electronic album of the same name by Jean-Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley and their track ‘Cosmic Ballad’.

Of all the samples the Beasties used probably the one act that I enjoyed the most was that of Krypton nut Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and the music coming from the Black Ark. As well as being sampled on their tracks the Beasties also made a brilliant article on the music of Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and his Black Ark in issue 2 of Grand Royal magazine (this issue also had the seminal article ‘Mulling Over The Mullet’), here I’ve gone for the track ‘Space Dub’, a perfect slow summers day number. Finally a track that was sampled off ‘Paul’s Boutique’ which I’m pretty sure is the album with the most samples ever used thanks largely to the production of The Dust Brothers. This album has a huge funk and soul influence with samples from Funkadelic, Sly & The Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Kool & The Gang, Zapp and the Commodores but the track I’ve gone for is The Eagle’s brilliant ‘Those Shoes’ which was sampled on ‘High Plains Drifter’. Like many Eagles/Don Henley tracks this song would be perfect stripper music, if I ever end up being a stripper this is the song I’d dance on stage to. RIP MCA.

Radio Jiro #23 — Goblin Leone/Morricone, Lynch/Badalamenti, Herzog/Popol Vuh, Scorsese/Stones, Spielberg/Williams, Ghibli/Hisaishi, Carpenter and, er, Carpenter – many great film-makers like to create musical partnerships with the scores for their films and one of the best in my opinion is the music of Italian prog band Goblin for film director Dario Argento. The band’s first piece of work came about after Argento had fired composer Giorgio Gaslini from creating the music to his film Profondo Rosso, Goblin came in as replacements, were given 2 days to write and record the score and thus created one of horror movie’s greatest director/music combos. The title track to Profondo Rosso is one of Goblin’s finest pieces and perfectly sets the tone for any Argento flick. As well as Argento movies Goblin created soundtracks for a number of Italian movies throughout the 70’s and 80’s with a particular favourite of mine being the soundtrack to the cult Italian sci-fi/horror movie Contamination (I personally think this movie sucks), this soundtrack is filled with killer tracks but I’ve gone for the track ‘Connexion’. Another Argento collaboration of sorts was Goblin’s soundtrack for one of the greatest horror movies of all time; ‘Dawn of the Dead’, I clearly remember seeing the trailer for this movie on some old movie when I was a little kid and it really scaring me because it was the first time I had ever seen a scary movie set in the day and the thought of zombies walking around in the day in a shopping mall nearly made me crap my pants. Anyway, this movie was actually directed by George A. Romero however Goblin were recommended to him by Argento, and used in Argento’s cut of the movie (which is shorter and not actually as good Romero’s version). Finally the track ‘Jennifer’s Friends’ from one of my favourite Argento movies; ‘Phenomena’, supposedly Jennifer Connelly is really embarrassed that she was was in this movie, I have no idea why it’s fucking awesome, it has some weird midget freak killer, a crazy monkey and most importantly a Goblin soundtrack!

Radio Jiro #23 — Goblin

Leone/Morricone, Lynch/Badalamenti, Herzog/Popol Vuh, Scorsese/Stones, Spielberg/Williams, Ghibli/Hisaishi, Carpenter and, er, Carpenter – many great film-makers like to create musical partnerships with the scores for their films and one of the best in my opinion is the music of Italian prog band Goblin for film director Dario Argento. The band’s first piece of work came about after Argento had fired composer Giorgio Gaslini from creating the music to his film Profondo Rosso, Goblin came in as replacements, were given 2 days to write and record the score and thus created one of horror movie’s greatest director/music combos. The title track to Profondo Rosso is one of Goblin’s finest pieces and perfectly sets the tone for any Argento flick. As well as Argento movies Goblin created soundtracks for a number of Italian movies throughout the 70’s and 80’s with a particular favourite of mine being the soundtrack to the cult Italian sci-fi/horror movie Contamination (I personally think this movie sucks), this soundtrack is filled with killer tracks but I’ve gone for the track ‘Connexion’.

Another Argento collaboration of sorts was Goblin’s soundtrack for one of the greatest horror movies of all time; ‘Dawn of the Dead’, I clearly remember seeing the trailer for this movie on some old movie when I was a little kid and it really scaring me because it was the first time I had ever seen a scary movie set in the day and the thought of zombies walking around in the day in a shopping mall nearly made me crap my pants. Anyway, this movie was actually directed by George A. Romero however Goblin were recommended to him by Argento, and used in Argento’s cut of the movie (which is shorter and not actually as good Romero’s version). Finally the track ‘Jennifer’s Friends’ from one of my favourite Argento movies; ‘Phenomena’, supposedly Jennifer Connelly is really embarrassed that she was was in this movie, I have no idea why it’s fucking awesome, it has some weird midget freak killer, a crazy monkey and most importantly a Goblin soundtrack!

Radio Jiro #22 — Hi NRG While in Europe we had Italo Disco, Europop and the synth music coming out of England in North America there was Hi-NRG, similar to Disco however with far more energy (hence the name) and far less funk. One of the main creators of the Hi-NRG sound was Bobby ‘O’ who as well as creating music for himself was probably more known for the music he created for The Flirts and Divine. The Flirts were a trio from New York who made some of the best melodic pop music from the 80s and were also responsible for the creation of The Pet Shop Boys after Neil Tennant heard a Flirts song at a club in London when he was still editor of Smash Hits and decided there and then to start making music himself. They are also so good I spend the last £20 of my student loan once buying one of their records rather than getting food for the last week of a term and the track of theirs I chosen here is ‘You & Me’. Next up another Bobby ‘O’ creation, this time for drag queen and dog poo eater Divine who after the underground success as actress in a number of John Waters films decided to try his hands at music, ‘Native Love’ being a big hit with Orlando’s signature cowbell sounds. As well as Bobby ‘O’ another favourite Hi-NRG artist of mine are Canadian husband and wife duo Lime and their dancefloor killer track ‘Your Love’. With the growing popularity of Hi-NRG in Europe and especially England a lot of Hi-NRG music was being made on the other side of the Atlantic with the main creators being Stock Aitken Waterman who went on to become responsible for some of the biggest pop hits in England throughout the late 80s and early 90s creating music for Dead or Alive, Bananarama and Kylie Minougue. A particular Stock Aitken Waterman favourite although maybe not exactly a Hi-NRG track is Georgie Fame’s ‘Samba’ which was also a big tune in the cosmic clubs in Italy.

Radio Jiro #22 — Hi NRG

While in Europe we had Italo Disco, Europop and the synth music coming out of England in North America there was Hi-NRG, similar to Disco however with far more energy (hence the name) and far less funk. One of the main creators of the Hi-NRG sound was Bobby ‘O’ who as well as creating music for himself was probably more known for the music he created for The Flirts and Divine. The Flirts were a trio from New York who made some of the best melodic pop music from the 80s and were also responsible for the creation of The Pet Shop Boys after Neil Tennant heard a Flirts song at a club in London when he was still editor of Smash Hits and decided there and then to start making music himself. They are also so good I spend the last £20 of my student loan once buying one of their records rather than getting food for the last week of a term and the track of theirs I chosen here is ‘You & Me’. Next up another Bobby ‘O’ creation, this time for drag queen and dog poo eater Divine who after the underground success as actress in a number of John Waters films decided to try his hands at music, ‘Native Love’ being a big hit with Orlando’s signature cowbell sounds.

As well as Bobby ‘O’ another favourite Hi-NRG artist of mine are Canadian husband and wife duo Lime and their dancefloor killer track ‘Your Love’. With the growing popularity of Hi-NRG in Europe and especially England a lot of Hi-NRG music was being made on the other side of the Atlantic with the main creators being Stock Aitken Waterman who went on to become responsible for some of the biggest pop hits in England throughout the late 80s and early 90s creating music for Dead or Alive, Bananarama and Kylie Minougue. A particular Stock Aitken Waterman favourite although maybe not exactly a Hi-NRG track is Georgie Fame’s ‘Samba’ which was also a big tune in the cosmic clubs in Italy.

Radio Jiro #21 — Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Real dudes jamming hard and making you feel good. Can’t beat a bit of west coast rock and these are 4 tunes that always deliver, first up ‘Dark Star’ from their 1977 LP ‘CSN’, 7 years since their last group album and the first without Young since he joined. This album has some lovely tracks including Nash’s ‘Just A Song Before I Go’ but I’ve gone for ‘Dark Star’ because I love Stills’ latin rythmns, works a treat. Next up a solo from David Crosby from his brilliant record ‘If Only I Could Remember My Name…’ and the track ‘Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)’ full on weedy Topanga Canyon vibez on this one. ‘Long May You Run’ by The Stills-Young Band is an album that seems to get overlooked when talking about records by these guys, again another fantastic record and the track ‘Midnight On The Bay’ couldn’t sound more like a song about midnight on a bay if it tried, perfect summer evening jam. Finally another track featuring the genius that is Neil Young and the track ‘Will To Love’, recorded the same year as CSN and again another beautiful somber track from Young, but pretty much everything by all 4 of these guys is a winner.

Radio Jiro #21 — Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Real dudes jamming hard and making you feel good. Can’t beat a bit of west coast rock and these are 4 tunes that always deliver, first up ‘Dark Star’ from their 1977 LP ‘CSN’, 7 years since their last group album and the first without Young since he joined. This album has some lovely tracks including Nash’s ‘Just A Song Before I Go’ but I’ve gone for ‘Dark Star’ because I love Stills’ latin rythmns, works a treat. Next up a solo from David Crosby from his brilliant record ‘If Only I Could Remember My Name…’ and the track ‘Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves)’ full on weedy Topanga Canyon vibez on this one.

‘Long May You Run’ by The Stills-Young Band is an album that seems to get overlooked when talking about records by these guys, again another fantastic record and the track ‘Midnight On The Bay’ couldn’t sound more like a song about midnight on a bay if it tried, perfect summer evening jam. Finally another track featuring the genius that is Neil Young and the track ‘Will To Love’, recorded the same year as CSN and again another beautiful somber track from Young, but pretty much everything by all 4 of these guys is a winner.

Radio Jiro #20 — Baby Records Here is another great Italo label that released many of the better Italo tracks during the 80s. The first 2 tracks I’ve chosen are 2 Italo Disco favourites of mine, ‘Zighidizazazero’ by Databook and the awesome ‘Stop’ by BWH. These 2 together encapsulate everything I love about Italo, pure fun vibez, weird Euro sounds, great piano pieces, sounds like it could be used for an 80’s European kids cartoon and great to dance to, check out this lady getting her groove on to BWH’s ‘Stop’ here. The next 2 tracks although both Italian wouldn’t necessarily be classed as Italo Disco, ‘La Serenissima’ by ‘Rondo Veneziano’ were actually an orchestra who played Baroque music fused with the use of guitars and synths, the video to ‘La Serenissima’ is pretty awesome too, I’m sure Daft Punk got a few ideas from these guys and I think ITV used to play this track for a short period when I was a kid in the 80’s, round the time Saint & Greavsie was on. And finally ‘Disco Project’ by Pink Project, one of the first ever mash-up songs that combined Alan Parson Project’s ‘Mammagamma’ with Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall’. A big hit in Italy in the early 80s which lead to demands for the song to be performed on TV which resulted in one of the coolest ever performances by a band ever even if none of the people on stage were actually playing their instruments or members of the band. Check out Rondo Veneziano and Pink Project’s video/performances here.

Radio Jiro #20 — Baby Records

Here is another great Italo label that released many of the better Italo tracks during the 80s. The first 2 tracks I’ve chosen are 2 Italo Disco favourites of mine, ‘Zighidizazazero’ by Databook and the awesome ‘Stop’ by BWH. These 2 together encapsulate everything I love about Italo, pure fun vibez, weird Euro sounds, great piano pieces, sounds like it could be used for an 80’s European kids cartoon and great to dance to, check out this lady getting her groove on to BWH’s ‘Stop’ here.



The next 2 tracks although both Italian wouldn’t necessarily be classed as Italo Disco, ‘La Serenissima’ by ‘Rondo Veneziano’ were actually an orchestra who played Baroque music fused with the use of guitars and synths, the video to ‘La Serenissima’ is pretty awesome too, I’m sure Daft Punk got a few ideas from these guys and I think ITV used to play this track for a short period when I was a kid in the 80’s, round the time Saint & Greavsie was on. And finally ‘Disco Project’ by Pink Project, one of the first ever mash-up songs that combined Alan Parson Project’s ‘Mammagamma’ with Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall’. A big hit in Italy in the early 80s which lead to demands for the song to be performed on TV which resulted in one of the coolest ever performances by a band ever even if none of the people on stage were actually playing their instruments or members of the band. Check out Rondo Veneziano



and Pink Project’s video/performances here.



Radio Jiro #19 —Soft Machine Named after a William Burroughs book and part of the Canterbury scene, Soft Machine although not commercially successful are clearly one of the most important prog bands to have come from England. Starting off with a far more psychedelic sound and a regular at the UFO in London, Soft Machine combined a mixture of odd ball lyrics from Robert Wyatt with jazz influenced sounds and the first track is a live version of Wyatt’s track ‘The Moon In June’ from the Peel Sessions. A quintessential English prog track with Wyatt’s very distinct voice and humorous lyrics, not everyone’s cup of tea but a track that definitely shows off the type of thing Soft Machine were doing before Wyatt left, I think it is also the last Soft Machine track with lyrics. With Wyatt and Kevin Ayers gone Soft Machine’s sound changed with far more emphasis on a Jazz sound and a complete removal of their psychedelic past and ‘Soft Weed Factor’ off their ‘Six’ LP is a lovely little jazzy number. Next up isn’t actually a Soft Machine track but a Wyatt track from his second solo LP ‘Rock Bottom’ and his first release after his accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down the year before, I’ve included this because I’m more of a fan of Soft Machine with Wyatt and this track shows what he was up to after leaving. As distinctive as ever with his unusual high pitch voice but with a slightly mellower sound this a real gem of an album and ‘Sea Song’ one of my favourite songs off it. Lastly another (supposedly) live Soft Machine track but a track that sounds absolutely nothing like any of their other work and more like a track from the future. ‘Soft Space’ from the LP ‘Alive & Well’ sounds more like some kind of proto techno piece and is fucking incredible.

Radio Jiro #19 —Soft Machine

Named after a William Burroughs book and part of the Canterbury scene, Soft Machine although not commercially successful are clearly one of the most important prog bands to have come from England. Starting off with a far more psychedelic sound and a regular at the UFO in London, Soft Machine combined a mixture of odd ball lyrics from Robert Wyatt with jazz influenced sounds and the first track is a live version of Wyatt’s track ‘The Moon In June’ from the Peel Sessions. A quintessential English prog track with Wyatt’s very distinct voice and humorous lyrics, not everyone’s cup of tea but a track that definitely shows off the type of thing Soft Machine were doing before Wyatt left, I think it is also the last Soft Machine track with lyrics. With Wyatt and Kevin Ayers gone Soft Machine’s sound changed with far more emphasis on a Jazz sound and a complete removal of their psychedelic past and ‘Soft Weed Factor’ off their ‘Six’ LP is a lovely little jazzy number.

Next up isn’t actually a Soft Machine track but a Wyatt track from his second solo LP ‘Rock Bottom’ and his first release after his accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down the year before, I’ve included this because I’m more of a fan of Soft Machine with Wyatt and this track shows what he was up to after leaving. As distinctive as ever with his unusual high pitch voice but with a slightly mellower sound this a real gem of an album and ‘Sea Song’ one of my favourite songs off it. Lastly another (supposedly) live Soft Machine track but a track that sounds absolutely nothing like any of their other work and more like a track from the future. ‘Soft Space’ from the LP ‘Alive & Well’ sounds more like some kind of proto techno piece and is fucking incredible.

Radio Jiro #18 — Jean-Luc Ponty, The Cosmic Messenger If you fancy being taken on a blissful cosmic voyage with the sounds of electronic violins then look no further than Jean-Luc Ponty. He started out as a traditional jazz musician throughout the 60s and 70s, but it was his move to America from France and his embracing of new electronic sounds and new age music that developed into the jazz fusion sound which he is more widely known for. From the mid 70s and throughout the 80s Ponty recorded a number of excellent ambient, new age, jazz fusion records and here are four tracks that give you a taste of the kind of stuff he was making, starting with ‘Mirage’ from his 1977 record ‘Enigmatic Ocean’, a dark yet beautiful jazz fusion track that drifts along with Ponty’s signature violin sounds. Another atmospheric piece, and the track that first got me into Ponty, is ‘Ethereal Mood’ from his next record ‘Cosmic Messenger’. Going into the 80s Ponty’s use of electronic music was becoming more and more significant, and his 1983 record ‘Individual Choice’ shows this perfectly with a number of incredible electronic pieces, my favourite of which is the outstanding ‘Computer Incantations For World Peace’, I can imagine this track being played in Silicon Valley throughout the 80’s. Finally, another track that shows the kind of sounds Ponty was creating in the 80s, ‘Open Mind’ from the LP of the same name. Incidentally, I used to have this track as my ringtone - which I strongly recommend against doing with any track you are fond of because you end up getting annoyed by any track you use as a ringtone, plus every time I hear this song I automatically start looking for my phone even though I haven’t had it as my ringtone for a few years.

Radio Jiro #18 — Jean-Luc Ponty, The Cosmic Messenger

If you fancy being taken on a blissful cosmic voyage with the sounds of electronic violins then look no further than Jean-Luc Ponty. He started out as a traditional jazz musician throughout the 60s and 70s, but it was his move to America from France and his embracing of new electronic sounds and new age music that developed into the jazz fusion sound which he is more widely known for. From the mid 70s and throughout the 80s Ponty recorded a number of excellent ambient, new age, jazz fusion records and here are four tracks that give you a taste of the kind of stuff he was making, starting with ‘Mirage’ from his 1977 record ‘Enigmatic Ocean’, a dark yet beautiful jazz fusion track that drifts along with Ponty’s signature violin sounds. Another atmospheric piece, and the track that first got me into Ponty, is ‘Ethereal Mood’ from his next record ‘Cosmic Messenger’.

Going into the 80s Ponty’s use of electronic music was becoming more and more significant, and his 1983 record ‘Individual Choice’ shows this perfectly with a number of incredible electronic pieces, my favourite of which is the outstanding ‘Computer Incantations For World Peace’, I can imagine this track being played in Silicon Valley throughout the 80’s. Finally, another track that shows the kind of sounds Ponty was creating in the 80s, ‘Open Mind’ from the LP of the same name. Incidentally, I used to have this track as my ringtone - which I strongly recommend against doing with any track you are fond of because you end up getting annoyed by any track you use as a ringtone, plus every time I hear this song I automatically start looking for my phone even though I haven’t had it as my ringtone for a few years.