Eighth Annual Jaybee-bies: The Best of 2018

Well, the old bell curve was bit flatter this year.  

During 2017, I heard a lot of very good records but just a few that were great. 2018 had more great stuff but also more disappointments. (How can I be such a pessimist and still manage to get disappointed by things?)

But before getting into the music, let’s see how I did with my 2018 resolutions, broken down by category:

General Classiness:

• Cutting down on saying “Awesome”: A-, but 
• I still say “Let's get on the same page” way too much. B-

Health:

• 10,000 steps in a day: C+ (It’s more like 7500.)
• 1,000 words per day. D (It’s more like 75, unless you count talking.)
• More Exercise: B- (Hey, I like to walk but anything else requires too much...exercise.)
• More Vegetables: B- (Do eggplant parmigiana heroes count?)
• Fewer Sweets: B+ 
• Less Drinking: B+ (Yeah, I'm just a barrel of laughs now.)

Music:

• Fewer CDs, and more mp3s: A- (It’s going great, but I miss CDs! Vinyl, too.)
• Getting current year music: C  (Not so good, but then current year music wasn’t so good, either.)
• Guitar: A  I got a guitar!  And I practice, too! (C- for that, though.)

2019 Resolutions: 

• All of the above. 
• Oh, and impeachment.

Top Ten Albums:

1. Beach House: Bloom (2012) A lotta beauty here. Irridescent  
2. Superchunk: Majesty Shredding (2010) A lotta joy here. Irresistible 
3. Beach House: Teen Dream: (2012) Super dreamy, and healing. 
4. Max Richter: Infra (2010) A modern requiem. Heart wrenchingly sad, but never sappy 
5. Waxahatchee: Out From the Storm (2017) Tight and tuneful. 
6. Lori Mckenna: The Bird and the Rifle  (2016)  Simple, direct. A female, country Neil Young.
7. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: The Nashville Sound (2017) Jason Isbell bares his soul, with a great band to watch his back. Keep going Jason! We’re all rooting for you.
8. Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (2008): So modest you could ignore it, so generous it just chips away at your resistance. They combine the sound of the Stones with genuine country, and excellent songwriting. 
9. Amadou and Mariam: Welcome to Mali (2008) African music but with rock n' roll guitar. 
10. Mount Eerie: A Crow Looked at Me (2017) Even more devestating than Intra.

Honorable Mentions: 

Wes Montgomery, Oneohtrix Point Never, The Wailers, Robyn 

Favorite Songs: can be found here.  

Most Work (But Worth it): Drive By Truckers 

Most Work (And Possibly Not Worth It): Speedy Ortiz  

Most Surprising: Beach House 

Most Disappointing: Superchunk 

Best Artist: Beach House

Best Books:

So if you think I missed out on 2018 music-wise, wait until you get a load of this, thanks mostly to the World History Project:

1. Hamilton by Ron Chernow: An amazing book. An amazing guy. He makes the biggest workaholic you know sound like a slacker. He should have written a book on productivity.
2. Burr by Gore Vidal: A delight, as always, and in the context of the WHP, Vidal clearly worked his ass off.
3. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen: It’s been a long time since I read a “good old novel” that kept me involved all the way through to the end. Brainy, but more importantly, lots of heart.
4. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon: Dark, and yet funny as hell.
5. Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar: Eloquent, beautifully written
6. Washington: Ron Chernow: Great history.
7. The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendahl:Funny, cynical, kind of nuts. Very refreshing.
8. Thomas Jefferson by Christopher Hitchens: Okay, Tom, Vidal and Chernow - not to mention Hamilton and Washington - think you’re an asshole. So who but Christopher Hitchens could rise to your defense?
9. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob Zoet by David Mitchell: History and love.
10. The Life of Johnson by Boswell: Even the smartest guys have their blind spots.

Observations:

Like I said, 2018 itself - at least what I heard of it, was less than great. But I’ll be working on the stuff I missed, because I suspect it was a much better year than my ears heard.

Up Next:

Ludvig Van and the 2010s.

Summer Great, Summer Not As Great

"Summer of ‘18" doesn’t quite have the ring of “Summer of 69” - nor does it match up musically - but let’s face it, that was a tough summer to beat.

The short story is that Beach House owned this summer. Certainly the first cool, cloudy half.

It’s a shame that nothing else I got could quite overcome the oppressively hot, humid second half. (Nothing quite on the order of last year’s Whiteout Conditions by the New Pornographers.) On the other hand, I don't remember 1969 being as hot as our summers are now. I don't know if the music can possibly keep up with the climate.

So, to sum up, no masterpieces. But pretty good.

Let’s try to go in order of increasing order of what I'll call Fun-ness:

Bikini Kill: The First Two Records (1993)

The two records in question are their shared EP with Huggy Bear and their first LP Bikini Kill.

This is the pre-Le Tigre Katherine Hanna. It may also be the start of the Riot-grrrls. So...Srkunch!!! 

There are words here, and lots of them are naughty. To sum them up, get the fuck out of my face. Understandable and appropriate - but not always fun - in the middle of August.

For now, I prefer the mellower, goofier Le Tigre.

But beneath the din of Kathleen Hanna’s ballsy (yes) yowl and lo-fi “production” there’s an earthy guitar tone that grows on you.

I'm grading tough now. Once the weather gets cooler - and now that we have a Justice Kavanaugh - I’ll be playing it a lot more.

B

“Suck My Left One”

Superchunk: What a Time to Be Alive (2018)

Simply not as catchy as Majesty Shredding, and with the subject matter being what it is, doubly disappointing.  However, their overall sound provides a rush no matter what.

B+

“What a Time to Be Alive”

Beck: Colors (2017)

After winning a Grammy, what does this edgy artist do? He goes pop.

Beck’s a real pro. He’s done hip-hop, folk, soul, electronica and now pop. He’s never bad, but sometimes it’s doubtful he’s got his heart in what he’s doing. And while it’s very catchy, he’s hiding behind a wall of pop. Well executed pop, but a wall nonetheless.

I’m a big fan of Mellow Gold (less so Odelay), Mutations/Sea Change/Morning Phase.

As Mrs. Jaybee says, he’s lost his edge.  

Not that Morning Phase had edge exactly, but it was fully committed to pretty, and he was willing to take the consequences.

We’re (and he’s) a long way from “Loser”.

B+

“Seventh Heaven”

David Bowie: Blackstar (2016)

Although he’s produced some of my favorite records, Bowie hasn’t interested me very much musically since 1980. 

He started out pop and rock-savvy and ended up being willfully harsh. Halfway through he hit a sweet spot of weirdness and joy - I’m going to say it was Low - but the inspiration slowly faded as the harshness set in. And his ned to be provocative - but without the requisite musical invention to back it up - that has him coming up short here.

The highlights are the opening and closing cuts, the latter especially affecting as he closes some of the distance he usually maintained with us.

It’s far from his best but I’ve got to hand it to him for going out his way.

B+

“I Can’t Give Everything Away”

Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy (2018)

Two discs, each pretty long, and made up of the same album, just recorded at different times. So there’s a lot to slog through here.

The first is Will Toledo’s original 2011 lo-fi version of the album. The second is his 2018 re-recording, this time with a band and actual recording studio.

I was spoiled by Teens of Denial, which features Will Toledo the rocker who wrote consistently tuneful, rousing songs. Teens of Style - his earlier record - has the same level of inspiration tunewise, but whose thin sound accentuated Will’s nasally voice - and worse - his tendency/need to shout above the noise.

All the elements are here on both discs. The first one does have the limitation of so-so sound. And also in Car Seat Headrest fashion, too many songs end abruptly depriving one of a true climax.  The second disc smooths over some of these rough spots.

There’s no denying the several rousing moments, but he's asking for a lot of time, and I ain't got it.

B+

"Stop Smoking"

Fairport Convention: Unhalfbricking (1969)

Slower tempos than Liege and Lief, but with more humor, via several then-obscure Dylan covers. One in French!

The tragic “Percy’s Song” (although Arlo Guthrie’s passionate version is still my favorite) is followed by the hilarious “Million Dollar Bash”, and on the 2003-digital-remaster, a nice, soulful “Dear Landlord”. The peak is Sandy Denny’s very own masterpiece “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”.  And although I still love the majestic Judy Collins version, this one wins out on sheer wonder.

A-

“Who Knows Where the Time Goes”

Amadou and Mariam: Welcome to Mali (2008)

This duo is from - you guessed it! - Mali. Both of them blind, but doing fine, thank you very much. They probably would have been quite happy just making music in Africa, but managed to catch the attention of some well-meaning white people. I'd normally say RUN!, but it apparently got them exposed to a wider audience.

So this is definitely a crossover album, but still Malian enough. 

So what do they bring to the table? A growling electric guitar, for one, and excellent vocals. And some strong production.

And the momentum -bringing us through all fifteen songs - is undeniable.

A-

“Sabali”

Drive-By Truckers: Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (2008)

There are the records that try to hit you over the head on first listen, like Superchunk's Majesty Shredding.

And there are other records that are more patient. They lay out one excellent song after another, expecting you to notice after a while. 

Then there are those very good double albums that could have benefitted from a nip and a tuck here and there, to get it down to a great single.  

But in these confusing times, some such albums like this one actually fit on a single CD.  Hmmm. So let’s call them generously spirited. 

Creation comprises 19 songs. And while it’s definitely not in that first category, it is in the second and third.  

The Truckers are a southern rock band with a dose of country. This time out I only notice a slide guitar on one song. And their rock is more 1970s Rolling Stones than Allman Brothers.

But the country is still strong, with both Mike Cooley and Shonna Tucker contributing several songs. But the main songwriter here is Patterson Hood. Both Cooley and Hood add the rock and roll, but where Cooley goes country, Hood goes introspective.

This one is not as raw and aggressive as their very good Decoration Day, but it has the edge over that record due to that patient, consistent one excellent song after another consistency.

A-

“The Righteous Path”

So this summer was short on instant gratification, but long on wisdom. I suspect some of these records will rise in my estimation given more time.

And God knows, in times like these, I'll need that.

What a time to be alive!