If the third installment of the 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die sampler has a theme, it might be "rainy day," with jazz pianist Brad Mehldau's "When it Rains," the introspective stylings of Malasian artist Toumani Diabate, Chopin's Nocturnes, and the weepy, epic guitar solo of Funkadelic's Eddie Hazel (according to legend, George Clinton told Hazel to "play like your mother just died"). As before, though, I have tried to highlight a wide swath of genres while picking out tracks I enjoy and hope that you'll enjoy as well!
They say you can't go home again, and this Christmas might be the first time I not only knew this to be true, but accepted it. It was my son's second Christmas, but his first as a toddler with his own clear inclinations, and I truly felt that my family was in visiting from out of town rather than the usual feeling I get of being "home." That's not to say that I didn't feel at home, and in fact it was probably the best Christmas since I left Cleveland for college, but I recognized my small family unit, and was recognized, as a separate family this year.
But staying in my parents' house always turns me a little bit into the teenager I used to be, which, lucky for them, was a pretty good one. Everyone rebels against or aims to please their parents to varying degrees, and I went through my rebellious phases. But, as is my nature, I generally tried to make everyone happy (which, incidentally, has created plenty of situations where no one was happy). Of course I can relate this to music: I'll never forget the pure joy and elation I got back in High School when my brothers and I were listening to Soul Coughing's El Oso and my uncle walked through the room, protesting, "You guys actually listen to this stuff and think it's music?" Damn, I was hipster before that word existed.
But typically I try to find musical common ground with my parents. I remember when Cake's Fashion Nugget came out and my mom borrowed my copy for a party she was having. I had to tell my friend to come over and trade me for his Walmart-edited version so my parents didn't catch me with a CD that had cursing on it, but I was happy that I had introduced them to a new band. And most of my classic rock collection on my iPod was ripped from my dad's CDs (the Who, the Doors, Grand Funk Railroad, Creedance featured prominently; Dylan? Never heard of him).
So while I was home this week for the holidays I pulled up the latest 1000 Recordings Podcast to finish listening to it, and heard a plug for my blog at the end (thanks Tony and Mitch!). My parents overheard and asked about it, so I told them about the blog and when I started playing cards with my dad I queued up Chicago soul singer Baby Huey and the Babysitters, which I had mentioned in my email to the podcast. My mom was laying down on the couch, dozing, and after a few songs asked, "What is this?" I told her, and then asked, "You don't like it?" "I don't know..." and then after a brief pause, "no."
I browsed my library for something more worthy of an evening card game. Sufjan Stevens' Illinois, I thought, would be much more appreciated. After about five songs, my mom again asked me to put on something good. I was shocked. My aunt and cousin had shown up at that point, and although my aunt was lukewarm to it, my 18-year old cousin was wholeheartedly on my side. My dad, though, was not impressed either. So, as far as I'm concerned, taste is not genetic, because these two albums absolutely hold a place on the 1000 Recordings You Should Hear Before You Die.
Artist: Baby Huey and the Babysitters Album: Living Legend: The Baby Huey Story Recording #125ish
Of all the things I learned about my musical tastes from this book, the most shocking was how much I like some good soul music. Generally, R&B meant to me a more grooving version of smooth jazz. This book has shown me that if there's a singer with passion and a band that can rock (Sam Cooke, James Brown, Baby Huey) I am all about it. The first track, "Listen to Me" has a killer bass line and right away Baby Huey's voice, coming from his 400+ pound frame, is booming. I have a particular affinity for the piercing "SAY!" that he throws out there every once in awhile (probably the part my mom was not a fan of). "A Change is Gonna Come" sounds like a thunderstorm on the horizon. And my personal favorite is probably "Hard Times." The horn section is incredible; I want to simultaneously dance and be involved in a '70s era car chase when I hear it. There are a few too many instrumentals for my taste, but that's part of the legacy of this album: Baby Huey died of an overdose during the recording of the album at the incredibly young age of 26, leaving many of the songs without vocals. This one is beautifully introspective and at the same time will get you moving.
From the opening piano salvo, quickly joined with fluttering flutes, you know this one is going to be pretty. Sufjan doesn't disappoint on this one if you are looking for orchestral pop music. I heard Sufjan first on Pitchfork.com, back in the early 2000s, when it was known only by the most pretentious music snobs (I actually found it so snobby I couldn't read it). They gave away tons of free music, and one of them was "Sister" off Sufjan's album Seven Swans. I loved it, and quickly sought out more, and discovered Michigan, which had been released the year earlier. The album was totally dedicated to Stevens' home state, and supposedly the first of 50 such "State Albums." When Illinois came out, my brother gave me a copy; while I had high hopes because I liked Michigan so much, I did not expect that his second state album would actually be BETTER. But it is. Michigan is very soft, dark, and sparse, while Illinois includes not only tons of horns and strings, but a group of backup singers dubbed the "Illinoisemaker Choir." I have a compulsion to rank and list (can you tell? I write a blog about a list) and on my iPod, with over 20,000 songs, I have only 133 "5-star" songs. This album has TWO of them: "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." and "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is out to Get Us!" The first is the most sympathetic song ever written about a serial killer, with Stevens darkly comparing his (and everyone's) own dark secrets with that of a man who killed 27 or more people. This song is worthy of multiple "goosebump" moments- his falsetto "Oh my God" and his final confession to look beneath his floorboards before the haunted ending are two obvious ones. I'm not real sure what I love about "The Predatory Wasp." The structure of the song is actually pretty simple compared to most of the album, but the words paint such a beautiful and confusing picture that I am drawn in. Is the story about a best friend, or a lover? The song invokes the confusing, tumbling emotions of teenage years, further highlighted by longing of the shouts of "We were in love," and "I love him each day." This touching song is followed by the funky bassline and staccato shouts of "They are Night Zombies!! They are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!" The beauty of the album is how Stevens can take these disjointed themes and ideas and make them all fit into one cohesive album.
I highly recommend making each of these a priority to add to your music collection. What are your thoughts on these? Let me know in the comments section.
Now that I am so far behind on my recording of the recordings, I realize I don't have to faithfully record them in the order I hear them. I am free to cherry pick whatever recording seems to work the best for the events of the world. For example, on Friday Radiohead released their new album, The King of Limbs, their first release since 2007's critically acclaimed In Rainbows. In fact, as they always seem to do, the band released this one with a twist-- the album was released a day early due to the fact that it was "a full moon." I won't get too into the new album except to say it's worth a listen if you have liked anything Radiohead has done since OK Computer, which is apropos considering that it's one of the 1000 Recordings.
Artist: Radiohead
Album: OK Computer
Recording #80ish
Back in 1997 I was only a few years removed from my discovery that the music I bought didn't have to come from what was being played on the radio. Experimentation was at an all-time high in my musical taste, yet somehow I missed this the first time around. Perhaps that's the reason my favorite Radiohead album is still Kid A (I understand that it is a very dangerous thing to list a favorite Radiohead album. People are as defensive about this opinion as they are about their favorite sports team or their religion. I will not defend my choice except to say that I can understand why you like better and I'm glad that works for you).
I won't get too far into reviewing this album because there are people with PhD's in Radiohead's music and a few seconds on Google will produce more than enough opinions (my friend John87 actually wrote a term paper on the discography of Radiohead about seven years ago, plus check out the Amazon stats). What I would like to say about this album is that it was the first of Radiohead's albums to really foretell their reign as rock's unlikely king. "Paranoid Android" seems as schizophrenic and dense today as it was at its release, and yet it is supremely listenable. The song takes about five unexpected right angle turns and yet the final destination still seems so obvious... once you get there. "Karma Police" was the radio favorite at the time of release, and I still don't understand how I didn't buy the album after hearing it, as "I lost myself" in it every time it came on the air. The rest of the album is full of strong tracks that take you to another world, full of darkness and beauty.
OK Computer led to Kid A, which was the real game-changer in alt-rock and it opened the door for electronic rock that actually, well, rocked. At the same time, OK's not a period piece: it truly is a great listen from start to finish. Whether it's the devastating "Exit Music (for a Film)" or the jarring riffage of "Electioneering," every note evokes distopia while sounding like paradise. And if that sounds like hyperbole, then you just haven't listened to enough Radiohead yet to appreciate it. I know after listening tothe newest album I'm ready to return to the catalog and witness the evolution of music happen again.
Buy it at Amazon where you will find 2076 user reviews, 1799 of them 5-stars.
Wow, I cruised through those last 25 entries pretty quick. I guess it's time to start listening to a few more 2010 albums, or maybe revisit some of the classics I already own. But it's just so easy to listen to classical and (some) jazz when you are trying to get an infant to fall asleep-- plus my work schedule is so light that I don't spend that much time at work where I like listening to new music. Anyways, here's another one Tom missed the boat on. Artist: Sun Kil Moon Album: Ghosts of the Great Highway
A lot of the recordings in this book are pretty obvious, at least to the people who care about a particular genre. No big surprise to see Radiohead's "OK Computer" or The Beatles' 6 albums. Tom goes a little obscure at times, but it's always because the pure joy of listening to the band is worth the detour off the beaten path (see Baby Huey and the Babysitters for an example of one of these suggestions that caused me to buy the album the same day I heard it). In my opinion, Sun Kil Moon's debut, the solo project of Mark Kozelek of The Red House Painters, is one of those "Oh My God" listening moments. It might not hit you the first time-- I think I probably liked it just fine the first listen, but after having it in my car for a couple months I found myself going back to it over and over again, whether early morning driving, nighttime sleepy time, rainy day. There was never a bad time to hear the amazing layers of guitar, fuzzed out crunchy chords or softly fingerpicked, driving behind Mark's otherwordly voice. It's hard for me to say what the standout feature of the album is: the vocals, the intricate guitar, the stellar songwriting or the "rend your heart" lyrics. Take the album opener, "Glenn Tipton," for example; Mark's open tuned strum sets the tone immediately for his pleading voice singing a song about the way things used to be. Kozelek has a "Midas Touch" ability to turn any phrase into melancholic gold, and the shrouds of reverb he surrounds himself with give his voice the sound of a memory itself. From the 6 minute plus "Carry Me Ohio," which on paper should fail with its midtempo beat and one guitar lick, but somehow ends up as a masterpiece, to the fact that "Salvadore Sanchez" and "Pancho Villa" are the same song in different packaging (you would never have noticed if I didn't say something), this album is just a wonderful listen. Feeling blue never felt so good.
Catalog Choices: April, Tiny Cities, The Red House Painters Songs for a Blue Guitar Next Stop: Nick Drake Five Leaves Left
Buy this work of art at amazon, or better yet, go see him live
I'm not sure I am going to be able to keep up the pace once the job actually starts, plus grad school. I can listen to a lot of music in a day, but to write about it takes a bit longer, so I am going to have to start clustering my posts I think. So in this post I will cover the recordings I heard in the last few days:
Artist: Pablo Casals Album: J.S. Bach, Suites for Cello Recording #230
Stream the album here
Basically dinner music. Very nice dinner music, but pretty much just a guy playing the cello. What makes this interesting is to hear so much Bach all in a row, you start to recognize it a little bit. And it's also a very nice recording considering it was made in the '30's. I especially liked Suite 1, which was the most dinner suitable. Suite 2 was cool because it was a little more melancholic and actually had a few discordant moments that I didn't know was really even a part of baroque music.
Artist:Neko Case Album: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Recording #100ish
Stream album here
This is an album I got from my brother early on when I picked up the book. I already had Neko's album "Blacklisted" and all her work with the excellent band The New Pornographers. I had high hopes for this one because "Blacklisted" is one of my 100 favorite album (yes, there is a list), but I think Tom got it wrong on this one. Neko's voice is still a knockout on this album, but the songs are too homogeneous. On "Blacklisted" there are more tempo and style changes, with "Deep Red Bells" being the most surprising, but on "Fox Confessor" each song kind of rolls into the next. I would suggest if you want to hear who is carrying the torch from Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, start with "Blacklisted," and check this one out after that.
Artist: Johnny Cash Album: At Folsom Prison Recording #50something
Stream album here
One of the earlier recordings I heard, well before I bought the book. I had already been introduced to Cash through a "Super Hits" album and "American IV," so I was a fan of his classic style. He was the first true country artist that I enjoyed after I branched out from Alt-Country. "At Folsom Prison" is pretty awesome, just in the fact that his "Man in Black" persona really comes through. The sad songs are nice, but where he really makes his money is singing the outlaw songs, "Folsom Prison Blues," "25 Minutes to Go," etc. If you haven't heard him before, this is a great place to start!
Artist: Johnny Cash Album: American Recordings Recording #150something
Stream album here
I loved Johnny Cash's "American IV," which really brought him back into the spotlight with covers of "Hurt" and "Personal Jesus" (both better than the originals), but it all started with Rick Rubin producing the original "American Recordings" in 1994. This one has less recognizable covers, but highlight's Cash's voice and ability to bring a simple song to life. I would suggest "American III" (with covers of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" and U2's "One") or "IV" first to really appreciate what Cash can do to a song, but this is one worth having, especially for songs like "Thirteen," a Danzig cover that really brings out the darkness in Cash's persona.
For the most part, I think the "1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die" got it right. I can't say much about the classical, opera, R&B, gospel, but as far as rock and blues, which I know a bit about, I think Tom Moon made some great picks. I do have a couple of nitpicky problems with the list, though (6 Beatles albums? Godsmack?) and I've decided that every 25 entries I am going to do an entry about a recording I think should have made the cut (plus I am working my way through my first box set, so the next post may be awhile).
Artist: Iron & Wine Album: The Creek Drank the Cradle I'm really surprised this one didn't make it on the list. Tom included indie darlings The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, Neko Case, Bright Eyes, Belle & Sebastian, and the Arcade Fire, but he missed Sam Beam's project that really gave weight to self-produced "bedroom" folk. Beam, otherwise known as "Iron & Wine," was working as a college professor when he was discovered playing live by an exec from Sub Pop who requested a demo. As the story goes Beam sent 2 full CDs worth of hushed guitar and banjo folk he recorded in his home studio, and the label plucked their favorites and released them "as is" (the B-sides can be found on the excellent 2 disc collection "Around the Well"). Beam's voice barely whispers his haunting, religious-imagery-filled lyrics over supremely played fingerpicked and slide guitar and the occasional banjo. Besides this instrumentation and Beam's own backing vocals there are no other additions. Songs like "Lion's Mane," with its brooding lyrics on the meaning of love over a sublime guitar part and the southern folk inspired "The Rooster Moans" which has a steady, railroad train rhythm perfectly highlight how Beam can take a simple concept and turn it into a masterpiece. There isn't a weak track on this album, and its release foreshadowed the direction folk music was heading (see acts like Bon Iver, Department of Eagles, and Fleet Foxes as examples of bands building on Beam's steam) in the early 2000's. Beam followed up with "Our Endless Numbered Days," on which he added drums and backing vocals from his sister, and his third outing, "The Shepherd's Dog," (which charted at #24) filled out the rest of his sound with electric guitars and horns. But this original recording by Iron & Wine, in its simple, understated form, is worth taking a look at, and listening closely to. As minimalist as it seems at first, repeated listenings reveal powerful, deep lyrics and perfectly matched music.
Artist: Sun Kil Moon