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!
Actually I put one of hers above today. Look at my post above
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
Okay, folks, here we are, Top 10, finally! There are definite tiers. And we have gotten past the excellent album tier, and now we are moving into roughly the "Really Excellent" (lol, not creative) to the "OMGOMG I LOVE THIS!" tier to even 1 or maybe 2 which are "Legitimate contenders for greatest albums I've ever heard" tier. The last page of this Diary features 15-11, and I hope you read up on that. Sorry again for the Nick Drake review. I promise I do like it! Please don't take away my Music Nerd card!!!!
But before I get into 10-6, I just want to pay my respects to some 1969 albums which are incredibly written, have mostly one singular songwriting voice, and just don't quite qualify for this list (due to being in a band, honestly being overlooked, or not giving enough credit to blues songwriting, it being a live album, etc). And here they are:
Arthur (Or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire) - Ray Davies
The Band - Robbie Robertson
The Velvet Underground - Lou Reed
The Gilded Palace of Sin - Gram Parsons (with a fair bit o' Chris Hillman)
The Biggest Thing Since Colossus - Otis Spann
Stand! - Sly Stone
Green River - John Fogerty
Fast Fingers - Jimmy dawkins
Okie From Muskogee - Merle Haggard
The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas - Nick Garrie (This one was just recommended last night and is really good)
Okay, and to you great songwriters I say "Thanks.".
Okay, and now back to the main event
My Top 25 Singer/Songwriter Albums of 1969 (cont.)
#10
If The Jasmine Don't Get You...The Bay Breeze Will by Vince Martin (1969)
Vince Martin is mostly known as the far less famous (and less talented songwriter and singer and just less talented in general if we're being honest) sidekick to Fred Neil. And his somewhat obscure album he did with Neil Tear Down The Walls is excellent and its clear they had a good musical relationship.
But in 1969 he went into the studio to make his first solo album. He went in with a pretty badass band, the same band which had just left the studio a few days earlier after having recorded Nashville Skyline with Dylan. These were some seasoned Country and folk musicians. And the band even included the stars of Dylan's 1967 album John Wesley Harding, Kenneth Buttrey on Drums and Charles MCoy on guitar (bass on JWH). So what could go wrong? Usually the last question I just posed serves as a preamble of sorts to a review where a person goes into detail about how wrong it did indeed all go. HOWEVER, thankfully the results here on this gorgeous Folk Rock album are as one would hope.
General thoughts on the album: It's a 6 song set over 40 minutes. Its a loose collection of gorgeous folk rock jams, with no songs under 6 minutes and one (the closer) at almost 14 minutes. It seems Vince Martin had an idea of the general vibe and sound of the album before going in to the studio, and that's it. The songs to some may feel just too rambly and imprecise, but to those who enjoy the atmosphere of just listening to some musicians find the sound and build on it, will love this. Fans of the Grateful Dead may really appreciate the title track, which is the epic closing track here.
Starting off with the stunning "Snow Shadows", the album gets going with a delicate, beautifully built jam, where everything just works. The acoustic picking and Martin's vocals work and fit and soar. The lyrics are the perfect mix of sorrow, regret and strength, all about leaving home and all the attendant struggles to find your way back home. And Vince Martin's voice is stunning, it is just unassuming and yet really sweet. I honestly fall in love with the album again and again after hearing this opening song. Its brilliant. And when the drums come in...yeah, I get hyped.
Now the album never achieves again that same level of artistry and power, if it did it would be like number 3 or 4 on this list. But does it get bad? NO! Its still consistently great.. The next track is a loose, beautiful blues/country creation, called "I Can't Escape You", with Martin's voice and the pedal steel steeling the show (see what I did there? sorry), this is a standout track.
The winning streak continues with the breezy and melancholy "Summerwind", followed by the similarly sadly sweet "Danville Girl". The band plays these songs interestingly, its like they are really finding their groove as they go. May come across as not polished and pro to some, but to me I just enjoy hearing the drummer find his place and then listening as each member comes in with their contribution. Its Folk Rock improvisation!
The next track, the jazzy and loose "Yonder Comes The Son" sounds like a Tim Buckley or Fred Neil song of the same era. And it crescendos beautifully, and Vince Martin sings his heart out.
Now the last track is interesting, cuz I go back and forth on it. It is in many ways the most exemplary song here, its the loosest and at the beginning you hear the band and Vince just trying to establish the tempo, laughing, playing off each other. The lyrics are simple and silly a bit. But the band just builds and builds on this jam. And if you have patience for such things, this whole 7 minute build up is fascinating. Sometimes I'm in the mood and sometimes I'm not. BUT, I am always in the mood for the last half of this song. At about halfway through, McCoy or whoever plays bass on this things comes in with this absolutely brilliant bass line/groove, and the bassist just tears it up from there. And Martin and the other guitarist just play off this, and it turns almost into some strange raga rock sounding thing, and the whole thing pops!
Anyway, that's my thoughts on this album. It's really good. If I was able to rerank them now it may not be #10, but closer to 13. But still, this is a cool as hell album with a GREAT intro. And methinks you'll like it.
Rating: 8.8/10
Oh and here’s a link to the album... on the ol’ YouTube
Its hard to put my finger on exactly what makes this album so cool. So, I'll default to EVERYTHING!
As much as I'd love to end this review there, I won't. Just looking at the most obvious elements, I will start with Tucker's cool as hell vocals. When he rocking out with his strange brand of Blues Rock on the opener "Bird Lives" for example, he sounds like Ryan Adams when he is at his most rocking. His voice has a great growl and emotional heft. When he switches to the more wordy, poetic songs like track 2 October Mornings, his voice sounds almost breathless and wondrous at times, its just very unique.
Next, really I can't say enough about the bassist here, none other than Tony Visconti, kills throughout. The grooves are rock freakin' solid and so cool. They ground the whole menacing vibe of even the lightest tracks. The rest of the band is pretty fabulous, the drummer Aynsley Dunbar is thundering at the right times (listen to the classic "A Face Who Hasn't Sold Out" as an example of how baller the drums are), then the organist is a little known beast named RICK WAKEMAN and he expectedly handles the organs and keys to amazing effect throughout.
And another cool thing here is, I don't know how else to describe it other than the album has a clear eyed, intense purpose. Tucker Zimmerman just sounds like a man possessed here. The words are sharp, at times cloudy in meaning but clear in mood, the band again most definitely rages on the rockers here - can't praise enough the greatness which is "A Face That Hasn't Sold Out - and they sound like a coiled unit of great precision on the more ethereal, dreamy tracks here like "October Mornings" and "The Roadrunner".
The lyrics are gorgeous. And they definitely deserve more attentive listening and reading from me which I haven't given them yet.
The music is a consistently engaging, timeless blend of folk, some psychedelic elements, dreamy pop, and blues rock. This album just sounds great, and to my modern ears, this sounds as cutting edge and cool today as it did in '69.
Also the pure rage of "Children of Fear" is a sound to behold. On this track and the throughout the whole album, Tucker Zimmerman just seems like that dude at a party who is so intense, so clearly bursting with ideas and purpose, and yet so bristly, that you are not sure you want to get into a conversation with him, cuz you know he's just going to run rings around you and you won't be able to get a word in. I mean, just look at that cover! The dude was a man on a mission and was not to be fucked with!
Also I wanted to say that all the songs are great! I only mentioned the first half, but the songs on side 2 are just as breathtaking at times. For example "Upside Down Circus World" is stunning, and so goddamn pristinely gorgeous and groovy and, yes, kinda circus feeling. The folk dream of "The Wind Returns Into The Night" with its glow of loping bass and the wreathe of ornamental harmonica cries, and with the fervor of rambling streaming poetry, is a goodie. Oh and "Running Running From Moment to Moment" is a pop folk songs which is as good as it is surprising in the context of the album, and can I just say...yet again... the bass playing here and on literally every track here, makes me fill up with the warm bliss? Okay, so there.
Anyway, this is pretty great.
Rating: 9.2/10
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#8
Neil Young by Neil Young AND Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere by Neil Young & Crazy Horse (1969)
Neil Young by Neil Young
I can't seem to figure out how to get his debut self titled debut to even show up as a link choice. Which is 2 things: REALLY INSANELY ANNOYING!!!!!!!!! and also a kind of sweet metaphor for the general concensus of this album.
Depending on what database you're on this is either a 68 or 69 album, and I trust BEA and RYM more than others. So there ya go.
Anyway, Neil's debut is not bad. I actually quite like certain aspects of it. Its clear that Neil Young wasn't yet sure about his image, sound, style at this point. As a result there is a lot of surprising Baroque folk, country sounds here. And even on some of the better tracks here, the orchestra, all weepy and at times over the top, undermines the general rugged grit of Neil Young's songs. Still, the strings sure are pretty!
Some of the songs here are actually excellent, such as "The Loner", "The Old Laughing Lady", etc. But boy, "The Loner" is amazing and rocks so hard! Then those fudging strings elbow in and I'm just not feeling it.
Anyway, I don't wanna stay on this album here too long. I'll just say there was some slight slivers of the potential greatness of solo Neil on this album. But, really it is a big surprise how quickly he shed the bs and made a dozen staright goodies. All he had to do was nix the string arrangements of Nitschke and bring his beats of beast bands into the studio and the legend of Neil Young would be born.
Sometimes I forget How HEAVY this album is, then I play it and then my ears are destroyed by the first 10 seconds of Cinnamon Girl and I remember: this thing is a freaking bloodbath of fuzzy, scuzzy, grungey, rock at its most fierce and furious!
Okay, how's that for a random way to start this review of Neil's first of many Great albums? Cool.
This album is of 2 minds, the heavy, frustrated, somehow fascinating and minimalist at the same time side is where its at its best. But there is the also great Folk/Country/Poetic/Sensitive singer-songwriter side (which is fuckind great here, but taken to its zenith on the next 2 Neil records).
I love the fact that this album doesn't split the jekyll and Hyde between night and day or side 1 and 2, which is what happens on albums like Remian In Light, Low and even Neil's Rust Never Sleeps to name a very few that do this excellently. Instead, these 2 sides of Neil are there back and forth, Once you get lulled into a chill and peaceful place with say "Round and Round" you are rudely reminded of the ugly, angry side of Young's mind with "Down By The River". There is a weird rhythm to this album. It doesn't seem like this kind of loud quiet loud sequence would make for a totally satisfying experience, but it does.
Lyrically, Neil is great throughout. He just paints vivid scenarios with few words like almost no one else in his time could do. And his voice, all quivery and lovable and classic, while not yet in peak form (again, just wait a year) is alrady just hypnotically brittle and inviting.
But really, if I'm being honest, the strangth of the album is the HEAVY parts. Specifically the far and away best song of the album (and maybe of the year) "Down By The River". Don't get me wrong "Cinnamon Girl" is crunchy excellence and a great opner. And "Cowgirl In The Sand" would be the highlight of 99.9% of all albums, with its fierce, screaming leads from Neil and its rock solid bass grooves which rattle me brain. But, BUT, Come on, "Down By The River". Down By The River!
From the first strutting, menacing, scowling strums, with the cascading slack lines from guitar two and then that bass, which leads straight into the most stunning melody on the album, from that start to the end of this 9 minute piece of art, the song has you by the throat. And its a Jam tarck. But its weirdest, most illogical jam track I've maybe ever heard. The guitar is at times right on the cusp of being laughable in its frustrated "WHY CAN'T I MAKE THIS PIECE OF SHIT SING?!? COME ON! WEEP, YOU MOTHER%$#@er!!!", but it never makes you laugh. Not me anyway. Instead I sit stunned, and yet my head bobs along with the band and the bass in particular. I am stunned because I hear something. I hear Neil in there, I hear what he is implying and what he is feeling, I am right there. I am in awe for some reason at these hypnotically ugly, ferocious at times 1 note "solos". And then it just builds and builds. And then the solo, counter-intuitively cuts off right when it may be about to soar, and then Neil sings again with the voice of a cooler than cool, nonchalant Hero. Later on he croons and really starts to emote those words. And so on and so on. The track is 9 minutes of miraculous music. How is this song so freaking good? Like, perfect?
Songs, The Losing End, and The title Track, are great folk country songs too.
Anyway, I like the whole album. It features maybe the best song of the 1960s, and only one song I'm not big on - "Running Dry". Its anchored by 2 classics and it has the greatest classic in the middle, with some delicious bread filling in the gaps. This album is like a delicious inverted sandwich! There ya go. I coulda said that and that would have summed up the excellence of this album in a few words and I could have avoided the weird impossibility of describing with words the most physical of songs.
Due to laziness, I will just include this review of sorts I have on my as-of-now-nonpublic Dylan chart. I wrote this 4 years ago! (Time flies, love all you BEA buddies I've had for 5 years now)
"Beautiful, charming, short-and-sweet, countrified, humble, and fantastic album through and through! What I love about this album is it just manages to make me feel happy. It's so optimistic. It is so clearly a huge change away from serious or overly introspective elements of his music. It's amazing to me that Dylan could switch off to a whole new zone and genre of music and pull it off so perfectly.
The lyrics are simple, direct country-style nuggets of beauty. It ain't hard to pick up what is being expressed here. The musicians that back him up here sound great.
Man, there ain't much I dislike about this album at all. I will say I don't like the first track featuring Cash. It just doesn't sound too good. But after that track it rolls so well. It's 24 minutes of solid fun!
The greatest tracks here are "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You", "Nashville Skyline Rag" (what a smokin' instrumental to really kick this album off!), "Lay Lady Lay" (sexy as hell) and of course the very tragic-sounding "I Threw It All Away".
It is hard for me to say how this album compares to other Dylan favorites because it is so different in mood and style and theme and even in the way his vocals are delivered...
On its own terms this album is an essential release in Dylan's discography. I really love it. And it is a great way to end off the 60s! I look at these first 16 albums I've listened to for this chart and it blows my mind how much music he made from 62-69 and it astounds me how consistently great it was. He was just on fire for so long!"
Okay, now present-day Ryan again: Has my love for this album remained? Yes! As a matter of fact its increased greatly! I now LOVE that first Cash track now. Still not my fave track here, but its soooo warm and sweet. Also, Cash + Dylan = automatic good.
Now, compared to that Vince Martin album, its amazing how starkly different this is. Dylan had a clear plan, a short sweet statement delivered in perfectly constructed 2 or 3 minute songs. Martin took the same great band and just said "Let's see where this takes us.".
And as I listen yet again to this classic, I am indeed feeling joyeous, and optimistic again! Dylan is the closest thing to a sonic best friend I have ever had. I mean, that sounds lame, so let me dig the whole deeper with an explanation: Ever since I was a lad o' 12 I have always looked to Dylan's music and words and interviews and story as inspiration, or as a sort of reference point to my life. He has been a constant "friend" and presence. And I truly get emotional thinking about what he has meant for me in my life. So there, I reached the required 6 feet into the ground, kill me now. lol.
I had this album at 12, then moved up to 8 then 9 then 10 on this list...then as I wrote this and listened again, i came to and was like "WHAT?! Are you crayzy!? Get Dylan back on his rightful pedestal, fool!" So up to a (perhaps still too low position ) of #7 it goes!
Oh, and I would like to thank Gram Parson, Chris Hillman, Gene Clark, Doug Dillard, The Byrds in general, and Dylan of course, for showing the rock kids that Country was cool back in 1968 and 1969. That 4-peat statement of "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", "The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark", "Gilded Palace of Sin", and "Nashville Skyline" has been an inspiration for a huge percentage of my favorite music ever. Thanks, you fine geniuses all for doing what was right! (I suppose the Grateful dead, somewhat the Band, and many others deserve credit as well, so thanks Danko, Garcia, Robertson, and all you fine people too.)
Rating: 9.5/10
Oh and damnit! I forgot to mention this... The cover of Nashville Skyline is a miracle. Its awesome in gneral, Dylan looks so happy and handsome and all... but look at that nearly perfect triangle! How cool is that?!? Okay, bye.
This is a great album. I am having a hard time finding ways of expressing that sentiment. As I get to the top crust of this weeks long project, I am getting to what are for me the best of the best, and every album I love. So, bear with me.
Steve Young and this album in particular were closely associated with gene Clark and Gram Parsons back in '69. On the front cover of the original release of this album there was a sticker apparently which louly proclaimed "Featuring Gram Parsons and Gene Clark". That was a big deal amongst country rock fans back in the day. And the record label played it up. Is the presence of those 2 icons felt strongly here? Not really. The sound of this album is in the same vein as their works of the day, but there is a whole different, and uniquely Stev Young sound here.
I mentioned earlier in my review of John Stewart's Califonia Bloodlines that this and it were perhaps the 2 best "Americana" albums of the year. That I have heard anyway. What i mean by that is this album doesn't stick to country, although that is its main stylistic feature. There is an earthy, nuanced, natural mix on this album of Country, some rock, Blues, folk, and even soul (as evidenced by the simple, and very affective cover of Otis Redding's "That's How Strong My Love Is" that kicks this gem off).
Young had a special voice. Its not showy usually, its pretty plain on first hearing it, but every word drips with emotion and humanity. He just took whatever words he was sminging and really made them his own and makes you, the listener, feel them. When he gets dramatic and really shouts, its amazing. Reminds me of Chris Stapleton in that regard. But I think Steve's vocals are less of a put on and are more natural even than Stapleton's (not a diss there, I love me some Stapleton vox).
As for the music, god damn. Its, again, never over the top, but its always just right. The guitars are recorded so warmly, the drums never intrude they just keep the beat and the tempo, the bass is the same way. But the fact that the bedrock sonic landscape is so underplayed and relaxed and "right", makes the little absolutely stunning details soar. Case in point, the weeping and mesmerizing strings on the album highlight "Seven Bridges Road" just ascend the whole song to incredible levels. Other examples are the awesome backing soul vocals that scream on "Love In My Time", and the pedal steel work on the straight forward country gems here like "Gonna Find Me The Bluebirds", the reverb drenched sorrow of the keyboards (or whatever that gorgeous sound is) on "Kenny's Song", and all the dramatic sweeps of Young's vocals throughout the album, all these things pop off the record due to the fact that the rudimentary aspects of a good americana album are executed so brilliantly.
And I will say, while I said earlier the highlight was "Seven Bridges Road", I think I am wrong there. Its number 2 to the utterly unique track "Coyotte". Anybody who loves Tommy Johnson's ghostly vocals will find something blissful in the vocals on "Coyotte". The track is a strange, minimalistic, mystical plea to a Coyotte, a question to the wind, an elemnetal series of questions directed at God and Mankind and the creatures which Human being have encroached upon. It sounds like a primitive man around a campfire overcome by the enormity of the world around him. Also the song starts with a cool coyotte cry. And the song....gosh, I just loves it muchly.
Other stand outs are the title track, the rare upbeat moment of "I'm A One Woman Man" and "Holler In The Swamp".
Okay, I've hyped this album up enough. Listen to it.
Man, these reviews are getting long as hell. I started out doing stuff 1/3 the size for pre 67, 67 and even 68. Apologies for all the reading. _________________ -Ryan
Hey, here's two 1970 recs that you should consider when you get to 1970. They're a different kind of singer-songwriter because they rock. But they're definitely singer-songwriters.
TOP 5! TOP 5! TOP FIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!!!!!! #MyTop5SingerSingerAlbumsof1969 !!!!!
Okay, at long last, here is the top 5 (did you catch that this is the top 5?)
This has been a fun and rewarding little experiment. I am pretty sure I'll conti nue on with 1970 1971 etc. But Boy! This was a much more huge project than I anticipated.
Joni has been blowing my mind lately. I previously had only a passing knowledge of her work, and in my head I almost thought of Blue as her coming out party, her first great album. I thought of her jazz albums as her most revered albums and perhaps that is true, but I just didn't have a clear picture of her capabilities as a musician or as a lyricist.
For my much more quickie 1968 list I discovered her debut and I was incredibly impressed. I was wondering why that album was not mentioned as one of the great debut albums of the 60s or even of all time. It was delicate, detailed, featured moments of intensely inventive musical expression. And it was number 4 for 68. And as I looked ahead at 69-72, my mouth watered with all the surely great albums I'd get to yap about in the future.
Which brings us to this album, 1969's sophomore album Clouds. And you know what? This is a masterpiece. It takes everything which made Song To The Seagull so vibrant and brilliant to me and turns it up even further. Joni just honed her talents to a bright, razor sharp level here. The lyrics became more personal and biting and, to me, more beautiful, the guitar playing is the same level of insane but more clear and mesmerizing, the arrangements were less busy and have more room to breathe.
And here's the thing, when I hear the songs "Chelsea Morning, "That Song About The Midway", "The Gallery", "I Think I Understand" and "Both Sides Now" I am filled up with an intense affinity for Joni. Like, I am just in love, I feel like I hearing someone I just really like, I empathize, and I just smile and say "Sing it, I feels you". That is a silly point perhaps, but I just want to say that cuz its unique. I don't have that feeling about solo artists much where I just love hearing them speak their minds like I'm hearing a peer and I am just filling up with joy. Dylan on Nashville Skyline and Blood On The Tracks and Freewheelin' and Another Side has that going for it, Townes on Live At The Old Quarter in particular, Joni on this and Ladies of the Canyon and Blue, and there may be a few other examples, but its a rare feeling is all I'm saying.
Okay, and even on the songs which are a bit darker and detached from that feeling of kinship I feel on half this album, songs like "Tin Angel", "Songs To Aging Children" etc, I feel something else almost as powerful. Its like Joni could convey a whole complete world and feeling with some perfectly chosen guitar chords or piano chords and sing out these deep lyrics with such musical prowess that I just instantly buy in.
Okay, and I'm not on my game today expressing why I love this album. Its great! Okay!?
The way she says "I am Dead!" with that strange accent or something on "The Gallery" and the whole chorus just kills me! Its just so impossibly great! The mood and the dark, hypnotic beauty of the opener "Tin Angel", and the unearthly harmonies in "Songs to Aging Children", oh my gosh oh my gosh, the sheer joyeous beauty of the entirety of "Chelsea Morning", the sweet then sad then sweet etc yo-yo of "That Song About The Midway" with its just amazing everything,, and of course the stunning and hall of fame level perspective and joy and reality of "Both Sides Now", etc etc I just love so much about this album.
Now when I laid out these ranks a few days ago, I didn't foresee my sudden upsurge in love for that Steve Young album. So maybe when I get to the rating it will seem strange that this is higher than that. But really, I stand by these rankings. Cuz the highs of this album, the happiness and empathy I feel here is much greater than for Rock Salt and Nails, even if I feel that may be a better all around album.
I will say also that the A Capella (spelling that right? doubtful ryan, doubtful) performance of "The Fiddle and the Drum" grates on me a bit. scratch that, it grates on me a lot. Just annoys me and ruins the whole momentum of the otherwise genius album. Also the song "Roses Blue" is strange and has cool and strange effects and all but it just doesn't work for me by and large. And.... those are the gripes I have.
This album is great, Joni is the greatest vocalist on this list (sorry Tim Buckley) she is one of the best guitarists here. She is top 5 lyricist probably all time. She is/was a greater songwriter with a better ear for music than almost everyone who has ever existed on earth. And she is great. There.
"Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all" - Joni Mitchell
Rating: 9.4/10
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#4
Our Mother The Mountain AND Townes van Zandt by Townes Van Zandt (1969)
This is TVZ's second album and is often considered his first classic. And I agree its amazing in mnay ways. But much of what I wasn't a huge fan of on his debut, "For The sake of the Song", is still prevalent here. Namely, the production is still a bit much. The flutes and the orchestras and gizzards and wizards and smizzards...okay not those last 3. But yeah, I mean, the SONGs, THE SONGSSSS, are amazing. Townes, its well know, was one of the most stunning lyricists and poets of all time. The poet laureate of the texas troubadours, the plain spoken soothe sayer. The man who gave us detailed looks into the hearts and sould, both the light and dark, of the human being.
But for example on the great opening track "Be Here To Love Me", do I really need that flute and that intrusive tambourine? Not really. But its still, despite the overzealous aspects, a 9/10 song, a great one. On other classics, like the absolutely haunting "Kathleen" and "St. John The Gambler" the orchestral parts are actually pretty fabulous. There are styill some points in those songs when I think "That's a bit much".
Gosh, why am I being so negative!?
Okay, so this albums flaws are thoroughly outnumbered by the positives. For example, is there a bad song or even a merely good song here? Lyrically? NO! This set of songs is astounding, "Kathleen", "Like A Summer Thursday", Tecumsah Valley", "My Proud Mountains", "Our Mother The Mountain", "St. John The Gambler", are all amazing.
I look at TVZ's discog kinda like I do a star athlete. With an athlete, their prime is usually right at about 26-29. Their athletic freak prime is usually at its height when they're wee boys or girls, when they're 21-24. They're wisdom and their smarts are at their best when they are older and before they have been dulled by concussions and beatings, so maybe their smarts peak is 30-33. So that prime is just when those 2 peaks come closest toegther. This is just my theoryy and may be complete BS by the by. Okay so, with Townes, the 2 factors are 1. The quality of the songs, the poetry, the truth of the songs, and the vitality of his voice etc and 2. the stripped down aspect of the songs and the recordings. So with his debut, the songs are great, vibrant, not yet his best, but pretty good and his voice is great, but the production is cartoonish by and large. But his Live at the old quarter is when he's still got a strong voice and vitality but his songs are at their best, and the sound is blissfully stripped down and raw, just him a guitar and some harmonica. So where does this second album lie? His voice kills and the songs are really good, and the production is less cartoonish but still a bit overboard. Not his "athletic peak" (to keep that going). This is the equivalent of that Basketball SF at the age of 23 with insane natural gifts, putting up mondo stats, but just not yet having the court vision to bolster his teammates yet and so they lose in the 1st round of the playoffs. But just wait until next season!!!!
Rating: 8.7/10
******* from here on down, we are looking at 4 albums which are essentially perfection, and are all on my overall now and are just in a tier on their own*********
Okay, and here we are. His 3rd album, and his second of 1969. Townes output in 69 was better than anyone else. It was bonkers. And the production here is nearly perfect! Its so bare and breezy and simple and this gives TVZ's songs room to breathe, to float into your ears and heart and make you weep. The lyrics and the actual songs, THE SONGS!!!! are even better here than on Our Mother The Mountain. TVZ had really turned the corner in the intervening few months and turned on his next gear. To keep that sports analogy going just a bit more (I hear your groans, I'm sorry, just one second) This album represents the age 27 season of that star QB, when he is still putting up the big numbers, still scrambling aorund and showing off his gifts, still throwing it deep, but now he's throwing less interceptions, he's reading the game next level, and he goes to the championship! But he loses... and its not close. In this case cuz of a couple 30 somethings who just act as killjoys to his glory and poke holes in his schemes. But he moves onto the next season to regroup and hopefully break through. With Townes, he just continues honing his craft and makes 3 or 4 more classics and wins a couple championships.
Okay, and I am done with that. Thank gawd.
What I think is amazing about this Self titled Townes album is how effortless it feels. Right from the jump you are treated with one of the breeziest and subtly morunful and confused songwriting feats ever. "For The Sake of the Song" features a gorgeous guitar line from Townes (who much like Joni, is an underrated guitarist). There's a very subdued little bass line. Some pretty percussion. And over the top of this beautiful and again Breezy sound, Townes just seems to be talking to a friend about his predicament with a relationship. The internal rhyme pattern is detailed but not over the top. And you are just sitting there as the audience marvelling at how deeply thought out and intricate the observations are and how quickly the5+ minute song goes by.
And this is true of the whole album. You go through this subtle, shimmering, at times deeply emotional, at other times just comfortably familiar, journey with TVZ, and you enjoy every second being in its presence.
The songs here don't jump out at me. When I look at the tracklist for Our Mother The Mountain or his debut, or even Delta Momma Blues, The Late Great Townes Van Zandt or even High Low and In Between, I am struck by 3 or 4 absolute stand outs, totally memorable and singular Townes moments. With this album though, the whole album coalesces and plays just right, one song to the next, that I just know when I finish the album there is not a less than stellar track here, and I wanna push play again, and again.
That is probably due to just how warm and simple the production is. There are some more flashy parts, like the groove of the bass on "Waitin' Round To Die" (oh and I suppose this song does stick out on the tracklist, so there is a correction from last paragraph). But those more fl;ashy moments are rare, and they are all in beautiful service to the songs. They make sense. The harmonica and bass groove, so dark and ominous, absolutely pushes this song over the top. It seems like Townes and his producer at the time finally realized the earthy genius of Townes, and that you didn't need bells and whistles to make these songs move mountains. The lone voice and guitar and minimal other things alone can just overcome a listener. This album is proof of that.
Other examples of the extra ornamentation working beautfully here is the strangely timed bass drum rhythm on the stunning blues reimagining of "Lungs". And the gorgeous violin backing, and tambourine fun of "(Quicksilver Daydreams of) Maria".
Songs like "Don't Take It Too Bad", "Colorado Girl", "None But The Rain", "I'll Be Here In the Morning" and "For The sake of the Song" seem to me like perfect examples of that distinctly Townes way of just being the most inviting, sensitive, singer/songwriter of the folk/country field.
Anyway, this album is damn near perfect. And if you wanna know where to get started with becoming a huge Townes fan, here it is your best bet methinks.
This album is proof that you can do a TVZ album without added stuff, and it proved that all by himself, Townes Can Zandt! (I'm sorry...)
"All the mountains and the rivers
And the valleys can't compare
To your blue lit dancin' eyes
And yellow shining hair
I could never hit the open road
And leave you layin' there
Lay your head back easy, love,
Close your cryin' eyes
I'll be layin' here beside you
When the sun comes on the rise
I'll stay as long as the cuckoo wails
And the lonesome blue jay cries" -Townes
This is my favorite Leonard Cohen album. It is my favorite for many of the same reasons the self titled Townes Van Zandt album is my favorite Townes album or why Nebraska is the best Springsteen album, or Pink Moon is my fave Nick Drake, or or or etc. Its one of the most starkly grim albums I've ever heard. This album has shadows and pits of blackness so deep, when I listen to this record I am transported to some sort of bleak world with brief flashes of wonder and humanity. This album takes me on a surreal tour through the more shadow lands which exists right before me but is never seen or fully confronted, and my guide is a grizzled wiseman who has seen it clear and has charted and documented all its byroads and ramifications.
I don't know how to talk about this album without getting lost in some ethereal goo. Leonard Cohen was such an accomplished writer and artist by this point. A relatively "old" and very wise 35, already a published and respected Poet. He had more questions and insights than maybe any songwriter at the time of this album. Yet, this album isn't just some scholarly exercise. There is such a depth of feeling in this album which is unleashed in waves of pain and awe due, i think, to the fact that the words are so carefully chosen and so spot on that it strikes a very deep and up that point sleeping nerve.
The opener "Bird On The Wire" is truly one of the very few sacred moments in music history for me. The hugeness of its simple verses, the sheer pain of it, the emotion which that song wells up for me, is something I can't fathom. The sorrow, the need for forgiveness, the brittle vocal delivery, everything....oh man.
The album from that stunning opener, continues to hit you with bleak, austere portraits of friends lost to suicide (Seems So Long Ago, Nancy), of biblical visions of the darkest side of human beings (Story of Isaac), of the immutable devotion to freedom and the endless struggle to overcome evil no matter how futile and no matter what the cost (The Partisan), andof the mysteries of long nights of transient liberty and romance (Lady Midnight), etc.
Musically, there are eccentric touches. The sound backing Cohen on "The Old revolution" (i've no idea what that is, but its cool), the dirgey, low end chug of the acoustic guitar in "The Butcher", hell there is a similar strange effect on "A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes" and "Lady Midnight as on "The Old Revolution"(can someone smarter than me explain to me what that rattly effect is? I am ignorant, but I like it.) also that sweet, far-off electric guitar is freaking awesome, the women speaking french in the most angellic and doomed way on "The Partison,
the organ in "Lady Midnight", etc. There are a lot of little moments on here which push this album, somehow, to new heights.
And finally the closer "Tonight Will Be Fine" is such a great closer. Its by far the least bleak moment on the album, Cohen humsa sweet childish tune, he makes funny rhymes, he talks sex, he whistles, and the bass line is a playful bounce. If I am thinking of this album as a tour through the darkness, then this is the moment toward the end of the tour when the wise man, seeing you are really shook up takes pity, gives a soft smile, shakes you out of your glossy-eyed horror and looks you straight in the eyes and says in his deep, baritone voice "It's okay, there is much beauty and there is some hope and there are reasons to love and to live and to care. It will be fine for awhile.".
"It seems so long ago,
Nancy was alone,
a forty five beside her head,
an open telephone.
We told her she was beautiful,
we told her she was free
but none of us would meet her in
the House of Mystery,
the House of Mystery.
And now you look around you,
see her everywhere,
many use her body,
many comb her hair.
In the hollow of the night
when you are cold and numb
you hear her talking freely then,
she's happy that you've come,
she's happy that you've come." - Leonard Cohen
Rating: 9.8/10
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I Have more to say about these next2 than any other album yet. But have work in 2 hours, then a full weekend, so here goes with some rapid fire, utterly lacking reviewing...I'll do my best. 😄
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This is one of those things which almost seems to good to be true. I mean, this album is stunning, mesmerizing, completely overwhelming for me personally. Yet, this is also an album which has almost no associated info, the artist is a near-total mystery, the album is almost completely lost to the world. How can something this pristine be so overlooked?
I know there are thousands of stories like this, albums which are incredible, artists which are so talented and yet are oppressed or ignored for various reasons through history. But experiencving this album finally drove home how vulnerable and precious art and artistic expression is.
Okay, and now, the very little I could find on this artist can be boiled down to one post from a person on discogs. This is what the user on discogs named capttrips says about this album (I have no idea if this remotely accurate, and bear in mind I am not a great investigator of things on the internet, and maybe some of you are more smart about doing research on this): " I am lucky enough to own a copy of this amazing LP. One of only three copies that have surfaced so far in the entire world. Thirteen original songs featuring sparce but clearly psychedelic instrumentation including occasional flute tabla and finger cymbals. Vocals and lyrics are reminiscent of Syd Barett, Arthur Lee, Donovan et.al. Very little is known about John. He was a pale skinned Zimbabwean who also happened to be a transexual living in South Africa's repressive apartheid regime. Apparently maybe less than 200 copies were pressed and of those many were seized and destroyed by security police. Plans are a foot to do a reissue sometime in the near future, so keep your eyes and ears open for further news"
Interesting, right. So there is a download of this available and there is a stream on youtube of it. here...
Musically, this album is a delicate 35 minute experience with in the main John Phillips, his guitar and some tamboruine and some other instrumentation to fill it up. The lyrics are densitive, stunning, at times funny and at times incredibly incisive. The guitar work is first rate. Phillips sounds like he was classically trained at times, the picking is sharp and beautiful. His singing is sweet, and intimate, kind of like a "breathy" whispery style most of the times, in the same vein as Jackson C Frank, Nick Drake, Stuart Murdoch and other music nerd faves. And the compositions and songs are all, and I mean all, fabulous and just absolutely beautiful.
Now I liked this a lot on first listen. But I kept coming back to it, over and over. Again, it seemed too good. Surely, this was good in comparison to its status, surely I was blowing up the quality of this album in my head due to how relatively unknown it was, it can't be really THAT good. That was what I was thinking I'd conclude on subsequent listens. Well, it never happened. I am listening again now, and it shimmers and fills my heart with life and my mind with big ideas even now - and perhaps more than ever - on my 20th or so listen.
The stand out tracks are the utterly beautiful opener "Ballad of a Tall Man" (Jackson C Frank-level gorgeous), the oh so seductive and subtly dark, Proto-Elliott Smith song "Peppermint Wind", the incisive and surprisingly virtuosic guitar instrumental "The Rock", the absolutely absurdly catchy, cutting and twee genius of "Paint Box Jester" (this one really reminds me of some lost Belle and Sebastian classic), the excellent closing track "Look At The Time Fly", the heartbreaking tale of a little girl who lost her hands in a bombing in the song "Permutation Child", the absolutely stunning floating reassuring pick-me-up "Whisper To The Wind" etc.
And I really mean it when i say "etc" cuz there is not a bad song here. The album starts with 6 tracks which absolutely slay and drop my jaw with how great it is. The middle portion goes more in the direction of magical, donovan-esque fantasy lyrics and is more of an enchanting experience. Its great during the middle portion, but not as stunning as the beginning. But then the album closes 5 straight perfect songs starting with Whisper To the Wind" through "Sylvia" (SYLVIA! How have I not yet mentioned Sylvia?! Its one of the most beautiful folk songs I've ever heard) and continues to the end with Permutation Child and Look At The Time Fly.
As a closing point on this, honestly if you love Nick Drake, Belle and Sebastian, Jackson C Frank, acoustic Elliott Smith, folk music, dreamy ballads of sheer heaven, or music in general (which is most of us here) I think you'll really love this. It also has a distinctly DIY, lo fi style, this is just amateur enough with its fun little triangle-exploits and home recording vibes to keep the fun coming. That last part didn't make much sense. And outside of the otherwise stunning "Mulberry Avenue" there is very little in the way of rough, scratchy, old-worn-out-record sounds on this album.
"See the Clown with his crown of melancholy.
See him frown at the crowds who clap too slowly.
He brings them down with his wit, created solely
for your enjoyment, but how about the unemployment?" -John Phillips "Paint Box Jester"
And here it is. My number 1 album on this limited list. Also my number 1 fave singer songwriter album, 1969 album, and number one of 1960s. Hell, it may very well be my favorite album period.
Its incredibly intense, the feelings I have for the record. I will explain some of what makes this album so special here. I could write a book, a short and probably quite bad book about this album.
Mickey Newbury released this, his second solo album, in 1969. There were no clear cut hits on it, no catchy tunes, no songs under 6 minutes and which have clear cut beginnings and endings (there are a few shorter songs but they segue right into other parts of a song cycle of sorts) , the songs were almost all interlocked with the previous songs on the album. It's genre is hard to place my finger on. I suppose its country, yet there is very little twang here. Its folk, but there are elements of full choirs and little details all over the album which seem to fly in the face of the idea I have of a bare bones Folk album. There are no moments which really rock, or get stuck in your head. Instead this album is one 40 minute piece of interconnected stories of love and leaving, being left and looking for someone.
The album starts off and you seem to be in a room with Mickey. You're in his head and seeing and feeling what he is seeing and feeling and thinking. He is struggling with the decision before him of stayting or going. His mate is laying in bed asleep next to you. The album within a minute has fully in Mickey's headpsace. The opening track is a series of distinct musical segments. And you hear how all these parts logically go from one to the next, until the inevitable conclusion comes. And the fact that you are following along with this story and know in your heart where it must end doesn't make it any less sobering or heartbreaking. Then the thunder claps, the rains fall, and you are ushered into the next song. This song "She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye" is the reverse angle of what you just heard in the previous song. You are now hearing and feeling the other end of the leaving. I am not doing great describing how stunning this all is. But it sure is stunning.
The first half of the album is distinctly connected by the sound of rain, its very clearly a theme and it is suitably dreary and sad and introspective. The lyrics are full of deeper meanings, and metaphors and similes to die for. Newbury conveys all the small details of loss without using too many words. He just gets you there and fully immersed in this world of contradictions and indecisions, and its all so seamlessly executed.
Another peerless aspect of this album is how much it uses the studio. For many of these country or folk albums people will use the oft repeated idea of "You know, its like you're right next to this person and he's there playing these songs from his heart and its like you're there in the same room or around the fire with him just listening." I often say that as well. But the thing with this album is that is not at all the idea I get. Instead Mickey Newbury uses the studio to put you in his head, he uses the far off sounds to convey where he is at exactly. The brilliantly recorded choirs which seem to come from the far off distance, the sound of rain and thunder to accentuate some low down feeling, the way the bass lines don't sound like they are next to you or even in the "room" but instead sound like they are raining down on the whole world around you, the way the orchestra flourishes and the sounds drop out at perfect moments, the way Mickey whistles at some points here and how that goes along with the far off train whistle, the whole sonic world is so clear and unique, its really unlike any album I've heard.
Now that is all about how the structure of the album amazes me. The themes, the landscape, the flow. This is the base of the album, but it would be merely really cool and ambitious if it wasn't for the songwriting. Mickey Newbury was one of the greatest songwriters of his generation. His long narrative about the star crossed lovers in "San Francisco Mabel Joy" is perhaps the best example of this. That song has to be heard to be understoof how cool it is. And the songs which make up the first half are full of stunning insights and turns of phrase. Newbury was clicking on all cylinders here.
And as far as Mickey's vocals, wow. He didn't have some rangey pitch perfect voice like Joni, some otherworldly voice like Buckley or Morrison. His voice is most similar to John Prine at times, and Guy Clark at other times, and there is a bit of Cash at times, etc. But that was the thing, he switched up his voice from matter of fact country boy, to that of a moaning, pain-ridden lost soul, to that of a deadened soul, back and forth all over, depending on where the song took him. He gets so much emotion out of every line. Yeah, I love his vocals here.
As far as a break up album, sure this is the best ever. But it goes above that. It hits at some themes which transcend breakups or love lost. Or maybe it doesn't. Maybe it just depends on from where you are coming to this album. I don't know. All I know is there is not a false note here in my opinion. The album is seamless studio masterpiece. Its also a poetic singer/songwriter album which will make TVZ fans swoon. It is many things. One of the most fully realized long players I have ever heard. And I think its the greatest thing I've heard in a long long time.
"Lord, his daddy was an honest man, just a red dirt Georgia farmer
His momma lived her short life having kids and baling hay
He had fifteen years and an ache inside to wander
So he hopped a freight at Waycross and wound up in L.A.
Well the cold nights had no pity on that Waycross Georgia farm boy
Most days he went hungry, then the summer came
He met a girl known on the strip as San Francisco's Mabel Joy
Destitution's child, born on an L.A. street called 'Shame'"
Rating: 10/10
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And there you have it! I am interested in what y'all think. Did I rank stuff all wonky, make you mad or make you happy? I hope you check out the lesser known or not-yet-know-to-you gems on this list (especially John Phillips and Mickey Newbury...:D )
And there you have it! I am interested in what y'all think. Did I rank stuff all wonky, make you mad or make you happy? I hope you check out the lesser known or not-yet-know-to-you gems on this list (especially John Phillips and Mickey Newbury...Very Happy )
I think the biggest surprise for me is how low you rank Nick Drake's debut which I consider a masterpiece. I know that you are just getting into Tim Buckley and his charms take a little time, but I know that you've adored Drake for a long time.
But, there is so much stuff here I do not know that's it's impossible to really argue with these ratings. You've become the master in a genre and time period that I thought I knew rather well. Proving yet again that I know nothing. Damn you for that, Mercury. lol
But, yeah this is really, really great stuff. You should definitely continue this project for as long as it still inspires you. Just don't feel compelled to move at such a breakneck speed. lol. When you do, well hop on over to my Mellow Zone. lol.
Peace, brother. Truly phenomenal work, here! Keep it up! 👏
Hey, I know you guys are probably gonna hiss, and piss and boo at it, but I just now finished my singer songwriter chart. But it does got some of the same stuff as mercury's. And I just found out about Tucker Zimmerman 2 days ago, but he made it onto My Chart already. And I found out about it from this thread. Check it out.
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bobbyb5
Mercury
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