One artist that isn't marked as a singer/songwriter but I think maybe shoudl be is Tom Petty.
I have no expertise in this category, but he was the first artist I thought of as missing when looking at your singer/songwriting chart, after having seen Elvis Costello (and thinking Attractions akin to Heartbreakers).
Mercury wrote:
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.
Very different. Both worth hearing. I have more nostalgic love for the solo album, so there's some bias for it from me as an album experience. But Damn the Torpedoes hits higher highs.
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
One artist that isn't marked as a singer/songwriter but I think maybe shoudl be is Tom Petty.
I have no expertise in this category, but he was the first artist I thought of as missing when looking at your singer/songwriting chart, after having seen Elvis Costello (and thinking Attractions akin to Heartbreakers).
Mercury wrote:
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.
Very different. Both worth hearing. I have more nostalgic love for the solo album, so there's some bias for it from me as an album experience. But Damn the Torpedoes hits higher highs.
First off, thanks. I will check out the solo album first and hopefully right after find time for the Damn The Torpedos experience.
Second, funny you should say that Petty was the first omission noted, and then mentioned seeing Costello. Weirdly enough those first 2 Elvis Costello albums aren't filed under singer/songwriter in either genre or influence on RYM. I had to specifically remember them and see em on my personal charts. As far as I know that Elvis Costello album is the only one on my work-in-progress singer/songwriter chart not to be listed as such on that fallible if incredibly helpful website. _________________ -Ryan
WARNING: This is a longer post and this "MATCH" really became like a wrestlemania free-for-all with multiple albums all duking it out to see which can win a place in the next round of this all-important tournament!
Listened to this. Its really quite great! I hadn't heard that Terry Reid was offered the Lead Singer job for BOTH Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple! Had you folks heard this before? Kinda mindblowing.
But as for the album, it apparently came out in 1973 and proceeded to totally flop and kinda ruin the success of his career. Kind of a bummer. Because this is a REALLY cool album. It broken in 2 parts, the first half being super sick blues rock with some really vibrant rhythms, incredible vocal performances that make it clear why some great bands wanted him on the mic, and some even better Slide Guitar (you know I'm a sucker for some electric slide guitar!). The song lyrics I didn't pay much attention to. The songs and the flow of them is what I noted was really cool. Then the second half or more precisely the last 3 songs and about 35% of the album is a total shift away from the blues rock. It is a slow, soft, acoustic sound, somewhat similar to other such sounds coming out of the UK in the early 70s from contemporary folk artists and songwriters. The vocals are even more beautiful here and the playing is deft and nice. Truly cool shift up. Too bad it flopped cuz this album I think is good enough to be included in the essential early 70s blues rock canon.
some of the songs seem to not have a destination and thus I wouldn't say ascend to truly great. The sudden random fade outs on these less well concluded songs such as the most obvious example "Avenue" are a bit of a downer. Even the absolutely INCREDIBLE opener "Dean" didn't end well and thus in my opinion misses beinga true masterpiece by a hair.
Anyway, this is a 3.75 album. Only halfway feels like a singer/songwriter album, other half is right up your alley if you love early Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green or maybe Zeppelin.
I really liked the zany, quirky, funny songs with their latin drums and airy vibes - namely speaking of "Cancer" and "TV Age". The rest of the album kinda flew by. Not in a good way nor a bad way sort of neutral really. This is a pretty and well made pop rock album with some funny and sometimes nicely penned lyrics. But this brand of pop rock is not really hitting me as hard as what a similar level of quality americana album may have. Its just a personal taste thing i guess. Still, its not bad (not sure if you readers have noticed I almost never trash music, I don't know why but I tend to appreciate almost any album) and I recommend to people who love ben folds or idk warren zevon or Elvis Costello's Armed Forces or Imperial Bedroom albums or other pop rock songsmiths and albums. 2.75 to 3/5 is the grade.
Last note though before I go, the song and especially the vocals on "A Slow Song" is impressive and a great way to end an album!
There's a warm, incredibly happy feeling I got listening to Free Fallin' just now. I just wanted to note that this song is, indeed, a brilliant one. I don't even know what makes it so transcendent... maybe everything? Okay, back to close listening... 5/5
"I Won't Back Down" is also quite good. Not as timeless and joy-inducing as the first. 4/5
"Love Is A Long Road" is a fantastic rock banger! Love the very Who's Next way it starts and those chords kill and the ripping guitar solos are dope as well. A tier rock song. 4.5/5
"A Face in the crowd" is a hazy, sad and dreamy little folk rock song that I really like. So far I love the pacing of the album, each song so far has built nicely on the next. 3.8ish/5
"Runnin Down A Dream" - Holy shit - THIS song is on this album TOO?! I hadn't put that together. But yeah this song si a freakin badass one. The chorus is pure badassery bottled for our aural intake. God tier rock track! 5/5 (oh and the little monologue is incredible as well - what a blast from the past!
"Feel A Whole Lot Better" is a really good pop country-ish song with a beautiful chorus. I can really hear the Jeff Lynne influences or see his fingerprints on this one a lot. That's a good thing. He's a badass producer. 3.7/5
"Yer So Bad" is such a sweet tune with a lot of excellent lyrical touches, and that Harrison-style/sounding guitar sound and the way the chorus just floats in a truly contented and joyous way is so great! 4.2/5
"Depending On You" is a pretty solid pop rock song. The guitars that come in at the halfway point kinda pull the whole room together and oh those keyboard sounds are sick. All in all as a song its maybe the weakest so far in my opinion but they layered the song with enough spicy little details that I barely notice the slip in song quality. A well done fade out too. 3.8/5
"The Apartment Song" features a vocal performance from Petty that is just amazing. Something about his high pitched delivery completely takes over this track. And that is with an amazing rock song backing his vocals up. The way the drums kinda roar briefly at times here is so friggin awesome. 4.5/5
"Alright For Now" was a nice if kind of out of place soulful little 2 minute folk song. Not much to say as of now and this first listen, except that I liked it well enough. 3/5
"A Mind With A Heart of It's Own" is another goddamn ace rock song! Love the bo ddley beat, love the interplay of the guitars, and the general driving pulse of the track. The cool as hell delivery of Petty is sick. Really just a dope rock song. 4.4/5 (I am noticing I love the rockers on this maybe slightly more than the softer tracks. Just an observation. The folkier and softer songs are still fabulous, but the fact that every 2 or 3 songs a really cool rocker comes in is what right now pushing this album from very good to great).
"Zombie Zoo" is just another nice rocking pop song which is cool. Its a strange way to end the album, not sure I love that placement, but other than that the whole song has a weird, kinda surreal old timey rock and roll vibe which is quite nice. 3.6/5
Not a fan of that song by song breakdown shit but once I started I thought it'd be lame to stop lol. Anyway...
All in all this was a great album. I think its best song is its opener but there are later flashes of similar inspiration. The whole album just flows so well and it makes the album incredibly listenable and breezy while still having some slower songs and not just a wall of upbeat jams. Yeah this was great and I am glad I have heard it. 4.1/5
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next up is this youtube video of that Terry Reid album I couldn't find earlier.
if ya wanna listen to this, that's the video i'm using. and you absolutely should listen its quite honestly so far blowing my mind. Track 2 is one of the best songs ever. just listen and you'll know what I mean.
anyway, back to my listen...I'm loving this too much to distract myself with bullshit random thoughts mid listen.
...Okay, I'm back. Just got done with the album listening experience.
What can I say? I really really loved this. The best album of the day. Glad I listened to Reid's previous album before this. That previous experience gave me a little context. And this album worked to illuminate what River - a really really good album - lacked in comparison. And also I can see that the great stuff on River is still here but now there's a lot more good shit. So far the review is very vage as per usual.
Well for one this is a Folk Rock album through and through whereas River is much much more blues rock akin to a mellower Zeppelin. This here Seed of Memory has some hard rocking parts such as The Way You Walk, and it rocks so nicely, the album is more folky and more clearly a vehicle for Reid's coice and lyrics. And if I could mostly hear what made Reid so sought after as a lyricist on the prevcious album, on this album its so RADIANTLY OBVIOUS that Reid is a legendary vocalist you can't miss it.
And this is a cohesive album. There is no feeling like this album was broken in 2 with 2 distinct moods and messages. This whole thing just flows gorgeously through the whole winding 41 minute length. The parts that are supposed to intrigue and entrance really really entrance, the parts that are supposed to be dripping with soulful sadness and blue eyed soul really really do so, the parts that are supposed to wail really wail and the pop songs that are supposed to just kinda dance along are pulled off perfectly as well.
This album is a borderline 5/5, top tier rock album, folk rock album, classic rock, sionger songwriter and so foth...album. Its stunningly great and this is why I am so glad I finally a, listening to the albums I passed over a hundred times or more. Cuz sure most of them aren't complete homeruns, but a lot are and some of those home runs are grand slams and go straight to the upper tier of albums in my mind. This is an example of the latter. God damn!
I am listening again and the horns! They sound so good paired with the folky harmonies and funky drums in the song penultimate song The Frame.
Oh and his voice! I already mentioned that its incredible and sounds even better here than on River. But another thing is I can hear more clearly what he is actually saying and the songwriting here is so quite good. I mean it ain't poetry. It aint van morrison or leonard cohen or patty smith, but they are nice enough. The best thing and the biggest improvement in this masterpiece over the almost-masterpiece is The vocals are way more pushed up in the mix and that is sort of a no-brainer of the century - if you have him on vocals then accentuate the freakin vocals of course.
Anyway, I am enthusiastic about this here album. I'm not giving it a very rare 5. Ned Collette's Old Chestnut will remain the only such album in this tournament so far. But this is easily a 4.5/5 and this is easily the best of the albums today (although the Petty album was really great too, River was very good to great, and Night and Day was okay).
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So, in the final end of this free-for-all, the excellent Seed of Memory beats the other 3 albums and moves on! _________________ -Ryan
"Feel A Whole Lot Better" is a really good pop country-ish song with a beautiful chorus. I can really hear the Jeff Lynne influences or see his fingerprints on this one a lot. That's a good thing. He's a badass producer. 3.7/5
Such were the limitations of my musical upbringing that, despite having owned Full Moon Fever since its release, I had no idea this was a Byrds song until maybe a decade ago.
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
"Feel A Whole Lot Better" is a really good pop country-ish song with a beautiful chorus. I can really hear the Jeff Lynne influences or see his fingerprints on this one a lot. That's a good thing. He's a badass producer. 3.7/5
Such were the limitations of my musical upbringing that, despite having owned Full Moon Fever since its release, I had no idea this was a Byrds song until maybe a decade ago.
I did not know that. That's cool. The production feels very ELO/Jeff Lynne, but the song itself now that you bring this to my attention, does make sense as a Byrds song. _________________ -Ryan
"Feel A Whole Lot Better" is a really good pop country-ish song with a beautiful chorus. I can really hear the Jeff Lynne influences or see his fingerprints on this one a lot. That's a good thing. He's a badass producer. 3.7/5
Such were the limitations of my musical upbringing that, despite having owned Full Moon Fever since its release, I had no idea this was a Byrds song until maybe a decade ago.
I did not know that. That's cool. The production feels very ELO/Jeff Lynne, but the song itself now that you bring this to my attention, does make sense as a Byrds song.
Petty does a fine job with Feel a Whole Lot Better, but he really didn't do anything to distinguish it from the Byrds' original.
My personal favorite version came from the short lived Little America.
Okay, this is really good, kinda sensual, very seductive, very silky smooth, very gorgeous baroque pop of super high quality. which makes sense considering the creators behind it were behind odessey and oracle. odessey and oracle it is not, far less breathetaking and perfect (perfect being an absolute, that was the wrong word but whatever fuck it lets bowl). But despite not being quite that level of masterpiece, I would say this is an essential listen for fans of that band or the vocalist blunstone or fans of this type of pop and rock stuff. the song caroline goodbye is indeed a brief flash of pop valhalla
overall, I can't say much negative about this listen. It was great to revisit. Its not a classic imo, but its just a really quality, soft, carefree roll through the grass. 3.5/5
this is a good album. Its boring as hell, but not in like a bad way. let me explaimn. the entire album is traditional american folk songs. 1 guitar 1 voice and that's almost entirely it. there are no fast songs or more lush songs. just slow, serious and quite beautiful melodious traditional folk and guitar and callier's absolutely great voice. I happen to be quite cold right now, and i am sorta running at a low hum. this is exactly the speed i want. but most of the time this mild boredom would be more acute.
like i can't even think of much more to say, this album is beautiful and very much a stripped down, very intimate, acoustic folk album, if that is what you are looking for, you really will LOVE this. but that's kinda all it is.
It's impressive to see how much his sound evolved from this very good album to 1972's great album "What Color Is Love". Its not that that later album is significantly better. its completely different to the point you can't compare them. very impressive.
anyway, this is a 3-3.25/5
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Neither album blew me away, and maybe both a little bit let me down slightly. that's probably fatigue and also probably the fact I just listened to what i consider a great album in Seed of Memory. But anyway, remember when I said that at some point I would play the Sandy Denny Like an Old Fashioned Waltz card? Well, here we go!
In a truly surprising turn, Callier and Blunstone are blindsided by an obscure rule which makes them both get eliminated in the first round, and actually Like An Old Fashioned Waltz moves onto the next round! (no one ever expects an old fashioned waltz) _________________ -Ryan
(4) One Year by Colin Blunstone defeats (13) The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier but it doesn't matter cuz neither moves on. And Sandy Denny laughs and laughs.
(13) Seed of Memory by Terry Reid defeats (4) Night and Day by Joe Jackson by a VERY sizable margin.
(13) 1000 Kisses by Patty Griffin defeats (4) Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos by a comfortable "margin".
(4) No Dogs Allowed by Sidney Gish defeats (13) Give Up The Ghost by Brandi Carlile also by a big enough margin as to say it wasn't super close.
If you have any anythings leave em below in text form.
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
Previous exposure to Trent Reznor and his "Band" NIN is quite a lot. Although not in a good 15 years have I been actually interested in the music (not to say its bad, cuz its not, its just that for whatever reason the tide took me away from this hero of mine when i was relatively young and I have yet to drift back until now). The Fragile was the first album I owned and I was obsessed. Downward Spiral I adored as a kid (secretly the album scared me a bit with its more extreme noisy stuff but as a 13 year old I would never admit that) Broken was and maybe still is my fave release by Nine Inch Nails - its the most metal so thats probably why - also its awesome! And Pretty Hate Machine I always felt had some really cringey songs while also having some of the best songs of my youth. Then .... that's it. I bought With Teeth when I was 17 and it was released and I remember being struck by how little it did for me. I was just in another place musically emotionally and so forth and the vocals and words and music that I used to think was created by depressive God amongst mortals just felt a little (a lot) stale. And since my somewhat sour experience with "With Teeth" I have never gona back and listened to NIN outside of Broken a few times. Okay with that out of the way...
This album was agood listen. It was a weird mix of emotions roiling around in me as I listened. I was nostalgic about the melodies and the songs cuz these are mostly songs from The Fragile just re-made or arranged to be ambient, piano driven songer songwriter sounding things. I was also a little surprised at how incredibly sad and hopeless a lot of the songs were. I mean I knew they were sad and I knew Trent was fucked up when writing these but 14 year old me didn't see that state of mind as worrying or whatever because I felt like I was in the same boat. Teens are stupid and think their version of sadness and isolation is the ne plus ultra of such a state of mind when 30 year old actual fully formed drug addicted depressed adults have it a little more acutely. Anyway, that is how i felt anyway. Also the lyrics are almost so bleak and so direct they read as a bit over the top and simple minded at times. Not always but man Trent really just says some seriously unvarnished shit here that made me flinch a little from their directness and honesty and also their unartful simplicity.
Okay and now the arrangements are cool, love the fact that old loud favorites like "The Becoming" work almost as well in this more stripped down ambient singer/songwriter package. And there are no bad songs here. The atmosphere of the album is super consistent and is good.
Lyrically not a huge fan even though I respect them. Musically I really like but don't love it. As an album its good but doesn't feel like a fully formed peak-NIN album (which makes sense as its not meant to be, but was apparently originally released as a bonus disc for a live album). Not sure what my thoughts would have been at 13 if I had heard this and I kinda wish I had been more up-to-date with albums released by Trent in the hayday of my worship of him. But listening now, outside of an overwhelming nostalgia and feeling of "coming home" to the person I was in 2002, there's nothing here that screams "Great Album. Mostly there are a lot of fragile, brittle, heartbreaking moments of beauty, and things which all shout Good Album. IDK. I'm rambling. I really liked this and am VERY happy I finally just sat down and listened to it. It re-acquented me with NIN and I think I will dust off my old double CD Fragile album and listen with a tear in my eye. This is a 3.2-3.5/5 album.
Now onto an album from the woman who made arguably (in my mind anyway) the greatest singer-songwriter and americana album ever, Hell Among The Yearlings.
Previous exposure? Well a LOT of listens to her debut Revival and A LOT of listens to her 2001 album of albums Time (The Revelator). Some appreciative listens to The Harrow & The Harvest and 1 listen to Soul Journey and a good amount of listens to the recent archival bootleg type recordings from the 1996 and 2001 records, and I think 1 listen to this album (stupid that I didn't ever invest time and attention to the album that came out right smack dab in the middle of 2 of my all time favorite albums, seriously that is weird as hell. It's like if I loved Bringing It All Back Home and thought Blonde On Blonde was maybe the best album ever and yet never thought to friggin listen to Highway 61 Revisited! How did I allow this to happen?)
Anyway, I'll rectify it now and, unless this is an very unlikely dud, this album almost certainly will be moving on to the next round of this so I will have lots of chances to listen and listen and listen.
...Okay, I'm back. Just finishing this album. Its a quiet, almost gothic album. Outside of a couple brighter songs, all these songs sound like they come straight from the front porch of a family ravaged by the great depression out in Oklahoma in 1932. Mostly slow and meditative with THE SINGLE best secret weapon to make any song beautiful, a close harmony with Welch and Rawlings. The guitar playing is sweet, and sad and never showy and always nigh-on-perfection. The lyrics are a mostly dreary series of sad sack numbers. Gillian Welch has a voice which I am not gonna lie kinda gets to me so fucking thoroughly it makes no sense. Her voice isn't a technical wonder, a soaring or overly unique soulful gem. But, to me, its perfect. I think she may have my favorite voice in all of country/americana/folk music. It feels like home and it feels like love and I can't shake that.
Of course when I love a voice and I love the person singing to such a degree it makes it really easy to paint over the flaws in an album or a song. Its like Shaq. He was so unstoppable and strong he didn't always have to exert himself to a great degree to rack up 30 points and 14 rebounds. Same with Welch, her albums don't all have to be Time (The Revelator) to be loved by me.
With that in mind this album features one VERY out of place early Sun Records sounding rock and roll song "Honey Now" which despite only being a minute and 50 seconds just kinda kills the momentum and atmosphere of this album. The compositions aren't the pristine, chiseled pure genius of Time (The Revelator), nor are the vocal performances as fresh and beautiful as on her classic debut album. This album is mostly the most old-timey of the 3 albums without the unique and somewhat modern lyrics of Time (The Revelator) nor the modern at times alt-country sounds of Revival. This is a step down (if not a big one) from those 2 seminal albums.
The songs though that hit hit so fucking hard its awe-inspiring. "Whiskey Girl" "I'm Not Afraid To Die", "Minor's Refrain" "The Devil Had A Hold On Me" and especially the opener " "Caleb Meyer" are truly incredible 5/5 folk masterworks. The rest of the album's tracks are all good to great as well (even Honey Now is good, just doesn't fit the album despite being a solid 3.5/5 level song).
Anyway, I love this album. I think its clear that as of now, after 2 listens, this is liable to become even more loved by me as I listen more. Firmly in 4th place on LPs I've really closely listened to by Welch, but that equates to a 4-4.5/5 rating and one of the best albums in this tournament so far.
And HELL AMONG THE YEARLINGS has won and will move on to the next round! _________________ -Ryan
No previous exposure to this man's work. Hell, I can't say I've ever heard of him outside of charts on RYM.
But as for Comedy - its a pitch-perfect Jangle Pop album. Seriously I can't hear any flaws to it. Its just 63 minutes of incredibly written, lovingly performed, jagling pop songs with really well-written lyrics, some consistent touches of organ and harmonica and other added instrumental flair. Its just a really incredibly consistent pop record. I was not expecting that this album would be so assured, pristine, downright likable and enjoyable as it is.
The 1st listen through is all I've done thus far. That is the spirit of this game, to listen to alot of albums and make somewhat snap judgements. And my snap judgement here is that this is kinda, sorta, a masterpiece of a jangle pop record. Very wild.
The song that sticks out to me in this row of 18(!!) beautiful songs is definitely "From Little Things Big Things Grow". At first this song was interesting to me cuz it was clearly a direct homage (hopefully not a straight copying of, cuz that would be stupid, I have to believe this was a tribute of sorts) to Bob Dylan's The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll". But after I got over the initial enjoyment of the familiar tune as done by Kelly with his own lyrics, I started focusing on the song itself and the lyrics. Its just an epic, beautifully written song with a stunning chorus that wormed its way into my brain and the ending rock explosion of distorted guitar wailing was both surprising and inspired to the max!
Here is that song and the Dylan song I think its honoring...
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Mercury
Fischman
