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!

Moe’s Art!

I kept hearing how great this guy was:



And I agreed, initially. After all, how do you beat this?

Turns out they meant another guy:

Oh, Christ, I thought, classical music is so boring. I mean, they hardly ever poke Curly in the eye, do they?

But I soldiered on and learned a few things. But so did Classical Music. Like, Don’t Be Annoying.

I always hated how fussy sounding it could be. Everybody was so exact and specific. It’s the sound equivalent of a foppish guy in a wig raising his pinky while sipping his tea, all the while imagining he’s better than the servant who brewed it for him. So even when he’s having a good time taking in a sonata or two, and you can’t be happy for him.

So I just wished they’d all relax a little. Like on The Brandenburg Concertos, where you can imagine the orchestra taking a hit or two before starting, or that Vivaldi Mandolin Concerto where you can just make out the Heineken's at their feet. Okay, that's a stretch, but you get the idea - relaxed.

But when they’re serious, oh boy, look out. It’s like a lecture from your teacher. Or worse, your mom. So these obstacles have slowed my appreciation somewhat.


For instance, it’s taken thirty years to really get this record:


Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (K. 525): Orpheus Chamber Orchestra  (1787)

Back in 1989, ex-friend Dan said that A Little Night Music was his favorite piece of classical music, which should have told me something.

But in typical Jaybee Record Store Trip fashion, I picked up this epitome-of-classical-musical along with the Replacement’s epitome-of-sloppy-rock n’ roll Tim.

So which one do you think I listened to more at the time, even with a baby in the house? It wasn’t even close. (And that wasn’t even the best one by the Mats…)

After all, the two artists couldn’t be more different:

• One was by a snotty young genius with bad manners, and the other was, well…  
• One celebrated juvenile jokes and the other, well…
• One died young (a fate we all secretly wish on those we see as having too good a time…) and the other, well….
• One created music that would ultimately be considered among the greatest of the era and the other would, well...

But no one would mistake Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for Paul Westerberg (and no, Westerberg didn’t die, but guitarist Bob Stinson did. He was at least as wild as WAM) would they?

For all WAM’s proclivities, he’s long since been enshrined in the upper-class Museum of Why We’re Better Than Everyone Else.

Not so, the Replacements who’d take that bucket of black paint to the canvas.

But how are these records different? Well, one has guitars on it. The other doesn't, so I shelved it.

I have since gotten a few more opportunities to listen to it thanks to my World History Project, which is now up to 1787. And it's begun to grow on me. But first we had to get past that perky beginning, which is familiar so so many. I’ll take the second movement any day.

One good thing about classical albums is that they tend to throw in more than one piece in order to fill up the album. ALNM runs only about 15 minutes so there’s plenty of room for more. And that’s where this record really shines.

There's Divertimento en E flat major (K. 252 (240a) for those of you keeping score). And another one in D Major (K.131) both of which I like more than ALNM.

WAM knows how to fits in lots of melody without overdoing it. The violins don’t just play, they saw furiously to get in as many notes as can fit. And every one counts.

Like a tasty lead guitar with a couple of seconds here and there for fills.  Or even better, when they make the riff part of the overall structure.

Which is all I ask for, you know?

A-


And since I pretend to be open-minded I would eventually get some other records by Mozart, but in fact, a bunch of them just fell into my lap, like:


Sinfonia Concertante; Concerto in E-flat Major 
Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra in D Major (c. 1777)

These two long pieces have got everything going for them, and the CD sounds great on headphones. The playing is excellent and they sound like they’re enjoying themselves. It's too fast for weed to explain, so I'm just going to assume lots of coffee.

A-



Sonata in A Minor K 310 (1778)

When I first saw the cover my deep animosity for the upper class made me think hey Alfred, get over yourself. But now I see him as thinking all right, we both know I kick ass on piano, so calm the f*ck down and we'll get this over with as quickly as possible.  And if you can get over that I gotta get dressed up to listen to this record feeling, you'll notice he skipped the tie and jacket, so I think he's trying to meet us halfway.

And this music is pretty serious sounding. (Hey, you, sit up straight!) But if you give Alfred a chance, you'll start to notice that it's worth listening to. It's not just serious for the sake of taking the joy out of your life. It's there to put some back in, so by the end you're cheering him on.

And when you really look at him leaning on the piano, you think maybe he's had a few himself. Hey Alfred, let me hold the rest of that six pack while you play!

And he also includes a few other pieces, like Fantasy in C Minor and Rondo in A Minor that are quite pretty.

My favorite part, though, is “Variations in D on a Minuet by Duport”, where Mozart comes up with  NINE different ways to show he's better than the original composer. So obnoxious, he might have been asked to join the Replacements. He'd only have to live two hundred more years.

A-


Dude even did an opera (or thirty). I got it at Costco for about $1. WAM must be having a laugh at that. Even Pleased to Meet Me cost more than that!


Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail  (1782)

But it’s all right. As usual, there’s lots of energy and melody, like they’re all planning to have sex after the show.

B+



Piano Concertos 23 and 24 (1786?)

And there are these two piano concertos I’m just getting into. I waited a month to get this. I thought maybe they were digging up old Wolfgang for me. When I complained they sent me two copies, because that makes sense, right?

So I’m still just getting into them. If we wait until I figure them out we'll be here until they unfreeze him, so he can explain it all to us.

In the meantime...

Grade: TBD

Requiem: (1791)

And finally a Requiem, in anticipation of his death. And, as you’d expect, it ain’t perky.

I’m not big of Requiems as the singers seem to be having an even worse time than the Monks, who are kind of boring to begin with.

Rest assured, nobody’s having fun here.

It’s not like I wanted him to die or anything. All he had to do was chill. But he has to overdo even that.

B


But I do appreciate all of his wit, energy and invention.

So I say jump in and enjoy a guy who is almost as good as the Replacements, but maybe not as good as the Beatles.

Or Moe Howard.

That Old Beach House of Ours

My family can never decide which BBQ place we like better - Dinosaur BBQ or Morgan’s. It always seems to be the one where we’re eating at the time.

So when I finally decided to take the plunge with the Baltimore duo Beach House - a band that’s been around since 2006 - I made up for lost time by taking two.

And now I keep jumping back and forth between the two, trying to decide which one is my favorite.

For a while, I couldn’t even tell which song was on which album. Then I developed a mental shorthand which told me if the production was lush, it was Bloom, and if it was weird and haunting it was Teen Dream.

And now after about twenty listens each I can I can finally tell which album a given song is from.

And after thirty listens each I think I can finally form an opinion.



Teen Dream (2010)

After being disappointed by Speedy Ortiz, going through genre fatigue with jazz and classical, and getting worn down by the news, it was nice to hear something gentle and a little weird.

Part of the weirdness is the sparse but spacious production and Victoria Legrand’s almost-baritone vocals. The effect is of being greeted at the entrance of a castle by a very old woman. You wonder who you’re going to meet there. Boris Karloff or Peter Boyle?

We end up with both, who are getting on well and talking about old times. So everyone ends up having a lovely time.

The overall atmosphere goes a long way, and makes up for the tunes not quite holding up to the very end. (But I’m listening to it right now and the tunes seem just fine. And maybe it's Bloom that's a bit too slick…)

But most importantly, it was just what I needed at the time.

A-

“Used to Be”



Bloom (2012)

Here they’re going for a more polished sound, so the weirdness factor has dropped a bit. But the melodies and singing are stronger.

Victoria Legrand’s voice fills up all that space, and the musical accompaniment by her and Alex Scally is spot on every time out.

I normally gravitate to weird since melody and production are often compromises. But if this is what compromise is I want more of it.

A


These grades are tentative and have a tendency to switch back and forth.

So which one is better? Well, that would be whichever one that’s playing right now.

Don't Play That Song! Classic Rock Edition

We went to a local “bistro” (you know the kind, interesting sounding food, small portions, no tablecloth, too expensive).  In such a straight neighborhood, it was a relief to find something even slightly funky, though.

The service was friendly, and the atmosphere laid back. We were having a good time until we noticed how disappointing the music was. It wasn’t the awful Easy Listening a la Air Supply, etc., but it was a litany of the most overplayed hits of the seventies. Why, after all this time, are we still hearing this shit?

So I say that it’s time we made a list – the Don’t Play That Song list - and send it to every radio station on earth. Let’s start with Classic Rock, because it's been around so long now that the overplayed songs are especially grievous offenders. (Plus, I don’t know the names of the ones that aren’t Classic Rock.)

And lest you feel I’m picking on some otherwise worthy artists, allow me to explain that overplaying their hits is actually unfair to them. Every time you hear one of these songs you’re missing an equally good other song by that very same artist. Let’s not even get into other artists who deserved some of the limelight but never got it because the radio station was too busy playing... well, any of these songs for the 10,000th time.

Of course, there are some artists who sucked from the get-go and they're overplayed songs are the best they can manage.  They’re like your talkative aunt or strange uncle. We’re stuck with them, but we don’t go out of our way to see them.

The songs below are so well known I won’t even name the bands. And I offer some alternatives by those same artists. I’m NOT saying the alternatives are better (although in some cases they are), nor am I saying that the songs are bad (although some are).

C'mon, if you give this even two minute's thought, you could come up with your own list. Here’s mine:


The Obvious:

“Stairway to Heaven”:
No surprise here, really.  I’ve done such a good job of ignoring this song over the years, that it almost sounds okay again now.  But not quite.
Instead, try this one: “That’s the Way”

“Margaritaville”
I like Jimmy Buffett almost as much as the next drunk, but this well-written song is every sixty-something's excuse to not seek out a thousand other equally good songs.
Almost anything else by Jimmy deserves your attention.

“Free Bird”
This one is just too freaking long, especially the live version, the ending of which is ridiculous. If you’ve just got to request a song at a concert, show some imagination. Make it “Whippin’ Post”.
But if it’s got to be Skynyrd, make it “Whiskey Rock n Roller” or “Tuesday’s Gone”.


Less Obvious, Just as Annoying:

“Listen to the Music”
Please don’t.  It was 1972 and already a long way from the sixties. Ushering in an age of lowered expectations four years before Jimmy Carter. Not bad. Just a grim reminder of how uninteresting things can get.
“Without You” rocks a lot more, even if they were still waiting for a good singer to show up.

“Summer Breeze”
This one is so overplayed it literally hurts when it comes on. I still like the bridge, but the verse, chorus and guitar-riff take up too much collective space in our brains. Anyone who voluntarily plays it should be flogged.
“Ridin Thumb” is a weird little alternative.

By the way, these last two songs were played back to back at an otherwise wonderful seafood place in the Village recently.  (Yes, all my traumatic musical episodes occur while eating out.) Yet more crap followed so I came to suspect they were being ironic. We visited their sister restaurant a few years ago, where they had a knockout playlist of 60s music. What the hell happened?!

“Heart of Gold”
Et tu, Neil? How about “New Mama” from Harvest’s polar opposite Tonight’s the Night.

“I Wanna Be Sedated”
Yeah, it’s great, but as their commercial break through it allowed normal people to feel cool by liking them. There are dozens of other equally brilliant Ramones songs, and I can guarantee you won’t hear them at a wedding, like “Cretin Hop”. But just about anything from the first four albums would do.
But this relatively anti-social "Beat on the Brat" will do. (Don't worry, I played it around the kids and they turned out fine. Sort of.)

“Sultans of Swing”
Really? Again?
“Water of Love”

“You Better You Bet”
Come on.  This song kind of sucks. You know it. I know it.  The only reason we even know this song exists is because the Who did it.  It would never pass the If Someone Unknown Did It test.
Try just about anything before Tommy, Like “Relax”, from The Who Sell Out, which is, by the way, the greatest album of all time.  (Yeah, I said it.)

“Against the Wind”
Also, “Like a Rock”, or anything involving nature. Bob's a city boy, so let's go with his best song ever.
“Main Street”

“Refugee”
It sounded good the first time I heard it, okay the next second time. But that was it. The next 10,000 times occurred in the 80s, and it epitomizes all that’s wrong with Tom Petty.  He thinks he’s better than he is. He invests a lot of feeling in a pretty unoriginal song.
Go with most of “Full Moon Fever” or my favorite, “Shadow of a Doubt (Complex Kid)”

“Tempted”
Not anymore.
Try “Up the Junction”, which will rip your heart out.

“Tainted Love”
I'm breaking my rule here. This song sucked from the get-go, and the idea that anyone could extract any joy from it is beyond my comprehension. This is what they mean when they say that white guys have no rhythm. And I oughtta know.
The original - sung by a female - has more balls.


Repeat Offenders:

Billy Joel:
BJ manages a Trifecta here:
“Piano Man” - I can still get through it with the help of the words, but JESUS.
“It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me” - Pure BS (again, I ought to know) from someone who didn’t get punk/new wave.  He should stick to pop, which he’s actually good at.
“You May Be Right” – This one makes me sick.  I hate self-described “crazy” people. If you think you are, you’re not.  You're boring.
I could go on about “Just the Way You Are”, “Big Shot”, “Movin’ Out”. It just goes on and on.
Instead, try "Summer, Highland Falls", "And So It Goes", “James”, “I’ve Loved These Days” or this great one from Streetlife Serenade.

The Eagles:
Really, the entire Eagles oeuvre is pretty tired, except for some overlooked gems on the first three albums.  But the dead horses are:
“Take It Easy” - Good at the time, but I just can’t take it anymore.  I feel like I’m listening to the skeleton of a song.
“Lyin Eyes” - Basta!
“Life In the Fast Lane” - The only difference between Fast Laners and Low Lifes is money.
“Hotel California” I can admit now, after all these years, that this is not a bad song, but it isn’t nearly as good as it thinks it is.
I much prefer "Nightingale", "Tryin'" and "Bitter Creek".

Evil Jaybee says that any DJ who consciously puts on one of these songs really should be shot. The kinder, gentler Jaybee just wishes they’d find another line of work.

In looking at the above it’s amazing that there are no Beatles songs on it. I was about to say there are no Stones songs either, but I just thought of a few:
“Angie”
“Start Me Up”
“It’s Only Rock n Roll”
Which just goes to show it can happen to the almost best.

Instead, try anything before Beggar’s Banquet, like all of Aftermath. But there's also “Moonlight Mile”, “Lovin’ Cup”, “You’ve Got the Silver”, "Before They Make Me Run", and what may be the greatest rock and roll song ever “Soul Survivor”.

So my advice Mr. DJ - if you still exist (probably not, so okay Mr. Radio Programmer) is that every time you want to play one of the above songs, take the fucking hint, okay?

Overrated

NOTE: This post is co-written by Good Jaybee and Evil Jaybee. Most of the work was done by Good Jaybee (because Evil Jaybee is, well, evil) but we’ll call it out when EJ has something to say.

I recently threw a stink bomb into a discussion taking place on an Americana music site.

Members were asked which artists they thought were the most overrated. I just came to listen since I couldn’t think of anyone.

Some of the comments were of the kids these days variety. I'd had enough of that when I was an actual kid, but didn’t rise to the bait this time.

And of course there were the conformist-as-hell-but-don’t-know-it nonconformists who trashed the Beatles. For the most part, though, ire was directed at well, Americana artists, as was apt.

But then a few commenters put some pop/dance/rap artists on their lists. Now I’m a dilettante at best regarding those genres. I hate some, I like some. So I wasn’t exactly defending them when I jumped into it.

My point was if you don’t like a genre, how can you say an artist of that genre is overrated? It’s like someone who hates hearing fat ladies sing saying that opera is overrated. Maybe his opinion just doesn’t matter. Doesn’t he know this? Why is he even talking? The fat lady fans just don’t care.

I got a good mix of responses - none of them threatening actual physical harm. And the dialog eventually got to the I like what I like and you like what you like phase, which leads me to wonder what the point of the exercise was.

I always wondered how someone could dismiss an entire musical genre, anyway. Don’t you have to be familiar with something to form an opinion about it? I’d try to picture the person dutifully listening to a whole stack of albums in order to develop an informed opinion just for this occasion. And at the end of all that effort (and money spent), they would pronounce the genre “Sucky”. Really? Isn’t life too short for all that? Unless you’re a critic and you’re paid to do that.

I’ve since learned that most people don’t go to such lengths. They hear what they hear and then they give their opinion about it. And I guess if you hear a few songs and don’t like any of them, chances are you’re not going to like the next one, either.

Isn’t that enough to just leave it all be? Do you really need to make pronouncements about it? As if those who are enjoying it are wrong? (Evil Jaybee here. I will make exceptions for artists like Journey or Rush, who, if you like them, you're definitely wrong.)

So I got to thinking about what overrated really means. When we use the term, we’re essentially saying that we like something less than other people. Not much of a statement.

The logic of it goes something like this:
You like ______ a lot.
I don’t like _______ as much as you.
Therefore, you have rated ______ too highly.
Thus, you are incorrect.
Stop liking _______.

When put into a more global context, it’s more like this:
The whole world really like ________.
I think _________ is okay,
So the whole world has overrated them.
Thus, the whole world is incorrect.
World, stop liking ______.

This all sounds ridiculous to me, but it’s a bit more entertaining than "To each his own".

It comes back to the question of inherent quality. I once heard Mortimer J. Adler talking to Bill Moyers and rating Shakespeare over the poetry of James Dickey. Bill Moyers preferred the latter. Adler said that Moyers saw a quality in Dickey, as Adler saw in Shakespeare, but added that there was an inherent quality in Shakespeare that made him greater than James Dickey.

Funny how the guy who prefers Shakespeare also finds a greater inherent quality in him. What a coincidence. File that under No Shit, Mortimer.

On the other side of the coin, there are very few people who, when asked to choose between the Beatles and Herman’s Hermits, would pick the latter.  But are they wrong if they do?
(EJ: Hell Yes!) 

But once you get inside their heads you realize they're not. They like HH goddammit! And who am I to say that they’re f*cking stupid morons with no taste?  (Oops, that was EJ again.)

A guy at work who once told me - with a straight face - that he preferred Wings to the Beatles. While I shook my head in disgust, another person there agreed with him. Now you expect to encounter such idiocy on the job but these were people I respected! They were older than me and thus preferred the more poppish/commercial Wings to the slightly rockier Beatles.

And the sales figures at the time may have backed them up on this. I’m actually afraid of finding out. (EJ: I'm not. I just checked a couple of sites and it looks like the Beatles are doing better.) 

Thank God. But was it a matter of time?  Were the quality/marathon Beatles inevitably going to beat out the hit-of-the-moment/sprinter Wings? I’d like to think so, but Cats has still grossed more than Gypsy on Broadway.

(EJ) Let’s stop right here. I will (and sometimes do) shout to the rooftops that the Wings people are WRONG about this. That there is an inherent quality (yeah, I said it) in Beatles music that is lacking in Wings. And those Wings fans make Hermans Hermits fans seem like Rhodes scholars.   

Good Jaybee here. A seemingly obvious difference in quality - Beatles vs. Herman’s Hermits -  may only be so because the Beatles are more famous than HH. In other words, perhaps it’s just the majority saying what they like and drowning out the HH fans.

I don’t have any Hermans Hermits albums. so for all I know they’re masterpieces. (EJ: Ah, but life’s too short to find out, right GJ?)

Uh, yeah. But for the hell of it, I checked the allmusic.com essay, and well, don’t you know that the author thinks their second album is just great?

Which brings me to Willie Nelson.

Or rather, that Americana site.

I somehow got pulled into an argument about Willie, or was it just an offshoot of the original Overrated Debate? Anyway, I was trying to play nice and pushed the to each his own line.

One guy was cool with that, since he was being attacked for liking some of Willie’s later albums. The other guy hated anything by Willie after 1985 or so.

We got to the you like what you like... phase (or, as the anti-Willie guy said, the you’re blind phase). (EJ: Didn’t he mean deaf?)

So to break the tension I decided to ask them both for their suggestions on good Willie Nelson albums. And guess who gave me suggestions? Not the Anti Late Willie guy, of course. You’d think that with all the effort he put into trashing stuff, he'd happily direct me to the "good". But no. He must have gotten bored.

So what’s the point of a negative opinion?  I mean, it’s fine to have one. I have plenty.

Like this one. These guys are overrated:
Led Zeppelin
U2
The Police

Discuss!

And while you’re doing that, here’s one of the greatest songs of the sixties by the just-about-correctly-rated Hermans Hermits.
(EJ: Just try to think of a song by Wings you’d say was one of the greatest of the seventies. Good luck with that!)

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...

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!