One Album A Day - 009

 As I noted before, I've been working through the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, as presented though the 1001 album generator web site.  My goal is to present a week (or so) of reviews, once every week (or so).  

So here's the next few albums I listened to:

# - Year - Album - Artist - Rating - Global
68 - 1979 - Rust Never Sleeps - Neil Young and Crazy Horse - 4 - 3.54
69 - 2004 - Aha Shake Heartbreak - Kings of Leon - 3 - 3.06
70 - 1979 - London Calling - The Clash - 5 - 3.99
71 - 1969 - Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin - 5 - 4.14
72 - 1973 - Band On The Run - Paul McCartney and Wings - 5 - 3.64
73 - 1971 - The Yes Album - Yes - 5 - 3.32
74 - 1975 - Mothership Connection - Parliament - 4 - 3.63
75 - 2015 - Vulnicura - Björk - 1 - 2.82
76 - 1978 - Here, My Dear - Marvin Gaye - 3 - 3.24
77 - 1993 - Orbital 2 - Orbital - 1 - 2.74

Here's my summary page.

And this posting's Reviews:

77   Orbital 2  Orbital   1

Let's see what the project serves me today: mid 90's band/album I've never heard of. OK... Genre is "Electronica", average rating is 2.74... uh-oh. Skim some reviews, found this: "this is a huge throwback for me. My pacifier and glowsticks, oversized pants, pigtails, pumas and DANCING!"... Double Uh-Oh. But, the point is to listen, so let's listen!

pause

Listening to this, I’m reminded of an old joke about Grateful Dead music. “Q: What does a deadhead say when the music stops? A: Wow, this music sucks!” Maybe Orbital would be awesome if I was at a Rave, doing whatever drugs you do at a Rave. But I’m not, never was, never will be. So this is NOT awesome. And it is very, Very, VERY repetitive.

I guess this is ok for what it is: background sounds for a mid 90’s party. Not really intended for you to pay much attention to, or sit and listen to. I thought about giving this a 2, and I might have, if didn’t just keep on going and going and going…. By the 50th minute, the irritation level had ramped up to max and I only listened to 1/2 of the last 3 songs.

76   Here, My Dear   Marvin Gaye   3

I was a teenager when this album came out, was familiar w/ Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” and “Let’s Get It On” albums…. But had never heard of this one… hmm…. Looking at Wikipedia, I see it’s a divorce album, not just an album about failed love, but an album recorded as part of a divorce settlement (awkward). And an album that didn’t do especially well at the time, but has grown in esteem.

Anyway, it’s ok as an album, the sound is pretty similar to “Let’s Get It On”. Lyrically, there’s quite a lot of overt bitterness here…. This is a message to his ex-wife, dumping some emotional baggage on her. I think that detracts from the overall album, it’s just too front and center, and pervasive. It all comes off as a little self-indulgent. Unlike some other divorce albums, like Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks, Phil Collins’ Face Value or Tom Petty’s Echo.

Meanwhile, there’s no hit here, and while the music is solid, there’s no really memorable pieces. “A Funky space Reincarnation” is the best song here, and reached #23 on the R&B charts. Bottom line. It’s ok, but I’d rather listen to Let’s Get It On.

Solid 3/5

75   Vulnicura   Björk   1

The first song starts out with the following lyrics, choked out syllable by syllable, over seemingly random meandering synthesizer strings:

“A juxtapositioning fate / Find our mutual coordinates / Moments of clarity are so rare / I better document this / at last the view is fierce / all that matters is this / who is open chested / and who is coagulated”

I’m just not sure how I can take that seriously. This is the second Bork album I’ve received in the 1st 75 days. I rated the 1st at 2/5, with the comments “I thought the first couple of songs were pretty good. Sort of an ambient, ethereal feel. But with each passing song it held my interest less and less. Just not really my ‘thing’. 2/5….” Well, the second album jumps straight into the bit about each song holding my interest less and less.

This doesn’t offend me, I don’t hate it. But I sure don’t like it either. As with the prior Bork album, it’s just not my thing. I’m bored by this, and that’s disappointing. Frankly, as I get further through this, it’s starting to kind of irritate me. I’m taking a break at about 1/2 way through, but I’m not expecting it to improve….

- - - -

It didn’t. I admit, I gave up somewhere in the middle of the 7th song. I guess I’m just not cool enough. 1/5

74   Mothership Connection   Parliament   4

The only song I knew going in was "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)", which is a great funk song, something that got a fair amount of exposure back in the day. I have a digital copy of this one. But I hadn't ever heard the whole album, so I was pretty interested when this came up today.

This is a pretty solid album in the realm of funk, most of it is quite good. I was groovin' the whole time. That said, "Give Up The Funk" is the only song that's really memorable, and the "radio announcements" part of the opening song weren't my favorite. I think this will deserve some additional listens before I make a final judgement, but I'll give it a conditional 4/5

73   The Yes Album   Yes   5

Yes is the quintessential 1st generation Prog Rock band, and this album kicked off a run of 5 essential prog albums in 45 months. They defined the genre, and turned out an amazing suite of albums in a short period of time. Props to ELP and Genesis, but Yes led the pack.

This is a great album, with some of their best known songs: Your Move (All Good People), Perpetual Change, Starship Trooper... Great stuff. From the personal standpoint, the single version of I've Seen All Good People was the first prog song I remember hearing on the radio, on my little transistor radio in the backyard of the family home. ELP's Lucky Man came out before, but peaked at #48 in the US, and I don't remember hearing it until later.

I am and have been intimately familiar with this album for 50+ years. I’ve had this on vinyl, I’ve had it on CD, I have it on digital. This is not my favorite Yes album, but it is probably a 3 way tie for #2. And an easy 5/5

72   Band On The Run   Paul McCartney and Wings   5

If you were listening to AOR radio in 1973/74, you’ve heard every song from this album. It was everywhere, and cemented Paul as the most commercially successful ex-Beatle. John’s “Mind Games” came out about the same time, and while that’s a great song, I don’t think it’s a great album. Likewise with George’s song “Give Me Love”, or Ringo’s song “Photograph” which were both released around the same time. Pretty impressive time for the guys.

That said, Band On The Run is by far the best overall album. It’s McCartney, so it is catchy tunes, great Melodie’s, well played and produced. Lyrically it’s nothing too deep and meaningful, but not like some of the fluff he put out occasionally.

This album is party of the mid-70’s rock soundtrack. If you were there, you know it. If you weren’t this is a great collection of classic rock “deep tracks”.  5/5

71   Led Zeppelin   Led Zeppelin   5

Led Zep’s first album is the opening blast from one of the best hard rock bands ever. “Good Times Bad Times” may be the best opening track of any debut album in rock history. A great introduction (warning?) about what was in store.

That said, “I” is not my favorite LZ album. Depending on the day, that’s either “II” or “Zoso” (IV). This one stays pretty close to the reworking of blues standards formula, but they sure do it well.

I’ve said before that LZ is the greatest rock band. Not my favorite rock band, but up near my top. But from the music to the image and back to the music, they ruled the roost from 1969 through the 70’s.

If you asked me to list the best Rock / Hard Rock albums of the classic rock period, this is an easy addition.  5/5

70   London Calling   The Clash  5

Early 1980, and I was doing some freelance photography for the college newspaper, as a favor to my girlfriend's roommate. And to get access to their darkroom. One day I noticed a stack of records that had been sent to them to review. Nobody had claimed this one, so I jumped on it. I had the Clash's 1st album, and a couple of 45's / EPs, so I figured this would be worth having. That's a big win!

This is one of the most iconic albums of the English punk rock scene, though it marks a big step towards the mainstream. It also an iconic album overall, ranking #8 non the original (2003) Rolling Stone list of 500 Top Albums of all time.

This album still has some of the angry posturing of the earlier Clash, but it is tempered, and the rough edges are a bit more polished. And the heavy-handed politics of later Clash albums is largely reined in here. Their US commercial breakthrough, their first album to crack Top 100 (#27) with their 1st US Top 40 hit (Train In Vain at #23).

The sound is great, the songs are great, there's a wide variety of stylings to keep it from getting monotonous (a minor problem with their 1st album). It is a bit long as a double album, but I'm not sure what you'd drop to shorten it.

This is one of the few albums that I'd rate as IMPORTANT (TM) in the context of rock music. 5/5

69   Aha Shake Heartbreak   Kings of Leon   3

Well, I really like the way this started off, the first song really kicked. Then, 41 seconds in, the vocalist came in and ruined it. It's a shame, because musically, this album is really good, in a 2000's indie kind of way. I pulled up the lyrics around the 3rd song, and kinda sorry I did. Not exactly deep and meaningful. Actually, not remotely deep and meaningful. But I do like the music (as I've already noted).

Bottom line? 3/5 swap out to a decent singer, and add even a semblance of interest in the lyrics and this is a solid 4 (at least). just could've been so much more...  3/5

68   Rust Never Sleeps   Neil Young and Crazy Horse   4

This is Neil Young’s last album of the 1970’s; a remarkable decade that saw him release 9 studio albums, 2 live albums, a soundtrack album, and a 3-disc compilation. Oh yeah, and his work with CSNY (1 live album, 1 studio album and 1 hits album)…. And a collaboration album with Stills. Frightfully prolific, and at much of it is essential. Including Rust Never Sleeps.

This is a fascinating album, mostly recorded live, but all new songs, and presented without crowd noise. Somewhat similar to Jackson Browne’s “Running on Empty”…. Side 1 (of the original vinyl) is essentially acoustic, more introspective. Side 2 brings our Crazy Horse to rock out. Somewhat similar to Still’s prior Alive album.

It all works, well, though the song “Welfare Mothers” is a little trite, and maybe a touch offensive…

I own 6 of NY’s studio albums from the 70’s, purchased in the 70’s on the original vinyl. (And a couple others from the 70’s purchased later…. And some pre and post 70’s stuff, of course). This is probably #5 in my rank of the 70’s Neil Young output, probably #6 if you include CSNY.. I actually hadn’t played it in a while before this, and it was like revisiting an old friend, very enjoyable. But I prefer side 1 by a lot, and “Hey Hey  My My” is the only iconic song here. I really want to go 5 here, but just can’t quite convince myself. After struggling, I’ll round 4.5 down to 4.

Moon Crazy

 

Just a little something.  Taken at Schon Park, Glen Carbon.  

Unprocessed version below:

Week 07 (12 Feb - 18 Feb) Choose your colour

 So there's this thing called Capture52, where they provide a prompt per week, and you're supposed to post a photo.  I've started it a couple of times but never made it very far.  So, let's try again.  6 weeks in, and still making it. But it is early.  Looks like I made 6 weeks in 2023, and 14 in 2022, so I've eclipsed last year!

This week's prompt was "Choose Your Color", with the prompt: "Any subject, choose one colour."   I opted to use the photo I took for the "Flash Of Red" challeneg over at 365project.  This features selective color, desaturating everything except the red/orange.  There wasn't a lot of other colors to start with, but I decided to use this version.    What do ya think?

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One Album A Day - 008

 As I noted before, I've been working through the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, as presented though the 1001 album generator web site.  My goal is to present a week (or so) of reviews, once every week (or so).  

So here's the next few albums I listened to:

# - Year - Album - Artist - Rating - Global
58 - 1983 - Porcupine - Echo And The Bunnymen - 3 - 3.04
59 - 1957 - Chirping Crickets - Buddy Holly and The Crickets - 4 - 3.31
60 - 1966 - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme - Simon and Garfunkel - 4 - 3.63
61 - 1985 - Steve McQueen - Prefab Sprout - 3 - 3.01
62 - 1973 - Raw Power - The Stooges - 5 - 3.40
63 - 1993 - Exile In Guyville - Liz Phair - 3 - 3.02
64 - 1971 - Pearl - Janis Joplin - 5 - 3.71
65 - 1979 - The Pleasure Principle - Gary Numan - 3 - 3.13
66 - 2019 - KIWANUKA - Michael Kiwanuka - 4 - 3.78

Here's my summary page.

And this posting's Reviews:

66  KIWANUKA  Michael Kiwanuka  4

This is 100% new to me, and a very nice find. I'm not sure how to classifty it, but it certainly has groove. Generally smooth sound, but not bland. I'll need to listen to this a few more times, but it's a solid 4.

65  The Pleasure Principle  Gary Numan  3

"Cars" was a great, fun song that was hugely popular when I was 19. With its robotic, technical sound it was pretty unique. I still have the 45rpm single from back then. Unfortunately, this album is lots of more-of-the-same. Tehre's several pretty good songs, and no horrible ones, but this is a one trick pony, and the trick is a bit dated.

64  Pearl  Janis Joplin  5

Janis Joplin was a musical force, who burned brightly, but burned out quickly. This is the 4th of her studio albums, released 3 months after she passed away. It is also the high-point of her discography. This album includes several masterpieces: "Cry Baby", "Me and Bobby McGee", "Mercedes Benz" and "Move Over". The rest of the album is just very good. The least compelling song is "Buried Alive In The Blues", which is notable as an unfinished piece. It is an instrumental, because Joplin died before recording the vocal tracks.

All in all, this is a great record, and an important record in the history of rock. Easy 5/5

63  Exile In Guyville  Liz Phair  3

Wow, she’s not a very good singer, especially the first couple of songs. Unless this is affected to follow the whole bit about copying the Stones’ “Exile On Main Street”. I do like the overall sound (of the music), it has an open, sparse, not-overproduced sound that is refreshing for the early 90’s. Lyrically, there’s nothing dramatic here, nothing outstanding, but neither insipid. On the other hand, there’s a lot of profanity that comes off as gratuitous. I don’t mind profanity, but I do mind gratuitous.

Meanwhile, some of these songs are quite good. All are at least OK. I’m left thinking high 3, leaning towards rounding up. But over a full hour, it starts to lag a bit, and I sure wish she could sing a little better. so I’ll round down. 3/5

62  Raw Power  The Stooges  5

Let’s start by recognizing the opening cut, “Search and Destroy” as one of the greatest rock songs of all time. The Stooges were inspirations to the Ounk rock movement, and Search and Destroy is one of the signature songs of “proto punk”.

But, going into this listen, Search and Destroy was the only song I’d heard on the album. Quite simply, this album rocks, in the best possible way. I’m trying to figure out how I overlooked this for 50 years…. It’s raw and real, and the sharp edges aren’t buffed out. But it is not just noise, these are actual songs, well constructed and performed. It has the loose feel of the Velvet Underground, but has a hard driving passion that VU never tried for. It has the drive and attitude of The Ramones, Band, but a few years before they came to be. Plus a hint of or maybe early Alice Cooper Band.

I’ll be listening to this album again, and there’s a good chance I’ll end up purchasing it. 5/5

61  Steve McQueen  Prefab Sprout  3

Pretty generic, mid 80’s Brit pop. There’s nothing especially memorable here, but nothing that’s bad or offensive or anything. Pretty close to boring. The album title is odd, there’s certainly nothing in this music that is remotely related to Steve McQueen. Maybe it’s ironic, and I’m just not cool enough to get it.

There’s several albums from 1985 that I would suggest as notable (must listen) before this: Three O’Clock - Arrive Without Travelling, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Southern Accents, Guadalcanal Diary - Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man, John Fogarty - Centerfield, Katrina and the Waves, Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms…. Etc, etc, etc.

Whatever, call it a 3/5 and hope for something interesting tomorrow.

60  Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme  Simon and Garfunkel  4

In the late 70’s, Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits was one of 2 albums that almost everybody owned (along with Eagles’ Greatest Hits). Including me. The downside of the hits album is that I never really felt the need to dig into the deep cuts. This corrects that, at least some.

4 songs from this album carry over to the aforementioned hits album, although 3 of them show up there as live versions. Regardless, all 4 are outstanding.

This album is pretty fast paced, with 12 songs in about 28 minutes, an average length of 2:30 per song (and only one song over 3 minutes). Pretty typical for a pop record from 1966. But these songs aren’t fluff. These are Paul Simon songs, one of the great singer/songwriters of the era. And he packs a lot of meaning into these small servings.

There’s only 2 songs that I don’t think are very good to great. “Simple Desulrory Philippic” is a homage to / satire of Bob Dylan. It’s too cute by 1/2, and doesn’t really fit the rest of the album. And “7 O’Clock News / Silent Night” is a little too heavy-handed for my tastes, with the Christmas carol overlaid by a newscaster reporting the ills of society. Wikipedia says the it ‘rather bluntly makes an ironic commentary on various social ills by juxtaposing them with tenderly expressed Christmas sentiments”. Neither song sucks, nor offends. But they do detract from the whole.

So where to rate? Do the 10 gems offset the 2 that are “meh”? I will either pick up this whole album, or just the 4-5 best songs that I don’t already own. Oh, how I wish for 1/2 stars, this would be a clear 4.5/5.

After consideration, and comparing to the hits album, and 1870’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, I’m settling with a round down to 4.

59  Chirping Crickets  Buddy Holly and The Crickets  4

The debut album from one of the original Rock and Rollers. I am, of course, familiar with Holly's hits, with and without the Crickets. I have 1/2 of this album from a hits collection, these are essential songs if you're interested in the roots of rock. Generally. I prefer some of the cover versions to there originals, but these are where it all started.

Some well known covers of songs from this album, that I own:

Maybe Baby -Don McLean / NGDB

Not Fade Away - Rolling Stones

It's Too Late - Derek & The Dominoes (Eric Clapton)

That'll Be The Day - Linda Ronstadt

And that's just the ones I own. Most of this album has been covered y multiple artists. That's called influential.

Really solid album, although I still prefer the hits album that swaps the "deep cuts" here from other hits. Super solid 4/5, but not quite 5.

58  Porcupine  Echo And The Bunnymen  3

Wow, I really don’t like the vocal stylings here. Sort of whiney U2 vibe, very 80’s Brit-pop. The instrumentation is also very 80’s Brit-pop. Certainly a product of its time and place. That said, it’s pretty good overall. The beats are driving, the melodies are good…. Pretty much everything except those whiney, warble-y vocals. Buy the end of the album they were really bugging me. A solid 3/5, but could’ve edged higher with vocals more like what was coming out of Athens, GA at the same time.

3/5

Little Birdies

 We had a decent snow yesterday, about 4 inches.  And it really brought out the backyard birds.  I counted over 12 different types of birds, and photographed most of them.  Here's some of the keepers:

Red Bellied Woodpecker

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Black Capped Chickadee

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Northern Cardinal (female)

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White Throated Sparrow

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Bluebirds

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Brown Headed Cowbells

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Starlings

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Tufted Titmouse

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House Finch

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Downey Woodpecker

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Dark Eyed Junko

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Cliff Cave County Park

A couple of years ago, I spent ~1 year working in Arnold. MO.  One of the cool spots I found was Cliff Cave County Park.  It was a nice place to go for lunchtime walks, so I spent a fair amount of time there.  It's been 3-ish years since I worked over there, so I haven't been there in a while.  But I made the trek across the river recently, and had a good walk.  And found a few photos.

 

One Album A Day - 007

As I noted before, I've been working through the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, as presented though the 1001 album generator web site.  My goal is to present a week (or so) of reviews, once every week (or so).  

So here's the next few albums I listened to:

# - Year - Album - Artist - Rating - Global
49 - 1968 - Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix - 4 - 3.96
50 - 1977 - Aja Steely Dan - 4 - 3.43
51 - 1993 - Whatever - Aimee Mann - 3 - 2.78
52 - 1968 - At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash - 4 - 3.97
53 - 1962 - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music - Ray Charles - 5 - 3.46
54 - 1970 - The Madcap Laughs - Syd Barrett - 2 - 2.7
55 - 1964 - Olympia 64 - Jacques Brel - 3 - 2.79
56 - 2000 - Punishing Kiss - Ute Lemper - 1 - 2.41
57 - 2003 - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below - OutKast - 2 - 3.47

Here's my summary page.

And this posting's Reviews:

49 - Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix - 4

Jimi Hendrix is an iconic figure, one of the royals of rock. An innovator of electric guitar. Blah, blah, blah. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with those pronouncements, and have great respect for Hendrix. And in his short career (3 studio albums), he released some brilliant music. Probably 8-10 brilliant songs across those 18 months. But back to blah, blah, blah, and my point. For every brilliant Hendrix song, there’s a couple that are fine and the occasional one that I don’t like. The highs are VERY high, but there’s a lot of misses and lows. Electric Ladyland is a double album, 74 minutes run time. About 1/4 of it is as-good-as-it-gets, easy 5+ stars. But about 1/3 is below good. In my iTunes library, this album averages out to 3 stars. But here, the result is greater than the sum of the parts, and the album that closes with “All Along The Watchtower” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” can’t rate below 4. 4/5

50 - Aja - Steely Dan - 4

Aja came out my senior year of high school, and was pretty much inescapable for the 2 years. The overexposure turned me off at the time, and I wasn’t a fan. Steely Dan had always seemed like a band that took themselves a little seriously, and they really ramped that up on Aja. I saw a quote on Wikipedia that perfectly sums it up: “the conceptual framework of [Steely Dan’s] music has shifted from the pretext of rock & roll toward a smoother, awesomely clean and calculated mutation of various rock, pop and jazz idioms” (credited to Michael Duffy of Rolling Stone). That quote even captures the pretentiousness that I associate with later Steely Dan. That was 46 years ago, and as I’ve mellowed, I’ve come to appreciate this album. All that other stuff is still true, but that doesn’t change the fact this is a very good album. Yes, it is “clean and calculated”, but it’s also nearly perfect. It is heavily jazz influenced, the sound is really (really, really) great. The instrumentation is detailed and varied, it features the best takes from the best players they could find. The individual songs are all great. That said, it is almost too perfect, clinical. Perhaps a little lacking in soul or depth. The lyrics are sometimes too clever, and faux “deep”. But that’s just a Steely Dan thing. At 18, I would’ve rated this album a lower, but my tastes have broadened. I married into this on vinyl and eventually picked it up on digital. I’ll give this a solid 4. I’ve complained a lot about the flaws, but that’s just because they bring it down from a 5. 4/5

51 - 1993 - Whatever - Aimee Mann - 3

I had never heard of Aimee Mann, but given that it is early 90’s pop, that ‘s not shocking. I pretty much quit listening to the radio in the early 90’s. And it peaked at 127 on the Billboard 200. All that, combined with a score here of 2.78, didn’t have me too optimistic going in. but guess what. I rather like this. Very catchy songs, the vocal style reminds me a little of Sheryl Crow…. Maybe? It has a good clean sound, not overproduced. The right mix of instrumentation. “ Hooky” melodies. Nothing to deep, just solid and pleasant indie-ish pop. There’s a couple of songs that could’ve been trimmed, though. And it lacks anything truly memorable. 3/5

52 - 1968 - At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash - 4

This is the Johnny Cash I expected, when my first album here was his At San Quenton. I was rather disappointed in that one. This one is the real deal. First off, at 45 minutes, it is 10 minutes longer than San Quenton. It's a better song selection, and better performances. And a better atmosphere. It is better in every measure than San Quenton, which came out a year later. This is the "man In Black" at his best, in a prison singing mostly songs of prison, and people on the fringes. A little tough to rate, I respect this album, and it's a watershed recording. But it's not an album I've owned, nor do I expect to buy it now. But I expect to listen to it again. I need to stick w/ my rating system. It's somewhere between 4 and 5, but I think this one rounds down. So 4/5

53 - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music - Ray Charles - 5

This is a really fascinating album. Love Ray Charles’ singing and piano, and the concept of reworking C&W could’ve been a risk. But he really pulls it off. The whole album works, and there’s several standout songs. My only gripe is the early 60’s sound, there’s a bit more orchestra than I’d prefer. But that’s minor. I’ll certainly listen to this again, it may well end up purchased. 4.5, I’ll round this one to 5/5

54 12/12/2023 1970 The Madcap Laughs Syd Barrett 2 2.7 Some albums are obvious inclusions, even if I don't really prefer the genre. Some are hard scratchers, and this is one of those. I know who Syd Barrett was, but had never heard any music from his post Pink Floyd days.... I didn't even know there was any. After listening to this, I'm still not sure why it is on this list. It's not necessarily "bad", but it's surely not good. Parts of it sound like a guy playing to a handheld tape recorder, The best moments are generic hippy trippy late turn of the decade stuff, kind of a poor man's version of Strawberry Alarm Clock (the deep cuts, not the hit). Or Strawberry Alarm Clock meets Velvet Underground, all get high and record the resulting jam. The album was recorded over 16 months, starting shortly after he was dismissed from Pink Floyd for his "increasingly erratic and unpredictable" behavior. And it features 5 different producers, over 13 songs filling 37 minutes... Again, it's not bad, but neither good. It's rather disjunct, unfocused. The sound quality varies from cut to cut, and occasional songs seem to just stop (as opposed to a fade out or finish). And often feels sloppy, as if these were 3 years' of demos slapped onto a record. Frankly, it is a mess. Still I'll give it 2 stars, for the effort, and small props for being different.

55 - Olympia 64 - Jacques Brel - 3

Hmm…. Another odd one. This is a 1964 (released in 1967) live album from a French performer (born in Belgium), who I’d never heard of. Recorded in French, and sounding stereotypically French. I looked around Wikipedia, and there’s very little information on this album. But there’s more on Jacques Brel: he was active musically through the 50’s and 60’s, and into the 70’s, releasing 14 studio albums and 2 live albums between ‘54 and ‘77. Also appeared in 10 films between ‘67 and ‘73. Apparently, his songs were covered by several folk as diverse as a David Bowie and John Denver. And Scott Walker…. His Scott Walker II album includes 3x Jacques Brel songs, and is on the 1001 list, and I rated it 2/5 a couple of weeks ago. So, what of the album? This sounds like a French version of a mid 60’s Vegas crooner, maybe one of the Rat Pack. All nice enough, seeming rather polite. Perhaps even quaint at the same time worldwide Beatlemania was in full swing. It’s also remarkably short, just over 28 minutes. Being a French version of mid-60’s crooner is not bad, mind you, but I surely don’t think it rises to the level of Sinatra. I like this better than that Scott Walker II album (that included 3x S.Brel written songs). Give it low 3 stars, an interesting period piece. 3/5

56 - Punishing Kiss Ute Lemper - 1

Punishing Kiss? This can’t be good. And the cover art? Not a promising sign. How did it chart? #104 on the UK albums chart, nothing elsewhere. But maybe the music will be a pleasant surprise. Nope. At best this comes off as the score to an off broadway drama. Or perhaps the soundtrack to a 2nd wave animated full length movie…. But not up to Disney’s level. Something deep and dark, exploring the depths of the dark human spirit…. But animated. You know, the dark dichotomy of a “Punishing Kiss”. I guess there are people who like this stuff, but I’m not one of them. The vocals are “overacted”, as the singers seem to try and REALLY stress the seriousness of the lyrics. And the lyrics are pedestrian, at best. Musically, it’s well recorded, clean, lots of instrumentation. But the overall impression is as overblown as the vocal stylings. It all takes itself so very, VERY seriously. I like the MNE reviewer who called this “madly irritating, written-to-order art-school digression.” I don’t know, maybe it’s just all too deep for me, but this just leaves me cold. I don’t give many 1’s, but this gets one. I didn’t hate it, but the whole thing irritated me, and by the time the last 10+ minute song started, irritation was approaching “pissed off”. So I bailed. 1/5

57 - 2003 Speakerboxxx/The Love Below - OutKast - 2

2 hrs and 15 min of hip hop. Oh yay (sarcasm). But the whole point of this thing is to get exposed to new (to me) music. So, let’s dig in…. Looking at Wikipedia, this is basically 2 solo albums from the 2 members of OutKast. I guess that’s why it’s so long? Breaking it down: Speaker box: starting w/ hip-hop isn’t my thing…. In that context, this album isn’t 1/2 bad. There’s a lot of 70’s funk feel in a lot of it, only moderately diminished but the synthetic rhythm section, this works pretty well. Too much of the vocals are still the “how many words can you jam into a phrase”, but they’re not every song is seething anger, which I appreciate. Still, there’s some songs that I don’t like, and there’s a lot more “n-word” posturing. I expected to hate this but don’t mind a lot of it. Still, at 56+ minutes, it’s just WAY too much. I had to take a break at 45 minutes, only about 1/3 through the whole set. A couple of these songs would fit fine on a playlist, but sheesh. 2.5/5.0 The Love Below: this one sounds a little more “organic”, at least a little. And perhaps more pop, than pure funk. But on the whole, not as interesting. I’ll rate this 2/5…. At best. When I started listening to this, I was thinking sold 3. But as it went on and on (and on), the rating went down and down (and down). Especially the second album. We’ll settle in at 2/5 though, because there were 3-4 songs towards the beginning that were pretty good.

Capture52 Week 06 (5 Feb - 11 Feb) Common object

So there's this thing called Capture52, where they provide a prompt per week, and you're supposed to post a photo.  I've started it a couple of times but never made it very far.  So, let's try again.  6 weeks in, and still making it. But it is early.  Looks like I made 6 weeks in 2023, and 14 in 2022, so this matches last year!

This week's prompt was "Common Object".  I opted for something mundane, tried to make it a little stark and abstract.  What do ya think?

 

Before and After - Shared Sunset

 From a recent visit to Ellis Island, across Alton Slough from The Audubon Center at Riverlands.

This was shot in color, after some basic tweaks (rotate, crop, levels), I converted to B&W in Photoshop Elements, using Topaz Labs' B&W plug in.  At first it was sort of "meh", but I started experimenting with the options and was able to pull out the detail in the water.  Pretty pleased with the final result, though I probably added a little too much grain.  I tend to do that w/ B&W, though.  Remembering back to my film days...

Here's the Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC) starting point:

One Album A Day - 006

 As I noted before, I've been working through the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, as presented though the 1001 album generator web site.  My goal is to present a week (or so) of reviews, once every week (or so).  

So here's the next few albums I listened to, 

# - Year - Album - Artist - Rating - Global
40 - 1968  - Scott 2 - Scott Walker - 2 - 2.69
41 - 1987  - The New Tango - Astor Piazzolla - 4 - 2.92
42 - 1990  - Behaviour - Pet Shop Boys - 3 - 3.06
43 - 1970 - After The Gold Rush - Neil Young - 5 - 3.68
44 - 1975 - Tonight's The Night - Neil Young - 5 - 3.28
45 - 1978 - All Mod Cons The Jam - 4 - 3.29
46 - 1967 - Axis: Bold As Love - Jimi Hendrix - 4 - 3.81
47 - 2002  - Highly Evolved - The Vines - 3 - 3.12
48 - 1997 - The Boatman's Call - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - 2 - 3.27

Here's my summary page.

And this posting's Reviews:

48 - The Boatman's Call - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - 2

First lines of first song: “I don’t believe in an interventionist God / But I know darling that you do / but if I did I would knee down and ask him / not to intervene when it came to you”…. Dylan it ain’t. I guess it’s supposed to be deep. Musically, this is pretty good; spades, piano driven Melodie’s. I don’t much care for the singer’s tone/style, has a spoken feel, not a lot of tonal variation, and sometimes seems to be straining to reach. But the killer for me is the lyrics themselves. As above, who actually uses the word “interventionist” in a melancholy song? And where’s the faux depth of “seasons came, seasons went / the winter stripped the blossoms bare / a different tree now lines the streets / shaking its fists in the air”.

The overall affect is just irritating. Melancholy songs, atonal singing, stupid lyrics. The more I listened the more irritated I got. A d the lower my rating. I’ll settle to 2/5, even though it irritates me.

47 - Highly Evolved - The Vines - 3

So, this Australian band is “ frequently compared to Nirvana” (per Wikipedia). I guess that’s the current day equivalent of being the “next Beatles” we used to hear 40 years ago. Listening to this, I can tell they were inspired by Nirvana, maybe even trying to copy Nirvana. Not especially original. But the result is, at best, a pale imitation. It’s not bad, but it certainly isn’t memorable. 3/5

46 - Axis: Bold As Love - Jimi Hendrix - 4

Jimi Hendrix is one of those artists who we’re just expected to love. And while I certainly respect Hendrix, I’ve never liked him as much as I’m supposed to. There’s some great stuff on here, but the overall package isn’t quite great. It certainly doesn’t come off as cohesive, ping-ponging from the pointless sound effects of EXP to a nice shuffle number to the jarring contrast of Spanish Castle Magic, to the melodic Wait Until Tomorrow. It is mostly very good, but the overall is less than the sum of the parts. My favorite songs from this album are “Little Wing” and “If 6 were 9”, and I prefer cover versions of both (by Derek and the Dominies and Roy Buchanan, respectively). Don’t get me wrong. It is a solid 4, a little bit below the debut, and above Electric Ladyland. But none reach the 5 that everybody would expect/demand. 4/5

45 - All Mod Cons - The Jam - 4

The Jam are my favorite band from the 70’s English punk/new wave era. I much preferred them over the Clash, the Sex Pistols or the Damned, but they were never really appreciated here in the USA. That said, this is “only” my third favorite album of theirs, behind “Setting Suns” and “Sound Affects”. All in all, a really solid album, with some key songs. Not quite as complete as the subsequent albums, and easy 4 stars, but not quite good enough for 5. 5/5

44 - Tonight's The Night - Neil Young - 5

Neil Young’s albums from the early/mid 70’s all have a organic feel. Or whatever is the opposite of overproduced. “Tonight’s the Night” takes it to another level, feeling almost unproduced. It is somewhere between a wake and a celebration of friends/band mates Bruce Berry and Danny Whitten, who had both died of Heroin overdoses. The feel here is a bunch of guys hanging around the studio, laying down a few tracks in between a few drinks (or whatever), honoring their friends in the best way they knew (musically). In concept, it could’ve been a hot mess, but it all works. It’s “real”, it has emotion. This has been one of my favorite NY albums for years, and “Tired Eyes” is one of my favorite songs. An easy 5 star rating.

43 - After The Gold Rush - Neil Young - 5

It is rare for an artist to release 3 consecutive essential albums, but between 1969 and 1972 Neil young did it with “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere”, “After The Gold Rush” and “Harvest”. He also managed to squeeze in “Deja Vu” with Crosby Stills Nash and Young in that span. These are all albums that made an impact, tgat could be considered <I>important </I>. This would be a great album independent of the others, every song is solid, and it includes several of my favorite NY songs. I have 16 of the 21 albums NY put out between 1969 and 1990. After The Gold Rush is certainly in the 1/2 dozen I’d rate 5 stars. 5/5

Aside: it seems that this album is blocked on Spotify, that’s a bummer. But not a problem since I own it on vinyl and CD.

42 - Behaviour - Pet Shop Boys - 3

Call it Electronica, or synth-pop or whatever, it’s just not my bag. It’s smooth and rhythmic and has lots of synthesizer noodling; well done, but it is (to me) boring and largely forgettable. They’re clearly good at this, the sound is good. But I just don’t like it. 3/5

41 - The New Tango - Astor Piazzolla - 4

I wasn’t sure about this album when it started. Vibraphone, Bandoneon and violin? Not an instrument grouping that Imagine, one expect. The opening track seemed a little unfocused. But as the album progressed, it really sucked me in. There’s a complexity in the songs/arrangements that is really interesting. I’ll never be enthralled with the key instruments, but it works well in this setting. I’ll be listening to this again, and can see it potentially in my collection in the future. Solid 4/5

40 - Scott 2 - Scott Walker - 2

I’m a little concerned when an artist comes up from the late 60’s or the 70’s comes up that I’ve never heard of. And I’ve never heard of Scott Walker. After listening, I’m not sure who this made it to a “must hear” list. Over-orchestrated music, that sounds like a mix of bad musicals and something you’d expect over the closing credits of a James Bond knockoff movie. The lyrics are overblown, like a middle schooler with a thesaurus, trying to sound deep. I found a review on Allmusic that summed this up nicely: “uncommonly ambitious lyricist cloaked behind over the top, schmaltzy orchestral arrangements”. Spotify had the lyrics available, it’s worth reading along just to marvel at how bad they are.

I pondered giving this 3/5 just for being audacious and a bit different. But I think Walker is serious, and saw this as some sort of statement on…. Well, I don’t know. By the time I made it into the 2nd side I was just putting up with it. Still, I wasn’t offended, didn’t (quite) feel the need to turn off. But I can’t go above 2/5