A reference recording to me is an album that sounds great and that I am intimately familiar with. Because of that, it is an excellent tool to test drive a stereo or stereo equipment. It has to be so beloved by me that I can play it over and over and never get sick of it. Roxy Music’s Avalon is one of my reference recordings. I have it on CD, SACD and LP. Avalon is about as gourmet pop as you can get. It is smooth, sophisticated and timeless.
I was not a Roxy Music fan when I picked up Avalon when it was first released in 1982. It must have gotten a great review in Stereo Reveiw or some other magazine to get on my radar. I instantly fell in love with it and I have never tired of it in the three-plus decades since. I checked out the rest of their catalog, but nothing else from their catalog ever resonated with me like Avalon (however several titles from Bryan Ferry’s catalog have worked for me). To this day I must play it 4 or 5 times a year.
Why do I like this album so much? First and foremost is the sonics of the recording. It is atmospheric, yet it swings. There is great separation between the instruments. There is great depth to the arrangements. Second it is the aloof detachment of Bryan Ferry’s voice. It is bit of Bowie, but more conventionally beautiful. It is totally British, yet soulful. Finally, it is the great songwriting. Great songs beget great covers (check out “More Than This” covers by Lucy Kaplansky and Charlie Hunter & Norah Jones).
This is an album that can be played as background music at a dinner party and can be played loud front and center. If at first you find it to be boring ambient pop – turn it up and force yourself to immerse in the warm blanket of its sound. As smooth as this is, there is an undercurrent of sophistication and quite storm funk.
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When I first picked up The Old New Me in 1993 I was blown away by how good it was. I knew Slim Dunlap from his time in The Replacements. I saw his solo band live just prior to the release of The Old New Me when they were a warm up band for Bob Dylan (August/September 1992) and so I should have known something good was coming. Times Like This came a couple of years later and was nearly as good. The two albums are favorites in my collection. I have them on CD and as a twofer on vinyl (the two albums were issued on CD only back in the day and were recently reissued on vinyl for Record Store Day 2015). Unfortunaly they are not on Spotify (but they are on Amazon and iTunes). The CDs are be easy to find used in the $8 to $10 range (the vinyl is still available too at a reasonable price too).
Slim’s solo work remindeds me of Kieth Richards’ solo albums. Kieth had issued a couple of solo albums by that point. Slim had the same feel with a bit more country twist. Slim has a very similar voice to Keith and he is a very cool guitar player with out being a virtuoso – again similar to Keith (primitive cool). But probably the most shocking thing was he was a great songwriter. You can get a sense of his songwriting on the tribute album (see below). “The Ballad Of The Openning Band” is my favorite rock and roll song about rock and roll (see YouTube clip below).
The albums have an easy going tossed off style, but at the same time it is tight – keep in mind this was a journeyman. I am sorry to speak in the past tense. Although he is still alive he suffered a stroke in February 2012. I often wonder how many brilliant bar band mucisians there are like Slim slogging it out around the world. I am sure every mid-sized to large city has a few. What makes Slim special to me is that he he made his career in my home town and he was a member of one of my favorite bands The Replacements.
Make the effort to find these Slim Dunlap releases, it will renew your faith in rock and roll. Worst case check out the tribute/fundraising album Songs For Slim (below). That album reveals the greatness of his songwriting (and it also reveals he has some of the coolest friends and musician fans in the world – which is about better endorsement than this blog post). Also check out the Songs For Slim site.
Yesterday I was getting ready to head down to the Electric Fetus to pick up a LP version of Bowie’s Blackstar and so I took a look at their web page to see the new releases. This release caught my eye, especially seeing guitarist Bill Frisell promently on the cover. I read the profile (below) and immediately decided I had to have it. From Electric Fetus:
Charles Lloyd & The Marvels release I Long To See You on January 15, the debut album of a band founded by esteemed saxophonist and composer Charles Lloyd, featuring Bill Frisell (guitar), Greg Leisz (pedal steel), Reuben Rogers (bass) and Eric Harland (drums). The album presents 10 tracks, including a beautiful interpretation of “You Are So Beautiful” with Norah Jones on vocals and “Strangest Dream” with Willie Nelson on vocals.
It is an absolutely charming release. With Frisell in the left channel and Leisz on the right creating an amazing stage for Lloyd on sax and flute. It is folk jazz. Lloyd has made a career of fusions and making adventurous jazz accessible to rock and roll ears without compromise his art. He just makes great music whether it is his own compositions or covers.
The album opens with a cover of Dylan’s “Masters Of War” that captures Dylan’s anger and yet remains beautiful.
Next comes “Of Course, Of Course” the titular track from Lloyd’s 1965 album. Here Lloyd plays the flute and revises the classic funky 60s soul jazz with a country twist.
“La Llorona” is a traditional Mexican folk song that The Marvels give a spaggatti western movie soundtrack feel. It absolutely drips melancholy (one of my favorite musical moods).
“Shenandoah” is a traditional folk song that is the perfect cover for this band. It is a simple folk tune, but Lloyd and the band make it absolutely regal.
Lloyd pulls out another one of his mid-60s catalog standards “Sombero Sam.” This song is from 1966’s Dream Weaver. The song has a nice surf music and Latin vibe. Lloyd masterfully walks the razor’s edge between cool and kitch.
“All My Trials” is a folk song associated with the 60s protest movement. Lloyd turns it into a gorgeous jazz ballad spreading his gorgeous tone like cream cheese on a warm bagel.
“Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream” features Willie Nelson on vocals and guitar. This is a protest movement standard in the spirit of Dylan’s “Blowing In The Wind ” and Lennon’s Imagine which it predates by 10 and 20 years respectively. Nelson’s weary voice is perfect.
“Abide With Me” is a short hymn.
“You Are So Beatiful” is a song that J made famous. Evidently Lloyd has often used it as an encore piece and had often imagined Norah Jones’ voice gracing it. Now a Blue Note labelmate he made it happen. I fell in love with Norah Jones voice even before her debut album when she covered Roxy Music’s “More Than This” on a Charlie Hunter album. Norah’s cameo, like Nelson’s is perfect.
The album closes with a new song: “Barche Lamsel.” The band riffs on a single chord for sixteen and half minutes. It is stunning in it simplicity and yet it quietly shreds. The title refers to a Buhdist prayer for clearing away the obstacles from the path.
This is an absolutely gorgeous album. Great players and great songs. The recording is pristine. I first fell for sax and guitars on Metheny’s 80/81 – they go so well together – a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. The album is entertaining, yet enlightening as it deals with protest and spirituality. The intertwining of Frissell’s and Leisz’sguitars are a beautiful knot. Lloyds sax and flute are grand expressions of the man’s soul. Lloyd’s regular rhythm section of Reuben Rogers (bass) and Eric Harland create a mighty foundation. This blend with these songs is audio perfection.
2016 is starting out great for me on the music front – two Friday’s in a row that best of 2016 albums are released.
My earliest memory of Bowie is from 1975 – when I was in high school. I remember two buddies of mine arguing about who was superior David Bowie or Foghat. An argument that today makes about as much sense as which is smarter a dog or goldfish, but at the time I was ignorant about pop music. I remember the Foghat fan pronounced Bowie as boo-e and the Bowie fan kept correcting him. The insinuation of the Foghat fan was that if you were a Bowie fan you must be a homosexual – which at the time made sense because in my ignorant world view Bowie was a freak who dressed like a women and wore make up (not in a macho way like Kiss) and my buddy the Bowie fan was effete.
As I started to get pop literate I was dismissive of Bowie who was famous for “Space Oddity” which to me was a novelty song. It took me until the early 80s when Bowie went mainstream with his album Let’s Dance that I finally became a fan. The next thing I bought was the greatest hits package Changes which turned me on to his amazing singles. But it was not until 2004 when I saw him live that I saw the light. It was after that that I really studied his catalog.
A few years ago when my son was home from Chicago I went into wake him calling him Starman. I have no idea why. That has evolved in recent years to my waking him up with the Bowie song of the same name blaring from my iPhone. In 2014 we went as a family to the Bowie show at Museum of Contmproary Art in Chicago (David Bowie Is) – the location of the photo above. It was a great family memory.
Fast forward to this past Friday and the release of Blackstar the first Bowie album I have ever been truly gaga over. I was motivated enough to write a review that same night after listening to the album about 10 times. I remember watching the video for “Lazarus” and thinking,not the Bowie looked old, but that he looked dead – embalmed. Yet it was still a shock when I woke up early Monday (about 4:00 AM to pee) and I looked at my phone to check the time and discovered the headline that Bowie was dead.
Bowie’s gift to pop music was his recognition that to rock was not just the sound but the look – or to put it in Bowie terms “Sound and Vision.” I feel blessed to be touched by Blackstar at the moment of its greatest relevance. Bowie’s greatest performance may be his death.
I am not a singles guy, but an album guy. So my “best of” is my favorite albums for 2015. I am behind schedule, but better late than never right?
I will cut to the chase, my favorite album of 2015 is Kamasi Washington’s The Epic. This is a very ambitious jazz album: 3CDs/3LPs, choir, strings and famous friends (Thundercat). I got to see Kamasi’s touring band and that was pretty ambitious too (e.g. two drummers and a vocalist). The music has a 70s soul jazz feel for the most part, but also there are some John Coltrane moments. This is very accessible jazz, yet it is not light.
The rest of this list is in no particular order.
Another ambitious album is Titus Andronicus The Most Lamentable Tragedy. This a rock opera by a punk band. I would be dismissive of that description – but don’t let it dissuade you from checking this album out.
Titus Andronicus reminded me of Springsteen. Continuing with the “ambitious” theme, Bruce also had an ambitious release The Ties That Bind: The River Collection. I did not get a chance to review that collection, so I will share a bit here. Springsteen had been on a roll with some great albums, but they did not catch the magic of his live shows. Springsteen’s goal with The River was to capture some of that live magic. It worked, The River had a great bar band feel and it yielded Springsteen’s first top 40 hit with “Hungry Heart” (written in few minutes as a for the Ramones). It turns out Springsteen wrote a boatload of unreleased material for The River and the purpose of this collection is to pull all the material together. This is truely bonus material – these are not leftovers that should have never seen the light of day – this is a great desert to a gourmet dinner.
Yet another ambitious release was from Bob Dylan: The Cutting Edge 1965 – 1966: The Bootleg Series Vol.12: Collector’s Edition. I am embarrassed to admit I laid out $600 for this epic collectable. Allegedly every thing cut to tape in the studio during Dylan’s most important period (Bring it Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde).
What do we learn from this collection of master takes, alternative takes and stops and starts? That Dylan was pretty spontaneous in the studio and at the same time pretty concise (18 CDs for 3 albums originally spread across 4 CDs does not seem like a lot of excess junk to me). My favorite cuts are the deconstructed multi-tracks of “Like A Rolling Stone.”
The 18 CD edition includes Dylan’s original nine mono 45 RPM singles released during the time period, packaged in newly created picture sleeves featuring global images from the era. The limited edition includes rare hotel room recordings from the Savoy Hotel in London (May 4, 1965), the North British Station Hotel in Glasgow (May 13, 1966) and a Denver, Colorado hotel (March 12, 1966) as well as a strip of original film cels from “Don’t Look Back.” In addition you have the privilege of downloading a pile of MP3s of live material from the period. I am still working through all this material.
This is for the truly obsessive – but their are less expensive choices too – including the Spotify sampler below.
This could have been so bad: Dylan as crooner singing songs made famous by Sinatra, but it worked. Bob Dylan’s Shadows In The Light was so enthusiastic and genuine that it was impossible to deny. In addition to being a labor of love, I think the reason it worked is because the arrangements were pulled together from Dylan’s regular working band.
Chris Potter Underground Orchestra’s Imaginary Cities is a very nice jazz piece. Similar to Kamasi Washington it is accessible without selling out. Unfortunately ECM releases are not available on Spotify so if you want to check this out you will have to layout the cash.
I was not a Gov’t Mule fan before hearing this release. The hook for me was John Scofield. Sco-Mule is a treasure and turned me into a Gov’t Mule fan. Unfortunately the live show promoting the album I saw at the State Theater in Minneapolis was a disappointment – Sco phoned it in.
Knopfler never disappoints – Tracker was another success.
As great a studio band as Weather Report was, they where just as good (if not better) live. This collection captures them in the era when I saw them live.
Coldplay is a guilty pleasure.
Adele’s 25 is good, but you know that because it is the last album that everyone bought. Congratulations Adele for getting people to actually buy music.
If you have not heard St Germain, you don’t know what you are missing and you have to check this out.
Last year’s Pink Floyd leftovers was a nice little gift, but this year’s David Gilmour solo was a shock – had no idea it was coming and so it was extra special. Extra kudos for taking advantage of modern technology.
Low is such a wonderful quite storm. Here is another gorgeous slow burner from them.
Wilco delivered a sneak attack with Star Wars.
If not for Kamasi Washington, Ferry’s Avonmore may have been my #1.
Father John Misty put out a great album and he rivaled the Stones for the best live show I saw this year.
Every bit as good as her last album, Short Movie got slighted in my listening when it first came out, but I made it up by listening to it later in the year.
I have a half-written review of this album in my draft posts- I doubt it will ever see the light of day. But don’t that let that suggest that Crosseyed Heart isn’t a great album. I saw the Stones live this past summer and they where shockingly good – better than when I saw them in the 80s.
Another half-written post, that will likely never see the light of day. Unlike Dan Auerbach, Craig Finn is not afraid to try something different when he is away from his day job.
It took me a while, but I finally learned that T-Swift is a talent. It took Ryan Adams to convince me.
I can’t forget my perennial best of: the love of my life, the lovely Laura. For tolerating – no fanning my music passion (and other passions). For example, she is the one who insisted that I sit down and watch the Kennedy Center Honors. I want to thank her for discovering pre-sales for concerts, making Record Store day a family event, and making our home a shrine to music. Love you Pea!
Nothing delights my ears more than when a legacy act delivers an album late in their career that is as daring as anything from their prime. That is rare, but even rarer is when they deliver a masterpiece that holds its own against the meat of their catalog. And rarest of all is when they deliver something that is totally contemporary, yet totally themselves. Well Bowie delivers on all counts with Blackstar.
The sound bites are that this is Bowie’s jazz album. That is simplistic. Yes Bowie uses a jazz band (Donny McCaslin’s band), but he uses that band not to play jazz, but to play Bowie music. There are jazz instruments and textures but this is Bowie rock.
I can’t begin to describe how amazing this album sounds. This is not easy music. It is cacophony at times, but it consistently swings. It is stunning beautiful. The best way to describe it is to imagine if Radiohead did a jazz album.
At no point does Bowie sound like he is pandering or trying to be young. This a mature album, yet fresh. It is the kind of album that makes you wonder “where the hell did this come from?” But then you remember that Bowie is one of the greats of pop music – the master of both sound and vision. A true original. Why wouldn’t he birth another masterpiece? He is Bowie.
Bowie has thrown down the gauntlet to the pop world that he is not over the hill, but king of the hill. Blackstar has reserved a spot on lot of best of 2016 lists the first week of year.
I don’t consider myself a cinephile, but I was shocked at the shoddy quality of the roadshow presentation of The Hateful Eight. The projection was blurry on the edges, lines on the sides and wobbly. It reminded me of the highly used films that my junior high used to show at lunch hour – well that is an exaggeration, but I was expecting pristine visuals and to be visually blown away. My assumption is the renovated projector and an inexperienced projectionist are to blame.
The idea was great: do an old style epic with state of the art antique equipment and present it roadshow-style like back in the late 50s and early 60s. I am an analog guy – I love my vinyl LPs – this should have been right up my alley. Oh well, a swing and a miss, but nice try. You won’t have missed a thing when you see it via DLP.
So how was the movie? It was very much a Tarantino movie: wordy, visually clever, non-liniar plot, comical violence, great music, unabashed borrowing from other movies, etc. I love Tarantino movies, but frankly I found this one a slow and unadventurous. If you are a fan of Tarantino, love westerns and have a sick sense of humor you will like this move. I liked it – it just did not blow me away – but frankly Tarantino has not blown me away since Pulp Fiction (my all-time favorite film).
The novelty of this movie was going to be the 70 mm analog film, when that stumbled, this movie became nothing more than another notch in Tarantino’s belt. We only have two Tarantino movies left – lets hope he blows our minds at least once more before he goes off to write the great American novel.
Sometimes Spotify undermines an album due to lack of investment by the listener. When While You Were Sleeping came out in 2014 I gave it a couple spins on Spotify, but I never really listened.
Recently I found a new copy of the vinyl LP at the Electric Fetus in the closeout rack and I thought I would give it a second chance because No Beginning No End was so good.
When I put down cash on a physical copy of an album I listen to it differently. I am committed – it is not just a drive by.
I have been listening to the album the last few days and I am hooked. James is hard to classify: is it jazz, pop, hip hop, electronica? I love music that is hard to classify – where you are reduced to having to call it merely good or bad music. Needless to say this is good music.
James has a beautiful baritone that he can leap into higher registers with the greatest of ease. It is a smooth fine whiskey.
On this album James strays pretty far from jazz. It is a combination of an electronica and Radiohead vibe, yet very soulful. The production values are top-notch. This would make a great reference record to test drive a stereo. If you like soul music, but are tired of young artist who just rehash the classics and are willing to take an adventure check this album out. José James is a true original.
This collection could have easily been titled Weather Report The Jaco Years. As much as Weather Report was the Joe and Wayne show, when Jaco Pastorius graced the band he was an equal voice. I discovered Jaco via Joni Mitchell and Jaco delivered me to Weather Report’s Heavy Weather. So I am a little biased about Jaco’s prominence in the band.
I was pretty stoked when I saw this collection was coming out because, in addition to being a Jaco fan, this was the era I saw Weather Report live in a Minneapolis theater. I got a little nervous when I read this was mainly soundboard to cassette recordings – but my concern was in vain – the audio quality is 5-star.
Most of my experience with Weather Report is via their studio recordings – and they were very much a studio band. But as I learned that night 35 years ago, these cats are a great live band and this collection is the definitive evidence for posterity.
The collection sprawls four CDs. It is breathtaking. It pops out of the speakers in a way the studio albums never did. This is the band raw, yet they are tight. Wayne Shorter’s role was sometimes a bit too subtle on the studio albums. In these live cuts he shreds.
And then there is Jaco. This was the perfect band for Jaco. Zawinul and Shorter were jazz cats, but they had rock and roll hearts and sense of showmanship. They were the perfect mentors for the bass genius.
Zawinul is at times experimental and esoteric and then swinging. He is a soloist and a horn section. He is sound effects, but never gimmicky. He is the leader and the foundation of the sound. It is an absolute privilege to hear him do it live.
It is going to take me awhile for me to fully digest the four hours of this collection. But the early listens have engaged me. This is one great artifact of a world-class jazz band at the height of their powers. This is what I most love about jazz: sophisticated fun. There is a reason they call it playing music. If you want a shortcut check out CD 4 “Black Market.”
I have been a Coldplay fan since 2000’s Parachutes, which was a pretty brilliant debut. Although I have liked some albums less than others, Coldplay has never issued a stiff. They have continuously evolved their sound, but they have remained true to who they are – an unabashed pop band. I have often considered them U2 wannabes and/or Radiohead-lite. But that characterization seems derogatory for a band I like. They are just a pop band that has been churning out hits for 15 years. If that was so easy, why don’t more bands turn that trick? Paul McCartney proved writing “Silly Love Songs” takes expert craftsmenship if not artistry.
I liked their last album even though it was not full of arena anthems. Head Full Of Dreams is a return to classic arena anthem form. It is pure ear candy. You can imagine every one of these songs as an arena sing-along.
The album opens with the titular track. It is quintessential Coldplay. This track would not sound out-of-place on any of their albums.
“Birds” emphasizes rhythm over melody and nods to hip hop (something the band has been doing since Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends).
“Hymns For The Weekend” opens with a Beyoncé vocal (it helps to have friends I high places). This a hip hop song without a rap. It is the ultimate in-the-moment pop.
“Everglow” has a nice minimalistic Bruce Hornsby feel. A gorgeous ballad.
“Adventure Of A Lifetown” has a disco feel. It. Has a great clubbing sound. It reminds me of Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music with a bit of Daft Punk. This is the debut single.
“Fun” is currently my favorite cut. It absolutely swirls. The second half is a duet with Swedish singer/songwriter Tove Lo.
“Kaleidoscope” is an ambitious segue that has spoken word (poem by Persian poet Rumi) and a sample of Obama singing “Amazing Grace.”
No “Army Of One” is my favorite song on the album. An ear worm. The track includes a hidden track “X Marks the Spot” at 3:23 mark. That hidden track is pure Kanye.
My wife remarked,when hearing “Amazing Day,” that it had a prom slow-dance feel. I could not have said it better myself. Close your eyes and you can see the disco ball shards of light littering the room.
“Colour Spectrum” is a brief interlude.
“Up&Up” is a wonderful finale. It pulls all the stops. A full on champagne supernova – featuring a brilliant Noel Gallagher solo of course.
I don’t know who the hell Stargate is, but he/she/it is one hell of a great collaborator with Coldplay as the primary producer along with long time Coldplay producer/engineer Rik Simpson on this album.
I believe this may be Coldplay’s best album since their 2002 breakthrough A Rush of Blood to the Head. My only complaint is that it is not on Spotify – I would have bought the physical copy anyway, but it is damn inconvenient that it is not on my streaming service.
Overall a great album and this will clearly be on my best of 2015.
Coldplay is now available on Spotify. Assume it because Spotify will filter availability to premium customers .
Axl's Catch Groove 