This album is pretty glorious. I mean, every melody and every line is so gosh darn carefully chosen and executed. The album just glimmers with pop perfection. Right from the brilliant opening track "The Puppy Song" with its exdellent bassline, its touching and humorous lyrics which any dog lover will love, its spot on vocal delivery, etc. Its a great great opener. This winning streak continues straight through to the end, as this album is just packed with 2-4 minute pop gems, many of which are Nilsson originals and a good chunk are genius covers of peers such as The Beatles and Randy Newman, etc.
Obviously, Nilsson didn't stop with this album, as he released 5 classic albums between 69-71. And the pitch perfect cover of "Simon Smith and the Amazing dancing bear" was a great teaser for the 1970 album of Nilsson's great take on Randy Newman originals. Anyway, I'm just saying things at this point and losing all structured thought. Apologies.
Other brilliant songs along with the opener and closer, are the meloncholic and dreamy "Open Your Window", the definitive version (from what I've yet heard) of the great Jerry Jeff Walker song "Mr. Bojangles", the Beatles cover "Mother Nature's song", "City Life", "Mournin' Glory Song", etc are all great.
This is really great album. I prefer the more all over the place, uninhibited side of Nilsson which he unleashed in about '71. But as far as a stately, nuanced, beautiful, perfectly structured set of singer/songwriter gems, this album is about as good as it gets. For any fans of The Beatles or just nice, dreamy pop, this is a must listen.
Rating: 8.7/10
-----------------------------------
#19
The Open Mind of John D. Loudermilk by John D. Loudermilk (1969)
Loudermilk was 35 when he released this strange gem. He had been active and successful as a country singer and songwriter since the early 60s. This is interesting to me cuz this album is not country almost at all. Its sort of a strange, at times a bit psychedelic, folk rock album with some small country moments. Everything from the incredible cover art to the name of the album to the production style just screams out that Loudermilk was trying to get some love and attention from all dem weird longhairs. And all in all the album works really really well.
Depending how you listen to it, either side 1 or side 2 is a near perfect run of songs which if as great on the other side as well would put this in the top 7 or 8 albums on this list. I say that cuz on apple music and in the reissue of this album a few years ago, the tracklisting was switched around and about 35 minutes of music was added. On this reissued version "Goin' To Hell On A Sled" opens side 1. But Per RYM and other sources the original opening track is "More Than He'll Have To Give" and continues on to make for a very cool side 1. Then side 2 opens with the absolutely bonkers, honest-to-goodness CLASSIC "Goin' To Hell In A Sled". This is followed up by the equally amazing "The Jones'". As a matter of fact not a song on Side 2 is less than great. Its got this casual, not trying to hard, style which reminds me of Josh Ritter a lot of the time. The songs are political, but they are ambiguous on which side of the isle they come from. The words mostly paint Loudermilk as being an artist firmly stuck in the middle watching all the craziness of the late 60s, with a bewildered and comical look on his face.
Again, if the whole album was as solid as side 2 this would be on my chart. As it is, it really is another lost gem. Check it out.
"They're hip and they're slick
and they're flashy, sophisticated and cool
To them the clerk and the worker
are just rednecks and clods and fools
This family named Jones that comes into our homes
And tells us what to wear and where
And tell us what to drive and why
And tells us what to smoke and vote
And tells us what to drink and think
And think we listen and try to be like them" - The Jones'
This album is, at times, truly stunning. It's a raw, ugly, lo-fi, echoey, DIY classic in many ways. All about dave Bixby, and his rise from the borderline psychotic, drugged out loser of the stunning and gutwrenching opening track "Drug Song" through his first encounter with the grace of religion, through eventually a feeling of his coming to a new reborn state by the end of the album.
If you really just give yourself over to the very barren, bleak sound of this album, and really give yourself over to the feelings of the music, I think you'll be engrossed. Not all the songs here are classic or great. Some are just too plain. But the album is great in its very unique lo fi sound, and in the way the incredibly minimal music - basically just an acoustic guitar - manages to be recorded in such a way that it echoes and moves about and creates some really stunning moments.
When the songs are really "on", they are simple, unpoetic and unpretentious gems. Like I said, "Drug Song" is about as stunning and touching an opening track as I have heard. It is so heartbreaking and low and earnest in its broken feeling. The second track "Free Indeed" is similarly great and beautiful. Other real standouts for me are the songs "Mother" which is a sad and intense plea from Bixby to his mother, trying to get her to see that he is for real now and not a drug addict anymore, "Morning Sun" is incredibly spare and yet beautiful. It manages to convey the feeling of waking up with hope and serenity, possibly for the first time in years. The intense drama of "666" is fabulous, and the way Bixby closes this album with the exaltingly happy and earnestly peaceful "Secret Forest" (which features some cool harmonica which i loves) and the aptly titled "Peace".
Yeah I again may be ranking this too low. I think the sound of this album is so DIY, lo fi, almost Daniel Johnston-esque in its earnestness and simplicity and lo-fi sounds. The story of the record is interesting, and the album does really work as a sort of concept album/story about the lowest low of Dave Bixby's life turning to a miraculous rebirth. Its a great record and highly recommended. From what I can tell, Bixby never made another record. So there is also a certain closure and logical end to this story. One can imagine he lived happily ever after.
Rating: 8.8/10
-------------------------------------
#17
The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) by Dolly Parton (1969)
Dolly Parton is one of the greatest songwriters in country music history. She also has a beautiful, unique and authoritative voice for the ages. This is all on full display in her early classics. She made no bad albums from 68-74 at least. I just can't express I love hearing her brilliant, nuanced wordplay and by turns sassy, vulnerable, and just all around amazing vocal twists of phrase.
On this album she starts out the gate killing with "Don't Let It Trouble Your Mind", followed with an even better and more intensely badass song in "He's a Go Getter" with great lines like "He's a go getter, a goooo getter, when his wife gets off work, he'll go get 'er!". Delivered with a rapturous, musical bliss which I can't get over.
The album keeps on this sharp, beautiful run with the title track which is awesome for its personal lyrics about what it was like growing up in the good old days, when times were bad, working her ass off, making ends meet, etc. This song is full of propulsive rhythmic work, beautiful, full-throated, classic country harmonies.
Somehow the album doesn't let up, cuz the first 7 tracks are all fabulous, liberating statements, excellent portraits of Dolly's life growing up in the south, filled with killer pedal steel work, beautiful music through and through. The song "Harper Valley PTA" is just sick, with its excellent statement of female liberation, and its stuttery swaggering pedal steel lines, its groovy af rhythm. The whole song just kills. And the way the song ends with 2 minutes straight of the main protagonist calling out all the prudish people she works with at a school, its honestly the most badass thing set to record in 1969. Don't qoute me on that as I don't know everything put on wax in '69, but the sentiment is clear.
The album loses a smidgen of steam after the initial explosion, still there is not a bad song here. And the record ends with one of the most poignant divorce drama songs I've heard and all its ramifications for a family with chilluns - the song is called "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" by the way. Check it out as well.
This whole album is a pretty straight forward late 60s country album, with all the common traits shared with other nice records of its ilk turned up extremely high by the great talents of Parton as a star, a singer, and a great great songwriter.
Gosh! I am surprised at how great this album is! I keep coming back to it just to check if its really as solid, beautiful, and well-written as I thought the last time I heard it. And each time I find myself loving it a bit more.
This was the only album released by Dan Casamajor. It was apparently a very limited pressing. Dan was a 20 year old college kid from Nprthern California. Or as the liner notes of this 1969 vinyl put it - "Dan Casamajor is a sensitive, twenty year old college student from the quiet Northern California community of Chico. His message is so pure and right you just might take a closer look at your own life. Dan has a way of putting into words all the frustrations and restlessness of the inquiring youth of today - - - the youth that no one seems to be able to figure out." lol.
I laughed but that isn't too far from what I take from this album. The record is warm, relatable and very nicely rooted in the feelings of a young college student in 1969, encountering the world. Its romantic, simple, plaintive, sensitive, and just really really "authentic". It doesn't give off a vibe like its trying to be the cleverest album, or most hip, or the most psychedelic, etc. Its just, by and large, Dan with an acoustic, some drum, some bass, the occasional electric guitar to spice it up. The words are nice and earnest, and the voice is so approachable and warm. In many ways this is the quintessential example of a late 60s singer/songwriter album. It is soooo goooood though!
Really this is a lovely album. Here's a youtube link to the album in full (and listen to the end, cuz its nice all the way through and also this is another album with a sweet closing track.):
Very good. I like reading what you say about about albums. I like the way you talk about music. It's interesting. And I'm glad Nilsson made the list.
I guess now you're going to do 1970, so here are some that I hope you don't leave out. Just some suggestions. Just some shit I always liked.
This album is pretty glorious. I mean, every melody and every line is so gosh darn carefully chosen and executed. The album just glimmers with pop perfection. Right from the brilliant opening track "The Puppy Song" with its exdellent bassline, its touching and humorous lyrics which any dog lover will love, its spot on vocal delivery, etc. Its a great great opener. This winning streak continues straight through to the end, as this album is just packed with 2-4 minute pop gems, many of which are Nilsson originals and a good chunk are genius covers of peers such as The Beatles and Randy Newman, etc.
Obviously, Nilsson didn't stop with this album, as he released 5 classic albums between 69-71. And the pitch perfect cover of "Simon Smith and the Amazing dancing bear" was a great teaser for the 1970 album of Nilsson's great take on Randy Newman originals. Anyway, I'm just saying things at this point and losing all structured thought. Apologies.
Other brilliant songs along with the opener and closer, are the meloncholic and dreamy "Open Your Window", the definitive version (from what I've yet heard) of the great Jerry Jeff Walker song "Mr. Bojangles", the Beatles cover "Mother Nature's song", "City Life", "Mournin' Glory Song", etc are all great.
This is really great album. I prefer the more all over the place, uninhibited side of Nilsson which he unleashed in about '71. But as far as a stately, nuanced, beautiful, perfectly structured set of singer/songwriter gems, this album is about as good as it gets. For any fans of The Beatles or just nice, dreamy pop, this is a must listen.
Rating: 8.7/10
-----------------------------------
#19
The Open Mind of John D. Loudermilk by John D. Loudermilk (1969)
Loudermilk was 35 when he released this strange gem. He had been active and successful as a country singer and songwriter since the early 60s. This is interesting to me cuz this album is not country almost at all. Its sort of a strange, at times a bit psychedelic, folk rock album with some small country moments. Everything from the incredible cover art to the name of the album to the production style just screams out that Loudermilk was trying to get some love and attention from all dem weird longhairs. And all in all the album works really really well.
Depending how you listen to it, either side 1 or side 2 is a near perfect run of songs which if as great on the other side as well would put this in the top 7 or 8 albums on this list. I say that cuz on apple music and in the reissue of this album a few years ago, the tracklisting was switched around and about 35 minutes of music was added. On this reissued version "Goin' To Hell On A Sled" opens side 1. But Per RYM and other sources the original opening track is "More Than He'll Have To Give" and continues on to make for a very cool side 1. Then side 2 opens with the absolutely bonkers, honest-to-goodness CLASSIC "Goin' To Hell In A Sled". This is followed up by the equally amazing "The Jones'". As a matter of fact not a song on Side 2 is less than great. Its got this casual, not trying to hard, style which reminds me of Josh Ritter a lot of the time. The songs are political, but they are ambiguous on which side of the isle they come from. The words mostly paint Loudermilk as being an artist firmly stuck in the middle watching all the craziness of the late 60s, with a bewildered and comical look on his face.
Again, if the whole album was as solid as side 2 this would be on my chart. As it is, it really is another lost gem. Check it out.
"They're hip and they're slick
and they're flashy, sophisticated and cool
To them the clerk and the worker
are just rednecks and clods and fools
This family named Jones that comes into our homes
And tells us what to wear and where
And tell us what to drive and why
And tells us what to smoke and vote
And tells us what to drink and think
And think we listen and try to be like them" - The Jones'
This album is, at times, truly stunning. It's a raw, ugly, lo-fi, echoey, DIY classic in many ways. All about dave Bixby, and his rise from the borderline psychotic, drugged out loser of the stunning and gutwrenching opening track "Drug Song" through his first encounter with the grace of religion, through eventually a feeling of his coming to a new reborn state by the end of the album.
If you really just give yourself over to the very barren, bleak sound of this album, and really give yourself over to the feelings of the music, I think you'll be engrossed. Not all the songs here are classic or great. Some are just too plain. But the album is great in its very unique lo fi sound, and in the way the incredibly minimal music - basically just an acoustic guitar - manages to be recorded in such a way that it echoes and moves about and creates some really stunning moments.
When the songs are really "on", they are simple, unpoetic and unpretentious gems. Like I said, "Drug Song" is about as stunning and touching an opening track as I have heard. It is so heartbreaking and low and earnest in its broken feeling. The second track "Free Indeed" is similarly great and beautiful. Other real standouts for me are the songs "Mother" which is a sad and intense plea from Bixby to his mother, trying to get her to see that he is for real now and not a drug addict anymore, "Morning Sun" is incredibly spare and yet beautiful. It manages to convey the feeling of waking up with hope and serenity, possibly for the first time in years. The intense drama of "666" is fabulous, and the way Bixby closes this album with the exaltingly happy and earnestly peaceful "Secret Forest" (which features some cool harmonica which i loves) and the aptly titled "Peace".
Yeah I again may be ranking this too low. I think the sound of this album is so DIY, lo fi, almost Daniel Johnston-esque in its earnestness and simplicity and lo-fi sounds. The story of the record is interesting, and the album does really work as a sort of concept album/story about the lowest low of Dave Bixby's life turning to a miraculous rebirth. Its a great record and highly recommended. From what I can tell, Bixby never made another record. So there is also a certain closure and logical end to this story. One can imagine he lived happily ever after.
Rating: 8.8/10
-------------------------------------
#17
The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) by Dolly Parton (1969)
Dolly Parton is one of the greatest songwriters in country music history. She also has a beautiful, unique and authoritative voice for the ages. This is all on full display in her early classics. She made no bad albums from 68-74 at least. I just can't express I love hearing her brilliant, nuanced wordplay and by turns sassy, vulnerable, and just all around amazing vocal twists of phrase.
On this album she starts out the gate killing with "Don't Let It Trouble Your Mind", followed with an even better and more intensely badass song in "He's a Go Getter" with great lines like "He's a go getter, a goooo getter, when his wife gets off work, he'll go get 'er!". Delivered with a rapturous, musical bliss which I can't get over.
The album keeps on this sharp, beautiful run with the title track which is awesome for its personal lyrics about what it was like growing up in the good old days, when times were bad, working her ass off, making ends meet, etc. This song is full of propulsive rhythmic work, beautiful, full-throated, classic country harmonies.
Somehow the album doesn't let up, cuz the first 7 tracks are all fabulous, liberating statements, excellent portraits of Dolly's life growing up in the south, filled with killer pedal steel work, beautiful music through and through. The song "Harper Valley PTA" is just sick, with its excellent statement of female liberation, and its stuttery swaggering pedal steel lines, its groovy af rhythm. The whole song just kills. And the way the song ends with 2 minutes straight of the main protagonist calling out all the prudish people she works with at a school, its honestly the most badass thing set to record in 1969. Don't qoute me on that as I don't know everything put on wax in '69, but the sentiment is clear.
The album loses a smidgen of steam after the initial explosion, still there is not a bad song here. And the record ends with one of the most poignant divorce drama songs I've heard and all its ramifications for a family with chilluns - the song is called "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" by the way. Check it out as well.
This whole album is a pretty straight forward late 60s country album, with all the common traits shared with other nice records of its ilk turned up extremely high by the great talents of Parton as a star, a singer, and a great great songwriter.
Gosh! I am surprised at how great this album is! I keep coming back to it just to check if its really as solid, beautiful, and well-written as I thought the last time I heard it. And each time I find myself loving it a bit more.
This was the only album released by Dan Casamajor. It was apparently a very limited pressing. Dan was a 20 year old college kid from Nprthern California. Or as the liner notes of this 1969 vinyl put it - "Dan Casamajor is a sensitive, twenty year old college student from the quiet Northern California community of Chico. His message is so pure and right you just might take a closer look at your own life. Dan has a way of putting into words all the frustrations and restlessness of the inquiring youth of today - - - the youth that no one seems to be able to figure out." lol.
I laughed but that isn't too far from what I take from this album. The record is warm, relatable and very nicely rooted in the feelings of a young college student in 1969, encountering the world. Its romantic, simple, plaintive, sensitive, and just really really "authentic". It doesn't give off a vibe like its trying to be the cleverest album, or most hip, or the most psychedelic, etc. Its just, by and large, Dan with an acoustic, some drum, some bass, the occasional electric guitar to spice it up. The words are nice and earnest, and the voice is so approachable and warm. In many ways this is the quintessential example of a late 60s singer/songwriter album. It is soooo goooood though!
Really this is a lovely album. Here's a youtube link to the album in full (and listen to the end, cuz its nice all the way through and also this is another album with a sweet closing track.):
Wow! This is going to be one hell of a reference, Ryan. You should make a customized Singer-songwriter chart with all your reviews. It will be great to slowly go through all these gems you picked out! I'm still on the gems u discovered weeks ago! lol. Anyways, great work, mere! Just save it all to a chart for easy reference.
👏👏👏
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
@BobbyB, I appreciate the ol' heads up on all those 1970 albums. I had some of them on my list but not all. Thanks again. I do, however, have a lot of work left for 1969. About 15 ranking spots left and about 19 albums to mention.
And thanks for the compliments on my writing style. Its kinda all over the place. But I am glad you enjoy it!
Oh and that Harry Nilsson inclusion was 100% due to you. It was not on my lengthy list of 1969 albums until you mentioned it. Thanks for that.
@Tilly, that is a great idea! I will get to work on that soon. Thanks for the feedback, buddy. _________________ -Ryan
Here. Its cray cray, right? The near-consensus choice for greatest Singer/Songwriter album of 1969 at #15 on my list. The heralded classic. The greatest debut album ever per BEA (or was it Unknown Pleasures? I forget, but it was definitely in the champiuonship round in that tournament a couple years ago). The darling classic of the genre, by far the highest rated album of its ilk on both RYM and BEA... AT NUMBER 15!?!
I know, I know. So a series of question and 1 word answers to fluff this review, here goes:
Do I love Nick Drake? Yes. Do I think Five Leaves Left is a good and borderline great album? Uh-huh. Do I feel its substantially inferior to his other 2 albums (Bryter Layter and Pink Moon)? Yessirdoodle. Do I feel the mood of Five Leaves Left is way way too overlarded with over the top orchestration and dour and slow tempos? Yes. Are the songs and the lyrics and the guitar playing on Five leaves Left still fab in my opinion? You betcha!
Okay, so enough of that. Now some thoughts: I really like Five Leaves Left, the opener, River Man, Three Hours, Saturday Sun etc, are all gems. The deep, almost inconceivable(!) melancholy of the record is stunning and unique.
But again the production almost insists upon itself too much. Family Guy ref stolen from another diary regular here. But it fits. The orchestration and the slow, deliberate delivery of a 19 or 20 year old nick Drake, make this album AT TIMES a bit tedius to me. The highs are quite high, but not nearly as high as the highs on his next 2 albums. And the lows are so much lower than those 2 albums.
With all that said I will give this a rationg which would seem to indicate it should be lower on my list. But, come on, peer pressure and the fact that its FREAKING NICK DRAKE make me give this album a number 15 despite a rating of ...
Rating: 8.5/10
--------------------
#14
Spiral Staircase AND My Side of Your Window by Ralph McTell (1969)
In 1969 Ralph McTell released 2 excellent albums. Starting with this, his 2nd solo album. This album is an excellent example of melding the blues (which Ralph McTell was a huge fan of, even going so far as to adopt the last name McTell in honor of the great Blind Willie McTell) and the baroque folk which was so prevalent in the late 60s, and also a lot of great staely British traditional folk. If you love that Birthday Blues album by Bert Jansch I mentioned earlier in this list, you will probably love this.
His take on the acoustic blues is consitently sharp and beautiful and executed beautifully, especially great on the title track, "Last Train and Ride", and the solid cover of Robert Johnson's "Kindhearted Woman Blues". McTell was an excellent blues guitarist, and his plain vocals serve the material well enough. And if you wanna hear full on the elder McTell influence in this album, well its in his guitar playing throughout, but its front and center in the piedmont style blues burner "(My) Baby Keeps Staying Out All Night Long".
But I'd say this album shines most on his most baroque material, especially when McTell flexes his observational songwriting muscles. Obviously the opener and the most famous song on this album or any album by McTell "Streets of London" is just a perfect song. But of course. And the simple, mournful, version here to kick this album off is the best version I've heard. Its just so plain, and yet the melody and the guitar and the lyrics all dovetail to create this disticnt and clear vision. Its such a great song.
Also the song "The Fairground" especially in the 2nd half is just heavenly. Other examples of this relaxed, simple glorious side of this album are on full display in the wistful and sad "Daddy's Here" and the mesmerizing magical-realism and nostalgia of "Mrs Adlam's Angels", and the closer "Terminus" is fabulous and just so warm.
All in all this is just a breezy, contemplative album of very high quality. Nothing super flashy, the arrangements are all pristine and, again, breezy. Its perfect for a cool October afternoon such as this. McTell was also one of the better songwriters just technically of his generation, and he deserves a whole heap of recognition. If this were the only album he released 1969 this would still be up here pretty high, but with this somewhat questionable system of moving artists up a wee bit if they had 2 albums in 69, he goes even higher.
Rating: 8.9/10
This was the second album Mr. McTell released in 1969. And it is somewhat similar in aspects, the melding of british and american folk traditions, the observational songwriting excellence. But also this is a less breezy, light affair. There are some really sobering and borderline angry moments here.
This album is perhaps even more full of simple character studies than Spiral Staircase. The strange child named Michael who people think is insane, the classic tale of a sad Clown, the tale of a simple girl on a bicycle, the blue collar and ever-optimistic Factory Girl, etc. And by and large these stories work and are engaging. The music isn't as defined and beautiful as the previous album. Not as focused I suppose. But at least one of these tales, that of the Clown in "Clown" is classic McTell.
The parts of this album where I am most smitten are the more dramatic and epic sentiments of the anti-authoritarian "I've Thought About It' and the conversation on Jesus and God and all that in the song "Father Forgive Them", the philosophical examination of the transience of all things in the chamber folk song "All Things Change".
Other highlights are the very fun and brilliant variation of the Blues contained in "Blues In More Than 12 Bars", the almost choral dream quality of "Kew Gardens" and the absolutely perfect closer "Silver Birch and Weeping Willow".
All in all this is a solid album. But its betrayed a bit by the production, and the general sound of morose disinterest. It is a good record, but every time i come back to it, a lose a bit o' love for it.
Tim Buckley...wowzers. He was really a super mercurial musician. He constantly was just switching shit up. His relatively straight forward folk debut gave way within a year to his break out master piece of intense and epic (god I have a love/hate relationship with that four letter word) almost indescribable Goodbye and Hello. Then a couple years later he releases 2 classic albums which zig all over the map, starting with this brooding, jazz folk album "Happy Sad".
This album is really like a strange free-form folk. With loping bass lines, and its guitars coming in for a little prettiness and receding into the darkness. The xylophone (? i think thats what they are called) doing similar ornamental work, adding gorgeous splashes of texture to these long jams. But of course, the star of the show is Buckley's voice. His voice is velvety, otherworldly, sexual, intimate, shamanistic, abstract, vulnerable, and strong. Often times in one song he'll swing between dichotomous extremes, pulled from one place to the next. Tilly mentioned he was without peer as a vocalist in this folk/singer songwriter genre of his time and all time. I would agree mostly, but really I would say Van Morrison is his closest rival in that regard. And that is high praise for both men.
Speaking of Van, this album and Buckley's other 1969 classic, consistently reminded me of the classic of classic's Astral Weeks in a lot of ways. But a little more on that later.
Strange Feelin' is a great opner. But really this song's sound and this album kicks into high gear, and comes into sharp focus with the gorgeous "Buzzin' Fly". In this track, Tim Buckley makes my knees weak when I hear him sing that chorus, and really the entire song features the greatest conceivable vocal performance like, ever, man. And the guitars are similarly awe-inspiring. This song is bonkers great!
The rest of the songs and tracks are consistently moody. I listened to this and Blue Afternoon one late night back to back and that is when I had the epiphany that they are great. And i think that was no coincidence. The albums both give off a midnight or 1am vibe of contemplative soulfulness which just fits with a cigarette and a brandy and all the romantic thoughts which reside heretofore dormant in your mind. When that moment comes and you're listening to Buckley, it really is like the cliche concept of having Tim there just talking directly to you, easing your troubled mind.
"Gypsy Woman" is a bit too long in getting to the point. That's its main flaw, the song's and the album's. Still a solid track, but it is something like 25 percent of the run time, so it does drag this album down a slight bit. Also track 3 "Love From Room 109" I have similar tiny gripes about.
and now for my conservative rating, with ample room to grow in my mind...
It is indeed amazing. Its got similar jazz folk DNA as Happy Sad, but its more palatable and more grounded and more attainable. The vocals here are the best of all the Buckley albums I've heard and thus are some of the best of all time. The poetry is so sweet and romantic. This album is in my ears now and all the colness and hate ful dregs are being cleaned away.
The guitars are just off doing there own thing, the bass is bouncing along, Tim is singing his heart - formless and free and pure - , the drums are skipping about and lightly keeping the songs afloat, and that's all on track one! The magic just keeps coming. This album just gets you in the mood for love, and for wonder and wonder and it just takes you along.
"Chase The Blues Away" is as good and soulful a folk jazz blues song as has existed, its so sad, and its ethereal and somehow earthy and cosmic all at once. I have similar feelings for "I Must Have Been Blind", "The River", "Blue Melody" and several other songs.
Okay, and about Astral Weeks. I don't mean to say these 69 Buckley albums are exactly like Astral Weeks. Cuz nothing is. But there is a feeling here of some spiritualism or some non-earthbound something going on. The instruments are doing their own things and contributing to the free-est and most airy, vibrant, unpredictable brand of folk or soul I've ever heard outside of Astral Weeks. I'm just saying although I wouldn't put these albums on the same level as Astral Weeks, these are the closest I have heard to albums attaining that similar astral power.
Okay, and there ya go. I have to say that I don't like the final song here "The Train". I think the wheels kinda come off at the end, and I don't really like it. But outside of that track this Blue Afternoon album really is a masterpiece and may be my new fave Buckley album.
Gosh darn am I excited to listen to "Lorca" and "Starsailor" for the 1970 albums list! Now that I have a love for several of his earlier albums, I am sure those records will finally make some sense to me.
This record is a grower. Not even from full listen to full listen, but in the middle of the album I feel each time that my reticence in loving the album and my cynicism melts away. There is something about the album, the wordplay, and the music which for me when I push play, the first few minutes I think to myself "Gosh this is kinda corny". And yet even at its most corny I also think its pretty and excellent in its own way. But without fail by about track 5 "The Pirates of Stone County Road" I am fully in the bag for this album. I have bought in, and as I hear what I can only assume is the mother of the main character yelling out a window saying "Henry? Henry? Are you out there, Henry" I don't cringe at all because its perfect. I actually get a bit choked up, lost in my own thoughts and memories as a boy running around outside, playing with dirt, and hearing my own ma yelling out the window to let me know dinner is ready or play time is over.
And the songs.... the songs! John Stewart is just a great writer, like amazing. This album feels like a great compilation of stories and vignettes, character studies, little details of life. Some of the details and questions Stewart poses just hit home. There's an ongoing idea in the song "The Lonesome Picker" for example, where Stewart says that he wonders if after he is gone, any of his songs will be played by some lonesome picker. Its meta, but its so touching. And there are many of these moments when I feel like Stewart just kinda hits on some real moments of songwriting glory.
This record may be the best Americana album of 1969. It switches up from country, to folk, to a bit of a gospel feel to a blues vibe, etc throughout the album. Between this album and Steve Young's classic 1969 album, you have 2 of the best Americana albums I've ever heard here.
And last thing I'll say I love, His voice. Am I the only one who hears a lot of Conor Oberst in there? That strange and warbly, constantly quivery vocal style he has is like Bright Eyes but not as annoying and not whiney. So point goes to John Stewart.
Anyway, this is a sweet, heartwarming album, its a musical trip down memory lane, a series of snapshots of the old days, a romanticized vision of the country life, a brilliant album through and through. Everyone who reads this next time you're feeling that heartwarming americana folk country itch, check out this album right here. I am moving this album up, and thus throwing off my color order scheme. I don't care. Its just a great album.
This is an album which I've felt many ways about at many different times. When I first heard it I thought it was an emperor's new clothes situation. I heard all the glowing reviews, heard the story of Skip Spence, the way this ramshackle, indescribable album influenced a lot of my favorite artists like Uncle Tupelo and Tom Waits, and then I heard the album and I was like "Man, this is just sloppy.".
Then I came back to it, Something was calling me. There was something going on here. I just couldn't put my finger on it. I listened and I liked it! Then I listened again and I liked it more! Then, that moment came when it was 2am, I couldn't sleep, and the day was long behind and before me, I was a bit down and lost in my own head. I sat in my livingroom with almost no light outside of that emanating from my computer screen, and I just listened to this record. It was glorious. There is something here especially in tracks like "Weighted Down" and "Grey/Afro" and "Diana" which is low and so deeply broken hearted and lost that I just can't wrap my head around how Spence managed to capture such feelings.
And on other tracks, like the constantly off kilter, sweetness of the opener "Little hands", there is something weird happening. Like the music isn't where I would ever expect it to be, the drums and the guitars are doing things at weird times which don't make sense! But the result is something special and strange and peerless.
The record, again, is sloppy. And it is not a normal record at all. But the state of mind that the record captures is so rare, and its so unique and insightful into Spence's mental state that the album is just too good to ignore.
Oh and a few quick thoughts: its super cool that spence recorded everything by himself here. Or at least almost everything, I'm pretty sure he literally plays everything himself here. His voice is all over the place, and the interesting throughout, it makes me sad that a 22 or 23 year old can wheeze out lines like "Diana, I am in pain" with such heartbreak and realness. I mean the kid was a kid. But already was dredging up the ugliest realities of life that I wouldn't expect anyone to feel at all or if ever until much later in life. Another random rapid fire thought: the guitar playing in "War In Peace" is so sharp and screaming and intense its really jawdropping. "weighted Down" is the deepest blues you'll hear from anyone not named Blind Willie Johnson, or Tommy Johnson, or Blind Lemon Jefferson,e tc. Its on this track that I can hear some roots to similar ramshackle americana veins mined by Waits in albums like Mule Variations and Bone Machine.
Okay, that's all. This is an album almost sure to rise in my mind, due to just digging its claws deep into my psyche, until I can't listen to anything else. That inevitability hasn't happened yet. Still this is crazy good and probably should be higher than other albums on my list.
All you guys on this site keep talking about Father John Misty, and I think, " now that is something I do not want to hear, it's one of those new alternative-folk guys that I always seem to hate". But I just found out he does a cover of Dory Previns' Lady with a Braid, which I adore. So I guess I'm going to have to listen to him.
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
All you guys on this site keep talking about Father John Misty, and I think, " now that is something I do not want to hear, it's one of those new alternative-folk guys that I always seem to hate". But I just found out he does a cover of Dory Previns' Lady with a Braid, which I adore. So I guess I'm going to have to listen to him.
Yeah he's good. He's sort of cynical, wordy, nihilistic singer/songwriter firmly in line with prime-Randy Newman. When I want to listen to such stuff I usually give FJM a listen. Or Randy Newman.
His new album is not my thing. But his previous album "I Love You, Honeybear" is solid really great. _________________ -Ryan
Yeah he's good. He's sort of cynical, wordy, nihilistic singer/songwriter firmly in line with prime-Randy Newman. When I want to listen to such stuff I usually give FJM a listen. Or Randy Newman.
His new album is not my thing. But his previous album "I Love You, Honeybear" is solid really great.
Cynical, wordy, nihilistic. Sounds like Dory Previn. No wonder he covers her songs
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
Yeah he's good. He's sort of cynical, wordy, nihilistic singer/songwriter firmly in line with prime-Randy Newman. When I want to listen to such stuff I usually give FJM a listen. Or Randy Newman.
His new album is not my thing. But his previous album "I Love You, Honeybear" is solid really great.
Cynical, wordy, nihilistic. Sounds like Dory Previn. No wonder he covers her songs
Looking forward to checking her out! _________________ -Ryan
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