VARIOUS ARTISTS
HIGH ATMOSPHERE: BALLADS & BANJO TUNES FROM VIRGINIA & NORTH CAROLINA
1975 – ROUNDER
Produced By JOHN COHEN & MARK WILSON
1. Remember And Do Pray For Me – Lloyd Chandler
2. The Silk Merchant’s Daughter – Dellie Norton
3. Rambling Hobo – Gaither Carlton
4. Apple Blossom – Gaither Carlton
5. Pretty Crowing Chicken – Frank Proffitt
6. Forkey Deer – Sidna Myers
7. Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down – Frank Proffitt
8. Cumberland Gap – George Landers
9. Rolling Mills Are Burning Down – George Landers
10. Half Shaved – Wade Ward
11. Shady Grove – Wade Ward
12. Old Joe Clark – Wade Ward
13. Nitches Over The Hill – Wade Ward
14. Twin Sisters – Sidna Myers
15. Fortune – Fred Cockerham
16. Little Satchel – Fred Cockerham
17. Barker’s Creek – George Landers
18. Young Emily – Dellie Norton
19. Early, Early In The Spring – Dellie Norton
20. Warfare – E.C. Ball
21. Pretty Polly – E.C. Ball
22. The Fox – E.C. Ball
23. A Conversation With Death – Lloyd Chandler
24. I Wish My Baby Was Born – Dillard Chandler
25. The Carolina Lady – Dillard Chandler
26. The Scotland Man – George Landers
27. Alabama Gals – Sidna Myers
28. No Place Like Home – George Landers
29. June Apple – Fred Cockerham
30. Frankie Baker – Fred Cockerham
31. Jennie Jenkins – E.C. & Orna Ball
32. Little Sadie – Gaither Carlton
33. Cumberland Gap – Frank Proffitt
There’s some history here. John Cohen was a founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers, and did some very important work as a musicologist. In 1965, he ventured into the hill country of rural Virginia and North Carolina to document some of the many interesting ways that Appalachain musicians tuned their banjos. This led Cohen to hear, and make incredible field recordings of, some of the most amazing American music ever played. Because, once your instrument is tuned…you have to play a song, right? High Atmosphere was released years later, was hailed as a masterpiece, then disappeared for many years. It was reissued with several added tracks (the tracklist above) in 1995 after the alt-country band Uncle Tupelo covered three songs from here on their 1992 album March 16-20, 1992.
The songs that Uncle Tupelo recorded were “Warfare”, “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down”, and “I Wish My Baby Was Born”. The band’s high praise for High Atmosphere triggered new interest in the album, and spurred Rounder to reissue the set. The music here is simply amazing. It’s the ultimate in real American music. The players were mostly old when it was recorded, and all are long gone, but this album allows this beautiful definition of Americana to survive. These songs weren’t recorded in studios…they were recorded with a single microphone in locations down long dirt roads. The liner notes include an absolute heaven of details about the recordings and the songs and the long forgotten artists. There are even photos of the artists from the sixties. This is simply perfection, and of massive importance.
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PANDA BEAR
PERSON PITCH
2007 – PAW TRACKS
Produced By PANDA BEAR
1. Comfy In Nautica
2. Take Pills
3. Bros
4. I’m Not
5. Good Girl / Carrots
6. Search For Delicious
7. Ponytail
Panda Bear is the name used by American musician Noah Lennox, a founding member of the band Animal Collective. He has remained a member of that group, and has also had a quite successful solo career that includes nine albums. Person Pitch is his third effort, and it’s an obvious creative and sonic peak for him as a solo artist. Much of what makes Animal Collective great can be heard here…the almost Beach Boys like wall of vocals, the catchiness of the songs, the smart instrumentation…but here he is able to do it in a manner that comes across as more cohesive, and it has less of his band’s tendency to sound like multiple songs are playing at the same time. This is Bear’s ultimate showcase. He plays and sings everything here, with the album being based on samples and loops (and lots and lots of vocals).
For me, the high point here is “Bros”, a twelve minute romp that includes some catchy guitar and amazing singing. But the other six tracks here are excellent as well. This album is a somewhat modern psychedelic journey, bright and kind of mellow with flawless writing and playing. Admittedly, Animal Collective took a kind of long period of time to click for me, but now that it has, I can easily appreciate what Panda Bear brings to the table. This album has spawned a number of sound alike acts and albums, but this is the best of that bunch. Panda Bear may not be for everyone, but if you can get into what he’s doing here, the joys on Person Pitch are seemingly endless. He has continued recording to this day, but he hasn’t reached this level of an album since. Well worth at least checking out.
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SWING OUT SISTER
KALEIDOSCOPE WORLD
1989 – FONTANA
Produced By ANDY CONNELL, CORINNE DREWERY & PAUL STAVELEY O’DUFFY
1. You On My Mind
2. Where In The World
3. Forever Blue
4. Heart For Hire
5.Tainted
6. Waiting Game
7. Precious Words
8. Masquerade
9. Between Strangers
10. The Kaleidoscope Affair
11. Coney Island Man
12. Precious Words (Instrumental)
13. Forever Blue (String Mix)
14. Masquerade (Instrumental)
Swing Out Sister began as a lite new wave band, but by the time of their second album, Kaleidoscope World, their path was set on recapturing the cool and hip easy listening sounds of the sixties. And they never did it better than on this album. By the time the album was finished, they were down to the duo of Andy Connell and Corinne Drewery, and their delicious brand of lite sixties pop was not only as ahead of its time as it was behind, but it was also perfectly done. Gone was the eighties synth sound of their debut album (It’s Better To Travel), and in came a fearless retro sound drenched in horns, an orchestra, and perfect lush melodies. The group went after a specific sound, and they got it dead right the very first time. Breezy, swinging, and wonderfully retro.
The influences here are clear. Bacharach. Motown. Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick. Four songs stand out here: “Forever Blue”, “Waiting Game”, “Where In The World” and the exceptional “You On My Mind”. Swing Out Sister was able to take sixties easy listening sounds and make them cool at the end of the eighties…not a small feat for sure. They had the songs here to back it up, and the perfect fit of Drewerey’s vocals capped it all off. And because of when this album happened, they were able to add a distinct visual element to some of the music by way of video. This snapshot of something definitely different happening in the middle of hair metal and new wave and alternative rock and rap is refreshing and well worth revisiting (or hearing for the first time).
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DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
TRANSATLANTICISM
2003 – BARSUK
Produced By CHRIS WALLA
1. The New Year
2. Lightness
3. Title And Registration
4. Expo ‘86
5. The Sound Of Settling
6. Tiny Vessels
7. Transatlanticism
8. Passenger Seat
9. Death Of An Interior Decorator
10. We Looked Like Giants
11. A Lack Of Color
A definite finalist for worst band name ever, Death Cab For Cutie (which was a song from Magical Mystery Tour) more than makes up for it with their music. Especially on their fourth album, Transatlanticism, which has as its main theme long distance love. Painist and singer Ben Gibbard is the main man in this group, with a mellow voice and excellent songwriting skills. This album marked the commercial breakthrough for the band, and led to them signing with a major label (Atlantic). They have released six albums since, but Transatlanticism remains their best and most consistent work. Many of the songs are slower, and feature more mature lyrics from Gibbard. Also, the album was helped out by having three tracks in the TV series The O.C., on which the band also appeared.
“The New Year” was the lead single, and is excellent. “Title And Registration” and “The Sound Of Settling” were also singles, and the title track and “A Lack Of Color” are also standouts. The album has received almost unanimous critical acclaim, and for good reason. This is a fine set of songs that deal with the subjects of longing and loneliness and hope very well. The band has just the right sound to pull it off, and almost everything here clicks. A couple of the songs are a bit lesser, but overall, this is a satisfying, mature work by a band that became, with this release, one of the leading lights of indie rock. Of all of the Death Cab albums, this is the one you’ll want…as well as Gibbard’s collaboration with Jimmy Tamborello in The Postal Service, who’s one album Give Up was also released in 2003.
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THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
DARKLANDS
1987 – BLANCO Y NEGRO
Produced By WILLIAM REID, BILL PRICE & JOHN LODER
1. Darklands
2. Deep One Perfect Morning
3. Happy When It Rains
4. Down On Me
5. Nine Million Rainy Days
6. April Skies
7. Fall
8. Cherry Came Too
9. On The Wall
10. About You
In 1985, The Jesus And Mary Chain changed the course of British music with their stunning debut album, Psychocandy. It was a dark, loud and sonically mesmerizing album, and it stood out amazingly in the midst of the eighties. The band had always (and always have had) problems keeping the drummer spot filled (they have had twelve different drummers to date) , so when they went into the studio to record the follow up to Psychocandy, they decided to just use a drum machine and make a more intimate acoustic album. The resulting album, Darklands, is a thing of beauty, and set the course they would follow for the rest of their careers. Darklands is just that…it’s dark. But it’s also got a certain warmth to it, which makes it a lot more relatable than their debut album.
The Chain is led by the Reid brothers, William and Jim. In the synth laden atmosphere of the late eighties, this album is all guitar, and it’s beautiful. The title track is a stunning introduction to the new sound of the band. “April Skies” is wonderful, and “Happy When It Rains” is one of their very best songs. They have never matched the quality of their first two albums, so the ones to own from this band are definitely Psychocandy and Darklands (although 1994’s Stoned And Dethroned comes close). It’s rare when such downward gazing music like this sounds so melodic and grooves like this, which is what makes this album more special. Maybe someday they will duplicate this sound…if they are able to, we will all be in for quite a treat.
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NEW ORDER
SUBSTANCE
1987 – FACTORY
Produced By NEW ORDER
1. Ceremony
2. Everything’s Gone Green
3. Temptation
4. Blue Monday
5. Confusion
6. Thieves Like Us
7. Perfect Kiss
8. Subculture
9. Shellshock
10. State Of The Nation
11. Bizarre Love Triangle
12. True Faith
1. In A Lonely Place
2. Procession
3. Mesh
4. Hurt
5. The Beach
6. Confusion Instrumental
7. Lonesome Tonight
8. Murder
9. Thieves Like Us Instrumental
10. Kiss Of Death
11. Shame Of The Nation
12. 1963
This is maybe the most awe inspiring collection of dance music by one band that you will ever hear. After the death of their singer, Ian Curtis, in 1980, the remaining members of Joy Division decided to carry on, Renaming themselves New Order, they took their depressing post punk guitar sound and turned it on its ear. New Order added synthesizers and a dance beat, making their transition a complete success. In over thirty years, New Order has released only ten studio albums…but that’s okay. The real power of New Order can be found in their singles (many of which were never on studio albums), and there is no place better to hear that than on Substance. Released in 1987 (there is also a Substance album with the same concept from Joy Division), this is a stunning two disc monster of absolute dance music perfection from one of the very best.
Substance opens with the Joy Division leftover “Ceremony”, and never looks back from there. Eight of these songs (and their B-sides) were single only releases, which makes this special on it’s own (and there’s also two new tracks as well). Songs like “Blue Monday”, “Bizarre Love Triangle”, “Confusion”, and on and on, show why New Order was, and still is, so great. Consider that this compilation only covers the first seven years of their career. Despite their slow album pace, they were cranking out hit music faster than pretty much anyone else at the time, and it was all cool. New Order still had enough guitar in them to keep from going over the edge with synths, and they used the synths just enough to stay hip in the age of synths. And that dance beat…it was non stop, and perfect. Substance is one of the most impressive compilation albums ever made, and it’s treasures are far too many to pass on.
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JOHNNY ADAMS
JOHNNY ADAMS SINGS DOC POMUS: THE REAL ME
1991 – ROUNDER
Produced By SCOTT BILLINGTON & MAC REBENNACK
1. Imitation Of Love
2. Still In Love
3. There Is Always One More Time
4. My Baby’s Quit Me
5. She’s Everything To Me
6. I Underestimated You
7. Blinded By Love
8. Prisoner Of Life
9. The Night Is A Hunter
10. No One
11. The Real Me
The career of Johnny Adams was an up and down affair until he landed at Rounder Records in 1984. He then released five very good albums of what can be best described as Jazz & B music, ending with The Real Me in 1991. He had earlier paid tribute to Percy Mayfield by recording an excellent album of that writers songs…this time around, it was the great Doc Pomus’ turn. Adams, who was one of the smoothest vocalists of his time, is the perfect match for the songs of Pomus. Both Pomus and Adams were bluesmen, but neither one allowed himself to be stuck in just the blues. Adams does these songs great justice…”Imitation Of Love”, “My Baby’s Quit Me”, “I Underestimated You”…all outstanding.
Along with that, you also get the band. Duke Robillard from The Fabulous Thunderbirds plays guitar, and none other than Dr. John sits in on piano. No one here is a slouch, that’s for sure. What this all adds up to is a very special album by some very special people. Pomus died before the album was completed, so there is an added emotional quality as well. Adams passed away eight years later, in 1998. And of course, we have also lost Dr. John. You can enjoy them all together, right here. And you really should. This is a special album of music that tends to get forgotten these days (it hasn’t been trendy for a long time) Treat yourself!
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LITTLE FEAT
THE LAST RECORD ALBUM
1975 – WARNER BROS.
Produced By LOWELL GEORGE
1. Romance Dance
2. All That You Dream
3. Long Distance Love
4. Day Or Night
5. One Love Stand
6. Down Below The Borderline
7. Somebody’s Leavin’
8. Mercenary Territory
9. Bonus Announcement
10. Don’t Bogart That Joint (Live)
11. A Apolitical Blues (Live)
On their first four albums, Little Feat was an absolute joy. This California band had taken the swampy Southern sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival and added an element of Southern funk that was irresistible and just as catchy as Fogerty and company. But Little Feat seemed to run out of gas and ideas on The Last Record Album, their fifth release. There are still some great Little Feat moments here, but there are also enough dull and lifeless missteps to know that their magic was fading pretty quickly. So what happened? Little Feat was a band that was as good as guitarist Lowell George, and George was beginning to withdraw from the band. He was taking a lesser role, was thinking about a solo career, and his extracurricular activities were beginning to take a toll on him, and the band.
As far as the great moments here, they are truly great, and make this album necessary. “All That You Dream” is so good that Linda Ronstadt covered it…that says it all. It’s a gorgeous song. “Long Distance Love” is George at his best, and was a hit for the band. And the closer, “Mercenary Territory”, is as fine as any Feat track. But the rest moves into the slick, more homogenized Southern music that was being made popular at the time by bands live the Atlanta Rhythm Section, and later, the post-boogie of .38 Special. Things didn’t get any better from here…this is really the last Little Feat studio album worth having. This includes the post George (he died in 1979) comeback album from 1988, Let It Roll, which was led by former Pure Prairie League founder Craig Fuller. As for this…it’s the last gasp of a band that was great for a blink of an eye.
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BADLY DRAWN BOY
THE HOUR OF BEWILDERBEAST
2000 – XLN / TWISTED NERVE
Produced By BADLY DRAWN BOY, GARY WILKINSON, JOE ROBINSON & KEN NELSON
1. The Shining
2. Everybody’s Stalking
3. Bewilder
4. Fall In A River
5. Camping Next To Water
6. Stone On The Water
7. Another Pearl
8. Body Rap
9. Once Around The Block
10. This Song
11. Bewilderbeast
12. Magic In The Air
13. Cause A Rockslide
14. Pissing In The Wind
15. Blistered Heart
16. Disillusion
17. Say It Again
18. Epitaph
More like Badly Chosen Stage Name…but whatever. Badly Drawn Boy is Damon Gough, a singer songwriter from England who happens to be a massive Bruce Springsteen fan. He put out a series of five EP’s in the late nineties that were well received before releasing his debut album, The Hour Of Bewilderbeast in 2000. The songs here are much more reminiscent of Elliot Smith than Springsteen, although you can definitely hear Bruce’s attention to detail on this album. And he’s more optimistic than Smith ever was. What makes this more than just a modern folk album is the full and complete instrumentation he uses…much of it played by himself, but he also has plenty of friends helping him out. What makes this album special is the songwriting. Something he has yet to be able to match.
Some of the tracks here feel like almost Abbey Road McCartney like song snippets (“Cause A Rockslide”), but it’s the more complete songs that will win you over. “Once Around The Block” and “Disillusion” are highlights, and those, along with “Pissing In The Wind”, “Another Pearl” and “The Shining” will grab your attention. The Hour Of Bewilderbeast is not a perfect record, but it is his best work by quite a lot. Badly Drawn Boy has struggled since introducing more of a pop sound on his third album, and although his career continues, his recordings are becoming less frequent and his star not quite as bright as it was in 2000. This is definitely the best place to hear Badly Drawn Boy. It’s his best set of songs, and it’s his most adventurous work.
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JOAN ARMATRADING
1976 – A&M
Produced By GLYN JOHNS
1. Down To Zero
2. Help Yourself
3. Water With The Wine
4. Love And Affection
5. Save Me
6. Join The Boys
7. People
8. Somebody Who Loves You
9. Like Fire
10. Tall In The Saddle
For me, one of the greatest, and most unfortunately overlooked, albums of all time. By one of the greatest and unfortunately overlooked artists of all time. She’s released twenty studio albums since 1972, and in that time, she’s had only one number one...the “Drop The Pilot” single reached the top of the charts in South Africa in 1983. But those who know her music know just how great she is. This self titled album, her third, is her finest work, and should be considered as one of the greatest of all time. The songs here are all amazing. It’s a mostly acoustic album that shows off not only Armatrading’s songwriting and vocal skills, but also her abilities as a guitar player. Her only top ten single in her home country of England (“Love And Affection”) is here, and although the album has been critically acclaimed over the years, it has never sold as many copies as it should have.
Two songs here stand out above the rest. “Down To Zero” is pure acoustic guitar bliss, and “Love And Affection” is one of the most lovely songs of all time. Armatrading’s rich voice carries it all, and she cuts loose on the acoustic guitar a couple of times just to let you know she can do that, too. There is not a single weak track on this album, and it should be viewed as one of the very best albums of 1976…but it never gets its due. It’s so good that it garnered comparisons to Joni Mitchell, and this is the album that years later earned Tracy Chapman comparisons as the new Joan Armatrading. The rest of her career has been stellar, particularly her ability to move from genre to genre from album to album, but Armatrading is at her very best right here. Strongly recommended.
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