Saturday, May 26, 2018

Secret History: 1979

Welcome to another - and long overdue - edition of Secret History, this time for 1979.

My last one was for 1979 about five years ago. I kinda slacked off, because I was concerned that I was getting too close to the present. (wtf?)

So it’s back, and I’m less sure than ever there’s anything secret about it.

The punk big bang happened in 1977 and the asteroid chunks were still flying around. Everything seemed possible at the time, like 1968 compared to 1967. What could go wrong, right?

While 1978 was a year of consolidation 1979 was a kind of where do we go from here? year. And not all of the directions hinted at really panned out.

We ended up with a lot of great music but it was spread out over too many records. So there were not as many flat-out great albums but a lot of really good ones.

Hey, what do you want? Humans were involved.



The Roches

The first song is so cute I wouldn't blame you for wanting to smash the record into a hundred small pieces. But the rest is so beautiful you end up feeling bad and love it anyway. I’ve been waiting 36 years for Mrs. Jaybee to get past that first song though, so I’m not providing her grade. A



Roxy Music: Manifesto 

With Eno now long gone, RM keeps getting more and more normal, and thus, less powerful. But more fun, too. A-



Gang of Four: Entertainment!

Not much fun here, but pile-driver rhythms, angry politics, and almost disembodied voices. Their best. A



Nick Lowe: Labour of Lust

But fun is important. Good old modern ironic pop music, even if old Nick now swears he was playing it straight the whole time. A-



Graham Parker: Squeezing Out Sparks

I once had the pleasure of hearing this played in its entirety on a beach in the Hamptons, where it pissed off all the right people. What better recommendation can I offer? So intense that it might be better than Heat Treatment or Howlin' Wind.  What?  No way. Way! A



The B-52s

If “52 Girls” is one of the high points of the years, “Dance This Mess Around” is one of the high points of my life, except that (or maybe because) it also clears the room. I recently got into an argument with someone on Facebook about this record. (Someone may have called someone else a Nazi… But that’s not important.) This is one of the most delightfully weird records ever. Who wants rock n' roll to be normal, anyway? And when you get past all that, Kate and Cindi sing great, and the guitar and bass really rock.  A-



Marianne Faithfull: Broken English

“Guilt” was stunning on SNL, so actually listening to the album is a slight let down.

She barely survived the sixties and she’s here to tell you about it. And by the way “now” is not so hot, either. The subject matter was risque for the time, but the music is actually a bit slick.  But that voice cuts right through it.  A-



Michael Jackson: Off the Wall

With rock n' roll revitalized, it would have been easy for me to continue to ignore music by African Americans. I needed this one to remind me that there were other types of vital music that didn’t involve an electric guitar. This is Michael as I like to remember him. From my limited perspective, one of the greatest R&B albums ever. A



Buzzcocks: Singles Going Steady

This being a collection of their first eight singles (all the side As on side one of the album and all the side Bs on side 2), it could be considered a bit of a cheat, but surely it’s one of the best records of the era. A


I purposely omitted some records, like Rust Never Sleeps, because it's too fucking obvious (it's supposed to be a secret history, remember?), and others like Fear of Music, Breakfast in America and Damn the Torpedos because they’re overrated. (Sorry Tom!).

Now, looking at the above I wonder what my reservations about this year were exactly. Probably the stuff I left out.

My next Secret History will be the first step into that hellscape that is the 1980s...


Saturday, May 19, 2018

Spring

Yeah, I know. Spring isn’t officially over yet, but on the Jaybee Calendar, Summer starts on the Memorial Day weekend.

Plus this Spring hasn’t been very, well, spring-y. So, like the Winter before it, so long, and don’t let the Summer door hit you on the ass on your way out.


Sweden:

And, again I find myself traveling, thanks to what amazon.com throws my way. This time, north to Sweden!

Fox News keeps telling me how it’s a Socialist nightmare. And since they’re so fact-based, out of concern, I decided to go beyond the meatballs and check out their music.


Robyn: Body Talk (2010)

“I’m surprised you got this”.

This is Mrs. Jaybee code for this sucks. And what sucks exactly, Mrs. Jaybee?

Maybe the sight of a 60-year-old enjoying girly-voiced dance pop.

I'll admit, it’s not my go-to genre by any means, but unlike so much other stuff in this category, it’s not vacuous, superficially sexual and all production. I hear some great melodies, sung with real passion and with words to back it up (usually). So, along with thoughts and emotions, there’s even some - god forbid - empathy here.

It may be that Robyn was 31 when she released this. So she’s been around for a while and while she can be impetuous like your average young person, she’s also capable of a little wisdom. Which appeals to my 60-year-old ears.

In other words, she's someone I wouldn’t mind talking to.

She's not perfect. After a great start, there are a couple of silly ones, but then she's back with her heart on her sleeve.

So there's about a fifty-fifty split between the standard but well-done dance tracks and the really melodic emotional - but not slow - ones. If it tilted to the latter a little more it would be great.

So Sweden seems to be doing okay. Whatever problems they have, they seem to deal with them by dancing. Recent developments have shown that this is not at all the worst course of action.

B+

"In My Eyes"


Jamaica:

But it is cold up there! So I head southwest. And back in time about 45 years. (Did I not mention time travel?)


Bob Marley:Catch a Fire (1973)

I love how this begins. You get to hear the band (guitars, bass, drums, etc. - a very rock n' roll sounding band) slowly kick in before Bob starts singing. And not too fast. Just a nice, rocking rhythm. They're not taking on the world just yet. Just doing what they do best. Kind of a relief from the hits, actually.

So I'm far more likely to do a deep dive with this than the to put on the no doubt excellent Legend. 

And the deluxe version contains both the original Jamaican versions of the songs and the ones on the American release. Peter Tosh sings on a couple on the former while it’s all Bob on the latter. Which is just as well. Peter’s great but a little scary. When he sings “400 Hundred Years”, he sounds it.

Definitely worthwhile.

A-

"Concrete Jungle"


And since we didn't get much heat this Spring I decided to stay in a tropical climate, and go even further back in time.

Brazil:


Os Mutantes (1968)

What was it like to be in Brazil in 1967?  Did rock and rock and psychedelia penetrate beyond America and Europe? The answer is an emphatic Yes!!!

Like thousands of others all over the world, this trio was inspired by everything going on up north. This is less their version of Sgt Pepper (which is more “concept” to me than psychedelic) than say Forever Changes. Okay, that's a stretch, but it's the sound of yet another group of young people with limited means trying to find the aural equivalent of bliss.

And not understanding what they're saying is almost a relief. If they were from California, you’d understand the words, but have no idea what they meant.

They have a kitchen sink approach to their music, adding background noise and sudden cuts to something completely different. The guitar playing is pretty standard for the time. The riffs are fast but not very original. The singing is more engaging and melodic, since there's both a male and female vocalist. She usually does the slow ones, which, after the abovementioned sink, come at the right time. So do the changes in tempo (nice drumming by the way!).

This one reminds me how pretty psychedelia could be.

And it all comes together on "Trem Fatansma".

B+




So now let's all break out our parkas for summer!