Blackstar 5: Going Deep and Wide

What I most admire about hip hop are the lyrics, which when good, are sharp, tight, imaginative and, when needed, funny as hell. And the sound effects can be very cool, too. But what can be forbidding is the music itself, which is so rhythmically oriented.

For me, rhythm was never an essential musical element. Oh, I loved things that moved but I’m  a melody guy (thank you, Beatles) and a guitar guy (ditto).

So it was hard to love something that was light on those two elements and heavy on rhythm. Which put hip hop at a disadvantage with me.

But I’m coming around...

My knowledge of the Roots is limited to their impressive appearance in Dave Chappelle’s Block Party and Jimmy Fallon’s show, which I rarely watch. But when I do, there they are, playing with - and adding to - whatever musical guest Jimmy throws at them, like Car Seat Headrest, for instance.

Allmusic.com files them under “Rap”, and, realizing my limits in appreciating that genre, I held back.
But when Amazon offered this for $5, what am I supposed to say?  Jaybee, you’ve been having your fun so far this year. How about a little education? So fine, I said. (I talk to myself a lot.)

And the Roots give me a way in.

Roots: How I Got Over (2010)

The first surprise is how damned catchy this is. The arrangements are tight (in the good sense).  And Questlove, if you didn’t already know, is a great drummer. When he hits the snare. He. Hits. The. Snare!

Which brings me to something else that seems to help. The Roots are a band. Instead of using turntables, they play instruments. Imagine that. It really shouldn’t matter, but it seems to anyway.

And, okay, I’m not hearing many melodies, but the textures (keyboards, and yes, guitars) keep me listening.

Which gets me to the words. And while some speak of defiance, there’s also plenty of doubt, and a desire to do better. It's Aspiration, in the very best sense of the word.

One highlight is “Oh, God 2.0”, which improves upon the Monsters of Folk version.

Another is the totally unexpected inclusion of a Joanna Newsom sample, changing its nature while at the same time adding to the song at hand.

And best of all, the title track with its heartrending lyrics:

Out on the streets
where I grew up,
First thing they teach you 
is not to give a f*ck,
That kind of thinking 
will get you nowhere,
Someone
Has To
Care

These, along with several others are the best I’ve heard all year.

So, while Kanye is a brilliant music maker, it’s always about him, and where Kendrick Lamar goes so, so deep, the music isn’t always what I need.

But the Roots - providing nuance, brains, and themes of internal and external struggle - give me hip hop I can really hear and love.

It may be my favorite of the genre.

A-

“How I Got Over”

Blackstar 4: Five Hundred Miles(es)

Remember how I said it’s sad to go through the amazon.com $3.99 mp3 pages? Well, it’s not always Sad sad. It’s just you spend a lot of time (400 pages worth) going through what looks to be pretty awful stuff before you stumble upon a gem. And you (and I) may not have that kind of time. Let’s agree to not do it when it’s sunny out, okay?

So, one dark and stormy night I found myself there and what do I do? I let myself get further distracted from the current decade, and, like someone who stumbled into The Time Tunnel, find myself back in 1969.




Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-1974

Miles Davis was the Kanye West of his time. A genius, and egotist, who delighted in outraging white people, at a time when that was even more dangerous to do than it is now. Actually, Kanye seems a little nicer.

But there are many Mileses (Miless? Miles's?). There’s post-World War II trumpeter with Charlie Parker, who, frankly, had a hard time keeping up. The band leader for Birth of the Cool. The heroin addict who cleaned himself up before going onto his truly great achievements, like Kind of Blue (my favorite, but so what? That’s everybody’s favorite.) Oh, and he managed to fit in being the leader of at least two of the all-time great jazz small combos.

But as time went on, he was getting a little tired of toiling in relative obscurity - critical acclaim doesn’t pay the bills you see - and seeing rock n roll stars hitting it big, he began to change his music yet again.

First, there was In A Silent Way, which is a perfectly lovely and accessible, if not overpowering, mood record. And to a lot of jazz fans, maybe not jazz at all.

But if they thought that wasn’t jazz, they were in for greater outrage, because he then moved on to Bitch’s Brew, the highly-regarded - and highly controversial - jazz fusion classic.

My favorite from that period is Jack Johnson, which came right after Bitches. It has all of Bitch's thrills in half the time.

And he’d go on throughout the seventies in a genre that was kind of forbidding to me. He was always quite prolific, and he didn’t slow down until 1977, putting out album after album, many of the doubles.  I didn’t even start on Miles until 1980, so there was no way I’d be able to find my way through his catalog. Miles is one of those artists for whom you really need a guide.

But this record is a remix/re-edit of pieces from that era, and frankly, I can’t tell the difference between it and the originals. But it is a tight, condensed version of those sprawling records.

So this is a great starting point. If you like it, then move onto Silent and then maybe Johnson. And then, if you’re feeling dangerous, dive into this era with the original records. Of course, if this era isn’t your bag, then Kind of Blue is the way to go.

But it you decide to come here, and you’re willing to sit back and let it all unfold, you won’t be disappointed.

A-

Blackstar 2: Kendrick Lamar Doesn’t Care If I Like It Or Not

So I guess I was lying about dinner with Kanye, but facts don’t matter anymore, so sue me.

It’s usually after dinner when the amazon $5 mp3s strike. They say don’t go food shopping while you’re hungry. I shouldn’t go music shopping when I’m full. It gives me too much endurance. Like Superman, I could climb tall record-store racks in a single bound. So paging through a few dozen pages worth of amazon mp3s is a snap. (But my advice is to stick to the $5 ones, the $3.99 ones - 400 pages worth - are a little sad, even for me.)

But it does give me more opportunities to catch up on this decade. It’s where I found an artist whose record will definitely show up on a lot of Best of the Decade lists.

And he’s already released a couple of new ones! So here I am, as usual, one record behind.



Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)

“Be honest. Do you really enjoy that album?” Mrs. Jaybee asked me today

It’s a fair question. Hip-hop isn’t a genre I’d ordinarily gravitate to. Plus, she must have found it funny to watch a sixty-year-old white guy listening to this.

So we both went through the album, rating each song from ick/meh/pretty good/great. And I showed her that my overall answer to her question was a guarded, but definite, Yes.

Not that Kendrick Lamar is losing any sleep over this. He’s got more important things on his mind.

But I’ll do my best to say why, with some half-assed observations based on my limited knowledge. I’ll use Kanye (as a crutch) for comparison purposes.

Like Kanye, when he bothers to meet me halfway, I enjoy it the most. I could swear he’s sampling Steely Dan’s “Deacon Blues” on “These Walls”, but can’t prove it. (It’s really “Hit the Quan” by Iheartmemphis.)

And my oh my, what a cool piano on “What a Dollar Cost”!

And where Kanye’s always talking about himself, Kendrick, in talking about himself, is really talking about an entire community. So while any of us can have a good laugh over Kanye bragging or feuding with someone, For Kendrick, the stakes are just too high.

And while I enjoy the parts less where he doesn’t meet me halfway, there’s no doubt that it’s my problem. The samples he uses are almost uniformly unknown to me, which puts into greater relief how African American culture is doing just fine without me, f*ck you very much.

And as difficult and painful as the story is, by the time you get to “i” (sampling the Isley’s “Who’s that Lady?”) the joy is real and well-earned.

So while Kendrick isn’t as funny as Kanye he’s also less of an egomaniac.

And where Kanye uses rock n' roll on Fantasy as an obvious crossover move, Lamar gracefully deploys jazz because he likes it.

Kanye’s first album ends with a 12-minute monolog about getting a record deal, this one ends with a 12-minute meditation on what it means to be an African-American man in America. (Kanye tries to do this on Fantasy, but could only come up with a dated and sexist Gil Scott-Heron poem.

So I give the edge to Kanye on sheer entertainment value, Kendrick gives me much more to think about.

I don’t get all of this, by any means, but that’s on me.

B+

Blackstar 1: My Dinner with Kanye

The end of the decade (and the planet) is looming, so what can be more important than making sure my “Best Albums of the Decade” (assuming we make it that far) list is respectable?  And how can I do that if I continue to avoid what a lot of people think is the decade’s best music?

I became a little gunshy regarding hip-hop. Being a melody and electric guitar guy, I could only seem to enjoy it up to a point. And I want to love music, not merely like or admire it.

But there are just too many artists I’ve bypassed for that reason - Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper, Kanye West, the Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, Danny Brown. And as a self-respecting music fan, I must do my due diligence.

And Kanye scores!




Kanye West: My Dark Beautiful Twisted Fantasy (2010)

We all have a Kanye story.

We all have (at least) one occasion when - like President Obama - we deemed Kanye a jackass.

It’s like when they ask you "Where were you when Kennedy was killed?", or for the younger folk, when 9/11 happened. Now it’s "Where were you when Kanye said I’ma let you finish…?"

My last one was when he posed for pictures with Trump. Kanye, you may have thought that he was a fellow misunderstood genius, but he's not, and you mean nothing to him. You were used. I didn’t think you were that dumb.

Another one was when he married a for-profit attention whore whose name I refuse to further sully the internet with.

And then there was the time he trashed the Grammys for awarding Best Album to Beck (Morning Phase was my favorite that year) instead of Beyonce (or was it him? I don’t really care.)


Digression 1: My Purge of the Grammys

Now I’m always amazed when the Grammys like an album I like. (The time before that was The Suburbs by Arcade Fire) This is due as much to sheer demographics as taste. Now, I’m just too old to matter to the music industry. I was always too weird.

Throughout the sixties and seventies, I remember watching the Grammy's with frustration and ultimately disdain as they gave awards to unworthy musicians. (“Mrs. Robinson” over “Hey Jude” for Best Record? Please.) Sound familiar?


Digression 2: My Barbecue with Sara

A few years ago, we had the in-laws over for a barbecue. I was in the backyard cooking and listening to The Who Sell Out, (my all time favorite record) when my niece Sara - then a teenager - came out back.

Now, I should mention that I used to believe in the principle of Great Music Will Be Loved By Everyone Who Hears It.

Anyway, Sara says “Uncle John, what’s with the corny music?”

Another illusion shattered.

But I reassembled it somewhat, and it now reads Great Music Has the Potential To Be Recognized By Anyone Who Hears It. And I still believe this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t buy the records I do.

But I should have realized she'd react that way. Hell, I don't even think I liked the album the first time I heard it. Why should she?

But even given the chance, I still think she'd conclude it was corny because she just doesn't care as much about melody and electric guitars.

And although I haven't heard it, I suspect Beyonce's album is more to her liking and that she'd think Beck was corny, too. So, why shouldn’t Kanye? (Remember Kanye? It’s a post about Kanye.)


Dinner Time:

Which is why I can't get too annoyed with him. He cares, he's passionate. For all I know, he’s secretly in love with Beyonce. He sure loves himself. And now, after all these years, I can see how healthy that must be.

And judging from this record, he makes pretty great music too.

Up until now, I wasn’t sure. I liked his first record, but not the 12-minute monolog at the end about how he got a record deal.

This time out, he adds a hard rock texture - guitars (!) and melody (!!) - to a lot of the songs.

Every song has a great vocal, hook, texture or lyric to offer, and there are no dead spots at all. My only complaint is that he mars the otherwise stellar “The Blame Game” with a gross Chris Rock monolog.  But even that’s funny.

And while I still don’t quite love it, I’m really happy I got it. Kanye may have saved hip-hop - and my principle - for me.

So, to this impossible, egotistical, narcissistic self-proclaimed genius, I say, Damn!

A-

Decade: 2005 - Bottoming Out, But With a Brief Happy Ending

Winter Blues Redux Ad Nauseum:

In what was becoming a recurring pattern in my life, I was down in the dumps in January. But even by my standards, this was a bad time. So I headed out to the record store for sustenance.

When I put on Arcade Fire’s “Funeral” now, I can’t believe how inspiring it is, and how far down I must have been that it didn’t work on me right away. Instead, I took it in, acknowledged that it was a good album, and filed it away. It came roaring back a couple of months later, and gave me some hope.
---------------- Now playing: Arcade Fire - In the Back Seat via FoxyTunes

I was expecting more from Rilo Kiley’s “More Adventurous”, but that happens sometimes. Jenny Lewis has a very pleasing voice, and writes good tunes, but the very dark lyrics provide too jarring a contrast. And the band is too intent on making a hit. Which is ironic given that the high point is “It’s a Hit” – a smackdown for our last president, and some others I don’t happen to know.

---------------- Now playing: Rilo Kiley - It's a Hit via FoxyTunes

At my job, the closest thing we had to a compulsive liar was the guy who kept using phrases like “keeping it real” and “G-unit” and such. I thought he’d be impressed when I told him that I got a record by “Kane West”. Never heard of him, he said. Then I put on my reading glasses I saw that it said Kanye. Not my coolest moment.

Well, even us lame fifty-year-olds can pronounce his name now, and not necessarily because of his music. Kanye West has a habit of saying asinine things. Isn’t that the sign of genius? Kanye thinks so. But I quibble. Here’s a great couplet from “We Don’t Care” which is on The College Dropout:

“We weren’t supposed to make it past twenty five

The jokes on you, we’re still alive.”

And good for him. This is a good record - funny, if a little too reliant on sampled and sped up vocals. But if you want to hear an entertaining rap record, this is not a bad place to start.
---------------- Now playing: Kanye West - We Don't Care via FoxyTunes

May:

By now I was at an all-time low. I put the new records away, and took out Wilco’s depressing, insular “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”. ---------------- Now playing: Wilco - Radio Cure via FoxyTunes When I got it the previous year, I listened and shrugged. Now it was all I could deal with, except at night when I’d put on Aphex Twin’s “Select Ambient Works, Vol. II”, which is about as low impact and alienated as you can get.

Father’s Day:

The Shins’ “Chutes Too Narrow” coincided with me getting over myself, and my job. Things were looking up, and James Mercer helped by writing at least two songs that are amongst the best of the decade. The rest of the record is energetic and tuneful and as tight as a drum.
---------------- Now playing: The Shins - Mine's Not a High Horse via FoxyTunes

After my daily replays of Aphex Twin, I wanted to revisit an old joy - Eno’s “Another Green World”, now on CD, would save me the trouble of getting my lazy ass off the couch to flip it over. Considered one of the first “ambient” records, it marks a halfway point between pretty but empty Pure Moods/Enya/New Age and austere to the point of comatose Aphex Twin. One of my all timers. I was feeling better now.
---------------- Now playing: Brian Eno - Everything Merges With the Night via FoxyTunes

Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage” is a perfectly pleasant, if not very challenging, jazz record. No complaint here – it’s good for company – but it’s not going to make you a fanatic.

Summer:

We used the excuse of my sons growing interest in the Beatles to pick up “For Sale”, “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Abbey Road” on CD.

“Magical Mystery Tour” is a so so Beatles record. In other word, it’s not amongst their very best, but is still better than 98% of what’s out there. Okay, so “Blue Jay Way” and “Flying” aren’t great, but just about everything else on it is.

“For Sale” is the British equivalent to “Beatles VI” or “’65” or something. It represents the beginning of middle period Beatles, with acoustic guitars, downbeat themes and a touch of country. Okay, “Mr. Moonlight” kinda sucks, but in that good, Beatles kind of way. And then there’s “I’m a Loser”, “No Reply”, “Baby’s In Black”, “I’ll Follow the Sun”, “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”, “Eight Day’s a Week”, “What You’re Doing”. Need I say more?

“Abbey Road” (link) Side Two as greatest album side of all time? Discuss! I’m distrustful of nostalgia, but it’s hard to listen to side two without feeling lucky to be alive. This summer, we enjoyed it all over again.

Fall:

The Musical Heritage Society struck again with A Night at the Opera. Not a Marx Brothers soundtrack, but rather overtures from famous operas, done on acoustic guitars. No singing, thank god. Good for early mornings.

And what’s a music collection without a record by Igor Stravinsky? How could I turn down the two CD “The Essential…”? Damn you, MHS! This is a great example something that was once not considered music at all, but that is now thought of as quite tame.

Overcoming my reluctance to buy records I’ve already heard big chunks of, I finally broke down at the bargain bin, and got The Grateful Dead’s “Workingman’s Dead”. When your musical tastes go through a change, it’s tempting to be dismissive of your earlier enthusiasms. But if anything, I’m even more impressed with this record now. I’d call this the seminal Americana album if I wasn’t so averse to using those two already overused terms, in the same sentence no less. Even the overplayed “Casey Jones” sounds just good closing it. Robert Hunter deserves a medal for these lyrics. My only gripe is that the generous bonus tracks are kind of shaky. Hey, those harmonies are tough.
---------------- Now playing: Grateful Dead - Black Peter via FoxyTunes

Mule Variations is my first Tom Waits record. What do you get by the man who’s done everything? If you’re lucky, a record that balances his weirdness and his songwriting. But really, what do I know? They may all be like this. The sound on this record is crystal clear, so there are no excuses for the cacophony. No apologies, either. More music to get rid of company with. Seriously, it’s quite good. “Come on Up to the House” is the great one here.
---------------- Now playing: Tom Waits - Come on Up to the House via FoxyTunes

For the longest time, I hated Bjork’s “Post”, but now I think she’s been a victim of low volume, which happens to the music I play at home from time to time. I finally played this electronica extravaganza in my car, and began to notice the overall sound, which makes the band sound like an artillery division advancing on you. Which helps a lot when she starts to woop and holler in that Bjork way of hers. The bass could knock you over, by the way.
---------------- Now playing: Björk - Isobel via FoxyTunes

Buddy Guy is cited by just about every good white guitar player, so who am I to say no? And from the Musical Heritage Society no less! This one’s “The Very Best of Buddy Guy”. The guitar playing is so raw that you can feel his fingers on the strings. He sings good too.
---------------- Now playing: Buddy Guy - Man of Many Words via FoxyTunes

The Essential Bessie Smith - I suppose when you’ve heard one of these double entendres you’ve heard them all – sugar in my bowl, trombone cholly, do your duty - but why do I keep going back? Because Ms. Smith just won’t be denied.
---------------- Now playing: Bessie Smith - Aggravatin' Papa via FoxyTunes

Thanksgiving:

The Shins made such an impression over the summer that I jumped at “Oh, Inverted World”, their first record. It’s not as impressive as “Chutes”, but that’s partly because it’s a bit slower and fuzzier. Once you give it a chance, though, the pretty tunes really catch up to you.
---------------- Now playing: The Shins - New Slang via FoxyTunes

The Streets

Time for another dip into what is arguably not hip hop. Like I'd know one way or the other. I find this Brit very funny and quite tuneful.
---------------- Now playing: The Streets - Dry Your Eyes via FoxyTunes

Husker Du

Minneapolis trio strikes again. During the 80s these guys cranked out more tunes than just about anyone else around. I was disappointed by 1986’s “Candy Apply Grey”, and find “New Day Rising” much better, if not perfect. Not mellow. I don’t know what’s more powerful, Bob Mould’s yowl or his gargantuan guitar.
---------------- Now playing: Hüsker Dü - Powerline via FoxyTunes

Christmas:

Hank Williams Gold:

Like Neil Young and John Prine after him, Hank’s songs are simple, but you can’t get enough of them. One would think that two CDs is a lot to take in at one time, but in fact it goes by quite easily.
---------------- Now playing: Hank Williams - Cool Water via FoxyTunes

Great:

The Beatles simply don’t count.

The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow

Arcade Fire - Funeral

Good:

The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free

Tom Waits - Mule Variations

Was the music really any better than any other year? No, but I was feeling better, so it just seems that way. So, there’s a happy ending.

For now.