Sometimes I really enjoy a good EP, not when it's just like a single with a few extra tracks that aren't good enough to make an album, but when it's like a small album with the filler tracks removed so you are just left with consistent quality as is the case here. A lovely sounding EP with The Dreamer being maybe the best song of his I've heard so far, and if not, at least my favourite in terms of emotional vocal performance. Like The Wheel is not far behind with the great lyrical content standing out. 7.5/10, and 45/95 for 2010.
Let My Children Hear Music Mercury. I prefer the other three Mingus albums I've heard over this, but it's Mingus so it's still good. And I liked it better than the other few I've heard on your list to choose from.
Top 51 Music Albums of 2010 by Mercury (3 picks remaining)
3. Kamisori Otome by 青葉市子 [Ichiko Aoba]
14. Philharmonics by Agnes Obel
15. So Runs The World Away by Josh Ritter
16. Messenger by Joe Pug
17. Black Noise by Pantha Du Prince
20. Paracletus by Deathspell Omega
22. Strange Tourist by Gareth Liddiard 👏
25. The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964 by Bob Dylan
27. Flamingo by Brandon Flowers
29. Junky Star by Ryan Bingham
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
My second Faust experience after So Far, and I really enjoy this one as well. The first track is great and easily the highlight of the album. The first track of the b-side is probably my second favorite. It's really all about their psychedelic and inventive instrumental explorations. They walk a fine line between mind-expanding and noodling, usually but not always landing in the former category. When the vocals/lyrics come in, they bring the album down a notch, and can sometimes be more goofy than trippy. Overall Faust IV is a very good and worthwhile listen, but not quite the complete package. 3.5/5.
~~~~~
2. Listen to the only one I've heard. It's pretty good.
D: Pilgrim’s Paradise (EP) - Daniel Caesar
D2: A Girl Called Dusty - Dusty Springfield
E: That’s The Way Of The World - Earth, Wind & Fire
F: Crazy Rhythms - The Feelies
G: Oktember (EP) - Gas
H: Voids - Have A Nice Life
I: The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion - The Incredible String Band
J: One Step Beyond - Jackie McLean*
J2: Femenine - Julius Eastman
K: Late Orchestration - Kanye West
This is a GREAT album. This may be my 2nd or lowest 3rd fave Mingus yet. Its such a killer album start to finish. It has a soulfulness and a humanity that is so warm and relatable. It also manages not to sacrifice any of its next-level arrangements to achieve this warmth and familiarity. So, I guess I'm saying, it communicates deeply in both an emotional and mental way. The music is mysterious and gorgeous, and its adventurous and swinging. It's all things and it flows beautifully. Despite being the longest of Mingus' albums I've heard, it flows and so nicely and never wears out its welcome with any track, so it feels like a 45 minute album when its really 60.
I am no jazz expert or fan (although I do adore Miles Davis and some Mingus and Colktrane and a few oddballs outside of that big three) so I tend to have a hard time pinning down what a great jazz album to my ears does well. If its too technical I tend to drift off and stop caring. Also if its too familiar and set in a familiar mode, I also juist drift off and get bored. For the records I adore in this "genre" (hardly a genre, its a whole musical vista, with more variety than can be said to exist in a "genre) I think that there has to be both a compelling mood and style that keeps me engaged, it has to be complex and unpredictable enough to keep me on my toes, and it has to be full of gorgeous or aesthetically impactful moments (such as with solos or hooks or whatever...something that almost takes my breathe away and makes me say "whoa!".)
This album has those qualities. As of now it goes for me, off the top of my head:
#1. Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - 9.5/10
#2. Mingus Ah Um - 8.5/10
#3. Let My Children Hear Music - 8.5/10
#4. Roots and Blues - 7.8ish/10
#5. Tijuana Moods - 7.5/10
#6. Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus - 7/10
those are the ones I really remember. May have heard others but it hardly counts.
Anyway, great stuff. Glad I heard it.
-------------------------
2.
@Baystateoftheart, This feelies album is pretty cool...
Just albums and mixtapes now. Pretty straight forward. The asterisk before some albums indicates I have never listened to this album. All of these, including ones with no asterisk, are quite vague and faint in my recollection and need revisits.
1. Deathconsciousness by Have A Nice Life/2008/RYM #116 all time album/mixtape (yeah I heard this in a very very workmanlike fashion, just kinda listening to it to get it listened to and out of the way maybe a year ago or 2. I remember thinking it was way way too somber and dark for my tastes especially at the time. But I just went and listened to that GYBE album and in listening to that I decided to make sure I wasn't giving short shrift to any albums before Ex Military and found this and found that I can't remember much about it except that I didn't like it. Need to revisit. May still not be a favorite but will pay closer attention this time.)
2. Exmilitary by Death Grips/2011/RYM #130 all time album/mixtape (I included mixtapes and voila! This appeared and I realized I've never seen this famous album on a RYM list before because I never ever included mixtapes! Anyway, I have heard this. When it came out. Should revisit.)
*3. You Will Never Know Why by Sweet Trip/2009/RYM #187 all time album/mixtape (Here is a well timed one what with sweet trip releasing their much anticipated follow up after 12 years last week. Have heard their 2003 album. For this game actually)
4. Geogaddi by Boards of Canada/2002/RYM #210 all time album/mixtape (Music Has The Right To Children at one point kinda took over my life and was on my overall chart briefly. Need to relisten to that as well but overall pretty familiar. This one, however, while i've heard it a couple times I never feel like I gave it ample time. Really wanna listen and listen good.)
*5. Human by Death/1991/RYM #240 all time album/mixtape (This was a big deal in the development of extreme metal. At least I think so. I've now heard their first 2 and their last 2 albums and then there are 2 early early 1990s albums sandwiched in between that I have never heard. Technical/Progressive Death Metal from the dawn of the 1990s sounds kinda cool.)
*6. Foxtrot by Genesis/1972/RYM #257 all time album/mixtape (Classic Genesis album - Prog stuff. Nice. I may have heard it. Can’t remember. I remember falling hard for Selling England... but never finding that next genesis album that blew me away - and I did look. Need to revisit this one.
*7. Africa/Brazil by The John Coltrane Quartet/1961/RYM #273 all time album/mixtape (A classic Coltrane album from his peak that I’ve never pushed play on. Never started. Brand new. For me.)
8. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis/1974/RYM #277 all time album/mixtape (I have heard this one. Long time ago. I had just really fallen for the greatness of Selling England... and I remember thinking this wasn't nearly as good, too long, and a bit up its own ass. But also remember some great tunes. So really can't remember much about it. may be time to revisit.)
*9. Moving Pictures by Rush/1981/RYM #281 all time album/mixtape (Can CONFIDENTLY say I have never once heard a Rush album all the way through. I know weird right? I hated them and all they stood for for most of my musical life. Now that I don’t dismiss out of hand Prog and the sort of very famous rock music for my mom’s generation, maybe I’ll like it? We shall see)
*10. Mirage by Camel/1974/RYM #284 all time album/mixtape (A totally classic symphonic prog album and one that I can't recall listening to. Very intrigued by this one.) _________________ -Ryan
Another acclaimed album that has been on my to-do list for years, and it does not disappoint! The title is rather self-explanatory, but I was interested to learn that the unique rhythm section is largely a product of all four members of the band playing between 5 and 10 different percussion instruments on the album, even though only one of them is the band's drummer. It's not all about the rhythm section though; the guitars that aren't part of it are excellent as well. However, this driving and innovative instrumental attack wouldn't be effective without good songs and vocals, and thankfully The Feelies deliver on both counts. Most of the songs here are great, with the a-side being especially strong (though it's not a front-loaded album). Those that aren't are still quite nice. The band really excels in building and resolving tension, which keeps the album riveting. Crazy Rhythms is an essential post-punk album, and one I'm glad to finally hear. 4/5.
~~~~~
2. This is my favorite out of the eight I've heard:
D: Pilgrim’s Paradise (EP) - Daniel Caesar
D2: A Girl Called Dusty - Dusty Springfield
E: That’s The Way Of The World - Earth, Wind & Fire
F: Let It Die - Feist
G: Oktember (EP) - Gas
H: Voids - Have A Nice Life
I: The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion - The Incredible String Band
J: Brel [Les Marquises] - Jacques Brel
J2: Femenine - Julius Eastman
K: Late Orchestration - Kanye West _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
RoundTheBendI miss the comfort in being sadProfile Ground Control
Anyway, I'm so glad I got an opportunity to listen to the love side, AND a legit release (YouTube always feels like the cheapest way to listen to music for me... not YouTube music, but just YouTube). Anyway, it's incredibly warm and full of life's juices, well deserving high spot on his chart for sure. There are few albums when I'm done I want to listen to immediately again, but I found myself doing so here.
Also I wonder why I got a meh response from The Feelies, cuz yeah you see it everywhere as great and I was like meh for some reason I don't even recall.
@eyekanfly, good mingus and karajan/berliner phil/beethoven comments
2.
Dusty Springfield
3. Craola Top 100
5. Baabel by Leïla Martial
7. Nina Simone And Her Friends by Nina Simone
8. The Exotica Album by Øyvind Torvund
9. Junjo by Esperanza Spalding
10. Circles by Anne Paceo
13. Shoshan by שי בן צור [Shye Ben Tzur]
14. Orange by Caroline Shaw / Attacca Quartet
15. Memories Of A Color by Stina Nordenstam
16. Aventurine by Linda May Han Oh
17. Excava 11 by Spartan Fidelity
baystateoftheartNeil Young as a butternut squashProfile Massachusetts
I've loved a lot of Dusty Springfield's music for about a decade at this point. I got two of her albums and a greatest hits collection on CD from the library. When collab single What Have I Done To Deserve This? clicked for me in 2015, I decided to seek out more from Pet Shop Boys, which led me to searching for a list of their best albums, which led me to getting a BEA account. So without Dusty, I might not be here.
When it comes to this album, I had only heard Wishin' And Hopin' before. Curiously, her career-launching hit I Only Want To Be With You is not included, despite closely preceding A Girl Called Dusty. But that doesn't mean I went in with a clean slate - 10 of the 11 other songs are covers, and I'm very familiar with the original versions of five. Comparing the versions of those five songs (tracks 1, 2, 4, 9 & 10), Springfield's rendition is never an upgrade. The album is both her solo debut and her first time singing r&b (shifting from folk pop with The Springfields), so understandably she's finding her footing here, and her vocals, while quite good, usually aren't in peak form. The covers are also done straight-up, with no significant instrumental, vocal, or lyrical shifts. So effectively, they're closer to talented karaoke than they are to songs that stand on their own. This definitely hampers my enjoyment of the album. As for the six songs that are totally new to me, most are rather slight. The only one that packs any real emotional punch is Twenty-Four Hours From Tulsa. So sadly, A Girl Called Dusty is fairly disappointing, mostly due to the setlist. But while it doesn't approach my expectations, an album with 60s Dusty Springfield over tasteful instrumentation has a high floor, and even the inferior versions of pop soul classics are pleasant listening. A little less than half of this album is quite good, and the remainder is all passable. 3/5.
D: Pilgrim’s Paradise (EP) - Daniel Caesar
D2: Stratosphere - Duster
E: That’s The Way Of The World - Earth, Wind & Fire*
F: Let It Die - Feist
G: Oktember (EP) - Gas
H: Voids - Have A Nice Life
I: The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion - The Incredible String Band
J: Brel [Les Marquises] - Jacques Brel
J2: Femenine - Julius Eastman
K: Late Orchestration - Kanye West*
Definitely not something I would choose to listen to myself but I went in with an open mind. At first when those vocals came in I thought this might be a struggle, but damn the music on the opening track, Epiklesis, was so cool. Reminded me of some noise merchants I enjoy like METZ. Not the whole album, just the opening track, but it was enough to really like the whole song despite the vocals. After that I didn't mind the vocals at all for the rest of the album. in fact the variety of the vocals were a plus in my mind. Especially on Dearth, the highlight of the album for me. The way this song progressed from a slowish tempo doomy atmosphere to a pummeling brutal finale after some incredible drumming, with a great passionate vocal performance, gave it an epic feel that ssems to accomplish more than it should in a less than 4 minute running time. Excellent song! That was the turning point of the album for me. After that there was no going back and I honestly enjoyed the rest of the album without even trying. I give it a light 8/10, and it comes in my 2010 chart at 32/96.
Top 51 Music Albums of 2010 by Mercury (2 picks remaining)
3. Kamisori Otome by 青葉市子 [Ichiko Aoba]
14. Philharmonics by Agnes Obel
15. So Runs The World Away by Josh Ritter
16. Messenger by Joe Pug
17. Black Noise by Pantha Du Prince
22. Strange Tourist by Gareth Liddiard 👏
25. The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos: 1962–1964 by Bob Dylan
27. Flamingo by Brandon Flowers
29. Junky Star by Ryan Bingham
32. Under Great White Northern Lights by The White Stripes
RoundTheBendI miss the comfort in being sadProfile Ground Control
This was likely the most confusing record I've heard in a long time. One moment I feel like I'm listening to Vanessa Carlton and then next Björk. My limited stupid rockist brain couldn't handle it. hehe
2. Typically I'd go Bob Dylan or if that wasn't there Brandon Flowers or White Stripes, but since you have the clappy guy: 22. Strange Tourist by Gareth Liddiard
3. Craola top 100
5. Baabel by Leïla Martial
7. Nina Simone And Her Friends by Nina Simone
8. The Exotica Album by Øyvind Torvund
9. Junjo by Esperanza Spalding
10. Circles by Anne Paceo
13. Shoshan by שי בן צור [Shye Ben Tzur]
14. Orange by Caroline Shaw / Attacca Quartet
16. Aventurine by Linda May Han Oh
17. Excava 11 by Spartan Fidelity
18. From The Cliffs by Guillemots
Leaves Turn Inside You by Unwound
This is not at all what I was expecting. RYM's genre descriptor "post-hardcore" makes me think of 80s-90s DC punk-like bands in the vein of Fugazi. This was not like that. This shared much more with indie rock than punk or hardcore IMO. Granted, there are different regional posts-hardcore scenes, so there's more variety in the genre than I was aware of.
Anyway, this album was great. I was a little daunted at the 1 hour, 15 minute time, but it honestly captured my attention the entire way through except for maybe one track. For whatever reason, "Off This Century" was my favorite track, it was just the perfect closer for the first half of the album. I could easily see myself going back to this album soon.
2)
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
Nina Simone And Her Friends by Nina Simone
Not my favorite of hers, but worth a listen. The Simone tracks are the clear highlight, the tracks by the other jazz artists are meh IMO.
3)
RYM's top albums of all time (minus archival releases)
- Irish Tour '74 by Rory Gallagher (live)
- Sun Bear Concerts Piano Solo: Recorded in Japan by Keith Jarrett (live)
- Silent Hill 2 by Akira Yamaoka (soundtrack)
- Rétrospective Vol. 1 & 2 by Magma (live)
- Colors_Live by Between the Buried and Me (live)
- Live by Magma (live)
- At San Quentin by Johnny Cash (live)
- First Utterance by Comus
- You Will Never Know Why by Sweet Trip
- Get Up with It by Miles Davis _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
This was lovely. It was dreamy, airy, and a nice escape from the more hectic parts of life. Its just an expertly crafted pop album good enough to put almost any other pop album to shame. The variety of sounds and styles that the duo is yet able to fit together and make cohesive is downright impressive.
A year ago or so Luigii on this game thread said I should check out this album after not responding super well to their even more famous 2003 album. I see why he thought I may vibe with this one more. This is more accessible. The main issue I had about Velocity:Design:Comfort was simply the glitchy electronic stuff. Simply a personal preference point as I recognized even then that what they were doing with the electronic elements was detailed and impressive - just irksome to my more acoustic sensibilities. This album though is filled with just as many gorgeous melodies and glimmering pop moments as the preceeding album but without the more jarring bits, the "pleb-filters" so to speak. 😄
Anyway, there are few times when I really fall in love with dream pop or indie rock/pop of a more gauzy, airy quality, and I won't say I have "fallen for" this one either. I will say I enjoyed it a lot and it was a nice change of pace from what I have been listening to lately. Expertly crafted mix of various pop genres. And this is a good listen also because I do want to hear their 2021 release which is getting a lot of love, and I feel I am more set up for that album now. 3.5/5 I guess if I gave it a personal grade.
-------------------------
2.
@EyeKanFly, as funny mildly amusing as it would be to nominate the exact same album for you as I just heard on my quite similar project, I will nominate the album I personally like the most from that group which comes down to Comus or Miles Davis... hmm... decisions decisions. Well really its no contest, this bad boy was on my overall for a few months and is pretty amazing from what I recall (its been a looong time for me and I need to revisit it myself), but yeah I nominate:
also I just looked a few days ago at how many BOLDED RYM entries Miles, Mingus and Coltrane have. I thought it would be close. But Miles kinda ran away with it. If you include live records and compilations like Birth of the Cool and so forth, Miles has 43 Bolded albums lol. (Mingus with 23 and Coltrane with 34 are also insane numbers). Anyway, I hadn't realized until then that Miles and coltrane and Mingus beat the shit out of Bowie and even Bob Dylan in that quite silly stat. Blah blah I have written too much in this section.
------------------------
3.
Just albums and mixtapes now. Pretty straight forward. The asterisk before some albums indicates I have never listened to this album. All of these, including ones with no asterisk, are quite vague and faint in my recollection and need revisits.
1. Deathconsciousness by Have A Nice Life/2008/RYM #116 all time album/mixtape (yeah I heard this in a very very workmanlike fashion, just kinda listening to it to get it listened to and out of the way maybe a year ago or 2. I remember thinking it was way way too somber and dark for my tastes especially at the time. But I just went and listened to that GYBE album and in listening to that I decided to make sure I wasn't giving short shrift to any albums before Ex Military and found this and found that I can't remember much about it except that I didn't like it. Need to revisit. May still not be a favorite but will pay closer attention this time.)
2. Exmilitary by Death Grips/2011/RYM #130 all time album/mixtape (I included mixtapes and voila! This appeared and I realized I've never seen this famous album on a RYM list before because I never ever included mixtapes! Anyway, I have heard this. When it came out. Should revisit.)
3. Geogaddi by Boards of Canada/2002/RYM #210 all time album/mixtape (Music Has The Right To Children at one point kinda took over my life and was on my overall chart briefly. Need to relisten to that as well but overall pretty familiar. This one, however, while i've heard it a couple times I never feel like I gave it ample time. Really wanna listen and listen good.)
*4. Human by Death/1991/RYM #240 all time album/mixtape (This was a big deal in the development of extreme metal. At least I think so. I've now heard their first 2 and their last 2 albums and then there are 2 early early 1990s albums sandwiched in between that I have never heard. Technical/Progressive Death Metal from the dawn of the 1990s sounds kinda cool.)
*5. Foxtrot by Genesis/1972/RYM #257 all time album/mixtape (Classic Genesis album - Prog stuff. Nice. I may have heard it. Can’t remember. I remember falling hard for Selling England... but never finding that next genesis album that blew me away - and I did look. Need to revisit this one.
*6. Africa/Brazil by The John Coltrane Quartet/1961/RYM #273 all time album/mixtape (A classic Coltrane album from his peak that I’ve never pushed play on. Never started. Brand new. For me.)
7. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis/1974/RYM #277 all time album/mixtape (I have heard this one. Long time ago. I had just really fallen for the greatness of Selling England... and I remember thinking this wasn't nearly as good, too long, and a bit up its own ass. But also remember some great tunes. So really can't remember much about it. may be time to revisit.)
*8. Moving Pictures by Rush/1981/RYM #281 all time album/mixtape (Can CONFIDENTLY say I have never once heard a Rush album all the way through. I know weird right? I hated them and all they stood for for most of my musical life. Now that I don’t dismiss out of hand Prog and the sort of very famous rock music for my mom’s generation, maybe I’ll like it? We shall see)
*9. Mirage by Camel/1974/RYM #284 all time album/mixtape (A totally classic symphonic prog album and one that I can't recall listening to. Very intrigued by this one.)
10. Getz / Gilberto by Stan Getz & João Gilberto featuring Antônio Carlos Jobim/1964/RYM #297 all time album/mixtape (Surely I have heard this. I even distinctly buying it used on CD a decade ago or so. I remember it being kinda cool and unique and so forth. But my recollection is vague enough that I didn't rate it. So yeah here is another choice for y'all.) _________________ -Ryan
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Purplepash
baystateoftheart
Mercury
RoundTheBend
EyeKanFly
