If Robert Cray can call an LP 20 (what does it mean?), then I can title a post 60.
Recently I put together a CD of great tunes from 1949 to 2009--get it? 60 years. I started with my Artist of the Year, and then picked a song associated with that artist and from approximately the time frame of when they were AoY. The song had to be something in my collection, as the goal was to make a CD.
Here are my picks as Artist of the Year 1949-2009.
1949 Louis Jordan
1950 Johnny Otis
1951 Lefty Frizzell
1952 Hank Williams
1953 Hank Williams 2
1954 Elvis Presley
1955 Ray Charles
1956 Elvis Presley 2
1957 Everly Brothers
1958 Chuck Berry
1959 Bobby Darin
1960 Sam Cooke
1961 Patsy Cline
1962 Ray Charles 2
1963 Beach Boys
1964 Beatles
1965 Bob Dylan
1966 Beach Boys 2
1967 Beatles 2
1968 Jimi Hendrix
1969 Peter Green
1970 Eric Clapton
1971 Jimmy Page
1972 Ian Anderson
1973 Bruce Springsteen
1974 Bruce Springsteen 2
1975 Frank Zappa
1976 John Hall (Orleans)
1977 Billy Joel
1978 Bob Dylan 2
1979 Frank Zappa 2
1980 Roger Waters
1981 David Byrne
1982 Pat Metheny
1983 Prince
1984 David Byrne 2
1985 Mark Knopfler
1986 Paul Simon
1987 Bruce Springsteen 3
1988 Bruce Cockburn
1989 Bonnie Raitt
1990 Bela Fleck
1991 Jennifer Warnes
1992 k.d. lang
1993 Leonard Cohen
1994 Van Morrison
1995 John Prine
1996 Iris DeMent
1997 Shawn Colvin
1998 Peter Green 2
1999 Jeff Tweedy
2000 Aimee Mann
2001 Bill Frisell
2002 Caitlin Cary
2003 The Flaming Lips
2004 Tift Merritt
2005 Conor Oberst
2006 Halloween, Alaska
2007 Scott Yoho
2008 Rufus Wainwright
2009 Craig Finn
Just for the record, here is how the list would continue:
2010 Win Butler
2011 Dan Auerbach
2012 (so far) Iris DeMent 2
Here is 1) the top song by the Artist of the Year and 2) the song of the year if different from 1).
1949 Saturday Night Fish Fry--Louis Jordan
1950 Cry Baby--Johnny Otis and I'm Movin' On--Hank Snow
1951 I Want to Be With You Always--Lefty Frizzell
1952 Your Cheatin' Heart--Hank Williams
1953 Take These Chains from My Heart--Hank Williams
1954 That's All Right Mama--Elvis Presley
1955--Drown in My Own Tears--Ray Charles and The Great Pretender--The Platters
1956--Don't Be Cruel--Elvis Presley and Why Do Fools Fall in Love--Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers
1957--Bye Bye Love--The Everly Brothers and You Send Me--Sam Cooke
1958--Sweet Little Sixteen--Chuck Berry and It's All in the Game--Tommy Edwards
1959--Mack the Knife--Bobby Darin and Kansas City--Wilbert Harrison
1960--Wonderful World--Sam Cooke and El Paso--Marty Robbins
1961--I Fall to Pieces--Patsy Cline
1962--I Can't Stop Lovin' You--Ray Charles
1963--All Summer Long--The Beach Boys and Da Do Ron Ron--The Crystals
1964--All My Lovin'--The Beatles and When I Grow Up to Be a Man--The Beach Boys
1965--Desolation Row--Bob Dylan
1966--Good Vibrations--The Beach Boys
1967--A Day in the Life--The Beatles
1968--All Along the Watchtower--Jimi Hendrix
1969--Closing My Eyes--Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac
1970--Layla--Derek and the Dominoes
1971--When the Levee Breaks--Led Zeppelin and Echoes--Pink Floyd
1972--Thick As A Brick--Jethro Tull and Blue Sky--Allman Brothers
1973--Hard to Be A Saint in the City--Bruce Springsteen and Us and Them--Pink Floyd
1974--Rosalita--Bruce Springsteen and Pamela Brown--Leo Kottke
1975--Sofa No. 2--Frank Zappa
1976--Spring Fever--Orleans
1977--Only the Good Die Young--Billy Joel
1978--Changing of the Guard--Bob Dylan and Crazy Love--Poco
1979--Yo' Mama--Frank Zappa and I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine--Ry Cooder
1980--Comfortably Numb--Pink Floyd
1981--The Great Curve--Talking Heads
1982--Do You Want to Go with Me?--Pat Metheny and It Never Rains--Dire Straits
1983--Little Red Corvette--Prince
1984--What A Day That Was--Talking Heads and Irish Love--Mark Knopfler
1985--Your Latest Trick--Dire Straits
1986--Graceland--Paul Simon and Down the Road Tonight--Bruce Hornsby and the Range
1987--Valentine's Day--Bruce Springsteen and Across the Borderline--Ry Cooder
1988--Waiting for a Miracle--Bruce Cockburn and (The Other End of the) Telescope--Til Tuesday
1989--Have A Heart--Bonnie Raitt and Painting by Numbers--James McMurtry
1990--Sanctuary--Bela Fleck
1991--First We Take Manhattan--Jennifer Warnes
1992--Constant Craving--k.d. lang and My Beautiful Reward--Bruce Springsteen
1993--Light As A Breeze--Leonard Cohen
1994--In the Garden (medley)--Van Morrison and Great Season Waltz--Sally Van Meter
1995--New Train--John Prine and Secret Garden--Bruce Springsteen
1996--The Way I Should--Iris DeMent
1997--Nothin' on Me--Shawn Colvin and Let Down--Radiohead
1998--Albatross--Paul Jones, Bobby Tench, Max Middleton (The Music of Peter Green) and Shenendoah--Van Morrison and Paddy Moloney and the Chieftans
1999--A Shot in the Arm--Wilco and High Fashion Queen--Chris Hillman and Steve Earle
2000--You Do--Aimee Mann and Waiting for the Federals--Aly Bain
2001--Again--Bill Frisell
2002--I Ain't Found Nobody Yet--Caitlin Cary and Tear Stained Eye--Kasey Chambers
2003--In the Morning of the Magicians--Flaming Lips and Caballo Viejo--Ry Cooder
2004--The Plainest Thing--Tift Merritt and Shelter--Ray LaMontagne
2005--Another Traveling Song--Bright Eyes and Best Kept Secret--Jerry Douglas Band
2006--Call It Clear--Halloween Alaska and No Man's Land--Sufjan Stevens
2007--Australia--The Shins* (* Scott Yoho of Auto Body Experience is Artist of the Year based on live performance, but there is no new Yoho or Auto Body music during 2007.)
2008--Trouble on Alum--Jerry Douglas (Rufus Wainwright is Artist of the Year based on live performance, but there is no new Rufus music during 2008.)
2009--Sequestered in Memphis--The Hold Steady
2010--Modern Man--Arcade Fire and Conversation 16--The National
2011--Lonely Boy--The Black Keys and Towers--Bon Iver
2012 (so far)--Sing the Delta--Iris DeMent
Friday, June 15, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
The Shins Are Not Gonna Change Your Life
The truth can now be told. The Shins are not gonna change your life. And, as a live-in-concert band, well, they are not good at all.
The Shins played at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis on Friday night June 1 and, first, their volume level was about what you'd expect from a bunch of head-bangers, not a poppy, melodic, Beatlesque group. Their signature attribute, James Mercer's wonderfully creative vocal melodies, were buried beneath a thick layer of grunge.
And the vocals themselves left much to be desired. Mercer can no longer sing much of his older material (from the terrific Chutes Too Narrow and Wincing the Night Away). I would expect to hear better vocals on, say, "Australia" at your local karaoke emporium. He just can't hit those high notes anymore. And, speaking of "Australia," the Shins' new guitarist (was it Yuuki Matthews or Robert Swift?) was unable to play the inspired guitar solo, petering out after more or less hitting the first four bars.
So all in all, The Shins were a huge disappointment, as is their new release Port of Morrow. Overall the recording and the concert, in comparison to The Shins' best work, features a notably slower pace, and is less melodic and more atmospheric. Brooding, you might say, versus Wincing's carefree and uplifting character.
One cannot but infer that Port of Morrow has been a "troubled" project. Mercer announced in 2009 that keyboardist Marty Crandall and drummer Jesse Sandoval had left the band, to be replaced by Ron Lewis (from Grand Archives), Eric D. Johnson (from the Fruit Bats) and Joe Plummer (of Modest Mouse). And, he added, the new recording would be released the following year.
But Port of Morrow was in fact released only in 2012, and Greg Kurstin proved to the be featured musician, playing on 9 of the 10 tunes. Drummer Plummer played on 5, Lewis on 5 and Johnson on 3. Kurstin and Mercer are listed as co-producers.
The title track, Mercer says, is named after the port authority in the city of Boardman, OR, on the Columbia River. "There’s a sign by the side of the road that says 'Port of Morrow' and I always just wondered about it, I guess. When writing that song it popped into my head and I was thinking of it as death, like what’s beyond the exit point, the 'port of morrow,' the port into tomorrow? [...] Everyone’s future is death. That’s a very dark way to look at it, but in the song it just happened to fit in with that thing. Like the ace of spades, port of morrow, life is death, death is life." (From an interview in Drowned in Sound, March 23, 2012)
So you can say that the brooding tone of the record is what was required by the material. But why would Mercer choose to leave his brilliantly poppy style behind to write dirges to death? It's like Kenneth Branagh giving up Shakespeare or Albert Pujols deciding to hit singles. A curious decision, and Mercer's loss as well as our own.
If it's brooding you want, The Antlers did it better as one of two opening acts for The Shins. First came Deep Sea Diver, featuring Shins' guitarist Jessica Dobson on guitars, keyboards and vocals. To describe her and them as mediocre would be kind.
The Antlers, on the other hand, successfully created a series of atmospheres or soundscapes. Add in Peter Silberman's high-pitched vocals, and the band proved to be highly evocative of Radiohead, which is not a bad thing to evoke.
The Shins played at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis on Friday night June 1 and, first, their volume level was about what you'd expect from a bunch of head-bangers, not a poppy, melodic, Beatlesque group. Their signature attribute, James Mercer's wonderfully creative vocal melodies, were buried beneath a thick layer of grunge.
And the vocals themselves left much to be desired. Mercer can no longer sing much of his older material (from the terrific Chutes Too Narrow and Wincing the Night Away). I would expect to hear better vocals on, say, "Australia" at your local karaoke emporium. He just can't hit those high notes anymore. And, speaking of "Australia," the Shins' new guitarist (was it Yuuki Matthews or Robert Swift?) was unable to play the inspired guitar solo, petering out after more or less hitting the first four bars.
So all in all, The Shins were a huge disappointment, as is their new release Port of Morrow. Overall the recording and the concert, in comparison to The Shins' best work, features a notably slower pace, and is less melodic and more atmospheric. Brooding, you might say, versus Wincing's carefree and uplifting character.
One cannot but infer that Port of Morrow has been a "troubled" project. Mercer announced in 2009 that keyboardist Marty Crandall and drummer Jesse Sandoval had left the band, to be replaced by Ron Lewis (from Grand Archives), Eric D. Johnson (from the Fruit Bats) and Joe Plummer (of Modest Mouse). And, he added, the new recording would be released the following year.
But Port of Morrow was in fact released only in 2012, and Greg Kurstin proved to the be featured musician, playing on 9 of the 10 tunes. Drummer Plummer played on 5, Lewis on 5 and Johnson on 3. Kurstin and Mercer are listed as co-producers.
The title track, Mercer says, is named after the port authority in the city of Boardman, OR, on the Columbia River. "There’s a sign by the side of the road that says 'Port of Morrow' and I always just wondered about it, I guess. When writing that song it popped into my head and I was thinking of it as death, like what’s beyond the exit point, the 'port of morrow,' the port into tomorrow? [...] Everyone’s future is death. That’s a very dark way to look at it, but in the song it just happened to fit in with that thing. Like the ace of spades, port of morrow, life is death, death is life." (From an interview in Drowned in Sound, March 23, 2012)
So you can say that the brooding tone of the record is what was required by the material. But why would Mercer choose to leave his brilliantly poppy style behind to write dirges to death? It's like Kenneth Branagh giving up Shakespeare or Albert Pujols deciding to hit singles. A curious decision, and Mercer's loss as well as our own.
If it's brooding you want, The Antlers did it better as one of two opening acts for The Shins. First came Deep Sea Diver, featuring Shins' guitarist Jessica Dobson on guitars, keyboards and vocals. To describe her and them as mediocre would be kind.
The Antlers, on the other hand, successfully created a series of atmospheres or soundscapes. Add in Peter Silberman's high-pitched vocals, and the band proved to be highly evocative of Radiohead, which is not a bad thing to evoke.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Fantastic Merlins are, well, Fantastic
I'm a rock 'n roll guy. But every now and then there's some "jazz" that reaches out and grabs me. Usually "jazz" with a saxophone. I love the sound of a saxophone and rock music doesn't offer a lot of great sax. Clarence. Michael Brecker here and there. I'm sure there's a few others that aren't coming to mind right now.
But for good sax, you've got to be listening to jazz music. And right now, that means the Fantastic Merlins. The Merlins are a four-piece band featuring sax, bass and drums, and (get this) cello. Very unusual. Two mostly single line melody instruments with similar range and reedy timbres. Interesting.
But just how interesting depends on which version of the Merlins you're talking about. Saxophonist Nathan Hansen has been there throughout, and plays a generally fairly low-key, calm and peaceful style only occasionally given to going a little bit wild.
Look Around and A Handful of Earth
The Merlins' versions are defined by their cellist. Originally it was Jacqueline Ultan, who played a romantic, melodic style, mimicking Hansen's. Ultan was featured on both of the Merlins' true ensemble recordings, Look Around (recorded 2005, released 2007) and A Handful of Earth (recorded 2008, released 2009). Both are absolutely terrific records.
Look Around features 2 stunning songs in the Merlins' 2 basic styles. "I Was Behind the Couch All the Time" is a funky, whimsical piece, a theme and variations based on an uptempo 4-bar riff in the sax. From there the variations wander all over the landscape in seeming free form, returning to the main theme about 2 minutes later. Big fun.
The other is a romantic, emotional piece called "Line." Here the sax and cello are basically in counterpoint, suggestive in a manner of speaking of a Bach fugue, around a long, slow, elegaic, lovely melody suggestive of Edward Elgar. Roll it together, explore it for about 7 minutes, and this is a truly beautiful and moving piece.
The title piece "Look Around" and "Letting Go" are in the general vein of "Line," though moodier and more dissonant. "It Would Seem," "Dance Partner" and "Lenny" are along the lines of "Couch," based on minimalist riffs, often whimsical. "Lenny" is especially funky, based on a simple two-bar, eight-note riff, then wandering off into one of Ultan's most expansive solos, though Hansen's sax is also featured more or less throughout.
The songs that seem to jump off of Handful of Earth are more along the lines of "Line"--slow, soft, contemplative pieces. "Inversion Is The Condition" opens with a minute or so of cello atmospherics before Hansen states the theme, again a minimal two-bar, four-note melody that quickly expands out and becomes the basis for an extended sax solo. "The Face in the Window" uses the same formula to produce another soothing, relaxing piece, maybe better described as pop than jazz.
The title tune is different, edgier, over a staccato cello rhythm throughout. But the Merlins get really edgy on "Purple Orange," which begins slowly in the bass and then the cello before drummer Peter Hennig takes over and jacks up the tempo at the 3 minute mark. Hansen follows with a lengthy and boisterous improvisation and his best recorded solo.
The Merlins describe their style as "visceral power" and "sparse textures." But they're surely no tower of power, nor are the textures that sparse. The melodic material, yes. The textures go on forever. In any event, the 2 records together establish Hansen and the Merlins as a terrific ensemble working its way around the edges of the jazz and jazz-fusion genres.
How the Light Gets In
But the newer of the 2 is 4 years old. They do not represent the Merlins of today. Nor does their 3rd recording, How the Light Gets In, recorded in 2009 and released in 2010. This is mostly a collection of Leonard Cohen tunes, with vocals supplied by Kid Dakota. The fact is the Merlins never sounded quite like this except on this particular recording and at the Sons d'Hiver Festival in Paris in 2010. Matt Turner played cello for the Merlins for just a very short time including the recording and the festival, then was replaced by Daniel Levin.
How the Light Gets In works very hard at giving the Cohen a new sound and it succeeds but in an eccentric, forced, mannered way. The exceptions are "Memories," by Kid Dakota, and "The Little Bird," an instrumental piece by the Merlins, where there is a coherent and an appealing voice.
Live at the Black Dog, 2012
So if you want to know what the Merlins sound like today with Levin as Hanson's chief co-conspirator, a recent gig at the Black Dog in St. Paul, MN, will have to suffice. And the answer would seem to be that Levin favors a terrifically gnarly, avant guard, free form style that is anything but easy listening. Levin nay be the Alvin Lee of jazz cello. He sure can play fast!, but I'm not sure what he's trying to say.
But most of you will never make your way to the Black Dog, so don't worry about it. In the meantime, Look Around and Handful of Earth are a couple of immensely enjoyable recordings that anybody can access.
But for good sax, you've got to be listening to jazz music. And right now, that means the Fantastic Merlins. The Merlins are a four-piece band featuring sax, bass and drums, and (get this) cello. Very unusual. Two mostly single line melody instruments with similar range and reedy timbres. Interesting.
But just how interesting depends on which version of the Merlins you're talking about. Saxophonist Nathan Hansen has been there throughout, and plays a generally fairly low-key, calm and peaceful style only occasionally given to going a little bit wild.
Look Around and A Handful of Earth
The Merlins' versions are defined by their cellist. Originally it was Jacqueline Ultan, who played a romantic, melodic style, mimicking Hansen's. Ultan was featured on both of the Merlins' true ensemble recordings, Look Around (recorded 2005, released 2007) and A Handful of Earth (recorded 2008, released 2009). Both are absolutely terrific records.
Look Around features 2 stunning songs in the Merlins' 2 basic styles. "I Was Behind the Couch All the Time" is a funky, whimsical piece, a theme and variations based on an uptempo 4-bar riff in the sax. From there the variations wander all over the landscape in seeming free form, returning to the main theme about 2 minutes later. Big fun.
The other is a romantic, emotional piece called "Line." Here the sax and cello are basically in counterpoint, suggestive in a manner of speaking of a Bach fugue, around a long, slow, elegaic, lovely melody suggestive of Edward Elgar. Roll it together, explore it for about 7 minutes, and this is a truly beautiful and moving piece.
The title piece "Look Around" and "Letting Go" are in the general vein of "Line," though moodier and more dissonant. "It Would Seem," "Dance Partner" and "Lenny" are along the lines of "Couch," based on minimalist riffs, often whimsical. "Lenny" is especially funky, based on a simple two-bar, eight-note riff, then wandering off into one of Ultan's most expansive solos, though Hansen's sax is also featured more or less throughout.
The songs that seem to jump off of Handful of Earth are more along the lines of "Line"--slow, soft, contemplative pieces. "Inversion Is The Condition" opens with a minute or so of cello atmospherics before Hansen states the theme, again a minimal two-bar, four-note melody that quickly expands out and becomes the basis for an extended sax solo. "The Face in the Window" uses the same formula to produce another soothing, relaxing piece, maybe better described as pop than jazz.
The title tune is different, edgier, over a staccato cello rhythm throughout. But the Merlins get really edgy on "Purple Orange," which begins slowly in the bass and then the cello before drummer Peter Hennig takes over and jacks up the tempo at the 3 minute mark. Hansen follows with a lengthy and boisterous improvisation and his best recorded solo.
The Merlins describe their style as "visceral power" and "sparse textures." But they're surely no tower of power, nor are the textures that sparse. The melodic material, yes. The textures go on forever. In any event, the 2 records together establish Hansen and the Merlins as a terrific ensemble working its way around the edges of the jazz and jazz-fusion genres.
How the Light Gets In
But the newer of the 2 is 4 years old. They do not represent the Merlins of today. Nor does their 3rd recording, How the Light Gets In, recorded in 2009 and released in 2010. This is mostly a collection of Leonard Cohen tunes, with vocals supplied by Kid Dakota. The fact is the Merlins never sounded quite like this except on this particular recording and at the Sons d'Hiver Festival in Paris in 2010. Matt Turner played cello for the Merlins for just a very short time including the recording and the festival, then was replaced by Daniel Levin.
How the Light Gets In works very hard at giving the Cohen a new sound and it succeeds but in an eccentric, forced, mannered way. The exceptions are "Memories," by Kid Dakota, and "The Little Bird," an instrumental piece by the Merlins, where there is a coherent and an appealing voice.
Live at the Black Dog, 2012
So if you want to know what the Merlins sound like today with Levin as Hanson's chief co-conspirator, a recent gig at the Black Dog in St. Paul, MN, will have to suffice. And the answer would seem to be that Levin favors a terrifically gnarly, avant guard, free form style that is anything but easy listening. Levin nay be the Alvin Lee of jazz cello. He sure can play fast!, but I'm not sure what he's trying to say.
But most of you will never make your way to the Black Dog, so don't worry about it. In the meantime, Look Around and Handful of Earth are a couple of immensely enjoyable recordings that anybody can access.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Kathleen Edwards' Voyageur
So, who was that strawberry blonde with Boney Vair at the Grammies? I suppose the more hopelessly romantic among us thought, Emma! But, no. The strawberry blonde was new girlfriend--and, a singer, herself--Kathleen Edwards. Edwards, a Canadian, debuted way back in 2003 with Failer, featuring a really terrific tune "Six O'Clock News," and released 2 additional LPs before her current Voyageur.
Her 1st 3 records were produced in collaboration with husband Colin Crips, but the 2 were divorced in 2011. In the fall of 2010 she began work on her 4th record with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver as producer. Sometime later they became an item and about the same time Vernon/Bon himself became an item with the massive success of his 2nd album, Bon Iver, Bon Iver.
All of which has undoubtedly helped Voyageur to get a hearing and a #39 rating on the U.S. album charts, and a much deserved hearing it is. I mean, there's a certain sameness to it, with a surfeit of ballads.
But 3 of the up-tempo tunes stand out. "Empty Threat" opens the record with a pretty little easy listening verse. The chorus, "I'm moving to America," is repeated a bit much, but all in all it gets the record off to a pleasant start. "Change the Sheets" is the 1st single. Driven by a staccato piano figure, it builds to an arena rock crescendo that seems a bit over the top for the material and also for Edwards' thinnish voice. But aside from the overstatement, it too is a nice enough tune.
"Sidecar" is tossed off without fanfare mid-record, but it proves to be the most enjoyable of the up-tempo tunes. At a modest 2:38 it avoids the repetition and overstatement of the other 2. Thank goodness for these 3 tunes because the rest is pretty much all ballads.
Some of the them a very nice ballads, of course. I'm particularly fond of "Soft Place to Land" and "Pink Champagne." Not only are they nice tunes, but they suit Edwards' voice nicely. It is on the ballads, too, that Vernon's Boney sonic palette comes into play and as on Bon Iver, Bon Iver, the effect is most pleasing.
"For the Record" closes the record and at 7:07 falls prey to the repetition that mars "Empty Threat," only more so. I don't know how many times she sings "For the record, I only wanted to sing songs," but it's too many. "House Full of Empty Rooms" has another pretty little melody but maudlin lyrics, while "Chameleon/Comedian,""Mint" and "Going to Hell" are also mostly enjoyable tunes.
All in all, a nice collection of ballads tempered by just enough of a more active sound to avoid monotony. I know this all sounds like faint praise. But roll it all up and you've got the best album-length collection of songs of 2012 so far. Of course, that is in part because 2012 thus far has been a pretty weak year in pop music. Only Craig Finn's Clear Heart Full Eyes really stands out otherwise, though The Shins' long-awaited Port of Morrow has its moments. I also have high hopes for Bonnie Raitt's Slipstream and Rufus Wainwright's Out of the Game, neither of which I have listened to yet due to an active travel schedule.
Then there's also this: A Handful of Earth, an instrumental record by The Fantastic Merlins, was released a year ago, though I only became acquainted with it a month or two ago. I will write about the Merlins forthwith.
I will also be seeing The Shins, Steve Earle, Los Lobos and Rufus Wainwright live this summer, and I'll let you know how those turn out.
Her 1st 3 records were produced in collaboration with husband Colin Crips, but the 2 were divorced in 2011. In the fall of 2010 she began work on her 4th record with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver as producer. Sometime later they became an item and about the same time Vernon/Bon himself became an item with the massive success of his 2nd album, Bon Iver, Bon Iver.
All of which has undoubtedly helped Voyageur to get a hearing and a #39 rating on the U.S. album charts, and a much deserved hearing it is. I mean, there's a certain sameness to it, with a surfeit of ballads.
But 3 of the up-tempo tunes stand out. "Empty Threat" opens the record with a pretty little easy listening verse. The chorus, "I'm moving to America," is repeated a bit much, but all in all it gets the record off to a pleasant start. "Change the Sheets" is the 1st single. Driven by a staccato piano figure, it builds to an arena rock crescendo that seems a bit over the top for the material and also for Edwards' thinnish voice. But aside from the overstatement, it too is a nice enough tune.
"Sidecar" is tossed off without fanfare mid-record, but it proves to be the most enjoyable of the up-tempo tunes. At a modest 2:38 it avoids the repetition and overstatement of the other 2. Thank goodness for these 3 tunes because the rest is pretty much all ballads.
Some of the them a very nice ballads, of course. I'm particularly fond of "Soft Place to Land" and "Pink Champagne." Not only are they nice tunes, but they suit Edwards' voice nicely. It is on the ballads, too, that Vernon's Boney sonic palette comes into play and as on Bon Iver, Bon Iver, the effect is most pleasing.
"For the Record" closes the record and at 7:07 falls prey to the repetition that mars "Empty Threat," only more so. I don't know how many times she sings "For the record, I only wanted to sing songs," but it's too many. "House Full of Empty Rooms" has another pretty little melody but maudlin lyrics, while "Chameleon/Comedian,""Mint" and "Going to Hell" are also mostly enjoyable tunes.
All in all, a nice collection of ballads tempered by just enough of a more active sound to avoid monotony. I know this all sounds like faint praise. But roll it all up and you've got the best album-length collection of songs of 2012 so far. Of course, that is in part because 2012 thus far has been a pretty weak year in pop music. Only Craig Finn's Clear Heart Full Eyes really stands out otherwise, though The Shins' long-awaited Port of Morrow has its moments. I also have high hopes for Bonnie Raitt's Slipstream and Rufus Wainwright's Out of the Game, neither of which I have listened to yet due to an active travel schedule.
Then there's also this: A Handful of Earth, an instrumental record by The Fantastic Merlins, was released a year ago, though I only became acquainted with it a month or two ago. I will write about the Merlins forthwith.
I will also be seeing The Shins, Steve Earle, Los Lobos and Rufus Wainwright live this summer, and I'll let you know how those turn out.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
100 Greatest Rock n' Roll Guitarists
Rolling Stone recently published a list of the top 100 guitarists of all-time (all-time meaning for the most part, with just a few exceptions, approximately between about 1964 and 1985). It's the 2nd time the Stone has published such a list, and both represented the same oeuvre: Music that sounds like classic rock from 1968 to 1974 or thereabout. And make no mistake, a body has a right to define "all-time" however they want, as long as it's not stupid and ridiculous. Okay, this is pretty stupid and ridiculous, and so a lot of people have taken issue with it.
Mostly that means the head-bangers who after all have their Web sites. So a flurry of alt lists of the top 100 guitarists were published in the wake of the Stone's list (mostly the 1st time, back in 2003 but some just recently), featuring some of the most obscure guitarists you could ever want on such a list--I mean, like 3 guys from Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, stuff like that. Judas Priest is right!
Still, the fact is that Rolling Stone ignored not just 1 or 2 but 4 or 5 generations worth of guitarists, right up to the present day (no John Mayer). So I surveyed 6 or 8 alt lists, trying not to over or under-represent the head bangers. I probably over-represented them when all was said and done.
So here's my list. It's not just the consensus, it's my list. But it's informed, shall we say, by the other lists out there. If a guy scored highly in the consensus, then the chances are good that I've brought him in. It's sort of a cross-section of the consensus, the Rolling Stone and my list.
Here goes.
1. Jimi Hendrix--Rolling Stone and the consensus and I all agree on this one.
2. Eric Clapton--only #5 in the consensus but that's ridiculous. I haven't yet looked at those lists of the top 100 guitar solos, but if "Layla" isn't on there, it's a crime.
3. Duane Allman--even Rolling Stone only had him #9, what's with that. #17 in the consensus. Seriously, do you guys remember what he sounded like?
4. Jimmy Page--#2 and #3 depending on your preference, and that is exactly right.
5. Jeff Beck--actually scored higher in the consensus (#3) than the Stone (#5).
6. Pat Metheny--wild card #1, which means he did not appear on any of the lists that I saw. I'm not a fan of his current trad jazz stuff. But his fusion stuff from the 1980s is just an incredible body of work. American Garage is perhaps the greatest instrumental guitar record of all-time.
7. Keith Richards--the world's greatest rhythm guitarist. What a riff-meister.
8. David Gilmour--#14 and #16, pretty much invented arena-rock guitar.
9. Frank Zappa--#22 and #27. One of the few who eschewed the Claptonesque blues and developed a different sound. I just happen to be listening to "Hot Plate Heaven" from Broadway the Hard Way right at this instant. It's about his 40th best solo and I have goose-bumps.
10. Mark Knopfler--just #44 in RS, #20 in consensus. So versatile. Yes, his electric guitar work is what gets him here, but there's a large body of acoustic work, too, much of it on some terrific movie soundtracks.
Okay, so far I'm pretty much aligned with Rolling Stone, not in terms of all of the individual choices but in terms of the oeuvre. All of my guys peaked from the mid-'60s to the mid- to late '80s (Knopfler).
11. Chuck Berry--pretty much invented the genre. More of the early guys were piano players than guitarists. Berry pretty much single-handedly made rock into guitar music.
12. Bill Frisell--wild card #2, not on any of the lists, a terrible oversight. Four words: Good Dog, Happy Man.
13. Stevie Ray Vaughan--only #12 and #21, surprising. Wrong.
14. Django Reinhart--wild card #3. Great jazz guitarist of the '30s, He made a couple of lists, obviously the others weren't familiar with him. The process had him at #54, which is a totally ridiculous outcome, so he goes here.
15. George Harrison--#17 and #13 in the Stone and the consensus.
16. Ry Cooder--#31 and #38, way too low. Another original with his own sound.
17. The Edge--only #38 and #26. An original with an unusually strong bent toward supporting the vocal.
18. Peter Green--#58 and #43. Founded the original Fleetwood Mac and made them rock's best blues band long before they became poppy hit-makers. Great great stuff.
19. John Fahey--wild card #4. I'm guessing some of the lists didn't consider acoustic guitarists. so the process had him down in the 60s.
20. Steve Vai--not in the Rolling Stone's top 100, which means they've got no business publishing a list at all. Such ignorance must be called out. #26 in the consensus.
21. Carlos Santana--#20 and #11.
22. Les Paul--#18 and #42.
23. Chet Atkins--#21 and #52. Mr. Country-style Guitar.
24. James Burton--#19 and #46. Played with many of the early hit-makers like Roy Orbison and Ricky Nelson. Great lines.
25. Scotty Moore--#29 and #39. Ditto--e.g. Elvis Presley.
Okay, this is now much more catholic than Rolling Stone or even the general consensus. I'm back to the early days (Les Paul, Chuck Berry, James Burton, Scotty Moore) and beyond (Django Reinhart) and I'm up to the 21st century (Bill Frisell, The Edge).
26. Robert Fripp--#62 and #25. 25 years of King Crimson. The early stuff was the heaviest stuff anybody had ever heard. If you're not familiar with it, check out "21st Century Schizoid Man."
27. Steve Cropper--#39 and #28. Played a 1,000 great solos on '60 soul music.
28. Peter Townshend--#10 and #14. Never a great technician, but had an original style and a flair that was unique. The Who, in case you're not sure.
29. Brian May--#26 and #6 in the consensus. Queen. Obviously an original, still, I'm shocked to discover the following that he has. #6 consensus!
30. Ritchie Blackmore--Deep Purple. Another whom I had forgotten but he is still #10 on the consensus list.
31. Prince--only #72 in the consensus, which is much underrated.
34. Alex Lifeson--Rush
And, see, I'm getting some of the headbangers in there as well. Well done!
36. Mike Bloomfield--Butterfield Blues Band
37. Dicky Betts
38. Cesar Rosas/David Hidalgo--Los Lobos, wild card #5.Sample: "Mas y Mas" on the Clapton Crossroads Guitar Fest video. Wow.
39. Tony Rice--wild card #6, best of the bluegrass players
40. Steve Howe--Yes
68. Joe Perry--Aerosmith
Mostly that means the head-bangers who after all have their Web sites. So a flurry of alt lists of the top 100 guitarists were published in the wake of the Stone's list (mostly the 1st time, back in 2003 but some just recently), featuring some of the most obscure guitarists you could ever want on such a list--I mean, like 3 guys from Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, stuff like that. Judas Priest is right!
Still, the fact is that Rolling Stone ignored not just 1 or 2 but 4 or 5 generations worth of guitarists, right up to the present day (no John Mayer). So I surveyed 6 or 8 alt lists, trying not to over or under-represent the head bangers. I probably over-represented them when all was said and done.
So here's my list. It's not just the consensus, it's my list. But it's informed, shall we say, by the other lists out there. If a guy scored highly in the consensus, then the chances are good that I've brought him in. It's sort of a cross-section of the consensus, the Rolling Stone and my list.
Here goes.
1. Jimi Hendrix--Rolling Stone and the consensus and I all agree on this one.
2. Eric Clapton--only #5 in the consensus but that's ridiculous. I haven't yet looked at those lists of the top 100 guitar solos, but if "Layla" isn't on there, it's a crime.
3. Duane Allman--even Rolling Stone only had him #9, what's with that. #17 in the consensus. Seriously, do you guys remember what he sounded like?
4. Jimmy Page--#2 and #3 depending on your preference, and that is exactly right.
5. Jeff Beck--actually scored higher in the consensus (#3) than the Stone (#5).
6. Pat Metheny--wild card #1, which means he did not appear on any of the lists that I saw. I'm not a fan of his current trad jazz stuff. But his fusion stuff from the 1980s is just an incredible body of work. American Garage is perhaps the greatest instrumental guitar record of all-time.
7. Keith Richards--the world's greatest rhythm guitarist. What a riff-meister.
8. David Gilmour--#14 and #16, pretty much invented arena-rock guitar.
9. Frank Zappa--#22 and #27. One of the few who eschewed the Claptonesque blues and developed a different sound. I just happen to be listening to "Hot Plate Heaven" from Broadway the Hard Way right at this instant. It's about his 40th best solo and I have goose-bumps.
10. Mark Knopfler--just #44 in RS, #20 in consensus. So versatile. Yes, his electric guitar work is what gets him here, but there's a large body of acoustic work, too, much of it on some terrific movie soundtracks.
Okay, so far I'm pretty much aligned with Rolling Stone, not in terms of all of the individual choices but in terms of the oeuvre. All of my guys peaked from the mid-'60s to the mid- to late '80s (Knopfler).
11. Chuck Berry--pretty much invented the genre. More of the early guys were piano players than guitarists. Berry pretty much single-handedly made rock into guitar music.
12. Bill Frisell--wild card #2, not on any of the lists, a terrible oversight. Four words: Good Dog, Happy Man.
13. Stevie Ray Vaughan--only #12 and #21, surprising. Wrong.
14. Django Reinhart--wild card #3. Great jazz guitarist of the '30s, He made a couple of lists, obviously the others weren't familiar with him. The process had him at #54, which is a totally ridiculous outcome, so he goes here.
15. George Harrison--#17 and #13 in the Stone and the consensus.
16. Ry Cooder--#31 and #38, way too low. Another original with his own sound.
17. The Edge--only #38 and #26. An original with an unusually strong bent toward supporting the vocal.
18. Peter Green--#58 and #43. Founded the original Fleetwood Mac and made them rock's best blues band long before they became poppy hit-makers. Great great stuff.
19. John Fahey--wild card #4. I'm guessing some of the lists didn't consider acoustic guitarists. so the process had him down in the 60s.
20. Steve Vai--not in the Rolling Stone's top 100, which means they've got no business publishing a list at all. Such ignorance must be called out. #26 in the consensus.
21. Carlos Santana--#20 and #11.
22. Les Paul--#18 and #42.
23. Chet Atkins--#21 and #52. Mr. Country-style Guitar.
24. James Burton--#19 and #46. Played with many of the early hit-makers like Roy Orbison and Ricky Nelson. Great lines.
25. Scotty Moore--#29 and #39. Ditto--e.g. Elvis Presley.
Okay, this is now much more catholic than Rolling Stone or even the general consensus. I'm back to the early days (Les Paul, Chuck Berry, James Burton, Scotty Moore) and beyond (Django Reinhart) and I'm up to the 21st century (Bill Frisell, The Edge).
26. Robert Fripp--#62 and #25. 25 years of King Crimson. The early stuff was the heaviest stuff anybody had ever heard. If you're not familiar with it, check out "21st Century Schizoid Man."
27. Steve Cropper--#39 and #28. Played a 1,000 great solos on '60 soul music.
28. Peter Townshend--#10 and #14. Never a great technician, but had an original style and a flair that was unique. The Who, in case you're not sure.
29. Brian May--#26 and #6 in the consensus. Queen. Obviously an original, still, I'm shocked to discover the following that he has. #6 consensus!
30. Ritchie Blackmore--Deep Purple. Another whom I had forgotten but he is still #10 on the consensus list.
31. Prince--only #72 in the consensus, which is much underrated.
32. Jerry Garcia--Grateful Dead
33. Eddie Van Halen--#8 and #4. Not my cup of tea.
And, see, I'm getting some of the headbangers in there as well. Well done!
35. Leo Kottke--wild card #4, not on any of the lists though 1 indicated he was "bubbling under"
36. Mike Bloomfield--Butterfield Blues Band
37. Dicky Betts
38. Cesar Rosas/David Hidalgo--Los Lobos, wild card #5.Sample: "Mas y Mas" on the Clapton Crossroads Guitar Fest video. Wow.
39. Tony Rice--wild card #6, best of the bluegrass players
40. Steve Howe--Yes
41. John Mayer--wild card #7, not on any of the lists, I cannot imagine why, unless it's the chick thing.
42. Rory Gallagher
43. Robert Johnson
44. Joe Satriani
45. Buddy Guy
45. Buddy Guy
46. Billy Gibbons--ZZ Top
47. Gary Moore--Thin Lizzy
48. Danny Gatton
49. John McLaughlin
50. John Frusciante--Red Hot Chili Peppers
51. Robby Krieger--The Doors
51. Robby Krieger--The Doors
52. Jonny Greenwood
53. Charlie Christian--wild card #8, actually gets a vote or 2 but most of the listers probably have never heard of him nor considered his genre. Charlie was the pioneer of jazz guitar as a lead/melody instrument with Count Basie in the early 1940s.
53. Charlie Christian--wild card #8, actually gets a vote or 2 but most of the listers probably have never heard of him nor considered his genre. Charlie was the pioneer of jazz guitar as a lead/melody instrument with Count Basie in the early 1940s.
54. Eric Johnson
55. B.B. King--#6 and #22 but that is just too high. The most over-rated guitarist of them all. He's been phoning it in for decades now.
56. Bo Diddley
57. Yngwe Malmsteen
58. Richard Thompson
59. Phil Keaggy--Hendrix said he was the best.
60. Kurt Cobain
61. Dick Dale
62. Link Wray
63. Derek Trucks
64. Roy Buchanan
65. Joe Walsh--wild card #9
65. Joe Walsh--wild card #9
66. Johnny Winter
67. Wes Montgomery--another guy who probably doesn't get a fair shake as some of the heavy metal-oriented lists aren't considering his genre at all. Still he comes in here.
68. Joe Perry--Aerosmith
69. Eddie Hazel
70. Angus Young
71. Vince Gill--wild card #7
72. Mick Ronson
73. Mick Taylor
74. Clarence White
75. Bonnie Raitt
76. Robbie Robertson
77. Steven Stills
78. John Petrucci
79. Tom Morello--Rage Against the Machine
80. Zoot Horn Rollo--played with Captain Beefheart
81. Leslie West
82. T-Bone Walker
83. Freddie King
83. Freddie King
84. Albert King
85. Nels Cline
86. Lonnie Mack
87. Jorma Kaukenen
88. Trey Anastasio
89. Bert Jansch
90. Albert Lee--wild card #9
91. Steve Morse--Deep Purple
92. Joey Ramone
93. Dimebag Darrell
94. Adrian Belew--wild card #10
95. Adrian Legg--wild card #11
96. Clint Gallup--an early ('50s) guy
95. Adrian Legg--wild card #11
96. Clint Gallup--an early ('50s) guy
97. Alvin Lee
98. Vernon Reid
99. Jan Akkerman
100. Martin Barre
Hey, good list!
Hey, good list!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Best Music of 1968
I recently saw an exhibit at the Minnesota Historical Society called, simply, "1968." I give the exhibit a B. I mean, it's OK. I guess the problem is, how do you get the capture not just "what happened" but "HOW DID IT FEEL" to live through the events of that year?
Well, here's how. You play the music. First, it was a great year. But second, music is like canned or bottled emotions, more so than any art form. Especially with rock 'n roll, where half the time you can't fully understand the lyrics. The intellectual content is stripped away and there it is. Raw emotion.
So, 1968. Here's how it felt to be alive in 1968.
Best LPs
1. Electric Ladyland--Jimi Hendrix. An easy choice. From the shorter form "All Along the Watchtower" to the long meander of "1983 (A Merman I Should Be)/Moon Turn the Tides...Gently Gently Away," this record was unlike anything ever heard before. The sound of that guitar, I mean, how did he do that? OK, "Burning of the Midnight Lamp," hey, that sounded like a guitar. "Crosstown Traffic," yeah, that was rock 'n roll. But "1983"? "Moon Turn the Tides"? Mind-bending. To me, the Hendrix legend boils down side 3 of Electric Ladyland. Everything else is just an appetizer, a warm-up. This is it.
2. The Beatles. You know, the White Album. We had no idea at the time that Let It Be had already been recorded and this was a last-ditch effort, unsuccessful as it turned out, for the Beatles to function like a real band rather than as 3 soloists and some sidemen. All we knew was here were 30 great songs, or a great collection of 30 songs, or in reality about 15 great songs, about 7 1/2 pretty good songs and about 7 1/2 throwaways. But who the hell put 15 great songs on a record album, then or ever?
Me? I'm more of a Paul guy than a John guy, so the highlights start with songs like "I Will" and "Martha My Dear" and "Blackbird" and "Mother Nature's Son." But then there's George's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and John's "I'm So Tired" and, of course, "Revolution." So it didn't hang together, that wasn't what it was about. It was about 30 songs, 15 of them truly great songs, and that was enough.
3. We're Only In It for the Money--Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. You had to be there. I mean, to really understand the power of Frank's lyrics--"All your children are poor unfortunate victims of systems beyond their control/a plague upon your ignorance to the great despair of your ugly life/all your children are poor unfortunate victims of lies you believe/a plague upon your ignorance that keeps the young from the truth they deserve"--you just had to be there. Or, "Take a look around before you say you don't care/shut your fucking mouth about the length of my hair/how could you survive if you were alive/shitty little person/let me take a minute and tell you my plan/let me take a minute and tell who I am/how could you survive if you were alive/shitty little person." And the thing is, he meant it. He really meant it. Dick and Ron, he continued to mean it.
4. Bookends--Simon and Garfunkel. The sound was soothing, but the lyrics...not so much. "Kathy, I'm lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping/I'm empty and aching and I don't know why..../I've gone to look for America." Then, of course, there was goofy stuff like "At the Zoo" and "Punky's Dilemma." Thank goodness. It didn't do to spend too much time pondering "America."
5. Beggar's Banquet--The Rolling Stones. I wasn't a big Stones guy but, seriously, "Sympathy for the Devil." "Street Fightin' Man." The Stones don't get any better than this, not even on Let It Bleed though, OK, that's splittin' hairs.
6. Music from Big Pink--The Band. The who? Well, you know, they played with Dylan. No, not on any of his records, but they played with Dylan. In a big pink house and a few live gigs. That makes them THE BAND. Well, they paid it off. "Tears of Rage," especially, is a classic. But to some extent, the reputation of this record in later years rests more on their second record, The Band. That one rubs off on this and makes it better. But some of what seemed so cool at the time, "The Weight" and "Chest Fever, " for example, didn't age so well.
7. The Songs of Leonard Cohen. His very first record, and some of what are seen as his signature songs, "Suzanne" and "So Long, Marianne" don't appeal to me a whole lot. But "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong," now, that's the kind of twisted, raunchy Leonard that I can get into. And "The Stranger Song," not from the twisted, raunchy category, but one of his enigmatic meanders that also appeals to me. And "Sisters of Mercy" works, too.
8. Shine On Brightly--Procol Harum. I guess they recorded "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and were totally caught unawares when it became a hit. So they quickly threw an LP together to capitalize. But, hey, their first LP has "Repent Walpurgis" on it, so all is forgiven. But this was their first real effort to product a coherent long-player. Well, guess what. It still comes down to tunes, and "Magdalena (My Regal Zonophone)" is a classic of existential angst and "In Held Twas in I" (what?), which filled all of side 2 with 4 musical parts, engaged the philosophical imagination. The closing to the 1st part, the lyrics spoken by Matthew Fisher, especially. "They say that Jesus healed the sick and helped the poor/And those unsure believed his eyes/A strange disguise/Still, write it down, it might be read/Nothing's better left unsaid/Only sometimes/Still, no doubt, it's hard to see/It all works out." Otherwise, it seems to be too much a collection of novelties, but the substance that there is buoys everything up.
9. Wheels of Fire--Cream. Ah, some mainstream bombast. At last. If rock is overstatement (and it is), then this really rocks. Though, let's be honest. It's really "White Room" and couple of worthy live cuts, the signature "Crossroads" and "Spoonful." Everything else is filler, but it's exactly the kind of filler that really FILLS, if you see what I mean. It reeks of significance and profundity, and it's only later that you realize it's just heavyweight lightweight-i-ness if, again, you see what I mean. It's just that, as insubstantial as most of it is, they pull it off with such a swagger. You gotta admire that.
10. Mixed Bag--Richie Havens. Note that this is pre-Woodstock, before Richie Havens became a parody of himself. "High Flyin' Bird" is just great classic folk music that Richie, with his weird guitar tuning and raspy vocal, has made so totally his own as to make it brand new. And everything else is so tasty as to be irresistible.
11. Did She Mention My Name--Gordon Lightfoot. More folk music, but while Havens was covering other people's songs in an intensely personal way, Lightfoot wrote his own material and then tried to sing it like he imagined that anybody would. What set it apart was that bee-you-ti-ful voice (I am not kidding) and, occasionally, the songs, like the title track. I mean, who hasn't wondered that, "Did she mention my name?" And, in a similar vein, "Last Time I Saw Her," and then in the social commentary bag, "Black Day in July."
12. Waiting for the Sun--The Doors. The decline had set in though "Hello I Love You" was a big hit. It didn't particularly appeal to me. "The Unknown Soldier" was more my speed. I had forgotten that "Waiting for the Sun" is not on Waiting for the Sun.
13. Any Day Now--Joan Baez. As has been said many times, this record came too late to be SIGNIFICANT. But it had some beautiful versions, especially "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands," but also "Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word."
14. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Surprisingly, this stands the test of time though, like many LPs of the day, it's a bunch of stuff wrapped around one popular hit, "Fire." But my point is, there's other really good stuff here.
15. Children of the Future--Steve Miller Band. Oh, if this band--with Boz Scaggs and Jim Peterman on keyboards--could have hung together. But you could plainly hear that Scaggs was leaning in a different direction on the blue-eyed soul of "Baby's Calling Me Home" versus Stevie with the psychedelia of "Children of the Future" and "In My First Mind." All great stuff, but make no mistake, it was the psychedelia that drew people to Stevie in those days.
16. Disraeli Gears--Cream. Actually released in late 1967, but people were listening to it in '68. "Sunshine of Your Love" anchored the disk, and a good thing, too. A lot of the rest of it was novelty.
17. Sweetheart of the Rodeo--The Byrds. Larger in legend than on the turntable, there are nevertheless some nice songs here, especially Gram Parsons' "One Hundred Years from Now" and "Hickory Wind." The Dylan covers were more prominent then but haven't aged real well.
18. In Search of the Lost Chord--The Moody Blues. Understood today to be lightweight, but in 1968 they were seen as just the opposite. Those mellotrons made the music of the cosmos.
19. Sailor--Steve Miller Band. Pretty much of a piece with their 1st record (above), this one featured "Quicksilver Girl" and "Gangster of Love." Solid stuff.
20. Odessa--The BeeGees. If the Stones could do Their Satanic Majesties Request, well, why can't the BeeGees go "psychedelic," too. Basically it's just great BeeGee-type songs, but these guys, or at least Barry, was good enough to wrap all the bric-a-brac of the day around it and call it a thingamabob. So we did, call it a thingamabob, and buy it. Whether we actually listened to it is another question. Actually, yes, enough to hear that "You'll Never See My Face Again" was a fine song.
21. Feliciano!--Jose Feliciano
22. Who Knows Where the Time Goes--Judy Collins
23. Lady Soul--Aretha Franklin. Some people might have her a little higher.
24. More--Pink Floyd
25. Blood Sweat and Tears
Best Songs
There's commentary on most of these songs above.
1. "All Along the Watchtower"--Jimi Hendrix
2. "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"--Joan Baez. One of the great Dylan covers ever. And, since I really enjoyed it, then the fact that it went on for 14 minutes was a good thing.
3. "1983 (A Merman I Shall Be)"--Jimi Hendrix
4. "Someday Soon"--Judy Collins
5. "Did She Mention My Name?"--Gordon Lightfoot
6. "Tears of Rage"--The Band
7. "I Will"--The Beatles
8. "Theme from 'Valley of the Dolls'"--Dionne Warwick. I kid you not.
9. High Flyin' Bird--Richie Havens
10. "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?"--Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
11. "Street Fightin' Man," The Rolling Stones
12. "Burning of the Midnight Lamp"--Jimi Hendrix. "Loneliness is such a...drag."
13. "You'll Never See My Face Again"--The BeeGees
14. "America"--Simon and Garfunkel
15. "Classic Gas"--Mason Williams
16. "Hey Jude"--The Beatles
17. "Magdalena (My Regal Zonophone)"--Procol Harum
18. "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong"--Leonard Cohen
19. "Let's Make the Water Turn Black"--Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
20. "Tuesday Afternoon"--The Moody Blues
21. "Moon Turn the Tides...Gently Gently Away"--Jimi Hendrix
22. "Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word"--Joan Baez
23. "The Stranger Song"--Leonard Cohen
24. "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"--Marvin Gaye
25. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"--The Beatles
26. "Cry Like A Baby"--The Box Tops
27. "Martha My Dear"--The Beatles
28. "White Room"--Cream
29. "Revolution" (fast or slow, your choice)--The Beatles
30. "Mother People"--Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
31 "This Wheel's on Fire"--The Band
32. "I Shall Be Released"--The Band
33. "Sympathy for the Devil"--The Rolling Stones
34. "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance"--Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
35. "The Sisters of Mercy"--Leonard Cohen
36. "Abraham Martin and John"--Dion
37. "The Boxer"--Simon and Garfunkel
38. "Fire"--The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
39. "Sunshine of Your Love"--Cream
42. "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay"--Otis Redding
43. "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye"--Leonard Cohen
44. "In My First Mind"--Steve Miller Band
45. "Black Day in July"--Gordon Lightfoot
46. "Light My Fire"--Jose Feliciano
47. "Born to Be Wild"--Steppenwolf
Artist of the Year
1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Frank Zappa
3. John Lennon/Paul McCartney
4. The Band
5. Mick Jagger/Keith Richards
6. Leonard Cohen
7. Gordon Lightfoot
8. Eric Clapton
9. Paul Simon
10. Richie Havens
11. Judy Collins
12. Aretha Franklin
13. George Harrison
14. The Doors
15. Joan Baez
16. Bob Dylan
17. The Moody Blues
18. Steve Miller
19. Marvin Gaye
20. Procol Harum
21. Otis Redding
22. The BeeGees
23. Arthur Brown/Vincent Crane
24. Dionne Warwick
25. Jose Feliciano
Well, here's how. You play the music. First, it was a great year. But second, music is like canned or bottled emotions, more so than any art form. Especially with rock 'n roll, where half the time you can't fully understand the lyrics. The intellectual content is stripped away and there it is. Raw emotion.
So, 1968. Here's how it felt to be alive in 1968.
Best LPs
1. Electric Ladyland--Jimi Hendrix. An easy choice. From the shorter form "All Along the Watchtower" to the long meander of "1983 (A Merman I Should Be)/Moon Turn the Tides...Gently Gently Away," this record was unlike anything ever heard before. The sound of that guitar, I mean, how did he do that? OK, "Burning of the Midnight Lamp," hey, that sounded like a guitar. "Crosstown Traffic," yeah, that was rock 'n roll. But "1983"? "Moon Turn the Tides"? Mind-bending. To me, the Hendrix legend boils down side 3 of Electric Ladyland. Everything else is just an appetizer, a warm-up. This is it.
2. The Beatles. You know, the White Album. We had no idea at the time that Let It Be had already been recorded and this was a last-ditch effort, unsuccessful as it turned out, for the Beatles to function like a real band rather than as 3 soloists and some sidemen. All we knew was here were 30 great songs, or a great collection of 30 songs, or in reality about 15 great songs, about 7 1/2 pretty good songs and about 7 1/2 throwaways. But who the hell put 15 great songs on a record album, then or ever?
Me? I'm more of a Paul guy than a John guy, so the highlights start with songs like "I Will" and "Martha My Dear" and "Blackbird" and "Mother Nature's Son." But then there's George's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and John's "I'm So Tired" and, of course, "Revolution." So it didn't hang together, that wasn't what it was about. It was about 30 songs, 15 of them truly great songs, and that was enough.
3. We're Only In It for the Money--Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. You had to be there. I mean, to really understand the power of Frank's lyrics--"All your children are poor unfortunate victims of systems beyond their control/a plague upon your ignorance to the great despair of your ugly life/all your children are poor unfortunate victims of lies you believe/a plague upon your ignorance that keeps the young from the truth they deserve"--you just had to be there. Or, "Take a look around before you say you don't care/shut your fucking mouth about the length of my hair/how could you survive if you were alive/shitty little person/let me take a minute and tell you my plan/let me take a minute and tell who I am/how could you survive if you were alive/shitty little person." And the thing is, he meant it. He really meant it. Dick and Ron, he continued to mean it.
4. Bookends--Simon and Garfunkel. The sound was soothing, but the lyrics...not so much. "Kathy, I'm lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping/I'm empty and aching and I don't know why..../I've gone to look for America." Then, of course, there was goofy stuff like "At the Zoo" and "Punky's Dilemma." Thank goodness. It didn't do to spend too much time pondering "America."
5. Beggar's Banquet--The Rolling Stones. I wasn't a big Stones guy but, seriously, "Sympathy for the Devil." "Street Fightin' Man." The Stones don't get any better than this, not even on Let It Bleed though, OK, that's splittin' hairs.
6. Music from Big Pink--The Band. The who? Well, you know, they played with Dylan. No, not on any of his records, but they played with Dylan. In a big pink house and a few live gigs. That makes them THE BAND. Well, they paid it off. "Tears of Rage," especially, is a classic. But to some extent, the reputation of this record in later years rests more on their second record, The Band. That one rubs off on this and makes it better. But some of what seemed so cool at the time, "The Weight" and "Chest Fever, " for example, didn't age so well.
7. The Songs of Leonard Cohen. His very first record, and some of what are seen as his signature songs, "Suzanne" and "So Long, Marianne" don't appeal to me a whole lot. But "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong," now, that's the kind of twisted, raunchy Leonard that I can get into. And "The Stranger Song," not from the twisted, raunchy category, but one of his enigmatic meanders that also appeals to me. And "Sisters of Mercy" works, too.
8. Shine On Brightly--Procol Harum. I guess they recorded "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and were totally caught unawares when it became a hit. So they quickly threw an LP together to capitalize. But, hey, their first LP has "Repent Walpurgis" on it, so all is forgiven. But this was their first real effort to product a coherent long-player. Well, guess what. It still comes down to tunes, and "Magdalena (My Regal Zonophone)" is a classic of existential angst and "In Held Twas in I" (what?), which filled all of side 2 with 4 musical parts, engaged the philosophical imagination. The closing to the 1st part, the lyrics spoken by Matthew Fisher, especially. "They say that Jesus healed the sick and helped the poor/And those unsure believed his eyes/A strange disguise/Still, write it down, it might be read/Nothing's better left unsaid/Only sometimes/Still, no doubt, it's hard to see/It all works out." Otherwise, it seems to be too much a collection of novelties, but the substance that there is buoys everything up.
9. Wheels of Fire--Cream. Ah, some mainstream bombast. At last. If rock is overstatement (and it is), then this really rocks. Though, let's be honest. It's really "White Room" and couple of worthy live cuts, the signature "Crossroads" and "Spoonful." Everything else is filler, but it's exactly the kind of filler that really FILLS, if you see what I mean. It reeks of significance and profundity, and it's only later that you realize it's just heavyweight lightweight-i-ness if, again, you see what I mean. It's just that, as insubstantial as most of it is, they pull it off with such a swagger. You gotta admire that.
10. Mixed Bag--Richie Havens. Note that this is pre-Woodstock, before Richie Havens became a parody of himself. "High Flyin' Bird" is just great classic folk music that Richie, with his weird guitar tuning and raspy vocal, has made so totally his own as to make it brand new. And everything else is so tasty as to be irresistible.
11. Did She Mention My Name--Gordon Lightfoot. More folk music, but while Havens was covering other people's songs in an intensely personal way, Lightfoot wrote his own material and then tried to sing it like he imagined that anybody would. What set it apart was that bee-you-ti-ful voice (I am not kidding) and, occasionally, the songs, like the title track. I mean, who hasn't wondered that, "Did she mention my name?" And, in a similar vein, "Last Time I Saw Her," and then in the social commentary bag, "Black Day in July."
12. Waiting for the Sun--The Doors. The decline had set in though "Hello I Love You" was a big hit. It didn't particularly appeal to me. "The Unknown Soldier" was more my speed. I had forgotten that "Waiting for the Sun" is not on Waiting for the Sun.
13. Any Day Now--Joan Baez. As has been said many times, this record came too late to be SIGNIFICANT. But it had some beautiful versions, especially "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands," but also "Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word."
14. The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Surprisingly, this stands the test of time though, like many LPs of the day, it's a bunch of stuff wrapped around one popular hit, "Fire." But my point is, there's other really good stuff here.
15. Children of the Future--Steve Miller Band. Oh, if this band--with Boz Scaggs and Jim Peterman on keyboards--could have hung together. But you could plainly hear that Scaggs was leaning in a different direction on the blue-eyed soul of "Baby's Calling Me Home" versus Stevie with the psychedelia of "Children of the Future" and "In My First Mind." All great stuff, but make no mistake, it was the psychedelia that drew people to Stevie in those days.
16. Disraeli Gears--Cream. Actually released in late 1967, but people were listening to it in '68. "Sunshine of Your Love" anchored the disk, and a good thing, too. A lot of the rest of it was novelty.
17. Sweetheart of the Rodeo--The Byrds. Larger in legend than on the turntable, there are nevertheless some nice songs here, especially Gram Parsons' "One Hundred Years from Now" and "Hickory Wind." The Dylan covers were more prominent then but haven't aged real well.
18. In Search of the Lost Chord--The Moody Blues. Understood today to be lightweight, but in 1968 they were seen as just the opposite. Those mellotrons made the music of the cosmos.
19. Sailor--Steve Miller Band. Pretty much of a piece with their 1st record (above), this one featured "Quicksilver Girl" and "Gangster of Love." Solid stuff.
20. Odessa--The BeeGees. If the Stones could do Their Satanic Majesties Request, well, why can't the BeeGees go "psychedelic," too. Basically it's just great BeeGee-type songs, but these guys, or at least Barry, was good enough to wrap all the bric-a-brac of the day around it and call it a thingamabob. So we did, call it a thingamabob, and buy it. Whether we actually listened to it is another question. Actually, yes, enough to hear that "You'll Never See My Face Again" was a fine song.
21. Feliciano!--Jose Feliciano
22. Who Knows Where the Time Goes--Judy Collins
23. Lady Soul--Aretha Franklin. Some people might have her a little higher.
24. More--Pink Floyd
25. Blood Sweat and Tears
Best Songs
There's commentary on most of these songs above.
1. "All Along the Watchtower"--Jimi Hendrix
2. "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"--Joan Baez. One of the great Dylan covers ever. And, since I really enjoyed it, then the fact that it went on for 14 minutes was a good thing.
3. "1983 (A Merman I Shall Be)"--Jimi Hendrix
4. "Someday Soon"--Judy Collins
5. "Did She Mention My Name?"--Gordon Lightfoot
6. "Tears of Rage"--The Band
7. "I Will"--The Beatles
8. "Theme from 'Valley of the Dolls'"--Dionne Warwick. I kid you not.
9. High Flyin' Bird--Richie Havens
10. "What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body?"--Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
11. "Street Fightin' Man," The Rolling Stones
12. "Burning of the Midnight Lamp"--Jimi Hendrix. "Loneliness is such a...drag."
13. "You'll Never See My Face Again"--The BeeGees
14. "America"--Simon and Garfunkel
15. "Classic Gas"--Mason Williams
16. "Hey Jude"--The Beatles
17. "Magdalena (My Regal Zonophone)"--Procol Harum
18. "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong"--Leonard Cohen
19. "Let's Make the Water Turn Black"--Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
20. "Tuesday Afternoon"--The Moody Blues
21. "Moon Turn the Tides...Gently Gently Away"--Jimi Hendrix
22. "Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word"--Joan Baez
23. "The Stranger Song"--Leonard Cohen
24. "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"--Marvin Gaye
25. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"--The Beatles
26. "Cry Like A Baby"--The Box Tops
27. "Martha My Dear"--The Beatles
28. "White Room"--Cream
29. "Revolution" (fast or slow, your choice)--The Beatles
30. "Mother People"--Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
31 "This Wheel's on Fire"--The Band
32. "I Shall Be Released"--The Band
33. "Sympathy for the Devil"--The Rolling Stones
34. "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance"--Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
35. "The Sisters of Mercy"--Leonard Cohen
36. "Abraham Martin and John"--Dion
37. "The Boxer"--Simon and Garfunkel
38. "Fire"--The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
39. "Sunshine of Your Love"--Cream
40. "Wichita Lineman"--Glen Campbell
41. "Shine on Brightly"--Procol Harum
42. "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay"--Otis Redding
43. "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye"--Leonard Cohen
44. "In My First Mind"--Steve Miller Band
45. "Black Day in July"--Gordon Lightfoot
46. "Light My Fire"--Jose Feliciano
47. "Born to Be Wild"--Steppenwolf
48. "Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing"--Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
49. "For Once in My Life"--Stevie Wonder
50. "Magnificent Outpouring"--Gordon Lightfoot
Artist of the Year
1. Jimi Hendrix
2. Frank Zappa
3. John Lennon/Paul McCartney
4. The Band
5. Mick Jagger/Keith Richards
6. Leonard Cohen
7. Gordon Lightfoot
8. Eric Clapton
9. Paul Simon
10. Richie Havens
11. Judy Collins
12. Aretha Franklin
13. George Harrison
14. The Doors
15. Joan Baez
16. Bob Dylan
17. The Moody Blues
18. Steve Miller
19. Marvin Gaye
20. Procol Harum
21. Otis Redding
22. The BeeGees
23. Arthur Brown/Vincent Crane
24. Dionne Warwick
25. Jose Feliciano
Friday, January 27, 2012
Songs of Love and Hate
The first time I ever heard a Leonard Cohen song was on Judy Collins' fabulous 1965 LP, In My Life. Her version of "Suzanne" has become the definitive version, but what jumped out at me was the horrifyingly dark "Dress Rehearsal Rag." My father was dying of cancer; in fact, he would die about a month later. The song's darkness seemed real and realistic to me. So I enjoyed his own albums, Leonard Cohen (1967) and Songs from a Room (1969), when they arrived on the scene.
Songs of Leonard Cohen (and the signature version)
1. "Sing Another Song, Boys" from Songs of Love and Hate and/or Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight. It's the same live performance on both discs.
2. "Light As A Breeze" from The Future
3. "The Future" from The Future. Incredible. "Give me crack and anal sex/Take the only tree that's left/And stuff it up the hole in your culture." That's within the first minute out of six minutes of horrifying imagery.
4. "The Partisan" from Songs from a Room and/or Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight
5. "Dress Rehearsal Rag" from Songs of Love and Hate. Judy Collins' version is also highly recommended.
6. "Democracy" from The Future
7. "Famous Blue Raincoat" from Songs of Love and Hate. Jennifer Warnes' version is also highly recommended.
8. "Take This Waltz." The version from Live in London is preferred to the original on I'm Your Man.
9. "Alexandra Leaving" from Ten New Songs
10. "First We Take Manhattan." Jennifer Warnes' version is preferred.
11. "Last Year's Man" from Songs of Love and Hate
12. "Love Calls You By Your Name" from Songs of Love and Hate
13. "Go No More A-Roving" from Dear Heather
14. "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" from Songs of Leonard Cohen and/or Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight and/or Cohen Live. Each version has its delights. I might prefer the more recent version on Cohen Live with its beautiful guitar solo by Bob Metzger, but on the other hand its hard not to love the more venomous vocals from the old days.
15. "I'm Your Man." I prefer the more recent live performances to the original from I'm Your Man.
16. "Dance Me to the End of Love." Again, the live performances are preferred to the original from Various Positions.
17. "Who By Fire?" Ditto. The original is on New Skin for an Old Ceremony.
18. "Stranger Song" from Songs of Leonard Cohen and/or Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight.
19. "Joan of Arc" from Songs of Love and Hate
20. "The Sisters of Mercy" from Songs of Leonard Cohen and/or Cohen Live
21. "Tonight Will Be Fine" from Songs from a Room
22. "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" from Songs from a Room
23. "Hallelujah." Jeff Buckley's version is much preferred, and do yourself a favor and check out Jeff Buckley generally. Wow. The main recording is called Grace.
24. "If It Be Your Will." Lots of people have recorded this. I like Jann Arden's version.
25. "You Know Who I Am" from Songs from a Room
But the darkness that first attracted me to Leonard was more powerfully expressed on Songs of Love and Hate (1971), on which "Dress Rehearsal Rag" finally appeared. "Famous Blue Raincoat" stops short of suicide as a solution, but presents an almost equally bleak view of contemporary life. Then there's the historical version of the darkness in "Joan of Arc" and the "old and bitter" one, "Let's Sing Another Song, Boys."
I lost track of Leonard after that, and then rediscovered him with the release of, in Jack Stanton's words, "the incredibly fabulous" The Future in 1993. (Shortly thereafter, I also discovered Jennifer Warnes' stunning Famous Blue Raincoat: The Songs of Leonard Cohen (or, colloquially, Jenny Sings Lenny). I had tickets for Leonard's 1993 show here in Minneapolis, but was called out of town for work and missed the show.
I had resigned myself to never seeing Leonard when the announcement of his spring 2009 show came along. Alice and I got tickets, and we saw Leonard at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis, and it was certainly one of the greatest concerts ever. As many of you probably already know, Leonard is a magical, charismatic performer, capable of achieving great intimacy with each member of the audience, even in a hall with seating for 5,000. Heck, even with an audience numbering in the millions, as at the Isle of Wight in 1970. And, the sound was so good that people were laughing at all the right moments to punch lines in songs like "I'm Your Man."
More recently, I had the chance to see and hear the CD and DVD of that Isle of Wight performance. My God. It is even more wonderful than I might have hoped. Coming from the era of Songs of Love and Hate, it captures one of the two essential Leonard Cohens--in this case, the one from 1970-1971. And then there's the Leonard of The Future and the many live recordings from the '90s on into the 21st century.
If you want or need an introduction to Leonard Cohen, here's the best of:
LPs
1. The Future
2) Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970
3) Songs of Love and Hate
4) Cohen Live--1994 release of highlights from the 1993 tour
5) Famous Blue Raincoat: The Songs of Leonard Cohen, Jennifer Warnes (Jenny Sings Lenny)
If you want or need an introduction to Leonard Cohen, here's the best of:
LPs
1. The Future
2) Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight 1970
3) Songs of Love and Hate
4) Cohen Live--1994 release of highlights from the 1993 tour
5) Famous Blue Raincoat: The Songs of Leonard Cohen, Jennifer Warnes (Jenny Sings Lenny)
Songs of Leonard Cohen (and the signature version)
1. "Sing Another Song, Boys" from Songs of Love and Hate and/or Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight. It's the same live performance on both discs.
2. "Light As A Breeze" from The Future
3. "The Future" from The Future. Incredible. "Give me crack and anal sex/Take the only tree that's left/And stuff it up the hole in your culture." That's within the first minute out of six minutes of horrifying imagery.
4. "The Partisan" from Songs from a Room and/or Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight
5. "Dress Rehearsal Rag" from Songs of Love and Hate. Judy Collins' version is also highly recommended.
6. "Democracy" from The Future
7. "Famous Blue Raincoat" from Songs of Love and Hate. Jennifer Warnes' version is also highly recommended.
8. "Take This Waltz." The version from Live in London is preferred to the original on I'm Your Man.
9. "Alexandra Leaving" from Ten New Songs
10. "First We Take Manhattan." Jennifer Warnes' version is preferred.
11. "Last Year's Man" from Songs of Love and Hate
12. "Love Calls You By Your Name" from Songs of Love and Hate
13. "Go No More A-Roving" from Dear Heather
14. "One of Us Cannot Be Wrong" from Songs of Leonard Cohen and/or Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight and/or Cohen Live. Each version has its delights. I might prefer the more recent version on Cohen Live with its beautiful guitar solo by Bob Metzger, but on the other hand its hard not to love the more venomous vocals from the old days.
15. "I'm Your Man." I prefer the more recent live performances to the original from I'm Your Man.
16. "Dance Me to the End of Love." Again, the live performances are preferred to the original from Various Positions.
17. "Who By Fire?" Ditto. The original is on New Skin for an Old Ceremony.
18. "Stranger Song" from Songs of Leonard Cohen and/or Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight.
19. "Joan of Arc" from Songs of Love and Hate
20. "The Sisters of Mercy" from Songs of Leonard Cohen and/or Cohen Live
21. "Tonight Will Be Fine" from Songs from a Room
22. "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" from Songs from a Room
23. "Hallelujah." Jeff Buckley's version is much preferred, and do yourself a favor and check out Jeff Buckley generally. Wow. The main recording is called Grace.
24. "If It Be Your Will." Lots of people have recorded this. I like Jann Arden's version.
25. "You Know Who I Am" from Songs from a Room
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