A few years ago I stumbled across the Secret Stash label. I fell in love with their reissue of a reggae interpretation of Kind of Blue (sadly out of print, but available digital via various sources). Then I met the Secret Stash guys at a Record Store Day event at the Electric Fetus. I feel in love again with their fantastic compilation Twin Cities Funk & Soul: Lost Grooves from Minneapolis/St. Paul 1964-1979.
For about a year I have been trying to attend one of their assembly parties. When Secret Stash has a new release they email a bunch of volunteers to help put together the LPs (glue the jackets, insert the records into the jackets, insert jackets into a cellophane sleeve with a download card, seal the cellophane, etc.). As compensation for this work (about 2 hours for a run or 1300 LPs) the volunteers receive beer, pizza, fellowship with fellow music-heads and a free limited edition copy of the album. I attended my first assembly party for the LP Harry Mosco – For You Specially. It was a total blast. Imagine hanging out with 20 friends you have never met.
Assembly party at Secret Stash world headquarters in Minneapolis
For the official background on this release, see Secret Stash.
I don’t have a lot of experience with African music beyond what Paul Simon taught us all on Graceland. This album has a pretty mainstream pop funk feel and for an album recorded in 1977 it is pretty forward thinking. My understanding from talking to the guys at Secret Stash is this reissue was sourced from a sealed copy of the original LP – I like that – no temptation to mess with the original mix – it gives the reissue real authenticity (not to mention the reprise of the original misspelling of “specially” as “specialy” on the cover art). Most of the cuts are in English which makes the album even more accessible. The reissue sounds very good.
The album starts with “Wasting My Time (Loving You).” This is nice pop funk jam. It has a touch of reggae, disco and a slight African feel. It sound at least five years a head of its time – this sounds like mid-80s New Wave dance pop (bands like the Bob Marley and the Police had infused pop with island and African sounds by that point). This would not have sounded out-of-place as a Specials or Selector show back in the day. Huge bass lines on this track.
“Usassa Funk” – This is my favorite cut on the LP. You can totally hear The Clash doing a cover of this or grooving to it in their clubhouse. It is political, edgy and funky as hell. Mosco clearly foreshadows the punk infatuation with African and Island grooves. I tried to Google “Usassa” and could not come up with anything that made sense within the context of the song. However United States Asshole Association is a pretty cool top search result.
“Consolation” has a Sly Stone feel: in the groove, the vocals and the lyrics. A nice jam, but a little to derivative of Sly to be remarkable like the first two cuts.
Side two opens with “Ada Aku.” This is the most Afrobeat cut on the album – non-English lyrics, great grooves and horns – that Fela feel. Great arrangement with driving horns over a foundation of amazing bass lines and spooky organ. It ends with a nice drum solo that would make a great hip hop sample.
“It Ain’t Easy” – This cut opens with what could be the best hip hop break on the LP. Great horns on top of an infectious beat. Includes an awesome elastic guitar solo.
The LP closes out with some pop funk in the vein of the opening cut. “Sweet Loving Girl” is a funk ballad that boils to a full-out dance floor jam. Like the rest of the album the bass is the most prominent instrument. I would love for the boys in whysowhite to cover this jam – it would totally fit their repertoire. The song has what sounds like vocoder guitar lead that borders on an almost marimba like sound that is pretty cool.
Overall this is a fun record that reveals itself after repeated listening. Mosco’s bass is an amazing instrument – it has just enough Afrobeat and American R&B to be familiar yet exotic. It is so great there are indie labels like Secret Stash discovering and making available lost gems like this. Highly recommended.
When I first started to listen to CDs in the mid-80s I thought it was an amazing innovation: no surface noise, portable and convenient. At first I thought these CDs had superior sound over vinyl and I could not get enough of them. I was fooled by how quite (no surface noise) they were. But I also remember getting listening fatigue – I had never experienced that before listening to vinyl. I remember listening to Steely Dan’s Aja on CD – it was clean and pristine – but it was somehow missing the soul of the vinyl version. Soon it did not matter because the only way you could buy music was on CD. There was this nagging feeling that something was not quite right with this format.
Then there were the remixs and remasters – that must be what the problem was (the “not quite right”) – the labels in their greed to sell CDs had just grabbed whatever tape they could find and issued them on CD. The remaster concept was to go back to the source tapes and remix/remaster for this new CD format. They sounded different from the original CD – sometimes better – sometimes not. Sometimes the remixer/remaster took too many liberties (kind of like the stereo mixes from the mono era) and added their aesthetic to the original. In general these remasters were a step in the right direction.
Fast forward to Napster – music was suddenly “free” on a format called MP3. It sounded like shit – but it was free! Then there was the iPod and you could now bring all this free music anywhere. Again is sounded like shit, but it was so damn convenient. But the music was not free – it was just really easy to steal. This was not going to go well for the music industry.
Besides being easy to steal there was another thing that was not right – digital was making most things better (DVD was better than VHS, Blu Ray was better than DVD, etc.) but in the music industry the sound was getting worse. Artists started to play down to the crappy medium.
Then I found SACD and DVD A – they sounded amazing – but there were not many titles and they were really expensive. It was mostly focused on already issued music (more remixes and remasters). I got distracted by 5.1 mixes vs. stereo – that was a dead-end – a novelty at best.
It was about 10 years ago that I started to listen to my vinyl records (I had thousands of LPs) again. Not sure what got me started. But wow they sounded really good – I forgot how good they sounded. They sounded better than the digital stuff (except for surface noise). I started to get sentimental for the stereo era of my 20s – when you bought the best stereo equipment you could afford – ever searching for great sound. I realized my kids were developing some cool musical taste – but they did not seem to care about great sound. They listened through ear buds and crappy computer speakers. It saddened me.
About 5 years ago I started to get back to analog in a big way. I listened more and more to my vinyl records. I started buying used records (they were still cheap). New releases were starting to be made available in vinyl (although some were fraudulent CD mixes cut to wax). I started to reboot my stereo equipment. I bought a tube amp. I bought a new turntable. I bought new speakers. I bought a DAC to try to make my digital music sound better. I started to rip in mp3 320kbps; I stopped that and went lossless. I quit eMusic because they had crap quality MP3 (which the DAC really reveled). I was officially frustrated with digital music.
Which brings me to the present: today I listen to a lot of vinyl through my home stereo and to Spotify through my iPhone. I love Spotify through my iPhone – I love the convenience – it is great for the car, for the gym – in general when you are on the go. I like the access, the ease, the portability and at ten bucks a month it can’t be beat. Spotify is just how I sample music. When I really want to listen it is via vinyl (and often due to the high cost of some vinyl and limited availability of titles I have to settle for CDs) on the home stereo.
I have listened to high-resolution files – if derived from the right remaster they sound wonderful. The next piece of equipment I want is an Oppo -105 that will play my CDs, SACDs, DVD-A and most importantly to serve as a DAC to play a wide variety of high-resolution files.
This leads me to Neil Young and Pono. Neil want to reboot the iPod/iTunes paradigm with a high-resolution store, an app for your computer and portable iPod-like device designed to play these files (via headphones or through your stereo). There is no technical innovation here. The high-resolution file formats exist. There are online stores you can buy them from. There are apps to play the files. There are iPod like devices. The innovation here is what iTunes and the iPod did – create an easy to use ecosystem that appeals to the masses.
This is a good enough idea that I am backing my first Kickstarter project (on day one even). I pledged three Benjamins to get one of the first ones off the line this fall. I don’t think this will be a revolution (I hope it will be). I just hope it makes enough of a splash that musicians will make the effort to record at the highest resolution they can afford (in a room that matters) and make their work available in high-resolution files and legitimate vinyl (not CD 44.1 16 bit files cut to wax). Hopefully kids will discover high fidelity.
But this is not without risks – and here they are:
- The masters better be good – it does not matter how great the technology – if the masters suck the high-resolution files will suck. The labels don’t have a good track record here.
- The cost – buying a Pono $300 to $400 seems like a reasonable cost compared to other high-resolution portables on the market. But the $15 -$25 price tag per album that sucks. When I buy a high-resolution copy of Bob Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks it will be the 5th time (vinyl, CD, remastered CD, SACD). My Spotify subscription is $10 a month. A 180 gram vinyl copy would be $25. So $15-$25 for a download album is too much! Sell me the high-resolution files for $5 – $10. Provide a 192kHz/24 bit FLAC “free” with the vinyl edition.
- The smart phone – when I am at home, I am going to listen to my high-resolution files via my PC/music sever/DAC/stereo. When I am on the go do I really want to carry another device? Especially when I will be competing with background noise? I think it will be hard to give up my iPhone and Spotify account – they sound good enough “on the go” and they are cheap.
So in summary I am excited by the promise of high-resolution digital and the music industry getting serious about sound. But I am just cynical enough to remind myself I can still cancel out of my Kickstarter Pono backing by April 15th 2014. It does not need to beat iTunes or the streaming services, if Pono can grab a little niche toehold in the music consumer market – kind of like vinyl has – I will call it a success. As of today, just a few days into the Kickstarter campaign, Pono has almost 11,000 backers and nearly $4 million raised. So I think we might have our toehold.
A couple of years ago I discovered Tord Gustavsen (The Well) and it reignited my love of the ECM label. I picked up this CD (note ECM only issues CD – no vinyl) without hearing it because I enjoyed the last one so much. I was not disappointed.
Tord Gustavsen plays a very contemplative style of jazz piano – kind of like Keith Jarrett on Valium. Imagine that feeling just as you are about to doze off on a carefree afternoon nap – that is the sound of Tord. Yet this is not audio wallpaper or a sleep machine – there is a soulful swing to the music. It is very engaging and richly textured. I love this kind of jazz – it can be background music, but it is deep enough to straight up listen too. You are free to engage as much or as little as you like. Every time I give this an alert and engaged listen I hear something new.
The Quartet is piano, bass, drums and tenor sax – I don’t know any of the players other than they are all Norwegian. The tenor sax (Tore Brunborg) is an absolutely wonderful member of the music conversation. He is not on all the cuts, but when he is it is stirring. The drums and bass add a gorgeous texture to the proceedings.
Highly recommended. For a sample see the ECM Tord Gustavsen Quartet Extended Circle site and click on “Music.”
Bob Mould’s Workbook is one of the most important albums in my music library. I had not been a Hüsker Dü fan (I was a Replacements guy and if you read this blog you know I am consistently late to the party). I had some of their albums (I had to – I am a Minneapolis guy), but they never resonated with me. When I picked up Workbook in the spring of 1989 I was sold – Bob Mould was a genius.
I was a big Richard Thompson fan at the time and I was blown away by how much Mould channeled him – yet Mould claimed to be ignorant of the influence at the time he put these tracks down. On the surface Workbook denies Mould’s hardcore punk reputation. But Hüsker Dü always was much more than a typical hardcore band – they were subversives – sneaking melody and pop under buzz-saw guitars. In the review mirror of 25 years it should not be a surprise that Mould would pull a subtle masterpiece out of the ashes of Hüsker Dü.
The back story is that Bob was recovering from the nasty breakup of Hüsker Dü. He was living in a farm-house outside of Minneapolis. He wrote these songs and demoed them alone. He shopped them to Virgin who was trying to gab a foothold in the American indie-rock hot bed of the late 80s. Virgin got lucky – they bought a masterpiece.
Workbook mixes folk and rock to stage the reflections of a thoughtful man who just survived a hurricane. It is tender and edgy. It is joyful and cynical. It is the mature statement of a once angry teenager who is now a man. I am roughly the same age as Mould (and now that we are both in our mid-50s we even look a bit alike); this album really resonated with me – I was about to become a real man myself just a few months later with the birth of my son. The album has stuck with me over the years and as recently as a couple of years ago it was back in heavy rotation as I was recuperating from surgery while reading Mould’s memoir.
It has only been in the last few years that I finally “got” punk music and Hüsker Dü in particular. It is easy to see now why they were so important. It is tragic, yet only right, that they would self destruct despite recently hooking up with a major label. The foreshadowed by five years Nirvana who would take their innovation to the masses (Cobain would be the first to admit the influence).
I was excited to see Mould was reissuing Workbook on LP (on vinyl for the first time) and in deluxe CD package. When I went the Electric Fetus to pick up the LP, I was disappointed to see they vinyl did not have the bonus live stuff on the deluxe CD package – so I opted for the CD.
The CD sounds great. A much livelier mix; much more presence and wider sound-stage than the original CD (I like to think we have learned a thing or two about mixing CDs in 25 years). The original was great sounding CD – the reissue is even better. A great remaster.
But the real treasure here is the bonus CD (since I have listened to the original hundreds of times) of a live concert from 5/14/89 in Chicago (The Metro). The live presentation of the Workbook songs is more what you expect from a rocker like Mould – so it’s fun to have rough and raw rocking versions of the songs. The live set has a couple of songs that did not make the album, a brilliant cover of Richard Thompson’s “Shoot Out The Lights” that alone is worth the price of admission (Mould must have been curious about the comparisons that were being made), he rounds out the set with an acoustic solo rendition of three Hüsker Dü chestnuts. I am so sick of being screwed over by crappy bonus disks – this is redemption I needed to keep being “that guy” (AKA sucker) buying deluxe editions.
A joyful Bob Mould – photo from City Pages and my sorry iPhone snapshot
On to the recent Workbook 25 show in Minneapolis. For a professional review, a set list and better photos see City Pages.
I really enjoyed the show. First the venue is great – The Women’s Club Assembly is the perfect size for an artist like Mould and the theater seating is just what the doctor ordered for Mould’s aging fan base. The crowd was the most impressive collection of 50+ hipsters I have ever witnessed. Bob was in great form – he was energetic and joyful. He really seemed like he wanted to be there and the quote of the night from him was “For this record, I can say it: It’s good to be home.” He even wore a Minnesota themed shirt.
Mould attacked Workbook as the true Hüsker Dü alum he is – he was rocking. But that was also a bit of a disappointment too – as cellist Alison Chesley was pretty much silenced by Bob’s roaring strat. If he was going to play like this I would have rather had a drummer than a cellist – but that is really my only disappointment.
In addition to the Workbook songs, Bob played a smattering of his other solo work, a couple of Sugar songs (damn I loved Sugar! in the 90s!), a song by his backup players’ band (Verbow) and a Hüsker Dü song as a tease. Over all a great show – good enough to help me forget my aching back (that is another story) for 105 minutes of rock and roll nirvana. PS – “See A Little Light” gave me goosebumps (see Bob play it a couple of nights later on Letterman).
I came to Beck well after his first splash in the early 90s. When “Loser” was in ubiquitous rotation I assumed that Beck was just a novelty act. I somehow completely missed Odelay the first time around. I became a fan after the one two punch of the “R&B Beck” of Midnight Vultures and the “sad-Beck” of the melancholy classic Sea Changes at the turn of the millennium. Then I backtracked and realized what a true genius he was on Mellow Gold and Odelay. After Sea Changes I would religiously pick up his latest release, but those albums never resonated with me. So I as pretty excited to hear the pre-release hype for Morning Phase which suggested a return of the “sad-Beck” and a sequel of sorts to Sea Change.
Well it lives up to the hype. If you liked Sea Change you are going to like Morning Phase. As much as I liked Sea Change it seemed like an experiment, whereas Morning Phase feels more natural/organic. A suitable album for a pop star’s first album in his 40s. The album has lots of Classic Rock flourishes: a bit of a Moody Blues, the mellow side of Pink Floyd, the ballad side of Elton John, Nick Drake, Neil Young and even some Simon and Garfunkel. It is very atmospheric and wonderfully melancholy. The arrangements are rewarding and only reveal themselves slowly after repeated listens – the first couple of passes it sounds muddy and dull – so hang in there and give it at least five attentive listens – there is a payoff. It is great to have the Beck I love back in rotation. A little taste below:
Well I was seriously jonesing for vinyl yesterday – I braved miserable driving conditions to visit the winter installment of the just west of Minneapolis RockNRoll Music Sale. But it was worth it. This visit was about quality over volume – rather than stock up on the dollar records, I focused on the top-shelf stuff. I had a 50 bones and I spent every one.
My top find was a near mint copy of Buckingham Nicks for $12 – not an original gate-fold, but still a great value. The recent passing of Lou Reed had me searching for some of his work and I found two mid-70s classics: Coney Island Baby and Street Hassle. A couple of Material albums found their way into my hands along with a couple of Robert Cray albums. I have been looking for a long time for a reasonably priced Grateful Dead Wake of the Flood – found one. A real surprise was a sealed copy of a 2005 Blue Merle album (that kind of predates the recent vinyl craze – why was that there?). Style Council’s Internationalist rounded out the more than a dollar stuff. The dollar bin was looking good, but I only had $3 bucks left so I had to practice some restraint: Everything But The Girl (eponymous), Gram Nash’s Songs For Beginners, and Hall & Oates Abandoned Luncheonette. Look forward to some reviews of some of these LPs.
This sale (and its companion sales through out the rest of the year – watch their Facebook) has a great selection and very reasonable prices. For example the Buckingham Nicks at $12 – that would be twice that at a record show or on Discogs.com. Most titles are well under a fin. Add the funky location (Jeffery’s garage when the weather permits or a recording studio when the weather does not), friendly proprietors and you have one great crate digging experience – worth risking you life to get there in post blizzard treacherous conditions!
I bought this LP for four reasons (in order of importance):
- The Mati Klarwein cover art (which I had never seen before, but instantly recognized as Mati Klarwein)
- The fact that it was on the Kudu/CTI label
- I was vaguely familiar with Joe Beck as Miles Davis’ failed first attempt at hiring an electric guitar player
- It had a cool line up: David Sanborn (sax), Don Grolnick (keys), Will Lee (bass), Chris Parker (drums) and Steve Kahn (guitar)
Double bonus – it is a great LP. This is quality smooth jazz. If you didn’t know, you would think this is a David Sanborn album. His sax overshadows the proceedings. This was David Sanborn before he was David Sanborn. His horn is instantly recognizable to smooth jazz fans and to fans of early Saturday Night Live (listen to Sanborn’s solos all over this album and you will know what I mean).
According to allmusic.com smooth jazz is :
“Smooth Jazz is an outgrowth of fusion, one that emphasizes its polished side. Generally, smooth jazz relies on rhythms and grooves instead of improvisation. There are layers of synthesizers, lite-funk rhythms, lite-funk bass, elastic guitars, and either trumpets, alto, or soprano saxophones. The music isn’t cerebral, like hard bop, nor is it gritty and funky like soul-jazz or groove — it is unobtrusive, slick, and highly polished, where the overall sound matters more than the individual parts.”
Not a very flattering definition, but fair. Joe Beck’s Beck manages to sound great, despite being smooth jazz. Why? I really don’t know. But every genre has great music and every genre has crap music. Great music defies labels, especially unflattering labels. Perhaps this is a great smooth jazz album because it was one of the cornerstones of the genre. Or maybe it is more soul jazz than smooth jazz. Or maybe because David Sanborn has more genuine personality in his playing than any of his peers. Or it could be the just plain great playing by an ensemble of studio/session rats on a busman’s holiday. I hate most smooth jazz as much as the next guy, but there are some masterpieces of the genre and I stumbled on one because of the cover art. Do judge a book by its cover – if it is a great cover!
For a little taste check out the You Tube below of the opening cut “Cactus.” Note the not so cool cover art which was from an now out of print reissue of Beck called Beck and Sanborn to take advantage of Sanborn’s fame.
It is hard for me to be objective when it comes to Pat Metheny as I am true fanboy when it comes to his music. With that admission in place, I wan to state that 2012’s Unity Band blew me away even more than the typical Metheny release. Metheny had held out 32 years to have a release with sax and 1980’s 80/81 with Michael Brecker is one of my favorites from the Metheny catalog, so I was thrilled to hear Metheny was going to release a second album with his horn infused (Chris Potter) Unity Band (now dubbed Unity Group due to the addition of mufti-instrumentalist/vocalist Giulio Carmassi).
Where Unity Band was pretty straight ahead jazz, Kin is Metheny jazz. The album falls into the highly arranged/orchestrated “Group” albums of the past. The album is richly textured and appeals to my conventional Metheny “Group” fanboy along with the my love of the more adventurous side of Metheny.
But the key for me is Chris Potter’s sax – he adds a spice to the “Group” sound that is separates if from the rest of the Metheny “Group” catalog. The horn gives the album a much jazzier feel than if it was not there. Metheny has always had a “horn” feel to his solos so for him to actually play with a horn player is magic.
Even before hearing this album – on paper this album would be on my best of 2014. Metheny delivers, not just in concept, but in a true sonic tour de force.
I missed this album the first time around in 1984. I had listened endlessly to Murmur, but for some reason I lost track of R.E.M. until 1987’s Document. At which point I backtracked to Dead Letter Office and have been a loyal fan of everything since then. That being said “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)” and “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” are somehow embedded in my psyche. I assume it has to do with the greatest hits package Eponymous that I listened to regularly in the late 80s.
A few months ago I picked up a nice pristine vinyl edition of Reckoning for $4 bucks but did not listen to it until a couple of days ago. Well holly shit! This gem has been sitting under my nose for 30 years? What a pleasant surprise.
Where most bands fall on their face with their sophomore album, R.E.M. hit it out of the park. This album did not sell that well nor did it make the kind of impression that Murmur did, but man this is exhibit #1 of the R.E.M sound. To quote R.E.M.’s Peter Buck: “Minor key, mid-tempo, enigmatic, semi-folk-rock-balladish things.” Reckoning is all of that and it rocks too.
Looking back with the benefit of 30 years of hindsight, Reckoning is actually a better and album than Murmur – it is more confident and fully formed – more of an album than a collection of songs. That hindsight also reveals how influential a band they would become: everything from Nirvana to Radiohead to Wilco sprouted out of early R.E.M. The early years set a solid foundation for R.E.M.’s own late 80s/early 90s mega-success when they were right in the mix with U2 for the greatest band in the world. I am so glad to have rediscovered this masterpiece. If you have never listened to it, take the time. If you are an old fan treat yourself to a reprise.
PS while listening to this album I stumbled on a great Wikipediea article: “Timeline of alternative rock.”
I am always amazed that a recording artist can produce a masterpiece 35 years into their career. Rosanne Cash has just done that. Cash has always produced high quality work and already has a few masterpieces under her belt, so I guess I should not be surprised.
If you are not familiar with Cash’s voice, it is distinctive without being odd. A touch of country, folk and pop. She has always surrounded herself with top-notch musicians and great arrangements and this album continues that tradition. The music behind her voice and lyrics is absolutely gorgeous and the sound of the recording is pristine. She conveys emotion with phrasing and tone – for me the lyrics are secondary – she could be singing in another language and she would get her point across.
Cash’s art has been an open book: the good, bad and the ugly of emotions and relationships. This album is more guarded, but no less emotional. More a novel than a memoir. Not quite a concept album, it does have a consistent them of a road trip. Cash is traveling and uses travel metaphors to explore her middle-aged soul.
Cash has been alt-country before that was even a gene. She is clearly out of the country tradition, but she does not let that tradition own her. She is not pop or rock either. Her music is seeking – it is contemplating. It is adult music – joy and melancholy at the same time. I guess she sings truth.
I have been savoring this album for 3 weeks now and continue to find new pleasures in it. I have a feeling this will make the top-ten list for 2014. Bravo to the Blue Note label – they have reinvented themselves from a jazz label to a curator of sophisticated rootsy pop.
Axl's Catch Groove 