YANNI “Acroyali/Standing In Motion”

Gary Wilson self recorded “You Think You Really Know Me” in his parent’s basement in the mid 70′s, pressing only 300 copies. I first heard it in the early 90′s from a cassette copy being passed around. Sounding something like Prince starring in a Dario Argento film, the desperation of the voice in songs like Loneliness and 6.4 = Makeout warped through the music, combining the darkly absurd with something elusive—that weirdness underneath the smooth surface of 70′s mellow pop and countless Three’s Company episodes finally articulated. Rumors of Gary Wilson’s whereabouts, that he had been playing in a Holiday Inn lounge, went around for years. He resurfaced later in a series of performances involving mannequins and copious amounts of cellophane, as well as in a documentary. Here are a few tracks:

Gary Wilson – 6.4 = Makeout

Gary Wilson – You Keep on Looking

Gary Wilson – Chromium Bitch

Gary Wilson – I Wanna Lose Control

Gary Wilson – Loneliness

YANNI “The Rain Must Fall”

As reported earlier, Beck has written several songs for the new Michael Cera movie “Scott Pilgrim.” The film versions were overdubbed by the actors, but the original ones with Beck singing will be available on the iTunes version of the soundtrack. There is a version the song “Summertime” currently on the internet, with what sounds like an early mix. We have the final mix here:

purchase on iTunes

YANNI “Until The Last Moment”

YANNI “Keys To Imagination”

Tortoise join Beck and Thurston for “Keys To Imagination,” the second track from Yanni Live At The Acropolis.

No. 19: Melted Lemons

New mix by Beck.

YANNI “Santorini”

This installment of the Record Club takes on ‘Yanni Live At The Acropolis’. The original album featured Yanni with a full orchestra at the Athenian Acropolis. A TV special of the concert was played repeatedly on PBS through the mid 90′s. To flesh out the complex arrangements, several studio musicians were brought in to read a heavily doctored score with interpolations of everything from Stravinsky to Bobby Brown (and others). Beck and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth provided auxiliary music and noise, with Thurston improvising lyrics over the previously instrumental track ‘Santorini.’ Tortoise show up later on a few other tracks. Look for the complete rerecording of this musical monolith, originally captured at the bedrock of Western Culture, done here at Sunset Sound Studios on June 13th, 2010. We’ll have the songs up here sequentially, one every week.

Special new Yanni Record Club t-shirt available. Girls sizes too.