Post subject: Listening to the History of Popular Music
EDIT: The original post is quoted at the bottom, but the project has evolved substantially, so I want to provide updated information.
I am adding lists of historical albums to this thread as I move forward in time, soliciting for suggestions each time. Here's a rough description of the factors I consider when making my initial lists. I'm happy to discuss/refine any of these further.
1) Influence on future musicians
- If there were an easy way to measure this directly, it would be the primary factor I consider. Unfortunately, I have to settle for proxies, like critical acclaim. For general critical acclaim, I use Acclaimed Music, but I put extra weight on reviews from high-profile and influential publications, like the Penguin Guide to Jazz, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork. The Grammy Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are also major resources, since their criteria for inclusion are very similar to my own. If you have other suggestions for resources, particularly for underrepresented genres, let me know.
2) Major landmarks
- This will usually focus around "firsts" or low-profile artists that turned out to be important precursors to later movements (e.g., the Sonics, the Eden Abhaz). For example, in 1966, I included the "first" album to refer to itself as psychedelic. For the most prominent artists, like Bob Dylan or the Beach Boys, I'll sometimes include landmarks within their individual careers. As an example, Another Side of Bob Dylan is an important transitional album in his career, despite not garnering as much acclaim as many of his other albums.
3) Representative recordings
- Unfortunately, many of the most historically important artists weren't focused on constructing "great" albums, especially prior to the late 1960s. When this is the case, I will include albums on the list as "representative recordings" from these artists. James Brown is a good example. Live at the Apollo is widely acclaimed, but most of his other albums barely register on the critical radar. It would be a shame if the Godfather of Soul was only represented by one album, however, so I occasionally mix in one of his albums to track his development.
Here's a link to my personal listening list, which is color-coded by genre and frequently being updated:
My wife and I recently set out on a quest to explore the history of recorded popular music, with an emphasis on American-made music. Does anyone have suggestions for good recordings from before 1940
The LP didn't exist back then, so most of what we've been listening to are collections of singles or live recordings. Here's what we listened to so far (updated periodically):
1920s and 1930s
Jazz
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Louis Armstrong and the Hot Five (complete recordings)
Duke Ellington (collection of early works)
Fats Waller (greatest hits collections)
Billie Holiday (collection of early live recordings)
Fletcher Henderson (collections of early recordings)
King Oliver (collections)
Raymond Scott (Reckless Nights)
Country
-----------
Carter Family (collection of early recordings)
Jimmie Rodgers (various collections)
Texas Playboys (live recordings)
Roy Acuff (anthology)
Big Band/Swing
------------------
Cab Calloway (Live at the Cotton Club)
Benny Goodman (1938 Carnegie Hall concert)
Django Reinhardt (early recordings)
Blues
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Charley Patton (various collections)
Robert Johnson (various collections)
Blind Lemon Jefferson (various collections)
Bessie Smith (various collections)
Blind Willie Johnson (various collections)
Lead Belly (Lomax recordings)
Mississippi John Hurt (early recordings)
Blind Willie McTell (early recordings)
Big Bill Broonzy (various collections)
Calypso
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Various Artists (Calypsos From Trinidad: Politics, Intrigue and Violence in the 1930s)
1940s
Jazz
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Duke Ellington (never no lament)
Dizzy Gillespie (RCA Victor Recordings)
Albert Ammons (boogie woogie)
Ella Fitzgerald (Anthology 2)
Charlie Parker (Bird & Diz)
Nat King Cole Trio (Complete Capitol)
Billie Holiday (mid-period anthology)
Country
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Bill Monroe (Essential Bill Monroe)
Hank Williams (early singles)
Great song, I have the Casablanca version on my main playlist. For this thread, though, I'm thinking more of compilations, live shows, etc. Anything that's long enough to give me a good feel for an artist or style of music.
Django Reinhardt - Jazz In Paris: Swing 39
Mississippi John Hurt - 1928 Sessions
Various Artists - Calypsos From Trinidad: Politics, Intrigue and Violence in the 1930s
Blind Willie McTell - King of the Georgia Blues Singers
Mississippi John Hurt - 1928 Sessions
Blind Willie McTell - King of the Georgia Blues Singers
Thanks! Only been through the two above so far, but I really like what I've heard, especially from Mississippi John Hurt. I was really surprised by how slick (and high quality) his recordings were. He doesn't have nearly the edge of Robert Johnson or Leadbelly, so I can see why he had a bigger influence on folk music than, say, Chicago blues or rock. However, his guitar playing and vocals are great and he may be the most polished blues artist I've heard from this period.
As for McTell, I can see why Dylan was big on him. Love that voice.
Last edited by sp4cetiger on 08/21/2013 02:07; edited 1 time in total
Thanks! Only been through the two above so far, but I really like what I've heard, especially from Mississippi John Hurt. I was really surprised by how slick (and high quality) his recordings were. He doesn't have nearly the edge of Robert Johnson or Leadbelly, so I can see why he had a bigger influence on folk music than, say, Chicago blues or rock. However, his guitar playing and vocals are great and he may be the most polished blues artist I've heard from this period.
As for McTell, I can why Dylan was big on him. Love that voice.
Yeah, given the date the quality of those John Hurt recordings are almost too good to believe. You're right in saying that he doesn't have that almost dangerous quality that made Johnson and Leadbelly so special, but they're probably still my favourite blues recordings. His fingerpicking style is awesome, and the likes of 'Candy Man Blues' and 'Spike Driver Blues' are fantastic. As for McTell, I adore his voice. My favourite recordings of his are actually his last ever sessions from 1956, the voice was starting to crack and croak a little, but he'd developed into such a character and his guitar playing had improved ten-fold. The versions of 'Baby, It Must Be Love' and 'Dying Crapshooter's Blues' from that sessions are stunning, particularly the latter. Another blues singer whose stuff I love, and who also developed a pretty strange fingerpicking style, is a guy called Scrapper Blackwell, though again my favourite recordings of his are from the twilight of his career, namely a 1961 session that was released under the name Mr. Scrapper's Blues. There is also a similarly-named, pretty comprehensive compilation of his stuff dating all the way back from the late-'20s called Mr. Scrapper's Blues Guitar, which is another release I would recommend highly.
As for the other two recommendations, although they aren't American recordings I'd particularly recommend acquainting yourself with Reinhardt if you haven't already. The European 'gypsy jazz' sound is awesome, and his strummed jazz chords married with Stephane Grappelli's fiddle makes for one of the most instantly recognisable sounds in all of music. I'd basically just recommend finding any sort of Django compilation, though some are better than others obviously, but the 1939 stuff is great. I know it's a bit later than you asked for, but his post-war stuff is pretty awesome too. I'm no expert on his music by any means, but in my experience it's pretty difficult to find a bad recording of the guy.
As for the Calypso stuff, that's great too, though more because of how interesting it is historically. I actually prefer the Calypso music of the post-war British immigrants like Lord Kitchener. There's a fantastic compilation of stuff from around that period called London Is The Place For Me, which is definitely worth hearing if you can find a copy. Anyway, hope you find something you enjoy from those.
So I finally gave the other two a good listen. I was impressed by Django Reinhardt -- his music actually sounded more complex than many of his American counterparts from that period. I can definitely see myself going back to that.
The other one didn't tickle me as much, but was still worth listening to because of its historical importance. Also, I love some of the band names those calypso artists came up with... "Attila the Hun," "Executor," "King Radio." It's like '80s thrash metal meets 2000s indie.
I think we've covered the '20s and '30s about as well as we need to, so we're now looking for suggestions from '40s as well. We're open to just about anything, but keep in mind that we're trying to track the historical development of popular music in the US. We thought about broadening the scope beyond this, but didn't want the project to expand so much that it became intimidating. Artists based overseas are fine as long as they were influential in the US as well. Here's a list of what we have so far for the '40s (updated periodically):
1940s
Jazz
-----
Duke Ellington (never no lament)
Dizzy Gillespie (RCA Victor Recordings)
Albert Ammons (boogie woogie)
Ella Fitzgerald (Anthology 2)
Charlie Parker (Bird & Diz)
Nat King Cole Trio (Complete Capitol)
Billie Holiday (mid-period anthology)
Country
---------
Bill Monroe (Essential Bill Monroe)
Hank Williams (early singles)
The Music of Raymond Socct: Reckless Nights... collects pretty much all his best work of the late 30s-40s. It's gonna sound instantly familiar in a very good way.
when you get to the 50s, try his Manhattan Research, Inc collection. it's very early origins of electronic music.
I'd also add Billie Holiday to 40s essentials. And I think Hank Williams started out in the late 40s also _________________ http://jonnyleather.com
While I am not really knowledgable on 40s music in general, I think one of the more interesting pre-60s music was spawned in the late 40s. That being musique concrete. Im not exactly sure what your criteria for "popular music" and it certainly wasn't started in North America, but musique concrete has absolutely been influential in most (if not all) electronic and experimental music that came afterwards. To my knowledge it was only French composers that were making this type of music in the 40s (although I think Germany also had a similar musical phase too), but it did branch through most of Europe in the 50s and later.
The composers I had in mind specifically were the likes of Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry. Together they wrote Symphonie pour un homme seul which i think was recorded in 1948 or 1949. Schaeffer had other recordings dating back earlier as well.
Like I said this may not be what youre even looking for, but I think musique concrete would be important in, at the very least, electronic music whether American or otherwise.
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