Previous exposure? Zip. Never heard any other albums by her. And she seems to be compared a lot to Chelsea Wolfe, and I haven't heard any of her work either. I am an embarrassment to my ancestors.
Now, this here album... I liked it.
This is an at times exhilarating heavy mix of rock, folk, dreamy shoegaze and some really intense sludgy metal stuff. Its all held together by Emma's ear for some really cool melodies and really rich, screaming guitar explosions and her voice, which is passionate and very disturbed and beautiful in equal measure.
Some songs like "protection" are truly stunningly amazing
and there are other truly amazing parts. "Medusa" is a haunting track. And the buildup and tension of "Hand of God" is really cool. Love the way I can hear the fingers slide across the guitar strings, that small touch makes the sound more tactile (obviously) and just more interesting. Its a small thing but makes it stick out a lot. And her vocals on Hand of God are absolutely fabulous. Almost PJ Harvey levels of emotional intensity.
The beautiful, softly depressed sound of "heaven" is great.
The album loses a little steam in the back third to my ears on first listen. And the final track kinda irked me a little, maybe because it was a bit too dirty and haggard. But this album is short enough that the drop off of interest doesn't really make it drag like it may have if it were pushing an hour.
All in all this was a great discovery for me and I really am interested in hearing her other stuff. - 3-3.25/5
Previous exposure? I have heard a couple of his earlier albums, Scare and Short Man's Room I think. But this was really long ago and I can't remember much. He was always one of the respected names in americana/alt-country that I mostly knew as that - a name. I have been meaning to listen to this album and 3 or 4 other Joe Henry albums for awhile and honestly this album and this man was one of the main impetuses (?impetai? lol) of doing this game.
Anyway, this album is great. Like really great. I really wish I would have truly discovered this artist a decade or more ago. There is so much wisdom and thoughtfulness here. The words are sobering and level-headed and observational and humane. The music is simple enough to really pierce through and hit me, yet sophisticated and spiced up with blues and jazz and folk touches to keep you always engaged. His voice is clear and heartfelt, and I think I may have found the closest facsimile vocally and musically and even subject-wise to "Closing Time" era Tom Waits.
This album is truly quite brilliant. Its close to the image of the "typical" dinger songwriter album. In that musically its piano driven folk/jazz/blues/ and mostly americana. It features a lyrical buffett of different excellent character pieces, observations, love songs, and social commentary that hits all the major points on a "What would make a Great all-around Singer/Songwriter album" checklist.
The real star is Joe Henry as a vocalist and story teller. Its almost intangible, the quality that his voice and words have. Its a quality all the great songwriters have. Its almost like as a listener you always feel attached to the voice and words, the sound feels familiar and fascinating, and there is a certain warmth to this quality. Anyway, I can't describe it but Joe Henry has it. Has it hear anyway. And I think I may have discovered a new favorite songwriter, which is exciting.
4.25/5.
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Easy win for the old guard, more traditional singer/songwriter and album, Joe's Civilians! Marked For Death was really cool and I liked it but just not to remotely the same degree as it's competition. _________________ -Ryan
And I now get your plan much more clearly now, and don't hesitate to throw in some personal stuff.
I now listened to that Margo Guryan album now and really liked (see also my own thread). But of course in that particular matchup it can't win against Paris 1919, one of the best John Cale albums. I can get what you say about the winking but I saw him a few times live ramming on his piano and I can tell you: he really means his stuff and in this sense there is a bit of resemblence with Jeff Tweedy, that other guy who I have seen many times live: they both have a kind of tongue-in-cheeck attitude towards their music and they both like to deconstruct their songs but in fact those deconstructions only add up to how wonderful these songs are.
This is an excellent co parison! I have seen Tweedy and Wilco live 3 times but never saw Cale. I can see the similarity, both being quite tongue-in-cheek and both having a slant towards changing and playing with traditional pop or country forms.
Yeah 1919 is a solid as hell album and I'm looking forward to round 2 for a couple relistens. _________________ -Ryan
looking at my brackets, I decided to replace Happy Sad with One Year by Colin Blunstone. I have also decided to replace Short Sharp Shocked with Lubbock (On Everything) by Terry Riley.
The reason for the change is that I forgot how many times I've listened to Happy Sad and I don't wanna listen for this wee game. BUT One Year is an album I heard once and remembered liking but little else about it. That was 3 years ago.
The reason for removing Michelle Shocked is I can't find that album on the streaming platforms I use. It bums me out cuz that is an album i've looked for and wanted to listen to a dozen times. Oh Well. Lubbock (On Everything) is great from what I recall but its been awhile and I just feel like I need a relisten or 2 in my life. Plus I want some Country, honest to goodness country here. So there ya go.
so, welcome to the massive queue to these 2 goodies
This album is nice. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy whenever I hear clearly even a touch of Son House, Woody Guthrie, and other blues and folk greats from before WWII. And this album has more than a touch of them in it. Its all over. Along with obvious homages and influences in parts from John Fahey, some old country carter family vibes ina part or 2. It's excellent hearing that along with the usual Elliott Smith influences.
Now as far as how well this album utilizes these influences, as of now, I am mixed. This album is kinda sleepy and flat in a way which isn't comforting or elegegant but rather just in a somewhat stale way. There is nothing bad or annoying about it outside of the feeling that a lot of the songs and ideas are a little half-baked and not memorable.
Based off that last paragraph it may seem I dislike this album, but no I don't. I think its good. Its a fine album and something I could see being a big fan of if I had discovered it at the time of its release when I was basically a card carrying Teens-For-The-Old-Music member. However now I am just a little bit like the guy at the club watching a performer with a look of amusement on his face. Not overly impressed but happy that the performer is paying homage to the greats upon whose shoulders he sits.
--The opening and closing Transfiguration pieces are quite beautiful. The songs "Let's Dance" and "Vincent O'Brien" are also quite great! And there are moments when I legitimately was impressed with how artfully he managed to meld the aesthetics of the 40s folk-singer and the late 90s indie folk artist together. Those momen ts are in this album enough to say that there is probably a lot to love here. And I don't like writing off an artist's work and so I wanted to make note of what I did quite like/love about this album.---
I'm rambling. I actually have heard this album before but was a while ago and it didn't really make an impression then either. 2.5-3/5. It's going aginst the Mountain Goats so I imagine it will lose. I'll push play on The Sunset Tree in 3... 2...
God, I love the Mountain Goats. Like, I just love them. They make me feel good. This is the music which cheers me up, makes me feel like I can laugh off all the bullshit that is heaped upon me. This is the shit that makes me feel like I can face another day. The lyrics are humorously dark or darkly humorous. I'm sure some of the humour (and inspiration) I hear is directly a result of John Darnielle's nerdy voice. His voice is...its just so so great. The way he sings is just so inspiring to me. I'm getting a little emotional now about how much I connect with the way he sings and presents his observational songs. The rhythm of the words, the smile, the sudden shifts to seriousness and back again. The message and the idea I get from the albums I've heard (far from all of em) of The Mountain Goats is that its okay to laugh and be somewhat happy in the face of just soo much fucked up shit around you. Also, I love that he has a similar voice to ben Gibbard (at least to my ears) but the sentiments are so different. Darnielle is a secret superhero, Gibbard is an open lovesick romantic.
Anyway, about THIS particular album. Its great! I somewhat prefer the previous 3 albums - I get more of his strumming guitar and voice and less of the Sunset Tree's production ornamentation. Still, If those albums (All hail West Texas, Tallahassee, and We Shall All Be Healed) are 4.2-4.75 albums, this one here is a 4.1. And my love is liable to increase as I listen again and again and again.
Anyway, the "review" is sparse on details of the music. Mostly its just me saying how Darnielle's singing makes me feel like I can run through brick walls. But that is what you get from me now. maybe next round I'll elaborate.
This is 4-4.25/5 and easily my choice between these 2.
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In a landslide The Mountain Goats move on to the next round. _________________ -Ryan
Good pop rock, folk rock album. With some somewhat lame Reggae sounds thrown in and some somewhat jazzy elements. The lyricism is good overall, if a bit (okay, a lot) heavy-handed and direct at times. Cockburn seems to have a good ear for melody. And he is playing with a somewhat interesting variety of styles. But to be totally honest this album didn't deeply move or effect me. At least on first listen it didn't strike me as a particularly intellectual, emotional or spiritual experience. The individual songs that worked well for me were:
Track 6 "How I Spent My Fall Vacation". That song is incredible. So low key, it starts off and draws me into his words. And before I know it I'm bobbing my head and just completely bought in. Then it gets subtly more involved. It brings in a really slick horn part, and the guitars keep rolling along and the rhythm makes me bob my head a little and the lyrics...they're so cool.
"I wonder if I'll end up like Bernie in his dream
A displaced person in some foreign border town
Waiting for a train part hope part myth
While the station changes hands
Or just sitting at home growing tenser with the times
Or like that guy in 'The Seventh Seal'
Watching the newly dead dance across the hills
Or wearing this leather jacket shivering with a friend
While the eye of God blazes at us like the sun..."
Track 8 "Tokyo" - I liked this one too. Not as much as the last one I mentioned. But its cool. That's all. Kinda dreamy a little yet with a cool rock beat. His lyrics are cool too.
Track 2 "Rumours of Glory" - okay, full disclosure I listened to this like 30 minutes ago and can't remember what I liked about it just remember I liked it. Shit I'm bad at this haha.
Etc.
This is a cool album that as I went I liked more. Initially I was pretty sure I was gonna give this a 2.5/5. Now maybe a 3. Idk. I mean it kinda sorta reminds me of Warren Zevon's debut. Not super similar, but I remember with Zevon's debut at first I was thoroughly unimpressed. I just thought it was a plain as it gets, but then something about it it kept me coming back. It had the advantage of some seriously weird lyrics and a certain creepy vibe that shone through. Humans doesn't have that. But it has other aspects in common, in that its a rock solid folk rock singer/songwriter with an obviously talented wordsmith and songwriter. So Maybe I'll come back to this some day. For now, it gets a 2.75-3/5
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I put this matchup off until last because these 2 albums seemed the least interesting to me today. Like If I took the 8 albums on the docket today and ranked em 1-8 in terms of draw or curiosity, these would be 7 and 8. And strangely this next album would have been #8. So as I prepare to push play I hope I get some pleasure out of it. Or maybe I'll put off playing it until I'm more engaged. I don't know. We shall see. I'll know within the next 1 hour as I leave this post unfinished but you will know within mere seconds as you are reading this in the future. See you later.
Oh hey, good to see you again! I'm pushing play now on:
Okay, this was good. A pretty rugged country rock album. The lyrics are good and all and maybe on future listens to this and other Hiatt albums I'll pay more attention to that. But what makes this album good these old ears is how solid the songs are. The choruses and the verses just flow nicely. The production is simple yet subtly great cuz I can hear the drums bass and guitars and vocals with a very great clarity. And when other instruments are added to the mix more often than not its just what is needed to put on bow on the song (obvious example is the great banjo in the title track).
And I love the aesthetic here. Its rugged, unserious, country. Country with rock and a little blues and country soul thrown in for flavor and with each lyric and each riff you can hear the grit and the dirt, the tracks are perfectly imperfect. Gives a nice bar band vibe. That sounds terrible actually. So ignore the negative connotations connected with "bar bands".
Finally, Hiatt's vocals are sick! Sometimes he sounds like a country preacher, sometimes like a modern (or more modern) Howlin' Wolf. Other times he sounds like a country bumpkin songster. A lonesome picker. a solitary, hard-livin' man. But he always sounds like he is having fun and he has a certain swagger with all the songs. I love that aspect.
On first listen there is no song of songs, no transcendent trait, no overpowering something. Still, This style is a good baseline and if done well it is enjoyable in and of itself. And in this album its clear that Hiatt and company absolutely killed it here.
Oh and the final song is nearly a 10/10. It's called "Looks Like Rain"... no I mean "Feels Like Rain (looks like rain is a mickey newbury album and song you should ABSOLUTELY listen to btw). But yeah its a perfect soulful closer with an incredible, tasteful guitar solo.
don't believe me? listen to it then. if you have the guts that is
(3) The Hissing of Summer Lawns by Joni Mitchell defeats (14) Like An Old Fashioned Waltz by Sandy Denny in probably the toughest match yet out of these first 12. I still will probably bring Denny back somehow later in the tourney.
4.5/5 are the grades for both with a slight nod to the former due to it feeling more innovative and just slightly more awe-inspiring and because Joni is Joni and does Joni things.
(3) Slow Turning by John Hiatt defeats (14) Humans by Bruce Cockburn by a relatively sizable margin.
3.75/5 and 2.75/5 grades respectively.
(3) The Sunset Tree by The Mountain Goats defeats (14) Transfiguration of Vincent by M. Ward by a lot lot.
4.1/5 and 3/5 grades respectively
(3) Civilians by Joe Henry defeats (14) Marked For Death by Emma Ruth Rundle also by a pretty huge margin.
4.2/5 and 3.1/5 grades respectively.
This last batch of matches is the first time all the higher seed won with no upsets. which is quasi-interesting.
(note this should not be probably a #4 seed, but is replacing a highly regarded Tim Buckley album last minute. so this match will feature 2 albums which should both probably be in the 12th-13th seed range but I don't want to re-arrange everything so here you go. Colin Blunstone WAS a the lead singer and one of the driving forces of The Zombies, and everyone loves The Zombies, so maybe he should get that high-seed-bump.
fun fact: she is from st. louis and I am very very proud of that. She grew up with me and i didn't know her or see her as far as I know but who knows maybe we went to the same school and just never met...? there's a way to research that but i can't be bothered.
and yeah I am excited about this one too. I love women. and women singer/songwriters are cool and this is a good match.
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If you have any predictions on the future, thoughts on the past, or lascivious personal tales, please comment below. (please note that despite posting this 2 times prior not a single lascivious personal tale has been shared. just saying) ((actually, no predictions yet either.))
Otherwise, I will be listening to these albums over the next little bit. I listen fast. But maybe I won't this time. Either way, feel free to listen along with me if ya wanna. _________________ -Ryan
listened to this last night. i now see why it wasn't designated a "singer/songwriter" album. its a massive change for angel. very little traditional singer/songwriter tropes. mostly big, quite gorgeous, detailed walls of sound, like a modern phil spector type thing. a louder and less soft titanic rising maybe? anyway, its good. i'm glad i heard it, but honestly even if Carlile's album is a few decimal points lower in my silly rating system, i will probably lean carlile or choose another album for the bracket that actually fits the genre a little better (maybe amanda palmer album gowi mentioned a few days ago, or Laura Carbone album Empty seas which i remember liking but is vague, etc. we shall see. For now this is really beautiful stuff. 3.5/5
Yeah, this is an ongoing post that I am adding to over the day. So since writing the above about Angel's last album, I have been listening to Joe Henry, Brandi Carlile, Ben Folds, and now I am listening to Sidney Gish's 2017 "break out" album No Dogs Allowed. And this is doing things to me. Its kind of cutting through the slight singer/songwriter burnout I was starting to feel this morning. So I am subbing OUT All Mirrors for this...
so, this is 100% the first time I've listened to Sidney Gish.
I saw the word Twee in the genre description all these years and that gave me pause. I tend to cringe when I think of the word twee. Although a lot of Twee music has been great. I guess there is not much I can say I am annoyed by more than a sort of affected cheery person. The trait that makes so many young people, myself included for a time, sort of wear their idiosyncrasies on their sleeves and then magnify them and then just try to give off this air of "OMG I am so into these things cuz its wonderful ooh and i am so peculiar". ugh. anyway, enough about that. Cuz this album doesn't give this mood off. I love the sunshiney pop, i love the infectious melodies, the simple yet very very astute and relatable lyrics, the sunny acoustic and electric guitar parts, the lo-fi yet never gratingly scratchy production, the whole attitude. The album does take this genre that many people say is tired or played-out (singer songwriter schtick i guess) and breathe an energy and wide-eyed beauty into it.
While I am a fan of the tried-and-true, perhaps overused and overdone, cliche of a folk/rock introspective singer/songwriter album, and while I do think I have a higher tolerance for the repetitiveness of the "genre" than some, and while I think I am probably a bit more basic in my tastes than the average music fan, even I can admit that hearing the same general mood and set of sounds over and over on all the self-serious singer songwriter albums that get released each year since 1967 can get really tiresome. And like I mentioned I was going through a bit of burnout this morning looking at all these undoubtedly GREAT albums that I was queued up to listen to. So when I stumbled on this album it was fresh enough in mood and presentation that maybe I fell for it more than I otherwise would. Hard to say. For now though I kinda sorta love this album.
And as much as I like this album, I also feel like Gish has loads of talent and a style which bodes well for future releases. I imagine this is he, i don't know, Ultraviolence not yet her Norman Fucking Rockwell. Or this is her Clouds not her Blue, or maybe this is her Just As I Am, not +'justments etc. I think her greatest moments are coming soon is what I mean.
Not much to say other than that about this now. This gets a 4/5.
Okay, so here are my thoughts on the album I'm facing No Dogs Allowed against...
oh, lord, Brandi Carlile. She's so intense! Her voice is is one of the underrated ones I feel. Because while her lyrics here aren't quite mind-blowing (consistently good to very good just not as inspired as her words in for example By The Way, I Forgive You or even The Story) her voice, her marvelous soaring beast of a voice just absolutely slays me dead and makes me smile or weep or glower in solidarity with her.
And I also love this album's rock parts because they are so primal and direct and just hit nicely.
The following are updates/thoughts as I listen a second time to this album:
1. Jesus christ, I was in a foul mood even after listening to that great Sidney Gish album, bad sleep, slow day, bleak. But I'll be damned if her glorious shouts on "Pride And Joy" cut me to the heart! I started tearing up. Holy shit. Have I been underrating Carlile all these fucking years?!??
2. piggy backing off that question, I remembered that the way I first discovered her music was in about 2006 I was listening to Pandora station, probably Dylan, and the first song I heard by her played. It was an absolutely 10/10 pitch perfect cover of Bryan Adams' song "Heaven". I remember I was a bit broke back then (still am mostly but much much more so when i was 17) yet I still made a note and put the little money I had into an itunes card and bought that song along with some other random discoveries. Anyway, while that story isn't 10/10, the song is and I'll just share it here because I mean I used to have this on a sad playlist that I would listen to when thinking of love and crying when alone.
3. On the song "That Year" I am getting sad and nostalgic again. Also the way she raises her notes or whatever she is doing at the beginning of this song reminds me of Chris Martin of Coldplay. I forget which song in particular but yeah i'm pretty sure its a song from A Rush Of Blood To The Head so the notes are making me reminisce about many hours me and that album shared in 2002.
4. After a stretch of 3 songs that are all fine but not doing much for me (Caroline, Before It Breaks and I Will) the song "If There Was No You" comes in and absolutely kills and scratches that itch for something similar to, ding ding ding, her cover of "Heaven". I love it.
5. The song "Oh Dear" just seems a little like a dud, no not a dud as that's too much, it just kinda doesn't fully feel finished or like it fits on the album. The instrumentation and the oooooh ooooh back up singing and all the fluff added on the track feels likeits trying to be a somewhat 50s pop meets Zombies song. And it just doesn't hit for me.
In all this album is really good. I really like it. It starts off with a massive bang and Brandi is such a powerhouse songwriter and vocalist. However it falls off a good amount toward the back the back half. The first half is a 4 and the back a half a 2.5-3. I'm giving this a 3.3 or so out of 5. Because the front goodness is so much more -ness than the back averageness,
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Okay, and so finally, the announcement of winner,
While Carlile would have won against Angel Olsen due to me feeling like an actual singer songwriter album in this singer songwriter tournament should win all things being mostly equal, I feel All Mirrors is a slightly better album than Give Up The Ghost. But... and it's a big ol' but... that match up and its result is moot (moot? is that the correct wording, ... idk) because the best album of the 3 as an album and definitely as a singer/songwriter album is No Dogs Allowed! And it moves on to the next round and probably will be placed on that more and more rarefied chart. _________________ -Ryan
EDIT: I was in no mood to say much yesterday. Today I'll add a little. Namely that the melodies and songs here on this Patty Griffin album are stunningly beautiful. Its excellent folk/country/singer-songwriter stuff - Americana - and its in a similar vein as other things I associate with the genre such as Emmylou or Nanci Griffith albums. But its got a more modern sensibility than most Griffith stuff I have heard and love and is less country and great than most peak Emmylou stuff. The opener, "Rain" sets the standard and the mood quite nicely. Also her cover of Springsteen's "Stolen Car" is truly awesome. Some other absolute standouts are "Be Careful" "Long Ride Home" and "Mil Besos."
i also liked this less so, but its good to relisten to this important and influential album. 3-3.5/5
EDIT: As for this classic, like I said I enjoyed it less. Was a bit long and a headache started midway through - probably disrelated to the music here but more caused by the fact that I had been wearing these slightly uncomfy headphones for a couple hours and it slowly compressed my brain. But anyway, I really am impressed by her lyricism - a bit over the top and hostile at times, a bit snide in others, a bit sweet at times, sometimes artfully poetic, sometimes brutally direct etc. Its got a wide range of modes and I respect the hell out of it. Her ear for composition and her piano playing are top notch. Her voice isn't my fave but boy does she get into these songs with such aplomb that I can't imagine anyone else singing them better. The middle portion of the album is when I noticed the Kate Bush similarities. Now comparing female musicians to Kate Bush is almost as played out and cliche as comparing nasally singer songwriters to Dylan or athletic Guards to Michael Jordan - but in songs like "Winter" its hard to deny there is some definite Kate Bush vibes here. And I love love love Kate Bush so that is welcome. While we're on "Winter" I think that is the best song here - truly awesome. And the opener "Crucify" is dope as hell.
Anyway, its really good just not fully my thing. Still, again, its good to listen to this.
1000 Kisses moves to next round _________________ -Ryan
Terry Reid's Seed of Memory has been removed from Apple Music. Bummer. Looks interesting. But this leads to yet another opening in the bracket.
One artist that isn't marked as a singer/songwriter but I think maybe shoudl be is Tom Petty. Springsteen is marked as a singer/songwriter so why not one of his peers who did somewhat similar things.
BUT I have always wanted to at least give Petty and some of his albums the time of day. So this is an opportunity.
Between 1976 and 1991 (which is the Group that I need to pull from) these are the 2 most acclaimed Tom Petty or Petty and the Heartbreakers albums released
[url=https://www.besteveralbums.com//thechart.php?a=4001]Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty [/url4 seeded Night and Day
Now, sad to say, I have never given a close listen to either. My mom had these albums and I have heard them throughout my younger years but never actually listened as an adult as far as I remember. I want to listen to one of them for this tournament and have it face off against #4 seeded Day And Night by Joe Jackson! woohoo!
In Your Opinion, which should I listen to to??? listen to first, as i assume i will listen to both eventually. You guys may have an idea of my tastes and have a good idea which is most likely to move me more. _________________ -Ryan
Update: found what looks like an okay sounding YouTube version of Seed if Memory.
Still! Would like to listen to a Tom petty album along with a Terry Reid and Joe Jackson and Colin blunstone and Terry collier today (a manly man day). _________________ -Ryan
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Mercury
