Sunday, September 20, 2009

Decade: 2001

Winter:

In the cold January of 2001, what does one do with the balance left on his record store gift certificate? If you’re me, you get obscure depression era folk music – to cheer yourself up.

Okay, so maybe it's not party music, but I found great comfort in Harry Smith’s Anthology of Folk Music. This six CD set covers the odd - sometimes very odd - folk songs that floated around this great country of ours during the twenties and thirties. It kicks off with a singer who makes Grandpa Jones sound like Tom Jones. Of course, it’s about the perfidy of wimmin. From there, we get to thwarted love, misunderstood outlaws, murder and fiddles, in various combinations. The cast of characters includes Stagerlee, Frankie and Johnny, President Roosevelt (the second one), John Henry, King Kong and God. How do you feel about old people singing? I ask because everyone here sounds old. But I'll bet none of them were over twenty five at the time. And every once in a while, there’s the odd lyric you could swear you’ve heard before. And you did, because Bob Dylan “borrowed” it.



Valentine’s Day:

I somehow rated a present that year, and got Ken Burns’s Jazz – Charlie Parker. It’s easy to go wrong when trying to get a good compilation of a major jazz artist, but this single CD sounds fine to me. Parker was a brilliant improviser, with major chops, who, along with Dizzy Gillespie, revolutionized jazz. How did they even think of songs like “Koko” and “Salt Peanuts”, let alone play them?
----------------
Now playing: Charlie Parker - Salt Peanuts
via FoxyTunes



Take This Job and Shove It:

Around this time I changed jobs, and decided to stamp this major life event with new music. (I did something similar when I tried my first slice of anchovie pizza, and got Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies.)

Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew had been calling out to me since it came out in 1970. I held off because I suspected that it would be one of those albums whose reputation was greater than the actual music. Overrated, for short. I can’t possibly appreciate it for what it represents in the evolution of jazz. It’s kind of like trying to appreciate sound pictures when you didn’t live through the silent era. So, yes, to my ears it’s overrated, and you can get a shorter, sharper sampling of similar music on the great A Tribute to Jack Johnson.

Then there was the Fugees’ The Score, which was a bit out of my reach at the time. Stressful times call out for soothing, familiar music. The Fugees were neither, and so I put it aside. Now, eight years later I’m hearing it more, but neither cover (“No Woman No Cry”, “Killing Me Softly”) sounds different enough from the originals for me to care much. Good, not great.

Earth Wind and Fire’s Greatest Hits - If you asked me what type of music I didn’t like in the 70s, this would be it. Rhythm, horns, a male vocalist singing in a high register, style, commercial appeal, etc. - all no-nos for an awkward teenager like me. But this isn’t bad at all, their version of “Got To Get You Into My Life” notwithstanding. “September” is simply undeniable. If you don’t like it, check your pulse. And the rest is much better than I ever realized.



Father’s Day:

I invoked the rule “have someone else buy something for you that you may never get around to getting on your own”. This resulted in Nirvana’s “Unplugged”, which is a good record with some great moments, but only “On a Plane” offers something different from the original version. “Where Did You Sleep?” is the grim highlight at the end. Miss you, Kurt.

The Rolling Stones “Sticky Fingers” held up very well, even if I didn’t need to hear “Brown Sugar” or “Bitch” ever again. “Sway” and “Dead Flowers” are great, “Moonlight Mile” is a classic, and “Wild Horses” just never seems to tire out.



The Calm at Labor Day:

So there I am in my favorite downtown record store, only up to the B’s when a bunch of firemen burst in. Oh no, I’m thinking, how hot and smoky would it have to get before I aborted? It turned out to be a smoke condition down the block, so I got back to my obsession.

Two weeks later, these very same firemen would get a call that would be anything but routine. Did even one of them make it out alive, I wonder? But in the meantime, I, not knowing what was about to come, really enjoyed playing the CDs I got.

Like the gentle folk and noisy guitar extremes of Yo La Tengo’s “Electro Pura”, which is almost as good as their masterpiece “I Hear the Heart Beat As One”.
----------------
Now playing: Yo La Tengo - Tom Courtenay
via FoxyTunes

Then there was David Bowie’s “Hunky Dory” (link) a pop record from before his stateside fame.

----------------
Now playing: David Bowie - Life on Mars
via FoxyTunes

Van Morrison’s “Bang Masters” is okay, but it’s really just an awkward stepping stone between Them and “Astral Weeks” (which I’m still waiting to be remastered).

And although I don’t think you can ever have too much noisy guitar, Archer’s of Loafs’s “Vee Vee” and Sleater Kinney’s “Dig Me Out” made me rethink my position. While both are good, neither could quite win me over. The latter was a particular disappointment since I’m a big fan of their previous one “Call the Doctor”.

Massive Attack’s “Protection” opens with the fantastic title song, but the rest of the record just can’t keep up. It averages out to pretty good, but the strings bug me. Better was Tricky’s subsequent soundscape “Maxinquay”, which offers no hint of salvation.

----------------
Now playing: Massive Attack - Protection
via FoxyTunes

Thelonius Monk’s “Brilliant Corners” is considered the one to get by him. It’s very good, but I have several others records by him that I like even more. (Misterioso!)

But the one that got me through the time after those first two weeks was the wonderful, spacey voice and chimy guitars of Luna’s “Penthouse”. (link) What was pretty before 9/11, also seemed regretful and resigned after it. Perfect for 9/12. And I wouldn’t be able to listen to anything else for a while. (Hell, I heard a guy blasting Enya out of his car that week. Even I couldn’t blame him.)

----------------
Now playing: Luna - Moon Palace
via FoxyTunes



Embers:

It took a pre 9/11 BMG order, arriving in late September for me to finally get a CD that came out this decade – Outkast’s “Stankonia”, which is a perfect example of music that isn’t in my favorite genre (hip hop) but that even I can tell is great. This fast, funny, wordy and often thoughtful CD is what I put on when I’m in the mood to take on a difficult book. (link BOB, Ms. Jackson)

----------------
Now playing: OutKast - Ms. Jackson
via FoxyTunes

My wife had to console herself with Andrea Bocelli, and if you have to as well, please get Sogno, and not that power ballad collection disguised as Euro-sophistication Romanza. Christ.



Thanksgiving:

John Coltrane’s Blue Train was a disappointment at first because the title track turned out to not be that amazing song I heard on the radio twenty years ago (which I’m still trying to track down). But I’m past it now, and this is a very good record - as good a place to start getting into Coltrane as “My Favorite Things” which I got at the end of the year. Some day I’ll find that song…

Then there was Iris Dement’s “My Life”, which my family can’t stand because of Iris’s country vibrato and the traditional-type melodies that scare off the city folk. Otherwise, it’spractically flawless. But it takes an effort, and I’ve got enough to do around the holidays. But if you're feeling like you don't matter in this world, listen to the title song.



Christmas:

So I retreated to comfort music, and replaced some vinyl, by getting the Velvet Underground’s “Peel Slowly and See” and Citizen Steely Dan for Christmas.

The surprising thing is that I gravitated to Steely Dan, instead of the Velvets. Considering that the former set had virtually no new music on it, you'd think I would have tired of it quickly. But it was the latter, with the extra, and often unnecessary, new stuff that put me off. And how could they leave off the official live double album, and "She's My Best Friend", one of their greatest songs? And did we really need a whole CD of demos of five songs? On the other hand, the remainder is some of the greatest rock and roll ever made.

I guess I was priding myself that my black-as-ink outlook would enable me to handle the infamous subject matter of both bands. Not so. Steely Dan was practically sweet in comparison. And as much as I wouldn’t admit it, I needed sweet.


The Best:

  • Anthology of Folk Music
  • Luna - Penthouse
  • Yo La Tengo-Electro Pura
  • Charlie Parker

Two years into Our Decade and I’ve only gotten one record – Outkast - actually released in it. And I admire that record more than I love it. I guess there were worse things at the time, like the f’ing world coming to an end.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Decade: 2000

Winter Draught / Spring Awakening:

For some reason, I just wasn’t getting any new music for the first few months of 2000. This was probably due to and end of decade record buying binge that then caused me to swear off of them for a while. It wasn’t until the Memorial Day that I felt like picking anything up. Mmm, where to start? How about a couple of Village Voice Pazz and Jop winners for 1999?

Belatedly starting the musical decade off with a bang, The Magnetic Fields three disc set “69 Love Songs” completely monopolized my CD player for the entire month of June. And not just because there was a lot of it. It was so good I had no desire to hear anything else.
----------------
Now playing: The Magnetic Fields - All My Little Words
via FoxyTunes

Poor Moby, who’s “Play” just wasn’t for that month. And yet, by the time I got around to it, I found it to be, if anything, even more remarkably consistent than 69. You’ve definitely heard some of this, even if only on commercials.

----------------
Now playing: Moby - Porcelain
via FoxyTunes



Around the same time, my wife wanted to play her students an example of scat singing. So, what would be better than Ella Fitzgerald’s “75th Birthday Celebration”? That lesson lasted one day but we’ve still got this wonderful two disc set. It’s not for every occasion, but it is just exotic enough to pull you out of an otherwise ordinary day.


Summer:

Later that summer, we caught Blue Man Group, and picked up their first record, “Audio”. If you haven’t seen BMG yet, you should check them out. They’re a lot of fun, and the record stands quite well on its own.

Then came my annual birthday run, which is kind of like an orgy, except that instead of women, there are CDs. (Hey, the first step is knowing you have a problem.) This time around, I got a little too ambitious.

I figured Hole’sLive Through This” would be my ace in the hole, but it didn’t quite meet my expectations. It turned out to be a typical “record that everyone liked, and even you liked what you heard on the radio, but once you bought it you thought it was really not such a big deal”. It’s quite good, just not great. Courtney can scream really great, though.

----------------
Now playing: Hole - Rock Star
via FoxyTunes

Then there was jazz, like Cecil Taylor’s “Unit Structures” which is the type of record I buy when I’m in the grip of one of my “I can listen to any kind of music no matter what” delusions. It is surely one of the wildest records I’ve ever gotten. It’s like being locked in a room with a band that happens to be high, and mad as hell. I put it on when I feel that my soul has been crushed and I need something that will scatter all the pieces, or on beautiful summer days when I’m just not with the program. Another “put it on to get rid of the company” record.

When trying to decide on which Charles Mingus record to start with, I choose “Mingus Ah Um” - the one with the pretty cover. At first, it was just a bit out of reach at the time – despite the so infectious I can’t believe I’m hearing it “Better Get Hit in Your Soul” - but over the years, it’s grown on me, and is now one of my favorite jazz records.
----------------
Now playing: Charles Mingus - Better Get Hit in Your Soul
via FoxyTunes

Aphex Twin’s, ambient, well “Selected Ambient Works, Volume II” was the polar opposite of Cecil Taylor, and as such is the type of record that – when company is over – is likely to elicit remarks like “one of your speakers must be out”. It’s similar to one of my all time favorite records – Eno’s “Another Green World”, but way drier. For devotees of sensory deprivation, which is what I must have needed in 2005, because I played it a lot at the time.

Somewhat similar (but boy does that somewhat make a difference!) is Kraftwerk’s “Trans Europe Express”. Leave it to the Germans to come up with something robotic, yet catchy.

See if you can spot the song that became a hip hop cornerstone.
----------------
Now playing: Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express
via FoxyTunes

And how could I leave out world music? I traveled to Africa (well, that section of the record store, anyway) for Mzaki Mbili’s “Resistance is Defense”. There’s a great sounding guitar throughout the album, but that’s part of the problem. The whole album sounds like one catchy song. Good, but too repetitive.

Next time I have to remember to balance things out a bit more. But, hey, I figured that I had the law of averages working for me.


Thanksgiving:

Leave it to my Thanksgiving run to save the day. I had been flirting with the local used CD store for a while, but feared that I’d get burned. But this time I took the plunge and came up with one great, and one worthwhile, record.

First, there was Randy Newman’s brilliant, hilarious, dark, profane “Faust”. Musically, it was perfect for the holiday season. Thematically, it couldn’t have been more perverse. This is the only context where I can accept James Taylor as God. Randy’s the devil, of course. Bonnie Raitt does the great “Feels Like Home” and Linda Ronstadt doesn’t annoy me.
----------------
Now playing: Bonnie Raitt - Feels Like Home
via FoxyTunes

I remember putting Robin Holcomb’s first record on repeat one late night at work. It played about six times before I left. It’s quiet, slow and jazzy, and maybe a little too much of all of these things. But good to listen to when miserable, which I am from time to time.


Christmas:

And finally, when I got a gift certification to my favorite record store I thought I died and went to heaven. It was time for a major plunge into something new (by which I mean old), and this time I chose Louis Armstrong. I found his “Complete Hot Fives and Sevens” and the more wide ranging “Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man”. Both are 4 CD box sets. I went deep with the former, because the box was smaller! This music is now 80 years old, and I still can only wonder what it sounded like to people at the time. It must have been comparable to heavy metal in its shear size. I love to just take one of the CDs at random and plop it into the player. I’ll probably never get to the bottom of it all.

----------------
Now playing: Louis Armstrong - Potato head blues
via FoxyTunes


The Tally:

The great records that I have an immediate love for - as opposed to an appreciation - were:

  • 69 Love Songs
  • Faust
  • Play

None of these records was released in 2000. So far, My Decades is pretty good. Ours hasn’t started yet.

Monday, September 7, 2009

My Decade, Your Decade - Whatever

Okay, summer’s kinda over. Time for me to get off my ass and take a look at this musical decade. You know, to avoid the Christmas rush.


Be a stickler if you like, and tell me it won’t be over until the end of 2010, but I’m not buying it. For me, it’s 2000 through 2009, so if you disagree, let’s just agree that you’re wrong. Hey, I need the extra time, since I’m, almost by definition, at least a year behind, and many dollars short.

I guess there’ll be a My Decade aspect to this, which covers the CDs I got this decade, regardless of when they came out, and an Our Decade, which is limited to what was released this decade, at least the miniscule portion I heard. Who cares, you ask? Good question. It would be miraculous if either My or Ours bore any relation to Yours.


Now if you have no life and take an unwarranted interest in my opinion, please don’t write me an outraged email about how I’m a socialist because I didn’t mention your favorite album. I probably didn’t even hear it. And if I did, and just didn’t get it, who cares?


But if you want to tell me about a great album that I missed, fine. I’m showing you mine - you might as well show me yours. I can always add it to my amazon.com wish list, and my wife’ll get it for me for Christmas. (Because it’s all about me, you see.) But keep in mind what kinds of music I seem to like (to your right) and not like. Metal, for instance. I don’t get metal. I don’t like metal. Unless it’s a quintessential “metal album that non-metal heads will love”, don’t bother.


By the way, if you have a suggestion about what to call this decade, I’m all ears. I still don’t know. (The Aughts? The Oughts?)


And the more I look at it, I may in fact be at least a decade, and perhaps a century, behind, since I seemed to have spent the earlier part of this one catching up with the latter part of the last one. I suspect I’ll continue along this way, catching up with the last century whenever possible. Which pretty much means jazz, which ended in 1965 by the way. (Just kidding.) I had been getting into classical music but I kept getting beat up by the other kids. Now that I’m bigger, I’ll try again.


Coming up next, My 2000.