Corona-chronicles VII - JKL and Hide

Early May, I figure

Well, people started to get restless and do dumb things, but at least George Floyd was still alive. Never say it can't get worse.

The Jesus and Mary Chain: Psychocandy 

This starts off with one of the greatest (and loudest) rock songs of all time. Alas, the rest of the record is not quite so accessible or tuneful.

B+

Billy Joel: The Nylon Curtain

There’s nothing really bad on this record. (Unfortunately, with Billy you usually get something godawful.) At some points he’s trying to make a Beatles record and doesn’t succeed but that’s better than a Billy Joel record that doesn’t succeed. And "Allentown", of course, is great. 

B+

R Johnson: King of the Delta Blues

What a hard record to listen to on a bright, sunny day, but a great record to hear in the basement at 6am! Perfect Covid music. 

A-

Janis Joplin: I Got Dem Ol' Kosmic Blues Again, Mama!

God, I hated this record when I first heard it. I was always a guitar guy, not a horn guy, and a pop guy, not a blues guy. But I'm younger than that now, and this sounds pretty darn good. 

B+

BB King: Live at the Regal

One of the most entertaining live blues records ever made. 

A-

The Kinks: Face to Face

Simply their best.

A

Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti

If you like their sound it’s hard to find fault with this record. Me, I can take it, or in a pinch, leave it. 

B

Various Artists: Let Them Eat Jellybeans

A haunting howl from a very dark time - 1981. Some nasty parts that haven’t aged well, but still a great distillation of a music and subculture completely estranged from the mainstream. 

A-

Gordon Lightfoot: 

In Concert

The sound is too echoey for an album (but oddly perfect for an actual concert) and it accentuates the more irritating aspects of his vocals. Still it’s not a bad record and "The Canadian Railroad Trilogy" makes it all worthwhile. 

B+

Summer Side of Life

Side one is pretty powerful, side two pretty okay. 

B+

Don Quixote

Side one edges out side one of SSOL, as does side two. The sound is cleaner, too. This is one of those records that hits me hard – as the kids say – in the feels, coming at a time when I was a delicate young man. But those songs that hit me then still hit me now. 

A-

Little Feat:

The Last Record Album

By this time Lowell George has lost a step. The result is the quintessential "not bad" album that can be more frustrating than an outright mediocre one, like Down On The Farm. The material works for me, as does the sentiment. Now if they just played a little faster and louder…  Like side two of Feats Don't Fail Me Now.

B+

Hoy Hoy

There's some really nice stuff on this collection of alternate takes, almost hits, etc. The live stuff sounds better than Waiting for Columbus, which I’ll have to listen to again to be sure. 

B+

Nick Lowe: 

Pure Pop for Now People

Brilliant pop fluff but not genius.

A-

Labour of Lust

Now he's not trying for genius and that's okay. A little less brilliant but a lot more straight-ahead and consistent. Which makes it my go-to NL record.

A-

By this time I was getting the hang of working from the basement, and was outright enjoying some of this music, as opposed to just admiring/taking solace from/wallowing in it. These are all legitimate uses, by the way. Especially in this time.

I'd only get to do this for a little bit longer before the shite would really hit the fan.

But for now...

The Kinks: Face to Face

Corona-chles VI: GHI - You Really Don't Have Any Options

This was originally meant to resemble a diary, but that turned out to be impractical. I work in health care which got, well, pretty busy. So everything below - and indeed the entire alphabet I eventually covered - must be lumped into the mid-April, early May time period

In other words, the abyss, or so we thought. Ah, the good old days when we were all in it together. But even that would fall apart.

Peter Gabriel 3: 

Pretty (melo)dramatic and not always on point. But I admire the grating, uncompromised sound, and the musicianship is awesome. Plus, the great songs ("Biko", "Games Without Frontiers") put it across.

A-

Gang of Four: 

Entertainment!

The formula is for the lead singer to spout Marxist philosophy while the drums and bass crank out a frantic (if not always speedy) beat and a car crash guitar. It works amazingly well. Who knew an almost complete lack of melody could sound so powerful?

A-

Solid Gold  

I didn't care for this at first. But once Entertainment! blew me away, this one started to gel for me. A little less frantic, more dirge-like. With cleaner production this time, the band sounds better than ever. 

A-

Marvin Gaye: Midnight Love

This one's a bit outside of my range. Music for making out. Who needs to set that level of expectation? But Marvin sings great and the band gets the job done.

B+

Genesis (with Peter Gabriel): 

Live 

Very impressive for music I don’t love. It was all too much – even at $1.69 – when I first got it. But it’s a lot of sound from just 4 guys. Very strange, so it’s hard to call pretentious. 

B+

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway: 

Not terrible, but not great, either. A lot of work, actually. For the listener, that is. But it's the last one with Peter Gabriel. 

B

Genesis (without Peter Gabriel): 

ABACAB: 

Almost tolerable. But poor Phil Collins will be remembered more for that voice – which gives me the 80s shudders – than his great drumming, which friend and drummer Andy greatly admires.

B-

Invisible Touch: 

A 1980s overdose. I'll admit my tolerance is low. I can say with certainty that I need never hear these songs again.

C+

Lowell George: Thanks I'll Eat it Here

By this time, Little Feat had stopped making great music, and it would have been nice to think it was because Lowell was letting everyone else contribute more. One could then assume his solo album would be better than, say, Time Loves a Hero. But so what?  This is certainly a pleasant record, but as many have pointed out anyone could have made it. 

B

Grateful Dead: Bear's Choice 

Humble yet excellent. Pigpen excels throughout, and the band excels on the louder ones. 

A-

Greatest Rap Hits, Vol 2: 

Honestly, we were such idiots to dismiss this music at the time. There is nothing wrong and a lot right with this very fun record. You could play it at an all-white (the people, I mean) wedding and no one would notice.

B+

Al Green: 

Greatest Hits: As a rock n roller I complained at the time that everything sounded the same by this guy. Since then I heard the Ramones, so that's another rule out the window. 

A-

The Belle Album: 

Al is no longer trying to get inside your mind. Soon he'll be trying to get into your soul. But for the moment this mellow and lovely record is the best of both. 

A-

Arlo Guthrie: Outlasting the Blues: 

Decent in the moral sense, very pretty but a bit thin. 

B+

Jimi Hendrix: 

Axis Bold as Love

Pretty calm compared to Are You Experienced? which still strikes me as one of the true revolutionary records of all time. So this could seem like a letdown. It was really more of a change of pace. Not a bad cut on it.

A-

Electric Lady Land: 

Ambitious. It’s got lots of flow and spacey parts, and floats by effortlessly. Not brilliant exactly, but very cool. I've simply GOT to get this on CD.

A-

Buddy Holly: A Rock and Roll Collection: This is the only one of his I have. I don’t play it often because if you’re doing something else you’re gonna get distracted. It’s also very very sad, as I cannot separate the music from the fate of the performer.  Yet, like the Everly Brothers record it just floats by without missing a beat. But I like the Beatles more.

A-

Hot Tuna: 

The Second One 

Loud, and aside from Papa John’s violin, pretty unnecessary. (And yet seeing them play electric was one of the better concerts I’ve been to... Hmm.)  But I can do without this one. 

B

Double Dose: 

I need this one even less, except for side one. Not bad - (pristine actually) but who cares?

B-

Human Switchboard: Who's Landing in My Hangar?

I'd assumed the slightly amateurish vocals and musicianship would cause this to not age well. Not true. And I love the title joke.

A-

Husker Du: Candy Apple Grey

Given how much I hate the 80s you'd think I'd love these guys, who were the quintessential post-punk underground band. But the pristine sound of their major-label debut reveals the awkwardness of the drumming, which makes the whole enterprise a bit shakey, except for the quieter ones, which are quite good. It was my first HD album and a big disappointment. I'd have to wait until I got New Day Rising to really hear them. 

B+

What no I? None that I cared to listen to at the time. We were really in the ditch at this point, so I needed to get as far away as possible, and was getting very picky.

And it's only now that I notice the number of dead haunting this post: 

Marvin Gaye

Lowell George

Pigpen

Andy Gill

Jimi Hendrix

Papa John Creach:

Grant Hart

Buddy Holly

Perhaps it's to be expected. After all, this music is pretty old.

I'd have to ask my Actuary (and Fellow!) Brother Pat if this is unusually high. Did I miss anyone? Probably. 

We tend to undercount the dead.

Corona-chronicals V: DEF Records

By April it was clear that we were in this for the long haul, and so, reluctant to get anything new to listen to I stuck to my under-listened-to vinyl:

Miles Davis: 

Round About Midnight: 

A little too cool for me, but it does give hints to what was to come.  

B+

Sketches of Spain:

This is one - like Midnight - that I've had for years but was just too thick to hear. Well, if Grace Slick vouches for it as an inspiration for "White Rabbit" who am I to say no? This doesn't seem like jazz to me but a lot of what I recommend doesn't seem like music to some of my friends, so there. I don't think this will quite hit me for another few years. 

B+

Porgy and Bess:

Okay, I guess. Maybe because the songs are more familiar to me than on the others. 

B

In A Silent Way:

This has that great flow when it's over before you know it.  Probably dumbed down for people like me but still one of my favorites by him.

A-

Dire Straits: Making Movies:

Everyone thinks this is a great record. I think it sucks. The piano flourishes, the longer songs. Grand statements.

Their first one was spare and mysterious.

Their second was ornery and mysterious.
This one the mystery is gone and there's less there than you imagined.

C+

Eric Dolphy: The Berlin Concerts:

This, however, hit me right away because of all the soloing, which while not always on the same planet I occupy was always quite intriguing. I'd put this on at any time. 

A-

Delaney and Bonnie: Motel Shot:

Sweet and sincere, but for limited occasions. Like working in the basement.

B+ 

Bob Dylan: 

Bob Dylan: 

He's a pretty good interpreter of these old songs, but it just hasn't worn that well.

B+  

Freewheelin: 

The quintessential classic album with several absolutely towering songs and a few more merely good ones. Ah, but the former are all-time champs.

A

John Wesley Harding: 

This is Dylan after his self imposed quarantine with the Band. It must have seemed quite the letdown at the time. But aside from a bit too much harmonica, this is a damn near perfect album, The melodies are wonderful if not particularly original, and the lyrics are endlessly mysterious.  

A 

Planet Waves:

This came out in the middle of the "lowered expectations of Dylan" era (or rather the first one, or was it the second) and I didn't like it at the time because it wasn't "pretty", but it's really quite good, and it's before his voice went full nasal. 

B+

Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Emerson, Lake and Palmer

Some of this is quite nice, ("Take a Pebble", "Lucky Man"), some pretty good ("Knife Edge"), some awful ("The Barbarian", "Tank"). Serious Boy Music? Very.

B

Eno:

Here Come the Warm Jets:

Our weird time has finally caught up to this record. Tuneful yet abrasive. Like some friends

A-

Discreet Music: 

Perfect early-in-the-morning-in-the-basement-during-a-slow-apocalypse-music.

A-

with David Byrne: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts:

For years I'd respectfully put this one away in favor of Remain in Light, but now this sounds pretty current to me. 

A-

with John Hassell: Fourth World, Vol. I, Possible Musics:

This was hard to get into at first (thirty years ago) but in a basement early in the morning, a real trip. 

A-

Everly Brothers: Greatest Hits

I got this very cheap import - the liner notes are all in Spanish - and it feels a little slapped together and missing some key songs. And yet it floats by effortlessly. Beautiful but incomplete.

A- 

Focus: Focus 3: 

Like Eric Dolphy, a pick up from the discount bin. If you drop the guy with the hyper falsetto and his big dumb organ (wait, that sounds odd) you can hear Jan Akkerman's blistering guitar. So the first disc is pretty good, especially side 2. But then they get into a classical style beloved of prog-rock bands and start naming their songs as if they're fairy tales.

Side 1: B+, Side 2: A, Side 3: C, Side 4: C-

B

Various Artists: Folkways: A Vision Shared 

A tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, it got short shrift in my haste to get to the fun pop music. Now, given the chance, it reveals only one bad performance (Brian Wilson, of all people) and many great songs. 

B+

Funkadelic:

Best of the Early Years, Volume 1: 

Soul? Psychedelia? Sly? Temptations?  Well, yes. This one holds up extraordinarily well. 

A

One Nation Under a Groove: 

It features the best first five seconds of any album ever. Better sound, and almost enough guitar to convert me. 

B+

That last one ends some lines that sounded paranoid at the time, but now sounds pretty understandable:

"Think!

Think!

It ain't illegal yet!?

Indeed.