30.7.08

My Pretty Surgery


Time for a facelift, eh? A new logo. More purple. More psychedelic. Only fitting for MPS! Thanks blogger for making it so easy. Thanks to all the sharers for making it so rewarding. He-Ho, Goldfinger, and the rest, you're the best!

22.7.08

MPS/BASF - Impressions by Horst Jankowski & HIs Orchestra - Jacques Offenbach in Paris - 1973

Multitudinous Pleasing Styles

I've been trying to break down all these MPS albums into subgenres. I'm making a few educated guesses but when I haven't heard an album I'm mostly leaving off the subgenre. But the more MPS albums I listen to, the more inadequate seem the labels we usually use to listen to music.

I've been using Prog Jazz to describe what I think is one of the hallmark MPS sounds. It's a little electric, but not full-on fusion. It's a little groovy, but not full on funk. It's very European!

The MPS sound was built on jazz but became a real melting pot. Many of the albums listed here have more than one genre. Who can describe this stuff? There's Now Sound, which is like Easy Listening, except maybe groovier, in an Austin Powers sort of way. And that "now" was forty years ago. There's vocals, and there's big bands, sometimes jazzy and sometimes not. And sometimes MPS took it to church.

And the Black Forest became a melting pot. Those Brazilians! The sultry hot latin sound! Those sitar-loving hippies! Even some exotica! And then there were all the musicians from behind the old "iron curtain." Should I add a tag for that? I haven't listed much yet but there was even a whole line of MPS classical music.

If you disagree with one of my style tags, or can identify the sound of an album I haven't yet tagged, leave a comment!

15118 Rolf & Joachim Kühn - Transfiguration- 1967

MPS 20 21236-2 - Orchester Fritz Maldener - Speedy Buggy - 1973

21.7.08

15071 Benny Bailey - Folklore In Swing - 1966

MPS-BASF CRA-864 - Orchester Horst Jankowski - Jankowskyline - 1970

15158 Benny Baily All Stars - Soul Eyes - 1968

MPS 15 187 ST - Auf Geht's mit den Kurpfalzjaegern

Must Peruse Systematically

Magic Purple Sunshine readers have really stepped up to share lately. I'm so happy! The gold-star of MPS-Love goes to reader He-Ho who has posted an incredible number of hard-to-find albums, including many not on the lists I've seen. He-Ho and other sharers have added dozens of links to the albums here. If you got discouraged before filing through empty entries, give it a try again. There's a lot fewer art holes, more blog links and a LOT more direct links.

It all sounds so good!!