David Torn's Cloud About Mercury - Frankfurt, Germany, 1987-02-07
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- Опубліковано 17 лис 2014
- DAVID TORN'S Cloud About Mercury
1987 02 07
Kongresshalle, Frankfurt, Germany.
Suyafhu Skin...Snapping The Hollow Reed
Previous Man
Bill Bruford Into/Mecury Grid/Jam
Jam
Jam
David Torn: guitars/effects/electric koto
Mark Isham: Trumpet/Keyboards
Bill Bruford: Drums/ Electronic Percussion
Mick Karn: bass
damn! - Isham was killin' it on trumpet at this time! The whole band was fucking ON FIRE! This was before Torn's medical crisis, which he almost miraculously re-invented the electric guitar after therapy and patient rehabilitation! - a real Genius and musician of great integrity & vision!
So pleased that this was captured with Mick Karn!!
Mick karn is amazing Japan were no ordinary 80s snyth band all great musicians
I found this tape when I was listening to Allan Holdsworth and Gary Moore during his metal years. I was into Death Angel and Ludichrist and all of a sudden I got hit by this sound and it changed my thinking about music forever. I would spark a spliff and listen to the whole thing. it was my piece of Heaven is a place where nothing, nothing ever happens ! seriously, it stretched my attention span from narrow to wide. Cloud About Mercury is awesome in it's entirety.
If you haven't heard either of the two albums he released under the name Splattercell, I'd totally recommend them. Oah is one of my alltime favorite albums, best played as loud as neighbourly possible.
will check it out. very kool. thanx for responding.
jaime chromosomeburning
Very best to you mate !
Couldn't agree more Jaime. Next stop for you: King Crimson in the 1980's :-)
Totally agree, Cloud About Mercury is an absolute experience from start to finish.
I would love to see this concert officially released with high quality audio/video...
Oh yes !! Wonderfull madness ! I saw these gentlemen in Hamburg . Unfogettable !!
I have to say..the world of music without Bruford...painfull !!
Bill Bruford had mentioned the album in a magazine article. Hmmm...CLOUD ABOUT MERCURY. Fantastic title. Then, I saw the CD in the shop and the cover art was brilliant, too. I purchased it and put it in my player and was immediately stunned at how perfectly the whole package matched. Apparently, this project started with a letter sent from David Torn to Bruford to which he promptly replied and we are the beneficiaries. Thanks for the video post, watching it has been the equivalent of discovering a room in your house that you never knew existed.
I had the pleasure of seeing his tour in NYC at The Bottom Line. Blew me away. It's about to be 2022, and his recording of these works is still one of the best CDs ever recorded. So happy to have seen this with Mick Karn.
Yes i loved that Album when it came out. The first Guitar Solo really blew me away. Sounded like he was using a metal slide, the new Trans~trem, and playing with FX pedals ~all in the same solo to make a very bold statement indeed. He reminded me a little of Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew but i Quickly realised Torn was/is a Genius in his own right. Never dreamt i'd ever see video of this amazing Group. Thanks for Posting.
Watching Isham swap floppy discs in and out of his synth rig is a trip!
I thought the same thing. "OK kids, once upon a time there were these things called floppy disks..." 😄
This was one of the most incredible albums I ever owned. Brings back memories of being deeply moved by David's genius. I just watched a great film where David did the Score. " La Linea ".
Would love this on DVD! GREAT!
Fantastic concert.. All of the four at their topmost best, though I'd have liked to hear Tony Levin's Chapman stick work its thunder wonders Mick Karn is very competently prepared for the occasion. Bill Bruford's syndrums are fabulous, and Isham's piercing trumpet steals the show. Torn's ravenous guitar is a bit lower in the mix than it should be, but.. Wow. Where has all of this gone?..
The opposite of the studio album, where the Bruford/ Levin rhythm
section are criminally low in the mix, and Torn is just a touch too loud.
Thank you, yes that IS Bill Bruford!!!.
R.I.P. Mick Karn
What a document! These four “kids” were all pushing the envelope as hard as anyone at the time. Savored the album, but it’s incredible to be able to watch and enjoy this performance.
Time to replay the album, and then cue up the Startled Insects album (Curse of the Pheremones) from this same timeframe!
Always great
I was lucky enough to meet mick karn @ london shows the jazz cafe in Camden Town 1993 or was it 1994 blestal cluster lp tour
With steve jansen richard barbiari
David torn
I went and saw this tour with my guitarist who then decided he needed a rack as big as Torns. Consequently our sound changed quite a bit.
That really made me laugh, but in a good way.
Worth a DVD release
Maravilhoso ❤❤❤❤❤
I saw them in a little jazz club. max capacity maybe 500, touring the Clouds album. Bill had his acoustic kit in front of him and his electrics behind him. Whole show was just incredible!
You won't see 7:49 in 2019 live shows :) What a great show this is! Thank you for sharing!
I saw that too. Funny.
Someone referred this from a video; Bruford Levin Upper Extremities & lo & behold, I see Mark Isham blowing a horn! I knew of Isham from Vapor Drawings on the Windham Hill label (an excellent album) & thought he was mostly doing movie soundtracks. What a pleasant surprise!
If I would need to restrict my music collection to three CD/LP this would be the listing (in no particular order):
Rufus with Chaka Khan - Stompin at the Savoy (live)
Michael Hedges - Watching my life go by
Torn / Bruford /Levin / Isham - Cloud about mercury
This concert is just marvelous. I'm sad I never had the chance to hear any of them live (I did hear Michael Hedges and Chaka Khan although).
I'm now listening to this album ever since it came out and don't get tired of it! I enjoy to listen to that with a certain volume of course. :-))
Now I have the problem I wanted to get some things done, but it's almost impossible to stop listening, when I began here with the concert! ;-) Thanks for the upload!!!!
.....what an incredibly bizarre/logical selection.......especially putting Michael Hedges in there........''Woman Of The World'' from that record is......lost treasure......lucky enough to have seen him play several times before he checked out......
Many thanks.
David Torn - electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Mark Isham - trumpet, piccolo trumpet, flugelhorn, synthesizer
Mick Karn - bass
Bill Bruford - Simmons drums, synthesizer-drums, percussion
+R. Brooke Fox That's not Levin, but Karn. See the video info.
+alexsh OK, thanks. Didn't 'SHOW MORE', as I should have. My info from album notes elsewhere.
Brilliant compositions and Buford is great
Saw them on this tour (with Michael White in place of Mark Isham). As much as I love Tony Levin (especially his work on "Cloud About Mercury"), I would've loved to see/hear more with the Bruford/Karn rhythm section besides that tour and the stuff they did on "Door X".
wish they would upload Door x - the whole thing.
wish they would upload Door x - the whole thing.
sw them in sf with Michael playing. a wonderful concert. i can't remember Buford in a better setting.
@@chrislal6263 I'd have to agree. I saw him a couple of years later with Earthworks, as well as subsequent gigs with ABWH, Yes, and King Crimson. As much as I enjoyed those, there was something really inspired -- and inspiring -- about his work in this setting.
1. Suyafhu Skin... Snapping The Hollow Reed
2. Previous Man (Extended Jam) (9:40)
3. Mercury Grid (23:18)
4. Ambient Bridge (31:31)
5. 3 Minutes of Pure Entertainment (Extended Jam) (36:20)
6. Brufford Solo (49:19)
7. Band Jam (55:48)
Inspiring..one of the most amazing gathering of artists ever.
A fantastic group! Mick or Tony, love them both! Definitely glad to hear Micks version.
no words for this music, masterpiece ❤
De los musicos mas innovadores del siglo 21 en un escenario.
Absolutely fabulous fantastic Thank you for posting this amazing show
Brilliant!!!.
An amazing band! Thanks for the video! One of the next steps after "Bitches Brew!"
been there to see them live... great show!
Torn and Isham were great collaborators for a remarkable, creative stretch lasting not quite a decade. Working with Bruford and Levin on the compositions surely clicked, as this is the pinnacle of that era. Amazing, original achievement, Cloud About Mercury. Pity it did not last for just one more ingenious record.
try BLUE. Bruford Levin Upper Extremities...
I've always loved Bill Bruford since Yes and King Crimson. David Torn is a genius. Beautiful sounds David makes on guitar. Great effects. Mick Karn is an excellent bass player. Mark Isham is my favorite of all time. I have Mark's autograph on his THE CONSPIRATOR 2 CD set. I started listening to Mark Isham back in 1986 when I first heard his song MEN BEFORE THE MIRROR on Windham Hill's Winter VHS and went out and bought Mark's VAPOR DRAWINGS album which was 3 years old in 1986. I was 19 years old then and I still love listening to Mark Isham's VAPOR DRAWINGS (1983) CD, Film Music (1985) CD The NEVER CRY WOLF, THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK and MRS. SOFFEL soundtracks on that CD are beautiful both CD's on Windham Hill. WE BEGIN 1987 MARK with ART LANDE. CASTALIA (1988) with DAVID TORN guest guitarist is my favorite CD from Mark Isham. THE GRACIOUS CORE with Mark's brother JOHN ISHAM on bagpipes is my favorite piece of music from MARK ISHAM The MARK (self-titled) 1990. Both on the Virgin record label. Tibet 1989 which is not only on CD but also on Windham Hill DVD in 5.1 surround. Mark's Blue Sun 1995 CD and of course this great CLOUD ABOUT MERCURY 1987 CD. Mark's many many great film scores CRASH soundtrack is my favorite. A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT soundtrack. TROUBLE IN MIND 1987 soundtrack. POINT BREAK 1991 soundtrack. Besides his many great film scoresTHE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER music with JEREMY IRONS narrating along with the other Windham Hill children's stories music CD's Mark did. THE EMPEROR AND THE NIGHTINGALE music is brilliant. The SONGS MY CHILDREN TAUGHT ME is a beautiful collection of the Windham Hill children stories music that he made. I just can't say enough about Mark Isham. It all started with GROUP 87 with the great PATRICK O'HEARN that I love so much. Mark is awesome.
Hadn't listened to this in years (album) and remembered how much I dug his ethereal, textural trumpet. The atmosphere he creates is really amazing, up there with the great 'polyphonic' ECM guys. And dare I say Miles, at least for my generation. His chording and patches are nice, too (not easy to find in the cheesy 80s). I was going to comment then thought I'd scroll down first and found this. You pretty much summed it up. Thanks for the list and appreciation
Vapor Drawings and Castalia are amazing, but I think his best work from this period appeared on David Sylvian's Gone To Earth. Thanks for the recommendations!
thx for sharing that (an ecm base of honoring of the album) awesome concert
Thank you so much for uploading this, I never thought I'd get to see this album live!
Bill Bruford went on to great success in comedy, playing Chris Morris in Brass Eye.
Con los talentos presentes...Esto acabò siendo una obra no hecha y tampoco terminada...
Thank you for the brilliant upload!!!.
Great free form/Avant Garde stuff.
That's just such a beautiful album
What I'd give for a higher quality DVD of this stellar performance. Dear David, please say there exists one somewhere!
maximum explanations and answers... gratitud
Hi "alexsh", thanks so much for posting this, love it. One thing, please: could be possible to make a video of the part (from 31:31 to 36:18)? Love specially this part, so emotive.
as good as it gets.
so good.
Thanks tons for posting this. The previous upload seems to have gone away.
setlist w times:
0:00 Suyafhu Skin...Snapping The Hollow Reed
9:41 Previous Man w drum solo
23:16 Mercury Grid
31:31 David / Mark ambience ->
36:20 3 Minutes of Pure Entertainment
49:18 Bruford solo
55:48 unknown
The unknown is not an improv, as it was played (most?) every night of the tour. A couple things make me think it's a Bruford-based composition.
Too bad about this being incomplete. My audio of this is missing two of those tracks but has the rest of the track it fades out on and plus one more, an unknown, likely an improv. I have later recordings were they encore w Dali's Car. Could have done it at this show, too.
I think the last song is Bridge of inhibition, originally grom Bill Bruford's Earthworks but I could be wrong.
@@basdassen9583 It's got a similar vibe, but I don't think that's it. This tune is pretty relentless w the repetition of that drum part. BoI has an intro that has two distinctly different motifs and settles into a ride-cymbal vamp for the soloing.
@@basdassen9583 I just got a response from Torn on Facebook: "terrible, but..... i wrote it, and can't remember the title. AH! i think it was called, "Mercury Grid". ???"
Esta gente escoge los tonos más raros, le quitan la fundamental y hacen solos arriba de eso. Brillante
ah... half the greatest era King Crimson lineup here. Guitar work is interesting too, I looked this up because he is related to Rip Torn and plays guitar
1/4, you mean (if you mean the 80s lineup).
Wow.
Excelente 31:32 saludos desde Lima Perú
Heavy stuff
💯🔥
David torn like Tejre Rypdal had the chance to really bring a more Hendrix approach to jazz but I think this got waylayed by post minimalism.
He bringed some heavier noise in 90s.
The parallels to Waves by Tejre Rypdal and Palle Dnaielsen are too upfront not to notice except there's an undercurrent of more harmonic motion with.. Waves well maybe not.
Is that Bill Bruford?.
yes
What synthesizer was Mark using with those disks?
With a Sequential TOM drum machine on top.
does anyone know what he's playing in the beginning?
I am repeating a response to another post which I imagine is bad form but hey.... I believe I read an interview with David Sylvian where he said something like it was one of his acoustic guitars that he punched a hole in the back of the body to get the sound heard here. Supposedly David Torn became so enamored with it that Sylvian gave it to him. 30 years down the road with high mileage I could have some or all of that terribly wrong. I would love to see/hear footage of Isham's Castalia Tour with Torn, Karn, Bozzio, Kurt Wortman and David Goldblatt (again if memory serves).
@@1959michaellkelly it was the other way round! DT very recently wrote/posted about it on his Instagram. It's an acoustic guitar with an additional wooden bridge placed on the fretboard and he calls it a "kotar" - do a search for "passerelle guitar" for a commercial product. Anyway, he gave his first one to Sylvian at the end of recording of Secrets Of the Beehive :)
@@1959michaellkelly YES, SECONDED to someone yielding/posting footage of Isham's Castalia band (and yes, you nailed the personnel perfectly). Saw them in NYC (The Bottom Line); brilliant stuff, one of my favorite concerts ever.
@1959michaellkelly no...thats is a creation of torn...he had 2 of them...a special custom bridge in this guitars with a custom tunning
@@karlboman he not gave the guitar a silvyan...he gave it the guitar to one of his sons ...
Can someone tell me what synth Isham is playing please ? Thanks
It looks like it's a Sequential Circuits Prophet 2000 sampler (not a synth). Funny thing... a friend has one that he's had for a long time that has been just gathering dust for years. By today's standards, it's pretty crude and cheesy... the sound quality, and, then, the amount of data for samples you could store. They were regarded in a much different light in 1987!
Unfortunately, You Tube won’t let me subscribe to your channel.
Is that stringed instrument in the beginning a qin?
I believe I read an interview with David Sylvian where he said something like it was one of his acoustic guitars that he punched a hole in the back of the body to get the sound heard here. Supposedly David Torn became so enamored with it that Sylvian gave it to him. 30 years down the road with high mileage I could have some or all of that terribly wrong. I would love to see/hear footage of Isham's Castalia Tour with Torn, Karn, Bozzio, Kurt Wortman and David Goldblatt (again if memory serves).
@@1959michaellkelly no...thats is a creation of torn...he had 2 of them...a special custom bridge in this guitars with a custom tunning
And people say no progressive music was made in the 80s...
Those Simmons drums get old fast!
You know if this were king Crimson we'd all sit back and say cool smart prog rock but jazz is so unfair expectations are sky high such a hard row to hoe..and who wants to hoe a row anyway.
Not really jazz though. Still rock with improv worked into the arrangement. Rock with ‘world music’ influences.
No drugs necessary
never seen mick karn + bill bruford playing together. delicious. but those ugly steinberger headless paddle guitars....always hard to watch....
Thumbs down for the cameramen.
Start from 55:00 the out of the world's drumming by Bruford was supposed to be recorded appropriately so that we can witness how genius he was instead of showing this disgusting camera trick.
As if the complexity of the drumming wasn’t mesmerising enough.