Orchard Road is well-known as Singapore's retail and entertainment hub. But, it is familiar to us here in the Philippines as a Singaporean inspired restaurant located in SM MegaMall. The place might look a little threatening but don't be fooled because the restaurant is actually quite pocket friendly.
Every restaurant has a theme. What better way to represent Singapore than to let customers experience food street vendor style. Each street vendor stall displays its own specialty dish. It is customary for them to prepare the food in front of you.
Ambience
Stalls showing their specialty on top
Chefs at work
Child eagerly waits for his dessert
Among their food choices, I loved the the Hainanese Chicken and the Satay Chicken the most. Yes, the Hainanese Chicken does come with rice which is a good thing.
I also ordered the Char Kway Teow which I had to take home since I was already too full. Stacy said it was rick with ingredients and tastes great as well.
Char Kway Teow
Finally, the end of the meal was signified by a coffee drink. They added a bonus entertainment by showing us their preparation for theirKopi Tarik. According to the staff, it needs to be tossed around to make it more bubbly.
Making Kopi Tarik
The Bubbly Kopi Tarik
Orchard Road is definitely a must try, The price is not much different from the fast food stores we usually eat at. So why not try it for yourself?
Orchard Road 2nd Level, Bridgeway, SM Megamall EDSA corner Julia Vargas Ave. Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines
This double-CD set assembles together all of the Immediate Records recordings of the Nice under one cover, reshuffling the contents of their self-titled third album in order to make it all fit. That means that it isn't a chronological experience (at least, not without some shifting between discs near the end of each), but otherwise it is musically very rewarding and, in keeping with the spirit of the band's music, a lot of fun. The volume level is not quite as high as one would have hoped on a CD of this vintage, but the source material is still very clean and there's a lot of detail with minimal extraneous noise (compared with early CD issues of this material) if one decides to push the amplification. It's also interesting to hear the Nice evolve from a psychedelic quartet to a progressive rock trio and get bolder and more intense on their instruments as they go along, culminating with the live Fillmore East performances from the third album. The annotation is reasonably thorough, and the whole package gives one a good overview of one of the groups that successfully bridged the gap from flower power to art rock, and in the process never forgot that the music was supposed to be fun as well. ~ Bruce Eder, allmusic.com
01. Flower King Of Flies
02. Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack
03. Bonnie K
04. Rondo
05. War And Peace
06. Tantalising Maggie
07. Dawn
08. Cry of Eugene
09. America (6:06 single version)
10. Diamond Hard Blue Apples Of The Moon
11. Azrael (version one)
12. She Belongs To Me
01. America (2nd ammendment)
02. Little Arabella
03. Happy Freuds
04. Intermezzo (The Karelia Suite)
05. Don Edito El Gruva
06. Symphony For Group And Orchestra (Awakening/Realisation/Acceptance/Denial/Extension To The Big Note)
Just after the SM North Edsa shooting incident, there another one in SM Pampanga. This really shocked me because the victims are so young. A 13-year-old boy killed his 17-year-old-boyfriend in the chest out of jealousy. He then shot himself in the head. He used a .22 Caliber pistol during the shoot out. According to Colonel Tinio, that palm size pistol is difficult to detect even by metal detectors. It can be bought cheaply around 5,000 php. The two boys wee rush to the hospital but to no avail.
I guess this is a situation where love has gone bad huh?
Originally called Broken Souls, shortly after Las Antorchas, and finally Antorcha, this -trio decided to struggle independently after the disappointment of not having fame and fortune with their record label company. Formed at the beginning of 1969 by Victor Manuel Motta Aviles (drums and vocals), Guillermo Motta Avites (keyboards and guitar] and Omar Cortes Gavino (bass & vocals) accompanied in certain recording sessions by guest musicians: Mario Salazar Hernandez (keyboards and vocals) Antonio Salcedo (drums), and Eduardo “El Tortas” Bastida (speaker).
Unlike their first phase, they decided to use a harder and protestant style. With an Acid Rock, sometimes with Latin accents, with lyrics in English and in Spanish like the rest of the Mexican groups used to do it at that their musical growth was evident. They produced five Extended, Plays (EP) one LP titled "Anarquismo" in 1976 and one cassette fitted "Antofcha 1965-1976" remembering their complete career period, They took charge of the distribution and promotion of their records everywhere in parties, ballrooms, radio broadcast and TV network presentations etc.
Here we include all their EP songs and one from their 1976 cassette with no covers!: “Cancion No1”, “Amiga” and “Nada” from the first single; "Grass", "Going Down" and "El Jardin del Eden" from the second EP; "La Tierra" and “Crisalida” from their third EP: “Sodomaquina" (remembering the students slaughter in Tlaltelolco, 1968); "Inconclusa”, from the fourth EP "Bracero", "Quiero Vivir" and "Intento No. 2" from the fifth EP; and “Mira” from their sole cassette. In lata 1976 Antorcha disbanded and now the writer carries diverse creative and publishing activities. by Artuto Alcantara G.
Review in Spanish by Rubber Soul Music Antorcha fue un grupo mexicano originario de la Ciudad de México formado en 1965 con el Nombre de "los Broken Souls" por Bernardo Minerva (Batería y voz), Jorge González (Guitarra líder y coros), Victor Manuel Motta (Teclados y coros) y Omar Cortés Gaviño (Bajo y coros), después en 1966 se les uniría Fernando Mercado (Guitarra rítmica y coros). Después de llamarse las Almas Rotas, pasaron a llamarse las Antorchas.
Entre 1966 y 1968 grabaron mucho material (En su mayoría refritos, como muchas bandas lo hacían en ese entonces) el grupo grabó covers de bandas como the Yardbirds, the Who, the Animals, the Beatles, Vanilla Fudge y otros más, aunque nunca fueron publicados, solo publicaron un sencillo como "las Antorchas" en 1967 bajo el sello de orfeón, el grupo se sintió incomodo por no hacer canciones originales, y terminó por volverse un cuarteto independiente en 1969 y volvieron a cambiar de nombre por el de "Antorcha", y ahora cambiando su sonido Garage/Beat psicodélico, por un Rock Ácido contestario hacia el régimen represor de aquella época, y ahora con rolas originales, aunque con algunas letras en inglés, y gracias a sus letras anarquistas y críticas al gobierno, fueron vetados, el grupo logró lanzar varios Extended Plays entre 1969 y 1974, y un larga duración en 1976 bajo el título de "Anarquista", aunque todavía no se ha editado en disco compacto, pero se han logrado editar el primer material como las Antorchas, y esta recopilación de Extended Plays lanzados entre 1969 y 1974 bajo el sello Alemán de Shadoks music.
Tracks 1. Cancion No. 1 - 4:16 2. Nada - 6:30 3. Amiga - 3:44 4. En El Jardin Del Eden - 6:13 5. Grass - 3:59 6. Going Down - 2:03 7. La Tierra - 5:58 8. Crisalida - 6:50 9. Sodomaquina -5:21 10.Inconclusa - 4:34 11.Mira - 3:18 12.Bracero - 5:17 13.Intento No. 2 -2:50 14.Quiero Vivir - 3:32
This album has a goddamn long history. All of these tracks were recorded by Beefheart and the 'Magic Band' in October/November 1967 and were intended for his second album, to be called Mirror Man. Naturally, though, they were sacked by the record company who sure didn't expect the guy to rev up in his ferocious eccentricity at such a high speed. Still later, in 1968, some of these tracks were patched up by a producer and released in far less 'offensive' form as the Cap'n's second official album, Strictly Personal (without Beefheart's consent either!).
Still later, some of the original sessions were taken up and issued in 1975 as Mirror Man, presumably with the aim of restoring Beefheart's spoiled reputation after the two 'disastrously commercial' 1974 albums. Finally, still later, as late as 1999, the entire sessions, or at least, a major part of them, were salvaged and put together on one CD to form this disc. So naturally, this is the one album to have if you're interested in the progressing schizophrenia of Monsieur Coeur-de-Boeuf. What's out here? Nine tracks, spread over 76 minutes - a stark contrast with the short near-minimalism of Trout Mask Replica. As the album progresses, the average running time of the tracks grows shorter, but the first four of them easily break the ten/twelve/fifteen minute barrier and run even further. And these aren't really complex progressive epics taking you in all possible directions; nope, these are lengthy sprawling blues jams, with two guitars, a harmonica and a mean old (er, young) bearded guy shouting out senseless lyrics about riding on tarotplanes and reformed candy corn.
They are not even really 'defiant' as far as typical blues structures go. There's almost no dissonance, even if the guitars aren't exactly meant to easily coordinate with each other; there's a lot of memorable riffs all over the place, and there are no 'solos' in the traditional sense, if you don't count the harmonica.
But dammit, I like this stuff. Now let me see, of course 19 minutes for something as stripped-down as 'Tarotplane' is is a bit TOO long, and the same goes for 'Mirror Man' and '25th Century Quaker'. But they certainly have an aura to them ('kiss my aura, Dora', as ol' Frank would say!), a strange aura of mystery and evilness that can't be transcribed all too well. It certainly has a lot of Beefheart's deconstructive mystification going on - essentially, like on TMR, they're playing this stuff to befuddle and confuse the listener, but it actually works better on here because there's no better way to befuddle and confuse the listener than to entice him with a musical form (generic blues) he thinks he knows too well and then suddenly transform it into a launchpad for something that eccentric.
These lengthy jams are essentially grooves. What do we like about grooves? The rhythm. The energy. In a metaphoric sense, a groove is as good as a certain pattern of life. You take upon a groove in the same way as you go through a certain life experience, be it funny, brutal, or sad. And these grooves certainly have that 'pattern' approach to them - only where a typical blues jam can be associated with life as it is, a Beefheart groove should be associated with life as it could be.
If I don't make myself clear, let me just remind you that this is a Captain Beefheart review. What did you expect, some Bay City Rollers algorhythm? If that's the case, I could remind you that '25th Century Quaker' possesses a first-rate slide guitar riff, with a strange Eastern flavor to it, and is thus fit for meditating to it. The best of all these lengthy tracks, though, is 'Kandy Korn', which begins almost as a pop song, with a funny vocal melody and an upbeat poppy bassline, but then goes into this lengthy and very jangly instrumental passage which is downright uplifting after all the subtle evil of the preceding three blues jams.
Then there are five shorter songs which are all in the same vein (i.e., they could all be fifty minutes just as well). 'Safe As Milk', which never made it to the original album, certainly rules... what's that, something like a country-rocker crossed with hard rock patterns? Something like that, ending in a competition to determine the best 'string scraper' for miles around.
'Beatle Bones 'N' Smokin' Stones' is supposedly a sneering attack on the meaningless 'psychedelic' lyrics of the Beatles and the Stones circa 1967, although the very idea of a rambling beatnik poet deriding a rambling psychedelic poet might seem kinda queer. At the best, it's WAY subtler and more 'polite' than Zappa's derision of the entire hippie counter-culture. You gotta love the Cap'n singing 'strawberry fields forever', too.
'Moody Liz' and 'Gimme Dat Harp Boy' have their moments, too, and you know what? The mean old Cap'n knows how to attract your attention, because every now and then out of all the trippy jamming jumps out a little pretty riff, like you know, very pretty, the one you could have been waiting for all your life! Like on 'Moody Liz', at 2:15 into the song. And then it goes away and you're waiting for it to come back, and it does! It does!
I'm gonna bring you to a conclusion now, because this review isn't really getting anywhere at all. You might want to know why the album earns a 9 when it sounds nothing like Safe As Milk and is universally deemed inferior to TMR. My irrational answer will be short and will go like this: "because it pleases my inner organs just as much as Safe As Milk and much more than TMR". My rational answer will not be much longer and will go like this: "because it still manages to preserve a good balance between accessible understandable music and eccentric weirdness". That said, you have to grow yourself some tolerance towards long unterminable blues jams. Maybe getting yourself some live Cream albums wouldn't be a bad idea. by George Starostin
Tracks 1. Tarotplane - 19:06 2. 25th Century Quaker - 9:48 3. Mirror Man - 15:44 4. Kandy Korn - 8:04 5. Trust Us - 7:20 6. Safe as Milk - 4:12 7. Beatle Bones N' Smokin' Stones - 3:09 8. Moody Liz - 4:30 9. Gimme Dat Harp Boy - 3:31
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band *Captain Beefheart – Vocals, Harmonica, Oboe *Alex St. Clair Snouffer – Guitar *Jeff Cotton – Guitar *John French – Drums *Jerry Handley – Bass
Volume 2 covers the rock and prog rock period from 1970 to 1975.
In 1971 work had already begun on Astral Navigations. Thundermother came to record in 1970. In the summer Global Village were recorded live in Wakefield's Thornes Park, and in the studio Jumble Lane was started. A to Austr was released in September.
The rest of Astral was recorded in 1971. Some of this was captured on film by Mike's brother, Kevin, and released as the Astral Windows video in 1991. Jumble Lane was released in July 71. Mike got Bill Nelson in to record what was to be Northern Dream. This period saw the recording of Gygafo's Legend of the Kingfisher, Northern Dream, and the start of the Ode LP. Many local bands were recorded. In 1975 Mike closed Holyground, recording Tears On The Console as its swansong.
In 1988 Mike started to reissue Holyground records, with this soon turning into writing and recording new music. Music from the 1990's was released on And Strangeness And Charm, and a new album, In And Out Of Time was begun in 2000.
Mike Levon, owner of Holyground Records, died peacefully on 4th September 2011.
Tracks - Composers - Artists 1. Country Lines 1970 (Dave Wilkinson, Dave Smith) 2. Watch Your Step (Live) 1970 (Bobby Parker) 3. Rock Me Babe 1970 (Accatino, Farina, Crivellente) Thundermother : David John (Miffy) - Vocal, Jaws Harp / Dave Millen (Ginner) - Guitars / Dave Smith (Daz) - Bass / Fred Kelly - Drums / Dave Wilkinson - Piano 4. From King John's Christmas 1972 (Chris Coombs) Chris Coombs Harmonium / Bill Nelson Guitar / Biff Byford Flute 5. Aren't You Glad You Stayed? 1972 (Mike Levon, Brian Calvert) Chris Coombs - Vocal / Brian Calvert - Guitar / Brian Wilson - Bass, Swinging Cat Guitar / Ted Hepworth - Drums 6. Goin' Downhill 1972 (Dave Wilson) Dave Wilson - Vocal, Guitars / John Harvey - Vocal / Johnny Gladstone - Bass / Brian Trigg - Drums 7. Hold Me (I'm Burning) 1972 (Dave Wilson) 8. Retrospect 1972 (Eddie Stringer, Charlie Staniforth) Charlie Speed - Guitars / Eddie Stringer - Keyboards / Paul Kent - Bass / Pete Nickson - Drums / Jon Atkinson - Flute 9. Alice Dee's Electric Outlaw Band 1973 (Graham "Grom" Kelly, Alan Robinson) Lazy Days : Alan Robinson - Guitars, Bass, Vocals / Dave Wilson - Guitars, Steel Guitar, Bass, Piano, Vocals / John Shepard - Drums, Vocals 10. Lazy Days 1973 (Dave Wilson) 11. Free Night Riders 1973 (Dave Wilson, John Shepard) 12. Wait For Me 1973 (Alan Robinson, John Shepard) 13. Excerpt From Look Away 1975 (Written And Played By Members Of Warlord) 14. Justice 1974 (Written And Played By Mother's Pride, Includes Part Of Crown Imperial By William Walton : Oxford University Press) 15. I Feel I'm Down 1975 16. Dawning Of Another Age 1975 17. Curious 1975 (Written And Played By Members Of Qyl) 18. Tears Blues 1975 (Steve Channing, Dave Wilson, Alan Robinson, John Shepard, Mike Spurr) 19. Part Of Over The Green Hills 1975 (Ade Wilson, Paul Johansson, Peter Higginbottom) Ade Wilson - Guitars / Paul Johansson - Bass / Peter Higginbottom - Drums / Mike Levon - Effects 20. No Point At All 1975 (Steve Channing. Includes Part Of It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry By Bob) Steve Channing - Guitar, Vocal, Lead Guitar / Alan Robinson - Bass / John Shepard - Drums / Chris Coombs - Keyboard, Vocal 21. In The Fashion 1975 (Steve Channing) Steve Channing - Guitars, Vocals / Trevor Holroyd - Keyboard, Bass / Robin Garside - Violin / 'Piggy' Nophaled - Congas 22. Silence On The Wires 1995 (Mike Levon, Chris Coombs, Strings Written And Arranged By Phil Wilby, Nik Coombs, And Chris Coombs) Chris Coombs - Vocals, Piano, Guitar, Keyboards / Pete Taylor - Guitar, Bass / Eno And Raimonda Koco - Violas, Violins / Mike Levon - Drums, Percussion, Sound Effects.
Holyground was founded by Mike Levon in 1965 and is a collectable label offering music from the 60's and 70's and now recording again!
LOOSE ROUTES volumes 1 and 2 cover the whole of the early HOLYGROUND from before 1966 to 1975. Volume 1 covers the folk and folk rock period from 1966's EPs to Thundermother in the '70s.
Pre 1965, Mike Levon began recording his Shadows covers band in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. Whilst at college in Yorkshire, 1965-66, he recorded and released a folk LPs and EPs, including Last Thing On My Mind. In 1966, Mike and Dave Wood set up Holyground, recording Number Nine Bread Street during 1966-67. In 1967 Mike moved into Cass Yard, where he set up the studio. All Holyground recordings till 1975 were made in this room, including Mike's first electric session, with Bill Nelson and Global Village. A to Austr was started in 1968, and the name Holyground Enterprises was registered. Mike Levon, owner of Holyground Records, died peacefully on 4th September 2011.
Tracks - Composers - Musicians 1. (Quite So! (The Trends) 1965 (Mike Levon - Bob Simmonds) Bob Simmonds & Mick Woodhouse guitars / Mike Levon drums 2. Don't Think Twice 1965 (Bob Dylan) Terry McCann vocal / Marilyn Collins guitar / John Williams bass / Jane Westlake tambourine 3. I Still Miss Someone 1966 (J. Cash) Jane Westlake vocals, guitar 4. I Don't Believe You 1965 5. I Don't Believe You (Live) 1966 (Bob Dylan) Dave Nuttall vocal / Clive Colling piano / John Williams guitar / Brian Wilson bass / Mike Levon drums 6. Recording Corrina, Corrina 1966 7. Corrina, Corrina 1966 (Mississippi John Hurt) Chris Coombs vocal, harmonica / Jane Westlake guitar / Jim Reed lute / Richard Smith flute / Clive Colling virginals / John Williams bass / Ian Jones drums 8. Song Of Black Glass 1966 9. San Francisco Bay Blues (Bob Hart, Mike Levon) Bob Hart vocal / Jane Westlake vocal / Jim Reed lute / Clive Colling virginals / John Williams guitar 10. A Little Bit Of Nelson (Bill Nelson) 11. Outro To The Friend (Chris Coombs, Bill Nelson) 12. Dear Mr. Fantasy (Al Quinn, Bill Neson, Global Village) 13. It's Alright (Chis Coombs) 14. Super Judy 1968 (Mike Levon, Brian Calvert) Chris Coombs vocal / Brian Calvert guitar / Brian Wilson bass / Ted Hepworth drums / Chris Heinitz brass 15. Working On Between The Road 1969 (Chris Coombs) Chris Coombs vocal, guitar / Brian Wilson bass / Ted Hepworth drums 16. I Slept Clear Thru 1971 (Ark) Paul Travis vocal 17. Nearly Home 1971 (Ark) 18. Horse Rehearsing 1971 (Horse) Chris Roddick guitar, vocal / Pete Ball fiddle / other musicians unknown 19. Down By The River (Steve Channing) Steve Channing vocal, guitar 20. Those Old Arabian Nights 1970 21. White Knight 1970 (Steve Channing) Steve Channing vocal, guitar 22. Hold Me In Your Arms 1971 (The John Perfect Jazz Group) John Perfect saxes / Mike Gould trumpets / Marcia vocal Linda King vocal / Martin Snell piano / Liam Arthurs bass Nick Dew drums 23. Feed Your Head (Out-Take) 1971 (unknown group, could be 'Noah') 24. Play The Game 1971 (Method) played by the group Method - names unknown 25. Shabby Tiger 1973 (Andy Diggle, 'Loz' Laurence) Gemma & Julia vocals / Andy Diggle guitar, vocal / 'Loz' Laurence piano, lead guitar, vocal / unknown bassist & drummer 26. Boogie Music Version 1 1971 (L. T. Tateman III) Dave Millen vocal, lead guitar / Daz bass / Fred Kelly drums
