Decade: More Fun in the Old World

Last time out I gave you some lame post about the decade in genres. It was really just my way of putting off compiling my Actual Best of the Decade List(s).

Well, I’m doing it again. I will persist in my procrastination by now providing you with a couple of lists that almost by definition are about music from prior decades, but the point is that they happened to me in this decade.


Best Throwbacks:

These are albums I’m somewhat familiar with but never got around to actually owning until now. I don’t like judging them against records that I’m hearing for the first time because, on the one hand, they’re somewhat better for having been around this long. But, weirdly, they sometimes contain filler - the parts you didn’t hear on the radio, and the good parts are a bit played out - and that makes them mortal. I don’t want to overreact to those flaws.

Because of these ad/disadvantages, I’d rather just judge them now by how much fun they provided me this time around:

1. Rolling Stones - Singles Collection  This could easily have ended up on top of the list below, but I’m familiar with so much of it already, that wouldn’t have been fair. This is great for long car trips.
2. Joni Mitchell: Court And Spark  (1974) A fantastic album. The songs I hadn’t gotten into before are almost all great.
3. The Who - Live at Leeds (Expanded Edition)  This expanded edition gives a fuller picture of the Who than the original. They were a POP band, people!
4. Harry Nilsson: Nilsson Schmilsson (1971) Harry comes through big time on his less well-known songs.
5. The Kinks: Lola  (1970) Ray does, too. And Dave.
6. The Monkees: The Best of  What can I say? Of course the version in my head is better, but so is yours.
7. Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974)  The sound on the CD isn’t much better than the original vinyl but that’s okay. Time may have finally caught up to this deeply weird record.  🌶🌶 
8. Tom Verlaine: Tom Verlaine (1979)  It’s not Television but it’s very good.
9. Jefferson Airplane: The Worst of  I really needed to hear this, even after having chipped away at it with Volunteers and Baxters. A very consistent record from a very good, but I’m not convinced, great band.
10. And tied for 10th: 
• Aretha Franklin: I Never Loved a Man Like You, Or Lady Soul, or Aretha Now. The experience is much the same. Some filler but mostly galvanic.
• Yes: Fragile/Close to the Edge  My first 8 Track tape, and just so much fun.
• Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die (Expanded) (1970)  Great album, lousy live songs on the extended version.
• Graham Nash: Songs for Beginners (1971) As lovely a record as I remember. Joni must have run over him like a truck. His loss. Our gain. Thanks, Joni!
• David Crosby: If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971) A lot of people hated this record when it first came out. I liked it then. I like it now. What’s NOT to like, I wonder. He didn’t even have a gun then.

Compilations:

1. Belle and Sebastian: Push Barman to Open Old Wounds So fragile, so beautiful.
2. Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians: Greatest Hits The album that proves this alleged weirdo should have been an FM staple.
3. The Chills: Kaleidoscope World  Ah, if only the internet was around then, these super melodic, chiming songs would have gone viral. 
4. James Brown: Star Time This is daunting for an old white guy but worth the effort. If you think it all sounds the same why do you like the Ramones?? 
5. Brian Jonestown Massacre: Tepid Peppermint Wonderland  If you can forget what a narcissistic junkie asshole the guy leads the band is you can really enjoy this late sixties-style psychedelic rock 'n roll.
6. Various Artists: Ocean of Sound Yeah, weird as hell. I love it but know what you’re getting into!  🌶🌶🌶 
7. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Lovely Creatures Another purported British weirdo who does some pretty straightforward, passionate rock 'n roll.
8. Leonard Cohen: Essential   A lot to take in one sitting but great for studying.
9. Various Artists: American Epic  Basically another version of An Anthology of American Folk Music, but with better liner notes and sound.
10. And tied for 10th: 
• Taj Mahal: The Best of 
• Blur: Best of 
• Robert Forster: Intermission 
• The Chantels: The Best of 
• Grin: The Best of 
• King Sunny Ade: The Best of the Classic Years  🌶
• Franco and Le Tpok Jazz: Francophonic  🌶

Okay, so much for genres, compilations and throwbacks. Next time it gets real(er).

James ATGBOCDs, Part Two, or, Academy Records

I noticed that a lot of the CDs in James’s bag came from Academy Records - a used record store I’d never visited before. Other Music, which closed a couple of years ago, had been my go-to place.

The prices looked really good, and not being content to simply listen to the CDs James brought me, so I decided to go.

So on top of all my other projects, I’ve now got the "Great Academy Records Scouring" to do.

THANKS, James!!

One of the things that happens at a store like this is you see a lot of records you’d been meaning to get to (or get back to)  but didn’t want to spend the bucks on, so you’re dealing with nostalgia and risk-taking but not breaking the bank.


Nostalgia:



Joni Mitchell: Hejira (1976)

For a while, this sounded different every time I put it on. I eventually caught up and noticed I’ve got nothing unique to say about it. It’s your basic second tier JM record. Some cuts are too long and the sameness of tone takes away from it a bit.

So not GREAT Joni - no “Free Man in Paris” here, she’s already past that - but very very good.
And in its quiet way, some great moments

A-

“Song for Sharon”



Rolling Stones: Her Satanic Majesties Request (1967)

Another “not their best”. I have it in the basement on 8-track and got to listen to it one or two times before the player broke. But it’s the Stones so I had to find out how it was. (The sixties Stones, mind you. I could give a rat’s ass about the 80s, 90s, 00s and teens versions.)

So the verdict is: actually pretty good. And it would have been considered an excellent album if done by another band, but it is the Stones, after all.

B+
“The Lantern”



Jefferson Airplane: The Worst of... (1970)

Speaking of “not the best”! I’d gotten this blast from the past for Brother Pat for Christmas 1970. He told me the hardcore JA fans said it was aptly named. But as one who was a bit disappointed by After Bathing at Baxter’s and Volunteers, (let's not even talk about Bark or Long John Silver) I think I’ll take this one.

A-

"Good Shepherd"



Risk Taking:


Terry Riley: A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969)
Spacey, when spacey was brand new. Not as pretty as In a Silent Way. Not as cool as the Dead. It’s on the classical/Sci-fi side. Which is much weirder than either.

B+
“A Rainbow in Curved Air”



Nellie McKay: Get Away From Me (2004)

How did someone so young create a record in a style that I usually hate and make it so enjoyable? Is it the oh so sharp lyrics? The instrumental backing? Her confident delivery?

All of the above and more.

A-

“It’s a Pose”


And Sonic Youth's Washing Machine (1995) which I'm just gonna have to get back to you on later because that's what it's like for me and Sonic Youth. I need time...

I've since gone back to Academy (maybe I should say I went back to the Academy. I'd get more respect that way.) but that is for another time.

Someday I even hope to tell you what I found in Jame's bag!

X: You Are Here

There’s no telling what you’ll find in a used-CD rack at a street fair. It’s a great time to pick up those records that you’ve always been meaning to get but didn’t want to spend the bucks.

Sometimes you get disappointed with an overrated British band. And sometimes you get disappointed by a good American one.

So is the lesson to skip those street fairs? If so, I haven’t learned it yet.




X: Los Angeles

X reminded me of a punk version of Jefferson Airplane. At least the singing made them seem so. The John Doe/Exene Cervenka harmonies sound a hell of a lot like the Paul Kantner/Grace Slick ones. Except it’s John Doe singing the melodies and Exene adding the punk edge.

And that, of course, is where the similarities end.

They also have a tight, tight, tight guitar player Billy Zoom. (Jorma’s great, but Billy punches things home in a very powerful and concise manner. How about that? The punk guitar player is the sharper one, and the older guy a bit sloppier) And the well named drummer DJ Bonebreak keeping things moving real fast.

This debut album came out to great acclaim in 1980. I missed it at the time, but then did catch up with X with their next record, Wild Gift (also included on this single CD! So by definition it's a bargain.) which might be the greatest punk album ever.

But album one does suffer in comparison.  It’s not a bad record. It’s just that everything here sounds like a run up to Wild Gift.

And what the hell is the organ doing there, anyway? Ah, but I already know why. X hails from Los Angeles, which is also where the Doors were from. And guess who’s playing organ here? Yep, Ray Manzarek.

Now, I think it’s great that Ray appreciated X enough to want to produce them, and that X respected him right back enough to have him play on the record. (They also do a punk version of “Soul Kitchen”.) But it’s a nice gesture that adds nothing to the music. It takes the edge off, and turns what would have been a fine punk album into pretty good hard rock one.

Wild Gift, again, does it better. They keep Ray in the control booth this time, only referring to the Doors, rather obliquely, at the end of the last song: “...waiting for the son, for any son to come”, bringing the whole record to a perfect ending.

But there are good songs here. And who knows how I’d feel about it if I heard it first? Those that did prefer it to Wild Gift.

It just goes to show it all depends where you start. And where is that?  Right where you are.  And where is that?

X - You Are Here

B+

By the way, Wild Gift is an A, verging on an A+.

“The World’s a Mess, It’s in My Kiss”

Secret History: 1967

 
Well, this is the year when all that is good supposedly happened. Sgt. Pepper, Monterey Pop, Summer of Love, etc. I'll admit it: Sgt. Pepper is a very good album, but hardly my favorite. The Stones "Between the Buttons" is lighter and poppier than "Aftermath", and thus a bit less brilliant. Buffalo Springfield's second album, "Again" has several classics on it. You can even it pick it up in the cutout bin, if you don't feel like springing for the "Box Set". (That Neil Young's got quite the racket going for him, doesn't he?)

But you already know all that.

Cream's "Disreali Gears"? Eh. I'm just as likely to listen to "More of the Monkees", but more on that later.

The Moody Blues – "Days of Future Past"? Well, I guess this one's our fault. We all liked it a lot, and well, they just kept at it for years afterwards. It's not a bad record at all, just too many strings. (This was back when some people's idea of art was a classical music orchestra.) Do we really need to hear "Nights in White Satin" (Which at first I thought was Knights. Picture that why don't you?) again? Ah, but "Tuesday Afternoon"! That one'll always work on me.

As unfair as this sounds, I can't quite suppress a yawn. Not over the quality, mind you. It's just that we've all been over this already. So let's go deeper.


 
If ever there was a record that defines a cultural divide, it's "The Velvet Underground and Nico".  Yeah, I know Nico sounds a bit odd, and I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't love the more experimental at the end, but if you don't like what precedes it, please stop reading now. One of the greats. If you've ever wondered why people thought Lou Reed was a genius, start here.

If you were lucky, you could catch "You Set the Scene" on Saturday afternoons on FM radio. If you're luckier still you bought "Forever Changes". Love was
one of the first interracial rock groups, and is sometimes thought of as the West Coast Velvet Underground. That's because beneath the beautiful melodies and soaring strings, you get lyrics about the dark underside of the Summer of Love. But beautiful nonetheless.

Roger McGuinn is holding back a bit on The Byrds "Younger Than Yesterday", which is why I like "Fifth Dimension" a little better. And David Crosby contributes the hilariously bad "Mind Gardens", but he redeems himself with "Everybody's Been Burned", one of his best songs. Chris Hillman fills in the gap with several catchy tunes. It's not quite their best, but still damned good.

My copy of Jefferson Airplane's "Surrealistic Pillow" is on heavily scratched vinyl. But it's lighter on its feet than either "Volunteers" or "Bathing at Baxters". This might seem tame for a record that came out at the beginning of the psychedelic era, but it's tuneful and a delight.

With Moby Grape, it's more scratched vinyl. (I wish people would take better care of their records before giving them to me.) And yet the energy of this record is still shines through. I love the guitar riff that starts it all off, setting the mood immediately. The singing is great and songwriting isn't far behind. A tinge of country, but definitely rock. The classics are "Hey Grandma", "Indifference" and "Omaha", one of the most joyous rock and roll songs ever. "Listen my friends!..."

The Kinks "Something Else" is the kinkiest Kinks record ever, and almost as good as "Face to Face". Side one is a hard look at everyday English working class life. ("David Watts" is one of the best songs about class ever.) Side two is the Kinks at their strangest, with "Waterloo Sunset" as the finale.

Procol Harum's first album, "A Whiter Shade of Pale",
with
the title hit, the original "Conquistador" and a bunch of other excellent songs, may be their best. My vinyl copy is kind of woozy. The guy who punched the whole in the center must have been drunk that day. And because the sound quality on vinyl is poor, Robin Trower's guitar sometimes sounds like a kazoo. Hey, not your fault, man.

The obvious Jimi Hendrix album to own is "Are You Experienced?". Even if you're tired of the hits, the non-hits and the CD bonus tracks keep you coming back. But how about "Axis Bold As Love"? It doesn't burn as brilliantly, but it gives off a nice quiet glow. A great evening album.

Poor Richie Havens. Even in the sixties, they made you dress up for album photos.
Clearly taken prior to Woodstock, the cover shot of "Mixed Bag" shows him sporting
thick
glasses, a blazer and dress pants. He looks like he's attending private school. This is the record that provides the title for a very annoying radio program, but the record itself is very pretty and worthwhile.

And speaking of 60's folk, don't forget Nico's "Chelsea Girls", where you get a little bit of sixteen-year-old-Jackson-Browne-sensitivity, a Bob Dylan song where the singer actually hits the notes, Tim Hardin and the Velvet Underground all in one place. Quite the bargain I'd say.  But don't ask me.  Ask my wife, who, after a couple of plays, said "I can't believe how good this is."  (Hey, what that's supposed to mean, anyway?  Okay, I admit that I may have, on occasion, put her through some...questionable music.)



You won't hear these songs when your local radio station does a Top 1000 Songs of All Time holiday weekend special. But I'll bet you're so tired of the songs they do play that you won't be feeling nostalgic anyway. The records I mention above will remind you that there was more in the 1967 universe than our short term cultural memory can now imagine.