Classics

Monks, in addition to the trivia of their MN connection, were one of the best, most distinctive bands that flourished in the brief mid-'60s heyday of proto-punky garage-rock. This collection more or less doubles their officially released material, for which we should all be thankful.

A fascinating and singular piece of music. British pan-avant music magazine The Wire says, "Lucier is the undoubted genius of process music; and this is his masterpiece." The entirety of the album is built out of repeated playbacks and re-recordings of Lucier describing the process by which he will make the album, the sonic characteristics of the room affecting each successive recording slightly more than the last. You might be forgiven for getting ten minutes in and thinking that it sounds basically the same, but more reverby. However, to once again quote The Wire, "With each repetition, the frequencies of Lucier's voice that most closely match the room's resonant frequencies are enhanced, and soon he becomes incomprehensible, only the dim memory of his text animating glistening spools of sound. The music is its own score, but it's not the formal simplicity of technique that impresses the most. Towards the end, once Lucier has gone and only the inarticulate room remains, it's a gorgeous and quite extraordinary experience."

The UK's Soul Jazz Records just keeps spitting out fascinating compilations. Boombox, the latest, promises "Early independent Hip Hop, Electro and Disco Rap 1979-82."

While there were numerous other important labels, and artists not represented here, the early evolution of Rock & Roll gets extensively covered through the lens of Sun Records in this exhaustive 8 disc set. Also includes a mammoth hardcover book filled with stories and photos. Sun Records' non-Rock contributions are covered in the equally magnificent Sun Blues Box and Sun Country Box.

For my money, the first half of Low is one of the very few fully realized post-Beatles pop sounds to point as much to a way for the future as to where it came from, and is the pinnacle among the many high points of David Bowie's storied discography.