TAXI DRIVER - A CULT CLASSICS OF 1976

It's a work of the young Martin Scorsese. It's was released shortly after the American Government decided to flew back all their armies back home from Vietnam. The year was 1976, it's the mark of the end of the Vietnam War. This film is the beginning of Scorsese's Genius as a filmmaker.

THE STORY:- Was told through the eye of a late nite taxi driver -Travis Bickle(Robert De Niro); who leaves in New York City. He's a Vietnam Veteran, who regularly writes a letter to his parent, lying to them that he'd doing well in the big city, but actually Bickle suffered a chronic imsomia & a lonely American male in search for love. Freakily went to watch a stags movie on his first date, & he buys guns, & talks to himself in front of the mirror, preparing himself for a showdown in the Big Apple! This is a deadly tales of a lost dead loner in the late nite urban scape driven himself to insanity, poor ol' guy!

THE WIERD IDEA:- Hey, he has this weird idea in his head but nobody wants to listen especially the mayor. New York in the 1976, portrayed by Scorcese filled with it's own version of red light district, where stag shows cinemas, can be found all over the placed. The hookers ranging as young as the sweet innocent teen Jodie Foster, to who knows how old this grandma? He carefully planned his weird idea after he met the exploited teenage hooker.

COMEO:- I personally love this scenes! Both of them Bickle- Robert De Niro was sitting in a taxi. His customer are spying on an apartment, spying on his cheating wife. Then the guy said,-' There! My wife is in that building! Cheating on me! You wan to  know whose apartment she's in? Yeah.. It's own by a black-man, a black-man! You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to kill both of them with this magnum! You know what a magnum could do?'- Be imaginative, you guess? The cheated husband was played by Scorsese himself. A quick brilliant sequence!

SOUNDTRACK:- Are compliment of manhattan style late nite jazz that perfectly suits the movie!

BEST BIT:- None other than an award winning in front the mirror speech. The hilarious yet provoking; 'Are you talking to me?! What? Are you talking to me?!' No, You must be talking to me caused there'sno one here'- scene acted by De Niro is a timeless classic movie moment. The guns dealer scene & finally with a Punk haircuts, De Niro aka Travis Bickle- stormed the hookers motel & in order to save the under age hooker, & at the same time wrapped the movie with a twisted Bloodbath shooting spree finale! It's really an unexpected ending, but it's a good one, & it made the movie won the academy award for the Best Picture.

So, what else I can write? It's a great film, it's original, a trendsetter, very visionary & it's one of my most fav. Best to be viewed late at nite, similar to the mood suggested by the movie!

Recommended!

GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY BY DIAMANDA GALAS

A live piano/vocal session album by the goth queen Diamanda Galas. I dig it because of it's simplicity & of course the minimal approach. I love it when it's all strips! Yet it is an absolute product of horror elegance.

VOICE:- To me, she have a magnificent voice. But to someone else, she may sounds scary! Her howling is similar to the lady vampire as describe in Ann Rice vampire tales. Believe me, if you're listening to it in the dark on high volume, this album has the ability of making your hairs stands or 'meremang bulu roma'. The high pitched, husky powerful falsetto is outstanding. So with that, I bought this album with an open mind, hoping it's worth the cash I've spend, & indeed it does!

SONGS:- Filled with personally picked song by her, doing a cover of few of iconic tracks, such as 'Autumn Leaves' & 'Long Black Veil'. I'm surprised & feeling shocked at the same time, hearing to the makeover that she had done to the songs. It's unique, dark, damaging, bleeds, haunting, eerie, suspense, yet it's entertaining! A rare sound stage that I find it one of a kind, & it's worth checking out. If she's brave enough to stick with this dark genre, than it's fair enough to us, listeners to be brave as what she did, to give a few playback exploring this work of hers.

To be franked, I only listen to this album on my Tivoli only when I'm alone at home. It's too brute, sadistic, dark macabre atmospheric album, if ones wants to played it, when your loved one is at home. By listening to her howls, I believe, it may lead to a heart attack;- that is just my naughty POV. How's the album like? - To me, yes it's entertaining! Imagine an aging Tina Turner singing a cover songs, injecting the deep dark sadistic goth macabre, blues, jazz, ballads, along side an avant piano playing & the mesmerizing powerful vocal, no doubt it had infected me with a strong feeling of addiction & longing for more! Like an ecstasy, I felt drugged, & stoned; - The result, a constant repetitive listening towards this album continuously on the iPod, whenever I'm outstation before I went to zzzzzzzz...

I've never heard such a work similar to this. So that's why I eagerly wrote this post, in order to share my thought about Diamanda Galas. On scales from 1 to 10, I'll give it a 7. But in the same genre (Goth), it's a classics! Guilty Guilty Guilty hits a 10/10 on my scales chart! My humble advised, do not play it on air during you're open house session. Why? It will make your guest wondering, what're you're a human or a 'Vampire Lestat'! My most fav track on this released is a cover originally sang by the great, late Nat King Cole,- 'Autumn Leaves'. An analog quality live session album, only for experimentalist listeners! Totally not for commercial music followers!

AN ASTONISHING & TALENTED DARK MACABRE SOULFUL SINGER!

AMERICAN RECORDINGS IV BY CASH

A collaboration album. It's a serious project between the great late country folk legend, - Johnny Cash & the founder of Def-Jam Records, who are also a big boss of American Recordings Music Company. The Guru Ichi's similar look, with the earth & sky unsimilarity kind of personality. He is none other than music producer Rick Rubin.

This album is one of the series of American Recordings. It's a series of covers, did by Cash before his permanent departures. Simply a strip, minimal, elegant acoustic album that revamp his career. American Recordings IV, consist a carefully selected tracks, by Cash himself, whereby he concluded that the numbers chosen are mostly, he believed as a great work of song writing.

Profoundly, expressing a deep, dark aging masculine voiced to songs such as NIN's Hurt, Depache Mode's Personal Jesus & reinventing his lost buried song's Gives My Love To Rose, Cash proves, he still have a lot more left in him. Ones should be moved, by this startlely haunting album.

The album, although a result of Country Folk Acoustic, but it shouldn't be waived by the grungers, rockers, nor the younger listeners, since it's a great influancetual album that worth referring at. The arrangement is simple, yet the sounding of this album is a sheer production of a high end quality. It will resonate incredibly cool through your audio system & your iPod as well.

the cover songs may varies, ranging from essential tracks ditched from Sting, Simon & Garfunkel, Eagles, & The Great Late Nat King Cole! As what I've written earlier, this album is calm, & haunting. The life span is guaranteed to last a bit longer. Also includes a guest appearances by Nick Cave, Will Oldham, & accompanied with selected top notched sessionist.

Best to be enjoyed at a respected volume, while you're relaxing at home during a wet unsunny day along sides the dribbles raindrops. It's a CLASSIC! A 5/5 stars ratings! Acoustic it may appears, but with it's magic, ones may find it's an addictive album to be heard continuously. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Hunt it down! Buy It! & Cherished it! As same as what i did! TQ

Essential Listening: SONGS OF LOVE & HATE BY LEONARD COHEN

Leonard Cohen, a talented poet, his an artist, author, a singer, song writer & also a musician. Leonard Cohen is totally the opposite side of Dylan, if ones wanted to compared this both singer. The diversity between this two is absolutely  the depth of the topic or massages that can be found in both of their songs.

Now, what made me to become one of Cohen's fan, lies on Cohen's masculinity voiced. Deep & captivating. In this album for example, in my POV was remarkably performed only by an acoustic guitar & chimes along side Cohen's poetical, spiritual, cosmic & soulful lyrics. I admired him, because he don't sang stupid worship songs about getting high, but he sang things that reflects our life, & that is serious sh*t!

MINIMAL! Yes it's another simple product that seems to grab my sense of interest. I find it, the simplicity of the whole album is so truthful & it seems a great amount of effort had been poured by the singer to album are more visible. When it's minimal, - The vocal & the instrument is a vital exposure that need to be executed at the best shape in order to avoid any detection of weaknesses  from the album. That is my personal POV, some may have different idea, isn't it?

This album had been released for  ages ago. It doesn't equips with what we defined as the -  'State Of Art' sound system or any equipment or systems that reflects this album sound quality, but guys this album have it own Charmed! Trust me on this. As an acoustic album, it will certainly sounds pretty darn good on an average audio system & through your factory stocks iPod speakers. For those who had spend the immense amount upgrading their Super Audio System, Then it's fair they will enjoy every strums, plucks, &  Cohen's dried baritone voiced. You'll be moved by this album calmness & it's melancholic tracks. I normally play this album-while cruising on an empty highway in the middle of the night. Play it at a decent volume & focus!

I'll give a whopping 5 stars killer folk album! Sorry Bob I guess Cohen did it much better then you. A classic timeless album that often being ignored by listeners. Not because it's dull cover but is another essentials  rare gem that only can be found on the web, I believed.

Did you know the song Hallelujah Sang by Jeff Buckley originally written by Leonard Cohen. But Jeff did the cover version which was performed by John Cale on the tribute album 'I'm Your Fan'. Nick Cave sang Cohen's - 'Avalanche' in The Bad Seeds album's 'From Her To Eternity'.

Mark Mathis free download pre-release EP