Disc one of this set is just the best Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning music. Totally chilled, loose instrumentals by an unlikely pairing of cello, clarinet and a band of New York punk rockers.
During his lifetime, Arthur Russell has brought together many disparate scenes. A trained cellist, he worked with beat poet Alan Ginsberg, Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and disco DJs Nicky Siano and Larry Levan. ‘First Thought, Best Thought’ is a collection of recordings from the mid 1970s when Russell was musical director of pioneering New York performance space The Kitchen.
Disc One of this two CD set is made up of live recordings from the Kitchen made in 1975 by a band that features ex-Modern Lover Ernie Brooks on bass and Rhys Chatham, whose guitar noise inspired generations of punks including Sonic Youth.
The music they produced that April night as a once off is full of fleeting beauty and lazy grooves. A calm, wistful atmosphere hangs over the entire recording. A must have.
The second disc collects two pieces from the early 1980’s which are a bit more challenging: The modern classical composition ‘Tower Of Meaning’ and Russell’s keyboard improvisation ‘Sketch For The Face Of Helen’. Amazing music, but more intense and in need of an appreciative ear.
Russell, who tragically died in 1992, also recorded a number of Punk Funk classics as Dinosaur L and some stone cold Disco anthems as Loose Joints. Watch this space, Tuneraker will certainly tell you more about the man and his music in the future.
Listen to Arthur Russell’s ‘First Thought, Best Thought’ and download the album from iTunes.
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