The Only Ones - The Only Ones (1978). Utterly phenomenal slice of power pop-punk anchored by "Another Girl, Another Planet," one of the best songs of the punk era. The Only Ones had a lot of Rolling Stones and Big Star mixed in with their punk guitars and attitude, and it is only right and natural that they influenced both The Replacements and Yo La Tengo. This is a great album by any measure.
Opal - Happy Nightmare, Baby (1987) and Early Recordings (1989). With a guitarist from Rain Parade and a bassist/vocalist from The Dream Syndicate, Opal was a Paisley Underground supergroup of sorts. When bassist Kendra Smith left during their first tour, the band recruited singer Hope Sandoval to replace her and then changed their name to Mazzy Star, which was quite popular for a while during the 90s. These tracks sound like the work of a band halfway between Rain Parade and Mazzy Star, and that's not a bad thing. I like Rain Parade and The Dream Syndicate more than these songs, but I like these quite a bit, too. I'm indifferent to Mazzy Star, though.
Opeth - Blackwater Park (2001). Prog-metal! But while I love some prog and some metal, this is all the Opeth I need. I like this album, but my heart is not truly brutal enough to listen to this often, I'm afraid.
Orchestra of St. Luke's - Bach: Four Concerti For Various Instruments (1994). This Bach cat can swing!
Ornette Coleman - Something Else!!!! (1958), Tomorrow Is The Question! (1959), The Shape Of Jazz To Come (1959), Change Of The Century (1960), This Is Our Music (1961), Free Jazz (1961), Ornette (1962), Ornette On Tenor (1962), Beauty Is A Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1958-1962), At The Golden Circle In Stockholm, Vols. 1 and 2 (1965), New York Is Now (1968), The Complete Science Fiction Sessions (1971), Of Human Feelings (1982), and Sound Grammar (2006). I don't need to convince you of Ornette Coleman's brilliance, do I? In my opinion, he's one of the greatest musicians/theoreticians that jazz produced (I'd put him in the top five along with Monk, Trane, Miles, and Mingus). Under his direction, his band tore into his knotty compositions and remade jazz into something far more unpredictable and exciting. The first eight of these albums were released on Atlantic, with a variable band that always included Don Cherry on cornet or pocket trumpet. The band often had Charlie Haden on bass and Billy Higgins on drums, too. And pretty much all of these albums are utterly breathtaking, even fifty years later. The Shape Of Jazz To Come and This Is Our Music are my favorites, but only by a hair. The Beauty Is A Rare Thing collection includes some outtakes that are equal to the greatness of the albums. The Golden Circle live albums are also phenomenal, practically bursting at the seams with great ideas. New York Is Now, recorded with Coltrane's former rhythm section of Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones, is an interesting attempt to recast traditional "modern jazz" into something new. Science Fiction is all over the map, with Stockhausenish noise and Sun Ra-ish vocalizing and elements of funk and soul. It is my least favorite of all of these Ornette albums, but please keep in mind that it is still an incredible album. Of Human Feelings is some pure 70s-style Miles afrobeat-funk with some dips and turns that actually remind me of Captain Beefheart. I love it. Sound Grammar is a two-bass quartet album that won Coleman the Pulitzer Prize. Uncharacteristically, most of the songs are reworking of older compositions, but the music still sounds amazingly fresh and vital for the work of a 76-year-old man. Here's Ornette on SNL playing a track from Of Human Feelings after being introduced by Milton Berle, of all people.
Om - Variations On A Theme (2005), Conference Of The Birds (2006), Inerrant Rays Of Infallible Sun (Blackship Shrinebuilder) EP (split single with Current 93, 2006), OM/Six Organs Of Admittance split (2006), Pilgrimage (2007), Gebel Barkal 7" (2008), Live At Jerusalem (2008), Conference Live (2009), God Is Good (2009). After the extraordinary stoner metal band Sleep broke up in 1998, guitarist Matt Pike went on to form High On Fire while bassist Al Cisneros and drummer Chris Hakius formed Om, a two-man, all-rhythm section band that was part heavy stoner rock and part drone-oriented space rock. They are astonishing for what they can do with such minimalist power. Many of their songs are quite long, although they started to punctuate the longer songs with shorter interludes on more recent albums. Hakius left after Pilgrimage, but the new drummer Emil Amos is just as expressive. Most of these releases are quite similar, though, with every album being as much a variation on a theme as the first. I like Pilgrimage and God Is Good the most because they add in quite a bit more dynamic without losing the all-important focus on the mystical drone.
Oneida - Enemy Hogs (1999), Come On Everybody Let's Rock (2000), Anthem Of The Moon (2001), Steel Rod EP (2001), Atheists Reconsider (split EP with Liars, 2002), Each One Teach One (2002), Secret Wars (2004), The Wedding (2005), Happy New Year (2006), Nice/Splittin'? Peaches EP (2008), Preteen Weaponry (2008), Rated O (2009), Absolute II (2011). Oneida is just as experimental as Om, although all they share is a sense of drone. Oneida has a healthy interest in many other styles and sounds, including classic rock, krautrock, fingerstyle folk (strangely enough), and lots and lots of noise. The earlier albums feature songs that are more conventionally structured than the later ones. Each One Teach One, a major turning point, starts with two roughly 15-minute tracks that are both built are minimal riffs (the first, "Sheets Of Easter" is pretty much a single chord). Secret Wars, a truly great album, incorporates many of Oneida's interests into a coherent whole. The Wedding and Happy New Year are close behind, although both are more eclectic. Preteen Weaponry is pretty much an amazing, sprawling single track split into three parts. Rated O brings in some dancehall sounds from the third world, strangely enough, and spans a three-album length with not many stops between songs. Absolute II, unfortunately, is no fun at all, a four-song, mostly keyboard-dominated album that seems to be all about trying the patience of listeners as the band tosses out annoying sound after annoying sound. Sorry, I came to this party for some mind-melting eclectic psych jams, not the sounds that Kraftwork would reject as too inhumanly dull.
From Here To Obscurity, founded ca. 2003, population 1. The management wishes to emphasize that no promises vis-a-vis your entertainment have been guaranteed and for all intents and purposes, intimations of enlightenment fall under the legal definition of entertainment. No refunds shall be given nor will requests be honored. Although some may ask, we have no intention of beginning again.
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