For a trip down memory lane to a slightly earlier time in BEA history, a lot of references to Grooveshark (R.I.P), me being even more wildly over enthusiastic in my youth than I am now, a feel for how people talked to each other back when Lebron was a Heatle, a jman spotting, and many more joys, THEN CLICK ON THE ABOVE LINK. Also there's a poll there, which may still be open. If you wanna indulge.
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Anyway, as for write ups and reviews on these 2 albums, I feel they may be coming. But I am listening to Pet Sounds now and its so dense with musical ideas and beauties its a tough task to synopsize its glory. I listened to Blonde On Blonde very late last night and I have similar feelings for it. Obviously, a lot has changed in my mind in the last 4 years, and while I still love BoB, Pet Sounds is top 50 of my chart and BoB isn't on it. Maybe cuz I have 6-10 other Dylan albums I slightly or greatly prefer. If I was being completely honest on my overall chart, I may very well have a dozen Dylan albums. And that just seems a bit much.
Anyway, Dylan is the GOAT, The Beach Boys were great. And while I far far far prefer the career work of Dylan over Wilson, I think in this rare case I will give Pet Sounds the edge.
Anyway, nonsensical ramblings, aside, what are you folks thoughts on this crazy anniversary? Which album do you prefer? And all that stuff which I've been saying in order to fish for attention for 5 years now. lol.
Peace out!
----Note: There's still a LOT to cover today. You'll see. Including some awesome birthdays! _________________ -Ryan
Man, I was just imagining these 2 teaming up and forming a super group in like '74. That would have been...so rad.
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Also apparently this happened exactly 250 years ago... sounds pretty wild...
Taken from calendar.songfacts.com:
May 16, 1767 A piano is played for the first time in public in the UK. In a playbill for a performance of The Beggar's Opera at Covent Garden Theatre, London, it is announced a Miss Brickler sings "accompanied by Mr. Dibdin on a new instrument called piano-forte."
Piano went on to do a lot of good things. _________________ -Ryan
Listeningnow, about to finish my first full time through, and this album is brilliant, paranoid, vicious, and sad all at once. Ochs state of mind after the 1968 election cycle was ragged, despairing and confused. At least it seems to be based off this album and what I've read about it. He metaphorically died when Nixon was elected (as clearly shown on the front cover of this record).
And his rage and fear all throughout this album seems very reminiscent of many people we see here in the states these last few months. And on top of that, the album's wild switches of tone from creepy paranoia on the opening track to sardonic funny lil ditties like "My Life", to sad moaning laments with "William Butler Yeats..." and "The Scorpion Departs...", make this not just a "relevant" album but a bold, fascinating and at times truly beautiful one.
I've been sleeping on Ochs for too long. He clearly was a talented almost poetic songwriter. And a tortured artist who represented a certain large segment of his generation. His life went downhill quick after this album. Which is a real shame. He had a lot to offer the world when he killed himself at 35.
A bummer way to end the review. And so, it shall be. 🙁 _________________ -Ryan
I wasn't feeling as inspired to update this as usual yesterday. But I figured I would fill in a couple blanks. Yesterday, May 16th, was the 37th anniversary of...
I listened to it and it was great! I don't know what else to say,. About half of it was just dancing fun, great hooks, insane rhythms and bass obviously. Some of the tracks went a little too much to the side of slow, romantic jams. I preferred the real rompers, the real no holds barred dance funky numbers. So there's that. Not much of a review.
One thing I did do was listen to other disco albums yesterday after enjoying the hell outta Love Somebody Today. I guess I have the disco bug! Which is nice.
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Also yesterday was the 35th anniversary of Piece of Mind by Iron Maiden. I listened to the first few seconds then Dickenson started singing and i stopped it in disgust. I just wasn't in the mood.
A friend of mine said check out Maiden's first 2 albums. He has recommended this a couple times actually. Apparently they're rawer and free of Dickenson's distinct over the top theatrics. I have not yet done so. I promise I will at some point.
As for other anniversaries, there were some but none that I dived into.
Now, I can get into today. No iconic albums like yesterday, but some that I feel I have avoided or missed out on for various reasons and I'm looking forward to finally pushing play on. Just need this apple update to complete and I'll be on my merry way. _________________ -Ryan
Here is a prime rib example of why this little diary is a good idea for me. I have been a Beatles fan (like a good amount of us) for a loooong time. I've always looked at them as a great band who balanced off each other to make great records. And my concept of their solo albums after the Beatles has been that they were allowed to indulge finally in their own individual tendencies and habits without the others there to hold them in check. As a result, being as I always have been told and I also always really thought Paul was the pop perfectionist, that all his albums were these saccharine overproduced, uninteresting pop albums. I have never had a real strong interest in exploring his famous solo albums.
But now that it's the anniversary of this album, I am very very excited to finally dive in. This is has been a long time coming. I feel like I will love it. I'm just in a good mood, and I want some pop rock by one of the geniuses of the genre.
Without further ado, here goes, pushing play...now!
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Listening to this for the first time now and hot damn! It's so much better than I ever thought it would be!
Started with the very unique sound of "Too Many People", the whole album has a surprising vibrance to it. All my worries of it being too sugary sweet, too produced and too contrived and slanted in the direction of happy go-lucky Paul feels, have not come to be the case.
Track 2, 3 Legs, is another somewhat unusual blues rock number. The groove is sharp and gritty with a cool vocal performance by the McCartneys. "Ram On" is next and it has a eerie and beautiful minimalism to it. Boy there's a sentence I never thought I'd type while reviewing a Paul album!
The intricate vocal and keyboard interplay of track 4, "Dear Boy", keeps the streak of excellence going. It's got a similar distinct creative energy to latter day Beatles. and the percussion and the way the sounds of the vox move side to side is all very unique. And then BOOM! it's done. No time wasted, no fat.
"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" ups the ante on uniqueness. Even if the song doesn't blow me away, the fact that it's got weird vocal effects, a strange mid song horn come in, an exquisitely beautiful and surprising vocal turn followed by another and another, all makes this one of the best examples of the wild creativity and genius of Paul McCartney. I'm listening again now, and boom, there's another sudden unexpected shift in the track, then the horns again, a little guitar lick, then the joyous explosion of vocals singing "Hands across the water! Hands across the sky..." I think thats what they say, doesn't matter much. The point is this track is genius and i take back what I said earlier...this is a masterclass song and does indeed blow me away!
"Smile Away" is the first rocker. It has that distinctly Paul excitable vocal. And a warbling little guitar all over it. Beautiful backing vocals. This album is just about as dense and interesting as any Beatles album. How did I manage to avoid this record for the past 17 years of Beatles fandom??!??
"Heart of the Country" is a super fun little detour. Just 2 and a half minutes of excellent bouncy, acoustic guitar driven pop.
"Monkberry Moon Delight" rocks. It's got a really strong kinda crazy vocal performances from Paul which sounds like it could come from a Shel Silverstein album. The ominous, aggressive rhythm, with the backing vocals and guitar adding to the overall strangeness of the whole experience. And the groove and jam of the track builds nicely and becomes a real winner.
"Eat at Home" is a nice rocker. Just nice, not a real mindblower. But it's easy on the ears and grounds the record nicely.
Then the next 2 tracks are somewhat throwaways. They are fine for what they are, but I feel the same kind of vignette tendency of Paul comes back in these tracks. Not as inspired or beautiful as the rest of the album. If only this record had a beautiful, damn near transcendent closing track to right the ship....
OH SHIT! It does! "The Back Seat of My Car" is gorgeous. It's romantic, and sunny, as I went into this album expecting. But this song also has a spareness throughout most of it that is refreshing. It also goes in directions I don't expect, and it makes these on a dime changes which I always love hearing in a pop album. And the vocals and delivery are epic, in the same way "I Love You, Honeybear" is. Which is a ringing compliment considering how much I love that Father John Misty song.
Paul Mccartney added some tracks at the end of this album in 1993. I'm not gonna listen to 'em now. I just want to hear this as my dad and his generation did when it came out in '71.
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In closing, this is actually a friggin' amazing album! I feel embarrassed I have taken this long to check it out. I definitely plan on exploring more of Paul's solo stuff. Only aspect that I found lacking was great lyrics. But unless I'm listening to Dylan, Cohen, Van Zandt, and a few others, I don't really give too many hoots about lyrics. Idk, it's never been an aspect I've put a lot of attention to.
Otherwise, the compositions, the craft, the production quality, the inventiveness of the album, the ditties and rockers and pop gems and melodies and harmonies all kill on this album. It's really truly awesome.
To be honest I do now place this right alongside some of the more loved latter day Beatles albums of the time. It's in the same tier as The White Album and even Abbey Road. It's got a similar creative fire. Maybe more of a creative fervor due to Paul just being unshackled creatively, no longer feeling the pressure of John and George having their own takes on the music of the Beatles. He can finally (and I imagine there is a similar vibe on his self titled album from a year earlier) just shake it up and go where he wishes. Also, he's a fucking Beatle, so he can do as he pleases. The push back from record executives would I imagine be minimal. I can hear that explosive energy all through this album. It's truly Brilliant! (and I'm gonna say it, after one amazing listen, this is better than any John Lennon solo album...come at me).
Also, a couple other points, critics were dumb. I think at the time they put this record down as "Inconsequential" or "Irrelevant", due in large part to the fact that they were still salty about the beatles breaking up. For some reason they (the music press at the Time) were more into the "deep", "anguished", angry polotical aspects of John Lennon's stuff. A Lot of John's stuff from the same era just sounds stiff and corny. In contrast to this album which feels lose, beautiful and like its trying new things for the pure joy of it. It doesn't come across as a bespectacled, considered, critique of all the shortcomings in society. I am very glad this album is now looked at as a classic, and not as thoroughly overshadowed by the overrated early work of Lennon. (Note: Plastic Ono Band and even Imagine are solid a.f. But not as consistently interesting as this to my ears.)
George is still the best Beatle and the best solo artist of the lot.
Also, it should be noted this was released in the US on the 17th, and in the UK on the 21st. No, I will not be mentioning this again this weekend.
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What McCartney album should I explore next? Any Paul fanboys wanna jump in and steer me here? _________________ -Ryan
What McCartney album should I explore next? Any Paul fanboys wanna jump in and steer me here?
Well Ram is by far his best. I kinda consider it the first lo-fi indie rock album, and it's totally one of my favorite albums from the 70s. Paul Mcartney's I is his next best and quite good. Never could get into Wings, but Paul McCartney II is pretty cool too despite the dated 80s sound. It's rather unique.
Thanks Tilly! I'll be checking out at least 1 maybe both of those today!
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May 17th 18th 2017
Okay, let's just pretend I didn't end up posting my thoughts on the following album 24 hours later than I had planned. My niece had a school band concert (she plays trombone) and I got all kindsa things going last night whbich distracted me (such as finally watching Blow Out - which blew my ever loving mind....but this ain't movie diary, so shhhh...) anyway, I listened to the following album yesterday for its anniversary. I'm giving it another listen now, so here we go....
TODAY(meaning yesterday, the 17th) is the 53rd anniversary of Maiden Voyage by Herbie Hancock
This album is really beautiful. It's got this surreal intuitive attitude. The musicians throughout are just totally in tune with each other. They can switch it up from track to track, from the introspective beauty of "Maiden Voyage", to the cerebral bounce and impulsiveness of "The Eye of the Hurricane", to the crazy intense explosive power of "Survival of the Fittest". Throughout the record from track to track, or even mid track, the band just can switch up at will seamlessly.
The solos from the likes of Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, George Coleman on sax, Tony Williams on the drums, and of course Herbie on keys, are consistently just perfect. And Ron Carter is there throughout keeping the tracks steady. It really is a great group of musicians.
What's all the more impressive about the album is that Herbie was just 24 when he created this classic. Hell Tony Williams, another of Miles' great pupils, was 19! The oldest fella in the group was Coleman who was 30. The youthful spirit of musical discovery is all over this thing.
Track 3, "Little One" is heavenly. Just a slow burning, romantic/lonely track featuring subdued and wonderful solos. The whole things skates along, and every time it seems the composition is escalating, it draws back again. It lures you into its mindset. And again, the solos, especially from Coleman are just beautiful. Probably my fave track here although the whole thing is beautiful.
The very short drum solo on "Survival of the Fittest" is awesome. As is the whole, off the wall, track. The whole band is just flexing their muscles here.
And the final track, "Dolphin Dance" is just heavenly. Its hard to explain, but bop at its best in my mind just has a certain airy, floating quality. There's no and fast rules or limits to where it can go, so when its working right, my mind has a ten dency to go on a little trip with the music. It feels like I am a disembodied spirit just hovering over a whole host of conversations, feeling and hearing them ebb and flow below me and around me. Whenever a new "voice" enters the conversation I turn my ears to it, to hear its thought on the situation. A good record, "Dolphin Dance" is, is just a kind of escapism. In brief moments I feel kind of freed from my surroundings, caught up in the currents of the music. I adore this song. You know I love a track if it makes me go all verbose.
The first 2 tracks are excellent too. I just didn't comment on them cuz it wasn't until track 3 that I had the basic framework of this post etched out and so could put my attention on each track.
The classics/standards which came from this 5 track album are generally considered "Maiden Voyage", The Eye of the Hurricane", and "Dolphin Dance". And those 3 really are stunning. Not sure what new thought I was going for with this paragraph. I'm just gonna ride it out...ride it out. Expand this pargraph until it just looks like a normal paragraph to a person looking at the whole page and not reading closely the whole write up.
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In closing, this is a great album. Happy birthday to it.
This did bring to light that this is the first jazz record I've taken note of in the first 10 or so days of this diary. The reason being is that on wikipedia and RYM etc - the anniversaries, like exact day release dates, aren't commonly known/shown for album earlier than about 1965. Considering much of the greatest jazz dominated the LP format in that era, this greatly cuts down the chances of a jazz classic coming up. Also the sites I go to most frequently are very pop/rock-centric.
For these earlier jazz albums, The dates of when the albums were recorded are actually easier to find. I think, in order to indulge in my occasional obsession with jazz and to indulge my interest in learning more about jazz, I will start including albums recorded on certain days.
Also, I need to scour the internet and see if I can't find some comprehensive guide to every albums even old ones from the early 60s/50s release dates. Wish me luck.
Along with wishing me luck, check out this album. Its really cool.
Now lets get to some album(s) actually released May 18th...warning, its a weak day as far as my eyes can tell... _________________ -Ryan
To think that at one point this perhaps sounded fresh and exciting. Listening now it just do anything positive for me. It's got all the heavy grunge guitars, the annoyingly up front and center oh so cool drum sounds plodding along and throwing in the occasional rad little shuffly switch up. It has all the "earnest" melodic moments of heart rending melodrama. It's got the occasional little burst of Smashing Pumpkins guitar theatrics (as done by someone about half as skilled as Billy Corgan). It just comes off as this typical mid/late 90s rock album, with all the luster of of similar acts from 91-95 gone.
I'm listening now, and despite 2 hourse in I'm actually apparently on track 6/13. 🙁
Now look I get that this may have seemed awesome to a certain crowd in '97. But to think that this was ranked (by readers) as the 87th best british album of all time by Kerrang! in 2005 makes me sad and disheartened. Life is so miserable.
Okay, if there are any fans of this album out there, don't take it personally. This is coming from a guy who adores the first 2 Spice Girls albums with a passion, and at one point in his life thought Rammstein's album "Herzeleid" was the single greatest artistic achievement in the history of Metal and the nation of Germany.
Okay, I'm gonna end my review now. If I hear something I really love in these last 5 tracks I'll come back and edit this post. Don't hold your breathe. _________________ -Ryan
Well, yes, yesterday's entry was depressing and negative. Then I went and messed up my schedule today so now at 6pm I am finally updating for today. I am struggling. I will try to right the ship soon.
So, lets get to today, I did do some listening to some albums today. Lets start with 2 classics released the same day before I was ever conceived, back when my sisters were 1 and 2 years old and back when my father was still the shogun's decapitator...
Today is the 31st anniversary of Parade by Prince and The Revolution!
I have been listening to this a lot this last month or so, and DAMN! THIS IS AMAZING! I
For some reason for years I slept on this masterpiece. Whenever I tried to dive into it, I was caught flat footed by how unorthodox it was and how unfunky the first few tracks are. There really isn't much to grab onto in the first tracks. The first track in particular is a strange mash up of various little musical ideas, a strange rhythm, a weird mix, no distinct dance beat, and off kilter vox. But I now have seen the light, and "Christopher Tracy's Parade" is indeed a brilliant somewhat weird track. "New Position" is similarly brilliant.
And track 4 "Under the Cherry Moon" is just a touching, light jam. I absolutely love it. All the better cuz it caps the first 1/3rd of the album. Which leads into the last 2/3rds of the album which is when this album really shines. There are 4 legit perfect songs here! Starting with track 5, the brilliant dancey, horn fuelled madness of "Girls and Boys". Man, I love this song, I love it so much, maybe we can stay in touch. This song has metaphorically the sweetest ass I've ever seen... okay I'm done with the terrible attempt of using the song lyrics here. The point is I am listening now and I am bobbing and dancing in my seat so much I have like 15 typos in the last few sentences alone! It's just awesome!!!!
And what's more better (english be damned) is that it stays on this high all the way out until the closer which brings the whole energy of late night dancing to a tragic crash. In a good way. I'll talk about that more later. Cuz for now it should be noted that the tracks that connect the first perfect song on this album to the last 3 perfect tracks (the last 3 of the album), are "Life Can Be So Nice" which is disorientingly unique, with this incessant little synthetic woodwind sounding melody throughout, then the hauntingly beautiful little 2 minute instrumental track "Venus de Milo", which is so so touching. You can really hear that this is a soundtrack on this one. It also hints at the power and quietness of the final track. Then "Mountains" is just pure, boisterous, fun. Then the strange lil track "Do U Lie" which on many albums would a cute lil highlight (but here may be my least fave track).
But that whole longwinded paragraph on the leadup to the final tracks was simply to point out that this is an album which really does end perfectly. Parade is like the friggin' idk Die Hard of Prince albums. The first 2 acts are very nice, but the final act makes you wanna die its so goddamn perfect!
"Kiss" may be the greatest pop song ever. It's so strange and incessant, the fact that the somatic power of the beat is literally felt in your headspace always struck me (maybe I'm just weird, or maybe I listen WAY to loudly or maybe I should go to a doc). It's like it's literally clearing out all the gunk between your ears to make room for this goddamn song. The use of silent/empty space and the falsetto vocal voice for the ages, all just add up to a seminal moment in the history of pop music. Long Live The Prince. Oh man and that guitar breakdown makes me wanna come...to church and thank God for this gift.
Then the underrated "Anotherloverholenyohead"... it starts out cool with that strange dramatic guitar (?) sound, which leads to this slinky beat, and Prince's unmatched awesomeness on vocals. Then the dramatic bass rolling along with the whole painful vibes of the lyrics, then the backup singers!...then there it is, one of the most unimaginably beautiful choruses i've ever heard. The interplay between Prince and the other singers. And of course that line "You need another lover...LIKE YOU NEED A HOLE IN YOUR HEAD!" just kills me everytimeeverytimeeverytime.
It's perfect okay, its perfect. Lay off me.
And finally the closer is so sad, so heartfelt. I didn't think Prince had this song in him. This truly quiet, soulful, lamenting song about death/loss and the after life. Actually it may have been D'Angelo's rendition of this shortly after Prince's passing that made me go...well weepy but after I cried and I cried a lot... I was like which album is that on again? Then I saw it was from Parade. And I started getting into it again. And here we are now.
I really think that 3 song run to end this album is right there almost equal to what I have long considered the greatest run of greatness on any album ever, on another Prince record Sign O The Times, the "If I Was Your Girlfriend", "Strange Relationship", "I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man" run. I think i still consider the Sign o the times trio to be more breathtaking... but this set of songs compares at least.
Okay, I will now end off on this amazing album and not so amazing review. I will go back over it and correct the copious typos. then I'll write some more about another album released the same day. I won't write so much and so effusively i assure you.
Just for giggles like I did for Waits at the end of my "Blood Money" post, I will do a top ten Prince albums in my mind and as of now:
1. Sign O The Times
2. Dirty Mind
3. Purple Rain
4. Parade
5. Prince (1979)
6. 1999
7. Lovesexy
8. Around The World In A Day
9. Batman
10. Controversy
(need to dive into more of his latter day albums. There has to be at least 2 or 3 overlooked gems there) _________________ -Ryan
Man, may 19th 1986 was quite a day for 80s pop icons releasing great ones.
I have less to say about this (mainly cuz I have to get dressed to go to a shins show in about 15 minutes)
But this album's highs "Mercy Street" (one of the most brilliant and inventive pieces of music I've ever heard), "In Your Eyes" (one of the most romantic, heart tugging, tear of joy inducing songs ), "Red Rain (such a powerful, dense darkness and sorrow is wrapped up in this track) and yes, I don't care what you say, "Don't Give Up" (Kate Bush makes me feel love is real whenever I hear her and I do indeed, don't laugh, listen to this track whenever I am feeling particularly lost and hopeless and it always makes me feel much better...I love you Kate Bush! I love you so so much!!!!) - yeah the highs here are almost unfathomably high.
The other tracks are all at least interesting or hits. "Sledgehammer" is fun. "That Voice Again" and "We Do What We're Told" are interesting and sometimes downright engrossing.
Overall this is a fab album. I really on any given day could come away in love with it. But some days I just come away thinking, that is a hit or miss record. I feel Peter Gabriel III is his masterpiece and a much more brilliant and cohesive record.
Also, Peter Gabriel's voice is so so so so awesome and unique! He started using it in such a way that my heart just melts when I hear it here and his other 80s solo albums. I never come away from his Genesis albums thinking "Man Gabriel's vocals are awesome!!"
Okay, I have to go and make a microwave dinner, down a beer, and get a hipster band shirt on and go to see Robert Mercer and company play for me! Wish me luck, BEAuties! _________________ -Ryan
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