Music for the War on Christmas

It's been a less than merry time in the Jaybee household. We've received a few blows recently, including the death of our dog, the one-year anniversary of my mother-in-law's death, and the news of the death within our circle of friends/family.

And whatever anyone tells you, not everybody's ability to cope has been, shall we say, "heroic". That whole notion is bullshit anyway. You're lucky if the grief doesn't take you all down with it.

What to do when the mood of the season is laughably out of sync with your own? With cheerfulness being thrust upon you, you fight back, of course, defending your negativity from any encroachments of goodwill toward men.

And what better to arm yourself with than the most utterly depressing music I can think of? "River" by Joni Mitchell, you say? Please. Joni got over that pretty quickly. Ian Curtis didn't.

Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (1979)

Joy Division's second - and last - album, Closer, was one of my first ever CDs. Lucky for me I got it with about a dozen other CDs, which gave me time to dip my toe into that black hole of sound.

This record - their first - is not quite that far gone but it's pretty grim, and its grimness is baked into the overall sound itself. 

Ian Curtis and Co. are an acquired taste unless you're a 1970s/post-punk depressive. I was tempted to say you had to be feeling pretty strong to listen to this without wanting to off yourself. But that's not true. If you were feeling strong you wouldn't listen to this at all. This is for wallowing in the depths.

As I get ever older I should be less patient with that approach. After all, here it's coming from a bunch of twenty-year-olds. I mean, what do they know? But lead singer Ian Curtis meant it, man, and proved it by committing suicide not long after their second record. 

The music itself is as intense but slower than your typical punk rock. It features more of the loud yet echoey guitar that would re-emerge when the Ian-less band morphed into New Order. It's the sound of someone on his way to rock bottom. Closer, with its more dirge-like songs, trading guitar for keyboards, is the sound of the bottom itself. 

Do you know how they say sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you change? What they don't mention is that there's no guarantee you will. 

I can't really say I enjoy this music, exactly, but it does move me. 

I guess Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works, Vol 2 is comparable, but since it's all instrumental its desolation is in what is absent and is thus less in your face.

But with its up-front vocals, JD counts as the most desolate music I've ever heard.

Merry Fucking Christmas

A-

There's a Surprisingly Thick Line Between "Not Bad" and "Pretty Good"

As year's end approaches I'm yet again scrambling to distinguish the bad from the good, the meh from the meh-gnificent, the mezza-mezza from the Measure for Measure, the crummy and puerile from the Crime and Punishment. 

And as usual, most of it falls somewhere in the middle.

Of course, what slows me down is my short attention sp -  

Look, a new 50 CD set of out-takes by (fill in obscure and probably overrated indie rock "legends")!!

And suddenly, it's three months later.

But I eventually return and get back to telling the bad from the good, the turd that's forced from the tour de force, the... well, you get the idea.

So here are two records that, on paper, seem similar - keyboard-based pop music with female singer/songwriter - but whose outcomes are completely different, if not in quality exactly, definitely in the fun factor. And isn't fun non-negotiable?

Weyes Blood: Titanic Rising (2019)

Christ, I've listened to this a couple of dozen times and I still don't know if I am actually hearing it.  (I must admit this also happened with Destroyer which I eventually came to like a lot.

This lady's kind of a drag. She sings in that stentorian style that comes from on high, indicating she's above all this mere pop music. She's always got her orchestra with her. 

The songs are not bad, the voice is not bad, the tunes are not bad and the record is overall...not bad.

It is kind of annoying and one-note (Jesus, sing in a different key fer chrissakes).

But I'm finally able to distinguish one song from another! I even put it on for company - not to knock their socks off, of course, but to provide that pleasant background sound for civilized dinners. Nothing that could be confused with rock 'n roll. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Some people will love it. A lot more will admire it. It's very accomplished, but really no fun. At. All.  And when you're just not in the mood, it's interminable.

But not BAD.

B+

"A Lot's Gonna Change"

Sharon Van Etten: Remind Me Tomorrow (2018)

Her voice occupies approximately the same range as Weyes Blood's, so why does she sound so much more compelling, even if her melodies aren't quite as strong? 

Maybe it's the delivery? Yes! It's not as technically accomplished, but it's far more passionate. She sounds like a participant in these songs, rather than just an observer. 

Or the dynamic and varied arrangements? Yup. Piano, of course, but also guitars, drums, and even some gratuitous noise. (My favorite kind.)

Or maybe it's the way she goes over similar territory as WB but risks throwing in a "holy shit" in order to keep it all grounded. Fuck yeah.

And it all goes by so quickly you're sure you missed something. So even if each song hasn't quite hit me yet I'm ready to play it again.

So, it may not turn out to be a MASTERPIECE, but it's pretty damn good.

A-

"I Told You Everything"

So next time....Oh, look! A squirrel! - 

Forget Everything I Said

Go-Betweens: 16 Lovers Lane (1988)

This is the GBs sixth album, and their last one before taking a ten-year hiatus.

It's also my eighth unless you count the anthology of solo records by each of the two songwriters, Robert McClennan and Robert Forster.

Now, this would seem to go against everything I said a couple of posts ago, yet here we are.

How to explain? Well, in a way this should have been my first GB record. After all, I heard "Streets of Your Town" on the radio in late '88. That timeless pop classic alone should have gotten me to the record store the day I heard it. Shall I say that, as a new parent, I put the care of our newborn first? It's just as likely I was avoiding the "one good song on a crappy album" situation. 

It took two years to get over that. Alas, when I tried to buy it at J&R, they had every other GB record except 16LL. There was an anthology 1978 - 1990, which had "Streets" on it, so I took the plunge. It turned out to be one of my favorite records ever - a great mix of their best album cuts, b-sides, and assorted weirdness. It would take me another six years to venture beyond that record, mainly due to the fear that I had now already heard all their best stuff.

And once I did it wasn't all smooth sailing. Each record had something to offer: some incredible high points, but also some annoyances. The latter were usually supplied by Robert Forster, whose songs didn't always have a clear melodic line, and his singing didn't worry too much about things like pitch. Kind of an MOR Lou Reed, if such a thing were possible. (btw, I'd pay to see that.)

I would learn that these were features, not bugs. Records like Before Hollywood and Tallulah were exactly what they wanted to be. And it was my tough luck if because of that they weren't perfect. 

It would eventually become obvious to (even) me that I liked their post-hiatus records Friends of Rachel Worth and Oceans Apart the best. Maybe by then, Robert decided that if they wanted a hit he'd have to be a little less awkward.

Unfortunately, this coincided with the music business becoming infinitely more superficial, if that were possible, so despite his best efforts to sell out, no one was buying, no matter how great the records were.

So I now came full circle, finally listening to Nutboy, who, in 2011 told me 16LL was his favorite GB record. And ignoring my own misgivings about the diminishing returns from getting multiple albums from the same artist. There are some for whom such a concern simply doesn't count. They're always going to give you something more than what you had before. And the GBs are among them.

Grant McLennan contributes his usual set of literate, emotional, melodic pop songs, "Streets" being merely the best one.

Robert Forster steps up with an almost too pretty "Love is a Sign" and the so sad it's almost funny "I"m All Right". Vocally, he reverts to form with "Clouds" but manages to sidestep the usual snags. The production helps. As a matter of fact, his songs are the prettiest on the record.

What's missing is the powerful rhythmic motor that usually drives their songs. But I guess it's just not that type of record, so they get away with it. 

My only regret is that they didn't get the success the album richly deserved.

A-

So in case you're interested here are my GB albums in order of preference 

Oceans Apart

The Friends of Rachel Worth

16 Lovers Lane

Tallulah

Spring Hill Fair

Before Hollywood

Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express

No go and have at it!

On Being Here to Stay, Never Forgetting, Etc.

Hmmm. No sooner have I bitched about the paucity of good rock 'n roll when I get slapped in the head with three excellent records. And what do they have in common? Well, nothing, but only one of the three was by a band I already had a record by. But it's so different from their other one that it almost doesn't count.

This is an early and short take with the grades subject to adjustment (even more than usual).

Spiritualized: Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space (1997)

First, the drug record (see cover), which is reminiscent of many late-sixties jam-mish records, none of which I can quite name.

Almost every melody sounds "pre-owned" but that's not necessarily a problem. In my book, if it doesn't immediately make you think of the other song, it gets a pass. And the only time that happens here is on the last tune, which nicks the riff and overall vibe from "Out of the Blue" - the first cut on the Apple Jam (see?) disc from All Things Must Pass. Which I like!

The lyrics aren't going to win any prizes with phrases like come together and I so too can rock and roll (or something like that), etc., but they're not so awful as to be distracting. And they're sung with so much stoned... commitment that I just go with the flow. A bit like Lonerism but with a higher dosage.

A bit long, but they're on another clock altogether.

Graded leniently, for the feeling of nostalgia it gives me for some other album I've never really heard.

A-

"I Think I'm In Love"

TV on the Radio: Dear Science (2008)

Second, the formerly-arty-but-now-a-little-more-down-to-earth band

Last time out these guys exhausted me with volume, song length, noise, and depressive subject matter. This time there's less of the first three, more rhythm/singing/melody, which almost by definition means less of the fourth thing.

There is almost a sense of humor here.

I love when an artist sticks to his/her vision (a la Neil Young) but sometimes you can do more with less. 

Graded cautiously because there's a lot to take in here.

A-

"Halfway Home"

The Paranoid Style: A Goddamned Impossible Way of Life: (2019)

And finally, the political rock 'n rollers.

For the last few years, I've been partial to the more poppish/melodic bands with female vocalists singing real pretty. 

This is more sleazy rock n' roll and gnarly guitar riffs with the smart as hell female vocalist with a lot to say. Luckily, she's - and I hesitate to use this phrase as an actual compliment in a rock n' roll context - Very Well Informed. 

That might seem...exhausting, but it's not. Each song is a waterfall of words buoyed by a swaggering band charging ever forward. They've got more than a little Clash and Mekons in them. 

Just thirty minutes, but damn near exhilarating.

A-

Grand Ending Statement (that would take too much work to dispute):

So I'm beginning to think we have moved from the era when a small handful of geniuses consistently made the hugest chunk of the great music to one in which many many different people each do a little piece of it. 

That or I'm just a music slut.

Between Rock and an Unheard Place

First, An Explanation (What Else Is New?)

I've been struggling with/apologizing for listening to non-rock/pop records, perhaps to ward off any complaints that I'm a snob. Which is silly, because I am one. Not that I think I'm better than anyone. I just avoid some people/places/things because I think they're dumb, annoying, or worse, boring, just like, I assume some are avoiding me for the same reason. Respect!

What's even worse than Dumb/Annoying/Boring, though, is same-old-same-old.

Which is why I'm slow to get that second record by that band whose first record was great. 

A sub-explanation: By "second" I don't mean the band's second chronological album. This isn't about faltering creativity. It's about how much of any similar thing you need. 

I mean the second record I got by that band. 

On the one hand, if they gave me a unique/exciting experience the first time around, they are likely to do it again the second time. But on the other, it's got to be a departure of some kind, otherwise, it's just a rerun of the first experience. It's a lot to ask I know.

This hesitancy is a powerful force for pushing me to new (to me) bands, and on a larger scale, to new (to me) genres. Thus, my forays into Jazz, Classical, and especially, World music. 

Of course, it takes longer to understand/appreciate/really hear those records. Thus, when I grade them it is typically based more on their "potential for imparting future joy" than, say, that Phoebe Bridgers record which I loved almost immediately. 

So for instance the Rough Guide to the Music of the Sahara wasn't rocking my living room from beginning to end when I gave it an A-. Instead, it was providing me with a new experience that contained several outright great cuts which gave me the time to absorb the more, well, foreign-sounding ones. 

The optimal end result of this is that some of the foreignness disappears - meaning I grow enough for it to now be familiar for it to become part of my "acceptable music" landscape. That along with its intrinsic uniqueness ensures I'll be listening to it for years to come, both to get into it more, but also to just downright enjoy it.  

Somebody: So, Jaybee, why the long intro? Have you been drinking again? You know, the beneath the surface defensiveness (same ol' Jaybee). The need to EXPLAIN.

It's because I have to tell you about some more records and I don't want you to laugh at me. These are the two core-yet-competing impulses that define my every human interaction. It's the "Look At Me, I'm Smart/Don't Laugh at Me" syndrome.

Now it's possible I've just not given the less impressive records a chance to sink in. This is ironic, given that, if anything, the styles are more familiar to me than those of the non-rock genres.

Anyway, here are a few "second" records by rock bands that are good-not-great, followed by two records by not rock bands that are great, not good.

Spoon: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga  (2007)

The first one was Kill the Moonlight - an excellent record.

This one's got the same rhythmic attack, the same sandy vocals. Maybe a little more guitar. But no brilliant songs like "Don't Let it Get You Down", or "Vittorio E." to put it over the top.

Good, not great, consistent, not brilliant.

B+

"You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb"

Big Thief: Two Hands (2019)

Too mellow (except for "No") and not weird enough.  Except "No".

B+

"Not"

Mountain Goats: The Sunset Tree (2006)

Again, very good, but not essential. Maybe it would be if I got it before Tallahassee. link

Not all that different from Tallahassee, which preceded it. That time, a toxic couple. This time an abusive father. 

Darnielle's voice is just at the edge of unique/annoying. But the tales are still very immediate and compelling - he's one of the best wordsmiths around. Troubled people doing bad things. Again.

On brand, but just not different enough.

B+

"Lion's Teeth"

Toots and the Maytals: Funky Kingston  (1973)

Pros: It includes "Pressure Drop", surely one of the all-time great cuts. 

Cons: It also includes "Country Roads". Yes, the John Denver song. Now I've got nothing against that alcoholic wife-beater, but it was jarring to hear it. Toots et al reggae-afy it and they make it sound easier than it probably was.

This is unpretentious yet smart party music, even if it's not always happy. Toots' vocals propel even the slower songs forward, and even "Louie Louie" sounds like an original.

If you've tried Burning Spear or Culture and found them too tuff, TATM are just what you need. 

A-

"Pressure Drop"

Englebert Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel (1893) 

Okay, here me out. 

First, it's not that dolt Arnold George Dorsey  I'm not that crazy.

EH is a composer from the 19th Century, and this is his most well-known opera. And it's really great.

The last time I tried opera, it was because Costco was selling ten of them (well, the highlights) for $10. And it sits like a brick on my CD shelf talking up more room than anything else. Space becoming more of an issue, I look back on this decision not with regret but with something else that works out to me not being wrong.

But after seeing snippets of this on Classic Arts Showcase (channels 75 and 165 on my awful cable provider) and being utterly entranced, I jumped in. Hearing the whole thing – all two CDs of it - doesn’t have quite that impact, but it is definitely my go-to opera at this point. There's very little of the overly virtuosic singing that turns me right off. It's far more melodic and sweet.

A-

Last part of disc one.

"Sandman's Aria and Evening Prayer".  It takes a minute but then it's sublime.

So there you have it. With Germany and Jamaica beating out America, my music is beginning to resemble soccer. 

Here's hoping it gets back to being NASCAR.

But Jaybee, you JUST SAID...

 I know what you're thinking. Jaybee, you JUST SAID you were listening to rock n roll.

Well, yeah, I did. It just so happens I'm finding it in odd places, this time in the Sahara. 

The very first time I ventured out of North America and Europe (musically, that is) I landed in South Africa. Soweto, to be specific. That was with The Indestructible Beat of Soweto, back in the eighties. The records below motivated me to head down to the basement and play it. And it sounded just as great as it did then.

Various Artists: Rough Guide to the Music of the Sahara (2005)

The subtitle says it all: Moorish Traditions to Desert Rock and Roll. It covers a lot of ground - literally - as the Sahara is nearly as big as the good old USA. But unlike us, the folks there are pretty spread out, which gives them the room to do their own thing. 

Some stick to their traditions. Others plug in their guitars. So I'd be a liar if I said it was a party record with bouncy rock songs from start to finish. But, like Soweto, it shows how the two approaches are more together than one might suppose.

The first two songs, while traditional, have some subtle melodic elements that one can imagine being used on Western pop.  But it's the third song, combining a call-and-response chant and an ominously chirping electric guitar where the connections become more obvious. 

It might have sounded stranger to me if I hadn't already heard Ocean of Sound, which just parachutes you into Tibet to hear the monks, and then over to LA for the Beach Boys, and expects you to deal with it. The same goes here in that the music is completely on their terms, made to please themselves.

So a little patience is in order. And given that it's a collection, it's not quite as focused as the wonderful Le Tran De Lair from earlier this year, which is a bit more focused and basic.

But this record, like Soweto, gets me thinking that maybe rock 'n roll is just the folk/street music but plugged in, and sometimes even not. 

In other words, it's music that comes from the ground up. 

A-

"Id Chab" by Miriem Hassan

Rachid Taha: Bon Jour (2010)

Rachid was born in Algeria, which, by a strange coincidence is also in the Sahara. (I swear I didn't plan this.)  He grew up in France before his untimely death. 

He takes a very different approach to his Saharan brethren above, who found rock 'n roll in tradition. Rachid just went out and grabbed rock music and, when he saw fit, added some of his own cultures to it. 

As a matter of fact, aside from the vocals, which are in his own language and in the style more akin to some current African genres, you wouldn't blink if you heard this record in a bar. Thus proving not only that they can do rock 'n roll, but do it as well as anyone else. 

This record is far more commercial than most of the artists on Sahara, and the cover is a lot tackier (I LOVE it), but the music is accessible as you could possibly hope.

A-

"Je T'Aime Mon Amour"

Some Good Old - and New - Rock 'n Roll

If you've been following me lately, the closest I've come to actual rock 'n roll has been by way of Niger with Etran De L'air (which absolutely counts, by the way). 

This is not due to snobbery. It's just I'm a big believer in the law of diminishing returns, and familiarity breeding contempt. In other words, the very opposite of Classic Rock radio.

I'm also so in awe of music itself that I assume it's a limited resource and we'll eventually run out. So with that kind of mindset, can you blame me for wanting to rotate the crops a bit? Aside from turning me on to all sorts of not rock 'n roll, when I finally do put on a Classic Rock station I actually enjoy it. (Unless, of course, they insist on playing the same shit again and again.)

Another factor that plays into this is that, upon hearing a great "new" band, I no longer immediately buy their entire catalog. It's as if, I don't want to ruin the effect of that first record.

And at the very bottom of it, there's vanity: I don't want to turn into the guy who sits around saying music isn't as good as it used to be. Let's face it, he hasn't listened to anything for decades so why would anyone give a shit what he thinks?

And there are too many of these guys already, and what they're saying is so utterly unoriginal and wrong they should get a new hobby, like gardening or homosexuality. Seriously. It'll do them good.

But in the meantime...

Dramarama: Cineme Verite (1985)

Finally, a good, unique, rock 'n roll album – one that I missed in the mid-80s, even though (actually, because) there were a couple of hits on it.  John Easedale's got a limited vocal range (which he only pushes too far once or twice) but he's sure got vision.

And the band backs him up, no matter the style a given song commands, and makes it all come alive.

Ah, but with nary a synth to be found, they were denied stardom. (F*ck Duran Duran, by the way.)

My version is a bit long, with eight extra cuts, but hey, that's what you get with vision. Definitely worth it.

A-

"Some Crazy Dame"

Fontaines D.C: A Hero's Death (2020)

D.C., as in Dublin City - a far cry from Drama in New Jersey. 

And thus almost the opposite of Verite. The lyrics are very basic and repeated like chants. The singer has a deeper voice. The tempos rarely get past medium. And the arrangements are the same throughout. 

And yet, it's all very compelling. Maybe because I usually associate this approach with disdain/contempt a la Johnny Rotten in Public Image Limited, whereas here there is a much wider spectrum of feeling tending toward the compassionate and life-affirming

If you consider "life ain't always empty" as a stirring chant, that is. But you had to be there.

A-