TALK TALK
Released September 16, 1991
-Technically, I began listening to this album during the last couple of days in April as the weather in Madison. remained cold, gloomy and filled with rain, rain, rain. When I heard this album for the very first time at some point during the early 190's, I was working at the University Book Store. While on a break, I had my headphones with me on a Springtime rainy morning/afternoon, and I sat in a small room of the church that was attached to the bookstore and I just found myself mesmerized by the music as it merged itself with the imagery of the falling rain. The music of this album is nearly indescribable as it could be some amalgam of art rock and jazz but truly sounding like neither genre at all. It is music of its own universe, that is alternately and even simultaneously peaceful, arcane and even atonal and always artful. And somehow, I have forever the music of this album with the sights and the feelings that arrive with rainy Spring days.
Released February 1963
-I also listened to this during those final days of April and mostly in my classsroom as I just needed to have something calming to permeate the intense vibes that were being transmitted into the atmosphere by the children who were really being affected by the barometric pressure or whatever else that happened to be making our days increasingly stressful. The album begins with the classic piece "In A Sentimental Mood," a song that I have known for much of my life but never knew who performed it until the night, perhaps three years ago, when I heard the song on WORT-FM community radio and I immediately called the station t find out who performed the track. Once I knew the answer, I raced out not long after that and bought this album.
JONATHAN WILSON
Released October 15, 2013
-I may have expressed this to you before but here I am again: I have noticed that the older I get, the further back in time my musical tastes seem to sway. With "Fanfare," the second official album from singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Wilson delivers the goods on both counts.
I purchased this album late last Fall and entirely based upon the vehement suggestion by my friend Steve Manley, owner of B-Side Records. Before that time, I had never heard anything about Jonathan Wilson let alone his music. And I have to say that I cannot thank Steve enough for pointing me in this direction. Truth be told, I wished to have written about this album at that time but I was experiencing serious technical difficulties that made it impossible for me to do so as I was without computer. But here I am now with the information that I hope will sway all of you to possibly seek this album out.
As I hinted, "Fanfare" is an album that hearkens back to musical eras of the past, most specifically the early 1970's, yet it simultaneously is an album that could only have been created in the 21st century. Wilson's musical palate clearly owes itself to the early '70s counter-culture rock heroes merged with that sleepy, druggy, psychedelic California cowboy sound. Along with the elements of country rock, you will easily hear over the 78 minute album bits and snatches of pop, soul, funk as well as drum fills that sound as if they are being played by Phil Collins and guitar licks that sound as if they are being played by the late Curtis Mayfield and the late Jerry Garcia. While he works with a full band and is joined on the album by the likes of David Crosby and Graham Nash, Jonathan Wilson often plays every instrument and sings every note himself, fully displaying not only his immense talents but his seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of the last 40 years or so of rock music effortlessly and making the music function as a most heartfelt personal statement.
As the entirety of "Fanfare" fits snugly onto one CD, think of this album as one of those great double albums as this is a completely sprawling experience that is designed for you to lose yourself inside of for a while. Go to YouTube and check out some songs for yourself to try it out. "Fanfare" is a trip well worth taking.
JESSE JOHNSON
Released October 27, 2009
-Speaking of Curtis Mayfield and double albums, "Verbal Penetration Volumes One And Two" from Jesse Johnson, formerly of The Time and guitarist extraordinaire, was the album gravitated towards next this month and it was truly a pleasure as I had not listened to it in quite some time. Despite the longevity of Johnson's career, he has often been a bit lost in the shadows, albeit an extremely large one created by Prince, as Johnson was once a key member of the Paisley Park universe. But aside from his solo releases prior to this one, plus his vast session work (he is supposedly upon D'Angelo's long awaited third album and did play alongside him during D's recent concert tours), it has admittedly been difficult for him to truly carve out his signature sound and musical identity. On this album, Johnson succeeds greatly.
Alongside the slow jams, love songs and surprising, striking instrumentals ("Merciful" and "Ali Vs. Frazier" are especially evocative), Jesse Johnson crafts a robust political vision celebrating and encouraging the self-empowerment and self-respect of African Americans, especially as we have been subject to various forms of self-degradation within our own art forms. In addition to the title track, we are blessed with songs like "Slave 2 R Freedom," "Propaganda," "U & I R We R Us," and "Don't Throw Yourself Away," all of which evoke the progressive musical spirit of Curtis Mayfield, the elegance of Duke Ellington and certainly the swagger and iconography of Prince, and those songs are just on the first disc!
And then, there is Johnson's absolutely jaw dropping guitar playing, which you will have just buckets of throughout the entirety of the double album. From crafting a complete work that is filled with enlightenment that will often dare you to not move to the infectious rhythms or dare you to not have your mind blown apart by the guitar heroics, Jesse Johnson has fully come inot his own on this release and it feels as if he is just getting himself started.
JAY-Z
Released September 8, 2009
-My conflicts with the world of hip-hop could fuel months and months of material on this site and my issues with the mere presence of Jay-Z, and what I have felt him to possibly represent, could also be folly for much of that material. But, truth be told, I have not really heard very much of his massive amount of music to really give him a fair shake or to at least come at the topic of his persona with any sense of true knowledge. Oddly enough, and through a true sense of serendipity, a friend loaned me a copy of this album and much to my surprise not only did I enjoy it greatly, I was surprised with how musical it actually is as I was just expecting the same old tired mechanical beats with the same old tired boastings laid on top.
NIRVANA
Released June 15, 1989
-My re-introduction to Nirvana continued this month with an album I actually had never heard before, their debut release.
AIMEE MANN
Released November 1995
-This listening was inspired by listening to Mann's current project, The Both, her partnership with musician/songwriter Ted Leo.
ERIC DOLPHY
Released 1961
-Truth be told, I am not very well versed in the musical language of jazz. Like my Father, I have embraced Miles Davis as being one of the greatest musicians to ever have walked the planet as he was truly one of those rare artists that changed the musical landscape so profoundly that he music he made could not be classified as anything other than "Miles Davis music."
All of that being said, and completely unlike my Father, I have very scant knowledge of the musicians that he firmly believes have been national treasures and should be as well known and as highly regarded as someone like Paul McCartney due to the virtuosity and dynamism of their skill, craft and artistic triumphs. I now also agree with him--especially as I really should have a greater knowledge of an art form that was created by African-Americans, for if we do not nurture our own art, then who will?
So, on one cold, rainy morning, I dug this out of my persona archives and gave it a listen while on my drive to school, trying to familiarize myself with a musical figure that has indeed been so highly celebrated.
EAGLES
Released December 8, 1976
-I have had a posting about this album inside of me for so many years and perhaps I will write it one day. But for now, let me just say that I dug this album out as I was watching the excellent documentary "The History Of The Eagles," and preparing to write a review of it for Savage Cinema. It was, and remains, this band's top to bottom masterpiece.
Released May 10, 1994
-For whatever reasons, I do no tend to think of myself as being a big fan of Weezer but somehow six of their albums have ended up in my collection. I particularly love their third self titled album, what is now referred to as "The Red Album" (released June 3, 2008) but you know, their debut album really is something special.
I decided to listen to this album again after many, many years after I read that their debut album was released this month 20 years ago. Again stunned that this much time has indeed passed by, I dug this album out and realized that it is about as perfect of a debut album as any group could have as the identity of the band feels fully formed as well as leader Rivers Cuomo's songwriting. Produced by Ric Ocasek, every single song on the album, which includes the now classics "Buddy Holly" and "Undone (The Sweater Song)" plus the slashing, spectacular eight minute closing "Only In Dreams," is stellar.
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HERBIE HANCOCK
Released May 17, 1965
-I decided to listen to this album after I played the title track on day on WSPC. Some short time after that day, I listened to that title track repeatedly and then, the entire wonderful album. It is amazing to me how in any style of music that the images on the album jacket and the actual themes contained within the music seem to perfectly match the actual music that you are hearing. This album is no exception as the music just sounds like you are gliding on the water.
"HOLE IN THE WORLD" (single)
EAGLES
Released July 15, 2003
Once writing the review for that aforementioned Eagles documentary was in earnest, I began listening to everything I had by the band, including this gospel tinged single release...
"LONG ROAD OUT OF EDEN"
EAGLES
Released October 30, 2007
Released October 30, 2007
...and also what may be their final recordings, this (mostly) terrific double album, an experience I really feel hit the high notes (especially the 10 minute title track) throughout the second half as the first half is much more ballad heavy.
PETER GABRIEL
Released March 18, 1985
-It was a cold dark rainy day once again and I simply had a desire to hear something more atmospheric and without lyrics. This album has been a part of my life since my teen years and everytime I hear it, it is like re-visiting with an old moody friend.
PAPAS FRITAS
Released March 7, 2000
-How did I never hear of this band???? With special thanks to the WSUM-FM radio program "The Study Lounge," I heard a song by this band while driving on my way home from work. After seeing/hearing some more tracks via You Tube, I finally purchased this album and what a gem it is!! It just sits perfectly within my musical wheelhouse as this album is a collection of heavily melodic tracks with boy/girl vocal harmonies that are as studio slick as Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac, as sugary sweet as The Partridge Family and The Archies and as wonderfully well written as XTC. It has been in HEAVY ROTATION throughout the month and now I gots to get their other albums!!
WEEZER
Released May 14, 2002
-This album, I believe Weezer's fourth, just kind of called to me one day and it just impressed me with how heavy of an album it is and how effectively Rivers Cuomo can shred that guitar. I wish that I could get a better handle on this band as sometimes I am not certain as to how seriously I should take them or how seriously they take themselves. Maybe it's just in the name, which always sounds to close to "Weasel" to me.
"ON THE BORDER" EAGLES Released March 22, 1974
"The History Of The Eagles" inspired me to go backwards even further into the band's discography and listen to the albums that arrived before the classic greatest hits compilation. Listening to both of these albums made me realize just how skilled they were from the very beginning and man, do those vocals just glisten!
CHRIS BELL
Released February 21, 1992
-This month, I watched the excellent documentary "Big Star: Noting Can Hurt Me," and of course, I was inspired to return to the albums that are truly listening mainstays, including the solo work of Big Star founder Chris Bell.
If you have never heard this work, I cannot even begin to urge you enough to seek it out as this collection of elegantly composed, produced and performed songs deeply pre-figure what would arrive in the alternative music scene of the 1980's and 1990's and even the "emo scene" in the early 2000's. These songs are garage rock, psychedelic, power pop selections that house a true and palpable emotional fragility that powerfully displays Bell's heart and soul within every single sound. And the more I listen to it, how I wish that Bell, who died from a car crash in 1978, were here today and somehow on social media, just so I could be one of many, many voices to tell him that all of his hard work certainly mattered in the world and none of it was released to the world in vain.
R.E.M.
Released March 7, 2011
-R.E.M. has long cited Big Star as a major influence upon their work and career and of course, I was then inspired to go back and listen to this band who called it a day in 2011, not terribly long after releasing this album--their final album. I actually have not listened to this album since it was released so the songs all felt to be terrifically fresh when I placed it into the CD player again. And what a final statement it actually is as it is an album with purpose as well as a certain strength and vitality, two aspects that has been somewhat missing in the band's final years, or to be fairer, sadly muted or overly produced. This album, in retrospect sounds less like a return to form but more like a victory lap for a musical job so very well executed and with complete integrity.
"RADIO CITY" BIG STAR Released February 1974
-There is nothing more that I really need to say abut "#1 Record"," especially since I have already written an entire posting abut that album last year. Anyhow, the CD version that I have (and I think the only one that is available) is one where Big Star's first two albums are together on one CD. Granted, "#1 Record" is just so masterful that I have tended to not really give "Radio City" nearly as much attention. So, these days, even as I was pouring over the debut album again and again, I made myself focus on "Radio City" even ore than I already have and in doing so, it is almost like hearing a new album.
Now understanding that Chris Bell was the true architect of the band's sound on their debut album, it is great to hear Alex Chilton fully take the reins over the material thus demonstrating not only his superior talents but also how closely he and Chris Bell were matched in the first place. The track "What's Going Ahn" has really planted itself into my brain, forcing me to listen t it again and again.
TODD RUNDGREN
Released June 1970
-There was something about listening to Big Star that struck a chord within my musical memories and made me dig out Todd Rundgren's first solo album, on which he sings every note and plays essentially every single instrument (including horns and strings), except for the bass and the drums, which he would soon take over for himself just two albums later. It is such a pretty, glorious album and just a mere calling card for the musical adventures that would follow over the next 40 years.
JOE WALSH
Released May 16, 1978
-Yes, this is the album that features the classic "Life's Been Good" but I have to say that for many, many years, this full album has been one of my "go-to" Spring albums. The sequencing of the album's first side is especially perfect and one that always pushes me t hear all five songs over and again, hence the album's opening track "Over And Over." Just peaceful, pastoral, great vocals and melodies and harmonics. It is an album that feels like life opening itself up again...
CROSBY, STILLS & NASH
Released May 29, 1969
-This was a no brainer for me. Once I saw that this album was released 45 years ago on this date, I simply took it to the classroom and listened to it with the kids all afternoon! 'Nuff said!!
Where will the music take me next month? Watch this space and keep your dial tuned into WSPC!!
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