Rock On! Wednesday, 28 May 2025 – Moondog, Terry Riley, The Residents, Captain Beefheart, Silver Apples & Henry Cow

Psychedelic, heavy, prog and more innovating sounds spanning the late 60s and the early 70s – Dan’s pick of the week: Moondog (Moondog), Terry Riley (A Rainbow in Curved Air), The Residents (Meet the Residents), Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band (Lick My Decals off, Baby) Silver Apples (Silver Apples) & Henry Cow (Concerts).

Moondog was de artiestennaam van Louis T. Hardin, een Amerikaans componist, musicus en dichter. Behalve nieuwe muziek vond hij ook nieuwe instrumenten uit, hoewel hij blind was. Vanaf 1950 tot 1974 verbleef Moondog als straatmuzikant in New York, op 53rd Street en 6th Avenue. Meestal was hij als Viking gekleed. Hij verkocht zijn eigen gedichten aan voorbijgangers.

Sputni Music review: “By 1969, the Kansas-born composer, who wandered into New York City and adopted the moniker “Moondog” in the late 1940s, had almost a half-dozen recordings to his name. That same year, after a 12-year recording hiatus, he reentered the studio at the invitation of producer James William Guercio to commit a new album to tape for Columbia Records. The result, simply titled Moondog, would feature compositions Moondog had been constructing for more than a decade, including two canons, two “minisyms” (short symphonic-styled pieces for miniature orchestras), three symphonic works, a chaconne memorializing the legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker (“Bird’s Lament”), and ballet music written with modern dance pioneer Martha Graham in mind (“Witch of Endor”). The collection would come to be known as a singular entry in the catalog of Third Stream music and possibly Moondog’s finest hour. (…)

Moondog’s disdain for convention and his knack for genre fusion are intoxicating, but the album’s standout is his flawless integration of unusual percussion and odd meter, or what he called snaketime, into his distinct amalgam of modern classical elements and jazz leanings. Instruments of Moondog’s own design punctuate the record’s introductory “Theme” with peculiar rhythms before seguing into the equally serpentine snare and timpani work of “Stamping Ground”. It’s a fitting opening statement for a man who would “not die in 4/4 time”.

Wednesday, Wednesday, 28 May 2025 12:00 noon CET Brussels – 11 a.m. GMT London. Repeated: 16:00 & 20:00 hrs CET Brussels, 3 p.m. & 7 p.m. GMT London
Ends: 12 midnight CET Brussels, 11 p.m. GMT London.