The Tenth Annual Jaybee-bies: 2020 Vision

Executive Summary:

Fuck this year. 

Seriously. 

I'll admit this isn't an original sentiment.

Abstract:

Let me set your expectations right up top here by saying please do not read this for any wise words on this horrendous year. I spent enough time on that here, here, here, well, you get the idea. Right now, I'm just going to focus on the newer (to me) music (or whatever) that got me through it. 

However...

Best Humans:

Smarter people than me have identified the heroes and villains. But here's my very short list of the former. If you can't figure out the latter by now, I can't help you

• Every fucking doctor/nurse/tech/health care worker in the country.*
• Every first responder or front line essential worker.*
• Every teacher.*
• Every mom trying to figure out whether to send their child to school and go to work or to stay home with them.
• Anthony Fauci
• Various internet voices like Don Winslow/John Fugelsang etc.

* Sorry to get all topical and everything, but if you agree with these statements, but don't wear a mask you're part of the problem.

Best Books:

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

The unabridged version, running 1400 or so pages. Overlong, but so was the French Revolution (which this book is NOT about, but kind of is anyway). Funny, too.

Air Guitar by David Hickey

High-falutin' but never pretentious art theory, which includes but is not limited to Chet Baker, Female Wrestling, Las Vegas, and Perry Mason.

The Mirror and the Light by Hillary Mantel

Henry VIII was an okay king, a bad husband, and an even worse boss.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Overlong and perhaps overrated, but with many sublime moments.

Best Movies:

I didn't really see any so I don't really give a shit. Or is that vice versa?

Best TV:

Bojack Horseman

Better Call Saul

The Good Place

Schitt's Creek

Watchmen

Music Awards:

Most Work (But Worth it): Fiona

Most Work (And Possibly Not Worth It): Bill Evans, but the jury is still out.

Most Surprising (and Not Necessarily in a Good Way): Bad Bunny I meant to get Beach Bunny!

Most Disappointing: Bill Evans, but only because he's not Bud Powell or Thelonious Monk.

Best Artist: Fiona (writer, singer, pianist)

The Best:

1. Big Thief: UFOF (2019) Mrs. Jaybee hates all the soft-voiced women I'm listening to lately, but I love the utter simplicity of the songs and arrangements.
2. Purple Mountains: Purple Mountains (2019) Crushing depression has rarely been so entertaining.
3. Fiona Apple: Fetch the Bolt Cutters (2020) Man, this one's a lot of work, but it's worth it.
4. Funkadelic: Motor City Madness (2006) I'm cheating a bit because I usually don't include compilations, but this one deserves it. I was inspired by my going back to an early best of during the depths of the pandemic. This is o obviously rock n' roll that all I can do is scratch my head and wonder how we missed it back then. They picked up where Sly left off and then handed things off to hip hop before disintegrating. 
5. Frank Ocean: Channel Orange (2012) Wonderfully diverse, melodic, and entertaining.
6. Devo: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (1978) For a so-called weird record, this is quite tuneful and consistent. 
7. Fripp and Eno: Evening Star (1975) This is the one where dial things back from the other more experimental - but weirdly fun - one I picked up this year. Pretty, weird, with just a touch of ominous. 
8. D'Angelo: Black Messiah (2015) It's great to hear a band (as opposed to just a singer) chugging through these very funky songs one after the other.
9. Fountains of Wayne: Utopia Parkway (1999) Sharper than their first. Their satire is bolder but manages to retain their humanity.
10. Beyonce: Lemonade (2016) Pretty slick but all that production is put to good use. 

Latecomers like Classic Collaborations with John Coltrane (8 albums!) and The Last Concert by the Modern Jazz Quartet (a double) don't make an appearance. And poor Bill Evans is just too subtle over the course of his 12(!) album collection to crack the top ten. But time is on his side.

Some of the best songs I heard this year can be found here.

Conclusions:

This music is probably even better than I'm saying it is. After all, it had more to do than it would have to in a typical year. It couldn't bring just joy or inspiration. It had to provide a lifeline. That's a lot to ask. Too much, really.

And although there have been glimmers of hope in the last two months, one family member died and another just got Covid, so we are not out of the woods yet.  

I hope 2021 lets us relax a little. But I wouldn't go as far as this.

Be well.

Corona-chles X: Fuck This Shit

Back in 2016 - when I thought I could afford to - I drowned out the news of the Presidential campaign by immersing myself in my World History Project. 

Yeah, I didn't get around to actually writing a post about it until December but I assure you it was basically all I listened to that summer. 

Well, now it's four years later and there's so much more noise than before. Or is it just that the noise is of more urgent things than before. Last time was urgent in theory. This time is, well, life or death.

I'll admit that, at first, I did try to retreat.

Robert Fripp/Eno: Evening Star (1975)

Under the influence of Brian Eno: Oblique Music, I jumped back into these two dudes who are strange enough individually, but together drive classic rockers bonkers. Maybe that's where I needed to be.

Anyway, this one's prettier than No Pussyfooting and, in retrospect, it's hard to believe what would cause such consternation. If anything it's not weird enough. 

This was made around the time that Eno was more or less inventing ambient music. He'd stay there for a couple of decades and change the musical world in the process. 

So all that's missing are melody, beat, singing, etc. Nothing we can't handle, right?

B+

"Evening Star"

But now it was time to come back to this reality that wasn't going away. So I decided to listen to some brand new music - from 2020!

Fiona Apple: Fetch the Boltcutters (2020)

Ah, Fiona! She started off as a young hottie in her underwear (thanks record company!) but then actually started making good music. Once canceling a tour because her dog died, she is also her own person, and as time goes on she keeps going her own way. God fucking bless her. 

Her music has become spare and piano-driven. The last record had lots of chords and key-banging. This one's got lots of melodic runs that nonetheless lead to ever harder-edged lyrics.

And every time I listen closely I hear something worth my attention. She's pissed off, funny and warm, as she says, and I believe her.

A-

"Under the Table" 

And as long as I was in the moment, as awful as it was, I decided it was time for these guys

Run the Jewels: RTJ4 (2020)

This wasn't scheduled to come out until this fall, but the guys thought its moment had come in the Spring, and how right they were.

As with any rap album worth its salt, this one is political in the best sense of the word. The references are less to where politicians stand and more to how people think and live.

It's all too much for me to absorb right now. I'm not always up for the dense sound and raw anger. That's my fault. But the headphones help.

"Never Look Back"

B+

I'm hoping to enjoy it more in retrospect - of November 3rd, that is.

My 2012: Sliding into Home

The end of the year came with a bang, in the form of Christmas gifts (that I orchestrated via my Amazon.com Wish List, of course), and a 2012 New Year’s resolution to get current music. Which I finally got around to on December 31.

So my grades are even less considered than usual.

Tallest Man on Earth The Wild Hunt
Nutboy was raving about this one, and I finally got around to it on Christmas. This one catches you immediately, with the elfin, early Dylan-ish vocals and spare arrangements. After a few listens you notice there are real tunes here, and words, too. Perfect for early winter mornings, when you’re feeling a little weird, and weird is the only way to go. A-


Steve Earle: Guitar Town
A little too straightforward country for me, but better than last year’s dabblings (Miranda Lambert and Brad Paisley). So I’m more willing to stick around, and let it work its magic. B+


Jimmie Dale Gilmore: Spinning Around the Sun
Now here’s a paradox. This one is more conventionally country than Steve Earle, but I like to more. Maybe because it’s so damned pretty. (And Mrs. Jaybee is tolerating Gilmore’s quavery voice better than Iris Dement’s. But by this point, she observed “You didn’t tell me you liked country music before we got married.”) He manages to keep it from getting too cloying, all the while hitting you with strong melodies. Highlights include a great version of Hank Williams “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry” and the brilliant “You’re Just a Wave”. A-


All year long, I waited for some clear choices for current music, but my limited success with rap and r&b kept me from trying Frank Ocean or Kendrick Lamar. By New Year’s Eve, my desperation to appear cool forces my hand:

Fiona Apple The Title Goes On and On and On (jk it’s The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do:
Well, so far I can’t say that the music I’ve heard so far is any better or more attractive than what I typically hear from her. As spare as the arrangements are, after a few listens, it’s still kind of a blur. She’s very smart and and very tough, though. Mommy, I’m scared! B+

So that’s 2012 in all it’s gory detail. Next time, I’ll cut to the chase and give you that all-purpose summary of anything and everything of any and sometimes no consequence: a top 10 list.