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Long Play
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Thursday, 18 March 2010 |
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Elektra, 1970
Remember The Stooge’s ‘Fun House’? Heart-pounding, teeth-gnashing, musical napalm.
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Written by Tom Kressler
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Tuesday, 29 December 2009 |
by Buzzcocks
United Artists, 1979
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Friday, 28 August 2009 |
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Old 97's
1997, Elektra Records
the sound: Alt-country is like
Americana with bite. It’s country, complete with twangs and yowls and
balls-out rock and roll. And Old 97’s is alt-country at its best. The
album starts off with a kick to the teeth called “Timebomb,” a raucous
tune with rapid-fire lyrics and soulful howling. “I got a timebomb, in
my mind, Mom / I got it badly for a stick-legged girl. She’s gonna kill
me, and I don’t mean softly / I got it badly for a stick-legged girl.”
The next song, “Barrier Reef,” slows down to a square dance beat, with
a smartass chorus: “What’s so great about the Barrier Reef? / What’s so
fine about art?” All the lyrics on the band’s fourth album, “Too Far to
Care,” are bittersweet and funny, giving a sense, like the title, that
everything turns out wrong—but so what?
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Written by Matt Kanner
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Friday, 10 July 2009 |
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by Pink Floyd
1969, Capitol Records
the sounds: Despite giant leaps
in sonic technology, few recorded sounds have approached the terrible
eeriness of Roger Waters shrieking psychotically during a live cut of
“Careful With That Axe Eugene.” It comes as a bit of a shock, arriving
after the bassist ominously whispers the song’s title. Like the rest of
the double album’s live disc, the song establishes a gloomy atmospheric
mood that presaged the goth craze by decades. “Astronomy Domine,” “Set
the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” and “A Saucerful of Secrets” are
equally sinister and darkly psychedelic. The studio disc of “Ummagumma”
includes elaborate instrumental experimentations, with guitarist David
Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason and keyboardist Richard Wright each
retreating into their introspective musical laboratories.
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Wednesday, 10 June 2009 |
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by Frank Black and the Catholics
2002, SpinART Records
the sound: The album starts and
ends with performances of “The Black Rider,” a cover of the title track
from a Tom Waits musical. The first version is closer to Waits’, with
its jaunty music and menacing take on the “Flintstones” theme: “Come on
along with the Black Rider / We’ll have a gay old time /Lay down in the
web of the Black Spider / I’ll drink your blood like wine.” The second
version is a surf tune, with a Ventures-like guitar riff and Black
crooning the lyrics in a velvety voice as accompanying vocals scream in
the background. These two songs signify the transformation of Black
Francis, shrieking college-radio god of the Pixies, to Frank Black,
alt-country rock extraordinaire. The album’s title track picks up speed
with a call-and-response chorus and Black singing in a nerdy timbre.
“Southbound Bevy” pits Black’s falsetto against a slide guitar,
reminding us, “Don’t get your spirits high / they’ll all come crashing
down.” In arguably the best song on the album, “If You Leave,” Black
sings/talks about what would happen if he lost his love.
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Thursday, 14 May 2009 |
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by various artists
1991, Warner Bros. Records
the sound: “Until the End of the World” is director
Wim Wenders’ ambitious 1991 cyberpunk film. It’s 1999, and a rogue
nuclear satellite is looming over the Earth, its catastrophic reentry
into the planet’s atmosphere predicted. What better way to watch
imminent disaster than to see it played out to the sounds of some of
the world’s most talented musicians? French composer Graeme Revell has
some lovely instrumental bits, but it’s the bands that make this a
powerhouse soundtrack. U2 has the honor of the title track, its
insidious beats and scratchy guitar tamer than the version that later
ended up on their album “Achtung, Baby!” Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
perform a swaggering, saloonish, piano piece, “(I’ll Love You) Till the
End of the World,” as Cave waxes poetic about impending doom.
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Thursday, 19 March 2009 |
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by Aimee Mann
SuperEgo Records, 2000
the sound: With a voice like candy-infused whiskey,
Aimee Mann really fine-tuned her skills as a singer and songwriter on
“Bachelor No. 2,” her third solo album. More cynical pop than her two
previous releases, Mann is a master of upbeat, sweet tunes with
melancholy lyrics that always feature a little something else to give
them a magical feel. “Nothing is Good Enough” is a plunky piano waltz
in which Mann expresses frustration over her inability to please.
“Driving Sideways” is piano-driven, with an angry guitar riff to
accompany the lyrics. “If you roll down the window you’ll see / you’re
where you don’t belong / and your companion will not help you to
navigate / for fear she may be wrong,” Mann sings. She perfectly
captures the apathetic tone of Daniel Clewes’ graphic novel “Ghost
World” with a song by the same name. “So I’m bailing this town / or
tearing it down / or probably more like hanging around,” she narrates.
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Written by Matt Kanner
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Friday, 06 March 2009 |
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by Cecil Taylor Unit
1990, Enja Records
the sound: On June 18, 1976,
pianist Cecil Taylor brought his five-piece free jazz unit to the
Yugoslavia Jazz Festival in Lubljana. Joining Taylor were Ralphé Malik
on trumpet, Jimmy Lyons on alto saxophone, David S. Ware on tenor
saxophone and Marc Edwards on drums. As the concert began, the horn
players repeated a plaintive six-note wail, while Taylor and Edwards
plunked away indiscriminately at their instruments. It seemed like a
prolonged sound check at first, but as the music dragged on, it
gradually swelled in intensity, rising to a climactic cacophony of
noise that continued without pause for over an hour. To the
closed-minded listener of the recorded result, the concert is surely a
maddening wreck of sonic distractions, like an auditorium full of
warped jazz records playing in unison. And yet a finely tuned ear can
discern shifting thematic elements to the music, occasional
call-and-response sequences between instrumentalists that subtly
permeate the subconscious.
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Thursday, 29 January 2009 |
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by Cowboy Junkies
1996, Geffen Records
the sound: Every album from
alt-country band Cowboy Junkies is dark and lovely, but “Lay It Down,”
the band’s seventh, is the most ominous and beautiful. Driven by heavy
bass lines to match singer Margo Timmins’ low, lush voice, the album
plays like a Flannery O’Connor story, full of bittersweet lyrics
bemoaning the hardships of love and life. The songs are almost
anachronistic, conjuring images of dust storms, flat plains and cars
with long running boards. The opening track, “Something More besides
You,” has a woman questioning what life would be like if she wasn’t
trapped in her marriage. “A Common Disaster” is one of the album’s few
up-tempo songs, with three chords resonating over and over as Timmins
sings of the lull of temptation. “Going to find me someone to share a
common disaster / Run away with me from a life so cramped and dull /
Not worry to much about the happily ever after / Just keep the Caddy
moving till we’re well beyond that hill.”
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Written by Matt Kanner
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Friday, 09 January 2009 |
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by Charles Mingus
1961, Atlantic Records
the sound: Like most of Charles
Mingus’ recordings, “Oh Yeah” consists of jazz compositions stemming
heavily from old blues and gospel roots. Unlike most of his recordings,
Mingus plays piano instead of bass on the disc. He also sings and
shouts in hoarse, often stream-of-consciousness vocals on several
songs, expressing both his untamed musical exuberance and his dark but
jocund sense of humor. With Doug Watkins ably covering for the leader
on bass, long-time Mingus drummer Dannie Richmond beating the skins and
mad genius Rahsaan Roland Kirk making all kinds of noise, the album is
a real treat to hear. Kirk plays tenor sax, flute and a variety of less
conventional instruments, while Booker Ervin adds more tenor sax and
Jimmy Knepper plays trombone. The album instantly adopts a tense and
blood-pumping tone with the opening track, “Hog Callin’ Blues,” and
Mingus’ tongue-in-cheek paranoia later finds an outlet in “Oh Lord,
Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me.” The music gets a little
more lighthearted with “Eat That Chicken” but ends on a heavier strain
with “Passions of a Man.”
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Wednesday, 12 November 2008 |
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by The Decemberists
2003, Kill Rock Stars
the sound: “Castaways and Cutouts” opens with “Leslie
Anne Levine,” a sorrowful ghost tale told by a girl who died at birth.
“Fifteen years gone now / I still wander this parapet / And shake my
rattle bone. / Fifteen years gone now / I still cling to the petticoats
/ Of the girl who died with me.” The album’s fastest and catchiest
song, “July, July!” has lead singer Colin Meloy gleefully singing, “And
I say your uncle was a crooked French Canadian / And he was gut-shot
running gin / And how his guts were all suspended in his fingers / and
how he held ’em / How he held ’em, held ’em in.”
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Thursday, 09 October 2008 |
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by Grant Lee Buffalo
Slash Records, 1993
the sound: Grant Lee Buffalo was
one of the leading bands of Americana and alt country back in the day,
known for socially aware lyrics, profound love songs and heartbreaking
rhythms played on 12-string guitars. Lead singer Grant Lee Phillips has
a deep, rumbling voice that works equally well when snarling or singing
lullabies. Many of the 11 tracks on “Fuzzy” are lush and thick with
piano and the hiss of a brush on a snare drum. The album’s opening
track, “The Shining Hour,” sounds like something from a player piano.
“Jupiter and Teardrop” is a romantic “Romeo and Juliet”-type ballad
about a young girl and her convict boyfriend. “The Hook” is a gracious
and mesmerizing tune about a relationship going bad. “Stars n’ Stripes’
is a sorrowful, Neil Young-esque look at the country, which starts out
slow, with the discussion of “the red and white and the blue
disease” and ends with the strange but lovely repetition of “Got you on
my Handycam / fits in my hand.”
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Thursday, 21 August 2008 |
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by The Sheila Divine
1999, Roadrunner Records
the sound: Singer Aaron Perrino’s voice has a
Morrisey-esque timbre and his band’s songs are reminiscent of “The
Bends”-era Radiohead, with strong and similar lyrics. On a smaller
scale, The Sheila Divine pulls together tight, guitar-driven songs
about life and love. The album’s opening track, “Automatic Buffalo,” is
a solid rock song that ends with a rousting chorus of “automatic
buffalo.” (Don’t ask, we don’t know what that means.) “I’m a Believer”
beats The Monkees’ song of the same title, starting slowly and building
to a screechy cry for love: “To my surprise / I’m hypnotized / by the
sight of flesh / and the scent of skin. / Give me a chance.” The
album’s best track, “Opportune Moment,” predates and outshines any
Killers “losing the girl” song: “I call her (ring, ring), she’s not
there. / At the opportune moment / she tells me (fling, fling), ‘I
kissed him.’ / Now it’s out into the open. / I go out (drinks, drinks),
I can’t stay in.” Rocking, jangly fun all around.
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Thursday, 05 June 2008 |
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by Cracker
1992, Virgin
the sound: Lumped under the category
“alternative” in 1992, Cracker’s first album would probably now be
considered “alt-country.” Really, it should be given its own
description of “smart-ass rock,” the often sarcastic and funny lyrics
playing a role that’s as important as the music. It’s definitely a rock
album with a country twinge. Almost all of the songs have a serious
twang, probably influenced by singer David Lowery’s Texas upbringing.
Lowery has a voice like honey laced with broken glass. It sounds almost
hoarse, like he’s shouting, without actually being too loud. It could
have gotten that way from singing his damnedest. In the album’s first
and fastest track, “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now),” he howls,
“’Cause what the world needs now / is a new Frank Sinatra / so I can
get you in bed / ’cause what the world needs now / is another folk
singer / like I need a hole in the head.”
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Written by Nate Groth
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Saturday, 10 May 2008 |
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by Black Sabbath
1970, Warner Brothers/Vertigo
the sound: Almost
unanimously viewed as the fathers of heavy metal, Black Sabbath
pioneered a crushing, powerful sound that was unlike anything else
being performed at the time. Sabbath’s classic second album welded
detuned guitars to loud, pounding drum beats and expanded the band’s
lyrical content away from the occult themes of its debut. The album was
originally slated to be titled “War Pigs,” but the label forced the
band to rename it, fearing backlash from supporters of the Vietnam War.
The cover art still reflects the band’s original concept, however, and
a song by the same title opens the album, immediately setting the tone
with its ponderous guitars, melodic bass, dark lyrical imagery and, of
course, future reality TV star Ozzy Osbourne’s wailing vocals. The
title track was supposedly written in just 25 minutes, but the
double-tracked, chugging guitar riff has become a classic part of the
band’s lengthy catalog. “Planet Caravan” shifts gears; its
uncharacteristically clean, spacey guitars and heavily processed vocals
show the influence that the psychedelic scene of the time had on the
band.
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Thursday, 27 March 2008 |
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by The Fiery Furnaces
2003, Rough Trade Records
the sound: You never get a
second chance to make a first impression, and with its debut album,
“Gallowsbird’s Bark,” The Fiery Furnaces hit the ground running,
injecting its unique sound into the indie rock scene. On the album’s
first track, “South is Only a Home,” singer Eleanor Friedberger
talks/sings/chants the lyrics over her brother Matthew’s driving guitar
and drum beat, while in the background it sounds like someone’s kitten
is running across the piano. Eleanor actually sing-speaks the lyrics
over many of the songs, her smoky voice narrating the cacophony of
sounds that her brother supplies. Matthew’s guitar riffs and piano are
often accompanied by static, zips and whistles. “I woulda had a asthma
attack / If I seen the shark bite back,” Eleanor states in “Asthma
Attack,” a catchy number with bluesy guitar and a bass line that sounds
like someone is randomly grabbing the strings. “Tropical Ice-Land”
would make for the coolest Bacardi commercial ever, and “Bow Wow” has
the Quaaludy-feel of a theme to a ’70s sitcom. “Crystal Clear” includes
a thump to rival The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” plus the added
bonus of the chant, “Filthy, dirty, cloudy, muddy, messy, mucky,
crystal clear.”
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Wednesday, 12 March 2008 |
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by Barry Louis Polisar
1982 Rainbow Morning Music
the sound: When was the
last time you dug out a Raffi album from your childhood, not because
you were feeling nostalgic, but because it genuinely still rocked?
We’re going to assume probably never, because “Baby Beluga” is for
babies, and Raffi sounds like a cartoon dog’s sneeze. But Barry Louis
Polisar is a man with a name like a truck driver and an attitude to
match, and “Stanley Stole My Shoelace” is an album of catchy children’s
songs you can still get behind. Think of it as “Anarchy in the Pre-K.”
The only instrument featured on this album is an acoustic guitar. But,
because it’s a children’s album, it’s really more about the words than
the music. Polisar has a strong voice with a slightly nerdy timbre, and
he uses it not only for lead vocals, but also to provide “backup
singers,” who sound like a chorus of crazy housecats. He also changes
his voice, à la “Peanuts,” to sound severe or admonishing when singing
the part of grownups. It makes them sound dopey, which works, because,
as all kids know, grownups are stoopid.
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Written by Alan Chase
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Thursday, 21 February 2008 |
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by Weather Report
1971, Columbia
the sound: Weather Report was a classic
early jazz fusion band that featured the super-charged Rhodes electric
piano of Joe Zawinul surrounded by the driving grooves of drummer
Alphonse Mouzon and percussionist Airto Moreia, as well as the incisive
bass work of Miroslav Vitous and the probing soprano sax work of Wayne
Shorter. The group’s debut album is a rich palette of musical colors
and textures, beginning with “Milky Way,” a Zawinul-Shorter duet that
utilizes soprano sax, acoustic piano and subtle recording manipulation
to create an eerie, spatial sound. Later comes the pulsating samba
groove of “Seventh Arrow,” followed by the lovely rock influenced
ballad “Orange Lady.” The record closes with the straight ahead swing
of “Eurydice.” Due to the open mindedness of the musicians and their
spontaneous, collective approach, the overall sound is cohesive without
sounding sterile.
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Thursday, 07 February 2008 |
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by Harry Nilsson
1972, RCA Victor
the sound: Not a single song on “Son
of Schmilsson” is similar to another. Nilsson had a most impressive set
of vocal chops, which he used to wail one minute and purr the next, and
the album utilized almost every instrument in existence, plus a few
that were improvised. The album opens with “Take 54,” a jazzy,
sax-laden number that starts with Nilsson bemoaning the loss of a girl
he was trying to impress (“I sang my balls off for you, baby”) and ends
with a bizarre bit involving a creepy voice spooking a snoozing sound
technician. Following that is the lovely tune “Remember (Christmas),”
in which Nilsson waxes poetic about the past to the tune of violins and
piano. Later on in the album, he spoofs the saccharine sweetness of
“Remember” by again playing the intro and then belching loudly as he
bursts into “At My Front Door,” a guitar-riddled rock song.
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Written by Matt Kanner
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Thursday, 24 January 2008 |
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by Spirit
1973, Epic Records
the sound: In the sleeve of
Spirit’s self-titled debut album, the playing time for “Mechanical
World” is listed simply as “very long.” Actually, it’s five minutes and
19 seconds, which, by modern standards, isn’t that long at all. But,
when it was released as a single in 1968, songs that lasted more than
five minutes were exceptionally rare. “Mechanical World,” which appears
as the second track on “The Best of Spirit,” has a bizarre stop-and-go
sound, with distant lyrics that seem to drift surreally in the
background. “Death falls so heavy on my soul,” Randy California sings.
Later, the song builds to a climactic guitar solo that echoes the peak
years of psychedelia. The greatest hits disc also includes some peppier
rock songs that reflect the band members’ California roots, but all the
songs are lyrically loaded with literary references and social
messages. Both are exemplified in “1984,” the ominous homage to George
Orwell’s masterpiece that warns of a bleak future. Songs like “Morning
Will Come” and “Animal Zoo” have a more light-hearted hippie sound,
while “Nature’s Way” is striking in its soft, almost mournful
eloquence. Throughout, the disc showcases a tripped-out, experimental
sound that, at first listen, might now sound like standard ’60s
psychedelic rock.
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Thursday, 10 January 2008 |
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by The Monkees
1967, RCA Records
the background: In 1965, NBC brought
together musicians Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz and Peter
Tork to act and perform on its new nightly sitcom, “The Monkees.” The
show was a comic take on a hip, funny, struggling band with a look and
sound somewhat similar to The Beatles. Based on the popularity of the
first season in 1966 and the obvious talent of the actors, The Monkees
began actually recording music, releasing albums and touring—and almost
immediately butting heads with NBC. The band released three albums in
1967, and by the time “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.”
was released in November of that year, it was obvious that the
television producers had lost their control over the band. Trying hard
to break free of its “pre-fab four” description, The Monkees injected
the album with a more California-hippie influence, reflective of the
band members’ surroundings and lifestyles. (Unlike The Beatles, The
Monkees never hid the fact that they did drugs and loved to rock the
paisley hard.)
the sound: Nesmith, who the producers had chosen to be
the mature leader-type of the show, embraced the role and became a more
prominent presence on “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.” A
fan of Frank Zappa and Tim Buckley and a seriously talented guitarist,
Nesmith sings on a few tracks, a job usually reserved for Dolenz or
Jones. He lets loose with his twangy country-blues style in “Salesman,”
the album’s catchy first track, and “What Am I Doing Hangin’ Round,” a
sweet banjo-infused love song. “Star Collector” proves ahead of its
time, with Jones singing about a girl who fits the description of a
star whore way before the label of “stalker” was given to obsessed
fans. “Goin’ Down” showcases Dolenz’s talent for jazz scat singing,
which he went on to display more of on later albums, and “Peter
Percival Patterson’s Pet Pig Porky” gives Tork a chance to show … well,
that he’s just plain weird. Sure, there are still some poppy songs
about girls, but on “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.,”
they have a trippier sound and the lyrics seem a bit naughtier. While
“She Hangs Out” has a chorus sounding much like a Beach Boys tune,
Jones sings of someone’s Lolita-esque sister, and “Cuddly Toy” is about
a girl being used and discarded, all while a piano plinks prettily in
the background. It’s fun and sinister.
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Thursday, 27 December 2007 |
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by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones
1998, Mercury
the sound: Formed in 1985 in Boston, the
Bosstones heavily reflect the influence of earlier 2-tone ska bands,
such as The Specials, Madness and Bad Manners. Comprised of all the
usual band elements, plus horns, the Bosstones turn out songs that
large, tattooed men are unashamed to dance around to. On its own, a
Bosstones album is lots of fun, but you can’t beat a live performance.
Singer Dicky Barrett has a voice like a rock tumbler, and he knows how
to whip the crowd into a frenzy. Boston fans are the most voracious in
the country. They love their city, and they love to hear it mentioned
over and over again. Simple, fierce drumbeats accompany thick bass
lines while Barrett snarls poetic.
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Thursday, 13 December 2007 |
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by Belly
1995, Warner Bros
the sound: Belly’s first album,
“Star,” was pop with a twinkly, fairy tale spin. The CD made Belly a
huge hit on college radio and MTV and earned the band two Grammy
nominations in 1993. “King,” released in 1995, has a more mature,
thicker sound. Where “Star” sounds haunting and plinky, “King” grinds
and kicks out catchy, jangly tunes. Gone are lyrics about dolls and
squirrels and demanding frogs—replaced with a feeling of raw sexuality.
“Where should I not touch? / What should I not kiss?” purrs lead singer
Tanya Donnelly. You get the sense that Donnelly has outgrown her baby
doll dresses and now uses combat boots to pin her love to the floor by
the throat while she sings to him.
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Written by Matt Kanner
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Wednesday, 28 November 2007 |
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by Rahsaan Roland Kirk
1997, 32 Jazz Records
the sound: Saxophonist Rahsaan
Roland Kirk was a man of truly rare musical talents. His exceptional
gifts included playing up to three saxophones at once, using circular
breathing techniques to hold interminable notes, and playing flute with
his nostrils. All of these feats can be heard on the three-disc box
set, “Dog Years in the Fourth Ring,” which consists of 33 live and
studio tracks, including original material and covers. The first disc
begins with Kirk’s distinctive voice describing a whistling ring—a
vivid illustration of his lifelong fascination with wind instruments of
all types. He plays flute on the first song, introducing his
indefinable style. Listening to the music on all three of the discs, it
is not surprising to learn that Kirk drew much of his inspiration from
dreams he had while sleeping. At times surreal, at others intensely
passionate, and at others nearly unlistenable, the sound belongs
exclusively to Kirk, an eccentric mad scientist of jazz. Although it is
difficult to compare him to any other musician, Kirk paid frequent
homage to his influences, covering songs like Count Basie’s “Lester
Leaps In” and John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.”
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Written by Matt Kanner
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Wednesday, 21 November 2007 |
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by Genesis
1974, Atlantic Recording Corporation
the sound: In the
first line of Genesis’ seventh release, lead singer Peter Gabriel
recites the album’s title with a tense buildup that kicks off an epic
hour and a half of music. “And the laaamb … lies dooown … on
Broooaaadway,” Gabriel sings in the title track. The double disc album
consists of 23 songs, ranging in length from 30 seconds to eight
minutes, each characterized by mounting whirlwinds of sounds and words.
Alternating between instrumental noise experiments and inspired
progressive rock songs, the two-disc album tells the story of a young
man named Rael, ostensibly based on Gabriel, who is swept into a
bizarre and schizophrenic world of introspection. With dense lyrics
that, at times, acquire Tolkein-esque qualities, the narrator invokes
vermillion snakes, ravens and “slubberdegullions,” but also references
controversial figures from pop culture, such as Lenny Bruce, Marshall
McLuhan and Howard Hughes.
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Written by Matt Kanner
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Wednesday, 24 October 2007 |
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by John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía
1981, Columbia Records
the sound: About two minutes
into this live album’s first song, “Mediterranean Sundance,” guitarist
Al Di Meola unleashes a torrent of acoustic notes that leaves the
audience reeling. Listening to the CD, stripped of the visual aid of
actually watching him pick the strings, it is difficult to fathom that
one man is producing such a rapid expulsion of notes on a normal,
six-string guitar. Trying to imagine Di Meola’s fingers as they race
across the frets is like picturing a humming bird flap its wings. One
audience member eventually lets out a whoop of approval, and several
others follow suit, as if emerging from a hypnotized stupor. When it
comes time for Paco de Lucía to take his turn in the spotlight, it
seems unlikely that he will be able to match his partner’s intensity.
But, de Lucía manages, galloping through a lengthy improvisation while
Di Meola provides punctuating rhythm support. By the time the song ends
and legendary fusion guitarist John McLaughlin takes the stage to join
Di Meola for a follow-up, the crowd is in a state of elation.
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Written by Matt Kanner
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Wednesday, 10 October 2007 |
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by Velvet Underground
1988, Mercury
the sound: The opening chords of “Ocean”
fade in slowly, like a rising tide creeping up the shore, but soon
swell into a turbid sea of entrancing music that works on you like an
opiate. Lou Reed’s vocals skim precariously over the surface, sometimes
off key, but always with a mundane clarity that draws listeners into
the forlorn substrate of his words. The tone continues through the
second track, “Pale Blue Eyes,” although the background music is
simpler and less ambient. Guitarist Sterling Morrison, drummer Maureen
Tucker and bassist Doug Yule later open the flood gates to unleash long
noise experiments in the middle of songs like “Sweet Bonnie Brown,”
“White Light/White Heat” and “I Can’t Stand It.” The second volume of
Velvet Underground’s 1969 live recordings sounds, at times, like a
1950s rock ’n’ roll band playing on a tour bus as it crashes into an
industrial park.
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Written by Alan Chase
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Thursday, 27 September 2007 |
by Cold Blood
1973, Warner/Reprise Records
the sound: From the funky opening guitar riff that starts this
album, listeners find themselves drawn into the sounds of the East Bay
area of Oakland and San Francisco. The sound reflects the rich
diversity of the area—a soulful gumbo of funk, blues, gospel, Latin and
jazz. The grooving rhythm section of Raul Matute on keys, Michael
Sasaki on guitar, Rod Ellicott on bass and Gaylord Birch on drums blend
seamlessly with the powerful horns of Max Haskett and Peter Welker on
trumpet and Skip Mesquite on saxophone and flute, lending burning
support to the dynamic vocals of Lydia Pense. The ensemble carries
listeners on a joyously funky ride through six covers and one original
song. Several additional horn players and the Pointer Sisters on
background vocals add muscle to the well-crafted arrangements, which
include a straight-up funk version of Jerry Ragavoy’s “Baby I Love
You,” a lowdown groove on “Feel So Bad,” a soft bossa-nova version of
Stevie Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” a gospel-tinged
version of The Band’s “Sleeping” and a funked out version of Bill
Withers’ “Kissing My Love.”
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Wednesday, 12 September 2007 |
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Pacific Pictures—Asbury Park Productions & Sony Music
1992
the sound: Like most soundtracks, the songs on
“Fathers and Sons” run the gamut of emotions. There’s noise, pop, blues
and ballads. Welsh rockers The Manic Street Preachers had just appeared
on the scene when they contributed the second track, “Stay Beautiful,”
a jangly, three-minute guitar-fest that may actually document the
moment in time when the music world’s tastes shifted from Great White
to Stone Roses. Indy darling Juliana Hatfield makes us forget how she
was pining away for Evan Dando with “Yeh! Yeh,” a fun, poppy song about
hanging out on the couch with a boy.
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Written by Matt Kanner
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Wednesday, 29 August 2007 |
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by Brian Eno
1974, E.G. Records
the sound: The jerky, loping guitar
part that opens the first track on “Taking Tiger Mountain (By
Strategy),” by Brian Eno, introduces listeners to a bizarre auditory
experience. The song, like the rest of the album, manages to be poppy
and catchy while maintaining an unusual and, at times, downright weird
sound. The first track, “Burning Airlines Give You So Much More,” is
probably the most radio-friendly song on the record, with vocals that
seem to glide along like the jet described in its lyrics. The second
track, “Back in Judy’s Jungle,” sounds like something off of Pink
Floyd’s groundbreaking “Piper at the Gates of Dawn.” “The Great
Pretender” features a stalking intro, supplemented by delightfully
trippy background music, ending with a resonant chirping that continues
long after the other instruments have died down.
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Written by Matt Kanner
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Friday, 17 August 2007 |
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by Mahavishnu Orchestra
1999, Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
the sound: The
cover art on Mahavishnu Orchestra’s “The Lost Trident Sessions” paints
a fitting picture for the sound of the music on the disc. Jagged
lightning bolts cut through a brilliant reddish-purple sky to strike
the surface of dark mountain peaks. In the foreground, John McLaughlin
plays a double-necked guitar while the rest of his five-piece band jams
around him. The album is crammed with electrified instrumental tunes
that produce a celestial lightshow in the firmament of the listener’s
mind.
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Written by Liberty Hardy
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Tuesday, 07 August 2007 |
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by Faith No More
1992, Slash Records
sound: Infused with more
background noise and general weirdness (accordions, organs and ...
cheerleaders), the beats on Faith No More’s 1992 album, “Angel Dust,”
are harder, the distorted hooks catchier and Patton’s screeching longer
than on the band’s previous smash hit, “The Real Thing.” Patton’s voice
stands out among the gorgeous chaos. It’s like there are three Mike
Pattons performing on the album, sometimes at the same time: Dirty
Uncle Mike, who will hit on your girlfriend if you bring her by the
house; screechy Aunt Mike, who is on the verge of losing her calm at
any moment; and Cthulhu Mike, who shrieks like he’s being slowly
disemboweled.
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Written by Matt Kanner
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Thursday, 02 August 2007 |
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by Frank Zappa and The Mothers
of Invention
1970, Bizarre/Reprise Records
the sound: The opening
drum beats and trumpet blasts on Frank Zappa’s self-produced 1970
album, “Weasels Ripped My Flesh,” sound like a rhinoceros charging into
a crowded circus tent. The song, curiously titled “Didja Get Any Onya?”
sets the pace for a recording that spans an amalgam of jaggedly
stitched-together styles, often in a deliberately mocking tone, fused
with collections of random and sometimes irritating noise.
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