Bram Tchaikovsky: Strange Man, Changed Man

 Bram Tchaikovsky: Strange Man, Changed Man

1979

Polydor Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1.  Strange Man, Changed Man  2. Lonely Dancer  3. Robber  4. Bloodline  5. I'm The One That's Leaving  6.  Girl Of My Dreams  7.  Nobody Knows 8.  Lady From The USA  9.  I'm A Believer  10. Turn On The Light 





The first movement from famed classical Russian composer Bram Tchaikovsky, recorded with the world-renowned Novosibirsk Shortwave Symphony Orchestra.  This spectacular program opens with Tchaikovsky's most-beloved piece "Violin Concerto in Asia Minor" which starts with an ominous cloud of woodwinds flitting about in the night sky...Then arrives the thunder of cellos! Of timpani!! A cowardly violin saws away quietly in a corner, sheltering from the storm...

 ...then the conductor points his pointy stick to the right and bunch of flutes toodley doo! Then he points it to the left and the tuba flatuates in holy terror! "NO! NOT THE POINTY STICK AGAIN!" it seems to say! "IS IT SHARP?!?!?!" It is not, but what do tubas know?

Then a different conductor emerges from behind the curtains! He too has a stick! No, wait! It's a magic wand!!  He throws a handful of twinkly stars into the other conductors eyes! The crowd gasps in awe as they realize the conductor is not wearing pants!  Finally, a flash of lightning! A crash of a cymbal, and the performance is over. The conductor is spent, embarrassed. He clutches a bottle of rye and slinks back to the dressing room, scowling..."Just another night at the Russian orchestra" he mumbles to himself as he drinks deep from the poisonous bottle...

Nah, I'm just kidding...Bram Tchaikovsky is a power-popper. He was the guitarist for the British act "The Motors," but he splintered away from that group and released a series of fine solo albums in the late 70's and early 80's before dropping out of the record biz...Although. I keep seeing his name pop up as the songwriter on Saxon's "Solid Ball of Rock"...

Is this true? Is it really the same guy? I can't find anything that specifically says it's the same guy, but can there really be two people out there named Bram Tchaikovsky? I don't know. But I remember every Saturday night I would listen to Metal Shop religiously on Z93 WKQZ...

I'm not going to go into it again, cos I know I've covered this before, but I used to tape the songs I liked from the show and just play them endlessly...A real staple of those tapes was Saxon's "Solid Ball of Rock." Sure it was cheesy, but when you're a 14 year old kid that type of thing seems to elude you...A song called "Solid Ball of Rock" isn't cheesy, wearing non-ripped jeans or hugging your Parents in public is...No, "Solid Ball of Rock"'s big, strutting,  hard-rock groove was bad-assness personified...Anyway, I have a hard time reconciling this song with what's on display on "Strange Man, Changed Man"...

This album is one of the most airtight pop-rock albums ever created...Fans of bands like the Records, Shoes, Nick Lowe (or just the friendlier side of 70's punk rock, in general) have to have this...It features one of the Power Pop movement's best singles, "Girl of My Dreams"...

Big chime and jangle...Aural magic with an effortless melody that would have sounded great playing on a radio station in a long-forgotten teenage memory...Of course, I doubt this was ever played on the radio much...Not on a radio station anywhere near where I grew up anyway...Still. it hits me in that same spot that treasures compressed harmonies flowing from a tinny boombox speaker... Listen to it...Then listen to it again...

God, I loved this era. The whole 1979-1980 power-pop thing is probably one of the music movements closest to my heart...To me, this is really what it's all about...Nice harmonies, simple melodies, powerful playing...In the public's mind this genre started with the Knack's hugely successful first album and ended with the Knack's crash and fall on their second album...



 ...but us music fanatics know better...So many great forgotten singles and albums were left behind in this short period of time, and such a large amount of it was so classic..."Strange Man, Changed Man" was so much more than an empty shell to house an ace single...By my count, there's at least 5 or 6 single-worthy tracks here...Chief among them the title track which reminds me of the Jam attempting to groom themselves for American radio play...Which turns out to be a pretty glorious sound, really...Wiry energy, bellowed harmonies and cutting, trebly guitar.  Actually every single song on side One is a knockout..."Robber"..."Bloodline"...They're all catchy as hell...

Side two is only slightly less successful...To be honest "Girl from the USA" is a bit soft for my tastes and the boogie-based cover of "I'm a Believer" is only serviceable...But we're going to forgive side two cos that's where "Girl of My Dreams" is...Luckily they go out with a bang on "Turn on the Lights" which nails that Dave Edmunds new-wave rockabilly thing...

You're probably going to pay a pretty penny if you try to find a CD of this album, since it's been out of print for quite awhile...But used vinyl copies still appear to be plentiful. I picked this up from Revolver Records in Tempe for $1.99 and it was worth every penny...Hell, I'd go as far as $10 for this one...

Oh yea, on an unrelated note, here's a picture Jens found on his phone...I ripped this idea off from my friend Josh, who used to do this exact same thing whenever he'd see a copy of The Big F "Is"...

I spent a few minutes trying to figure out what the other Cd I was was holding in my other hand was...I think I've concluded it's a copy of "Aftershock" by Motorhead...

Here's "Strange Man, Changed Man" by Bram Tchaikovsky. Enjoy...