I'm going back to the start

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kokkinos





  • #1
  • Posted: 04/10/2021 21:29
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Hey everyone, for some unknown reason I thought opening with a Coldplay line would be an uncool enough way to set the tone for this diary. It still has a point, though, as the main theme will be exploring music of the past. I've spent so much time with music that came from the 90's onwards, while I have a rather superficial knowledge of anything that came before -and most of those I am familiar with fall in the category “respect and maybe mildly like”, but very few I have a strong affection for. I've been meaning to attempt this "dive in the past" for quite some time, so tracking down my progress should help me organise it better and avoid any further procrastination.
Anyway, I think the 60's are a good starting point. The aftermath of WWII had slowly given way to an unprecedented boom in economy, demographics, etc., that obviously had a cultural impact as well. When it comes to music, this has to be viewed as the most "progressive" decade - comparing music of 1960 with that of 1969, the gap is bigger than any other similar timespan- , the one that shaped popular music as we know it today.
Feel free to drop any comments/recommendations/whatever.
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kokkinos





  • #2
  • Posted: 04/10/2021 21:30
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Without further ado, here we go.
As I suspect I’m gonna stumble on a lot of stuff that I won’t be particularly fond of, it seems only appropriate to start with an old favorite, an album of the highest calibre.


Etta James – At Last
One has to begin with Etta James, the undeniable star of the album. She covers a wide spectrum of emotional states and musical styles without any kind of trouble whatsoever. Her powerful, graceful yet vulnerable performance gets you involved in the most relatable way. She has a maturity that doesn't come often in debut albums – though you could argue she had already kinda made a name for herself, as she had had a successful single five years earlier. As it is well known by now, she had a traumatic childhood and in general so many struggles in her personal life to overcome. So, it should be a safe assumption that these painful experiences left their mark on her and influenced her artistic identity as well and could partially explain the aforementioned somewhat premature mental growth – stars shine brightest in the darkest of night.
The instrumentation and the songwriting may not be spectacular by themselves, weren’t it for Etta it would be rather standard pop music of its time - but pop back then had a different meaning than it has now, so it's not too bad anyway and it complements her to an adequate degree giving her plenty of room to shine.
Examining the individual songs a little closer, the self titled track, an iconic and timeless - they don't make them like this anymore - love song is clearly the highlight, but there's more to it, pretty much every song has something to offer – and even if it doesn’t, Etta can squeeze water out of stone. Opening the album, the unapologetically sentimental ballad Anything To Say You're Mine, where she captivates you from the very first ooh and you immediately find yourself mourning her lost love. The next couple of tracks My Dearest Darling and Trust in Me form a nice contrast between the rough and uncompromising vocals and the fragility displayed in the lyrics. Then comes a Sunday kind of Love with its breezy and jazzy atmosphere where the vocals soften up to make room for a desperate confession of loneliness. Tough Mary provides a welcome change of pace through a little and lovely lighthearted rock and roll tune. I Just Want To Make Love To You is a classic that feels like it was written for Etta on the first place, irresistible and shamelessly dirty blues. All I Could Do Was Cry is a deeply touching moment, as she unreservedly opens up her soul – sorry for the awful pun. Stormy Weather is one of the highlights, moving once again towards a jazzier end.
It’s a shame she never got to realise her full potential – and for all the wrong reasons - , but we should be grateful for what we got, a joy to behold.
The concept of assigning numerical values to albums is highly controversial, but I guess it can serve at the very least as a point of reference, so I’m gonna give this an 8/10.
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Hayden




Location: CDMX
Canada

  • #3
  • Posted: 04/10/2021 21:41
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Top 60 Music Albums of 1960 by Hayden

I see no reason to not send this over Razz

Maybe roulette 4-5 picks off of there. Hoping it helps.


If you ever want to go way back to the start, 1940s by Hayden— I'll be working away at making this better throughout the year. Hoping it hits at least 75 by summer.
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Mercury
Turn your back on the pay-you-back last call


Gender: Male
Location: St. Louis
United States

  • #4
  • Posted: 04/10/2021 23:22
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Excellent start to this one. I quite like At Last! although ironically its one of those classic 60s albums I would say I more admire and like than really have a strong connection to. Still there are several absolute drop dead perfect songs on that album. At Last along with her Tell Mama and her live album Etta James Rocks the House

-----

Have you ever heard this album?


Judy At Carnegie Hall by Judy Garland

Its a live album. And I love it. Has been on and off my overall chart for years. But depending on the day I either think its an interesting if inconsistent document of this great talent, or I think its one of the most pure and at times sad and always emotional performances I've ever heard.
_________________
-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!
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RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad



Location: Ground Control
United States

  • #5
  • Posted: 04/11/2021 02:29
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Looking forward to this kokkinos Smile

60s were definitely one of my favorite decades in music.
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kokkinos





  • #6
  • Posted: 04/11/2021 20:23
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@Hayden
Thanks, this looks great and does indeed help a lot, I’ll check it out for sure.
And yeah, let’s not push it too far, the 60’s should be good for now, but I I'll grab the chance to emphasise how lucky we are that all this music of the distant past is so easily accessible nowadays.

@Mercury
Thanks for the rec, actually I haven’t, but I know her live performances of that time period have assumed mythic proportions, I’ve added it to the queue. Also, I can’t help but notice that Judy shares an obvious -yet very sad - similarity with Etta, always balancing on a tightrope with the help of their tremendous talent and the abyss of their deep personal troubles right below them.

@RoundTheBend
Thanks, I can clearly see why, we owe so much to the artists of that era, music was never the same again.
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kokkinos





  • #7
  • Posted: 04/11/2021 20:23
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A small list of various albums I checked out during last week or so, all of them are deservedly considered absolutely essential, so it didn’t feel right to completely ignore them, but also wasn’t into making a separate post for each of those. Excuse the horribly low ratings -in general you’re going to see many of those so be prepared to ignore them and it should be fine- , but they have nothing to do with the quality of the albums anyhow, it’s strictly based on my ability to connect with them on a personal level – again showcasing the futility of using numbers to rate albums. Despite this, I would unreservedly recommend them to anyone.

1.

Wes Montgomery - The Incredible Jazz Gu...Montgomery
One has to give him massive credit for bringing together two different worlds, making jazz accessible to guitar fans and at the same time making guitar accessible to jazz fans. Another thing I liked about this was how he doesn’t go into full guitar hero mode, this is a team effort and everyone (drums/piano/bass) has a significant part – I would go as far as to say that the drums were my favorite part of this without taking anything away from the masterful performance of everyone else. It’s the one of this list I can see having the biggest growing potential. 5.5/10

2.

Various Artists - Country Negro Jam Sessions
Slightly confusing title, a collection of home recordings that took place in Southwestern Louisiana between 1959 and 1962, a journey exploring the roots of blues that are so closely tied to the African American culture. It is by all means worth a listen, even if this isn’t your thing, it is so direct, honest and as a result very powerful, it takes you back in time as if you were there as it happened, having the time of your life. Right now the most enjoyable of this list. 5.5/10

3.

Joan Baez - Joan Baez
Inspiring Bob Dylan even to the slightest – and many others, but everyone’s favorite bard deserves a special mention - is a big enough feat to make it into the history books and humanity should be eternally grateful for that. When it comes to the album itself, traditional folk that would be inoffensive and relaxing, even beautiful, were it not for her vocals, every time she goes the extra mile -and it happens quite often- it’s so hard for my ears, I struggle to get past it. Donna Donna for example featured none of those acrobatics and it was lovely. 5.5/10

4.

João Gilberto - O Amor, O Sorriso E A Flor
This is what we call genre defining, thanks to this and his previous album that came out one year earlier he is considered the godfather of Bossa Nova, to put it in other words jazz influenced samba. Every track is below 2 minutes, something I never understood, before you even get into the mood of a song, it’s already over. The flute is the one thing I will keep from this, warm, gentle and delicate. 5/10

5.

Elvis Presley - Elvis Is Back!
Ok, more or less nothing to say about it, I don’t even like his trademark rock and roll stuff, so this was a big no no. A very generous 4.5/10.
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kokkinos





  • #8
  • Posted: 04/12/2021 21:09
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Two somewhat outlandish takes on jazz

1.

Yusef Lateef - The Centaur And The Phoenix
A forward thinking yet very accessible album, even if you aren't that much into jazz. We've all heard the usual complaints more times than we'd have liked when we dare to suggest a jazz artist or album, there isn't enough stuff going on to keep our attention, it's the old and predictable sequence of head, solo, solo, head, solo, solo etc., that all sounds the same. I think this album would be a safe choice even for people of that mentality - which I have nothing againist, don't get me wrong, to each their own, not to mention there's a part of jazz I find boring as well depending on my mood - and it wouldn't receive such criticism. It is so rich and colourful - after all, the band consists of 9 members - , it never wastes a moment. Despite the complexity of the compositions, it never takes itself too seriously which accords with the overall approach that is rather atypical for a jazz record. All the above hint at a very obvious comparison that has been done a myriad times already, but you can’t ignore it, of course I'm talking about Charles Mingus. In general, there are two sides in this album. The first is full of the aforementioned qualities and exemplifies what we could call a bluesy attitude to jazz, based on show-stealing horns that lead to borderline insanity, everything hanging by a thread - those would be for instance tracks 1,2 and 4. The other side offers the much needed balance when it is finally time to calm down, the main attraction being the flute (yesterday I was pointing out how much I like its sound and this one is even greater) /oboe/arghul played by the man himself, plus the bassoon, which is an excellent addition, though I 'd like to hear some more of it. Also, this side is clearly influenced by classical music, creating a cinematic - in the old fashioned way - atmosphere. Track 6 and especially track 3 embodies these attributes and forms a piece of otherworldly beauty, my pick for the highlight of the album. It's worth mentioning it that it's not all black or white, e.g. track 5 combines a bit of both worlds. 7.5/10

2.

Ahmed Abdul-Malik - East Meets West
The title is a pretty accurate description of what you are about to listen . One of the most important albums of the so called Arabic Jazz sub-genre, not that I'm well versed in this style, but those who are seem to hold it in extremely high regard and I can see why, it has all the qualities we tend to associate with this kind of music: an exotic, mystifying aura that arouses your senses in an irresistible, hypnotising manner. It's very "Arabic" so to speak but very jazzy at the same time - though it's the former that makes this album really stand out. It's been argued that some points are monotonous, but this contributes to the build up of the atmosphere, an exemplary demonstration of the power of repetition, the Arabic version of psychedelia if you will. When it comes to instrumentation, I’d say the violin is the most central piece in terms of serving the evocative purpose of this album, also worth adding that a variety of instruments such as oud (string instrument), qanun/kanoon (the same) and darabuka (percussion) are employed. Just as with the above, I would include this one in the "cinematic" category of albums as well. But there's a difference: this one paints more vivid images, you aren't a mere part of the audience, restricted to a reactive role, you are the star. You can easily picture yourself travelling across the scorching desert in a caravan, struggling to find a passable route through the inhospitable landscape, calculating the optimal use of your supplies, while keeping an eye out for aspiring bandits. Where even nature itself seems to have given up, the man has to keep going. And when the sun goes to rest, one thousand and one nights are waiting for you - in that spirit, I would pick El Lail (The Night) as the standout track. Ok, I could keep this going for quite a while, but I think I took it way too far already - maybe it was a Hollywood production, lol - , you get the point. 7.5/10
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kokkinos





  • #9
  • Posted: 04/14/2021 17:00
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Two brothers, two albums, it makes sense.


The Everly Brothers - A Date With The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers - It's Everly Time

Wait a second, I thought The Beatles didn't release an album until 1963, what is this? Joking aside, this duo of singers/guitar players showed us a glimpse of what was about to come (The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel etc.). Sound wise, it's not the most challenging or groundbreaking artistic statement, there's a clear rock and roll influence, a touch of country, some romantic ballads, even some brief moments of heaviness (check Nashville Blues) but all of those wouldn't matter that much weren't it for the show stealing vocals, as they are easily the best part of these albums, their chemistry is phenomenal, their harmonies form a smooth and safe passage that leads straight to pop heaven. Overall, there's not much you can think or tell about those albums, you simply enjoy them, they are so much fun. I can only imagine how great they would sound if you were a teenager at the time of their release. Picking out individual songs is not an easy task, as they both are surprisingly consistent and don't rely on one or two hits - though you could argue all the tracks being on pretty much the same level works both ways, it could mean that all of them are good or that none of them are, but here it's a case of the former . Anyway, if I had to pick only one it would be Cathy's Clown. 6.5/10 and 6.5/10.
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RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad



Location: Ground Control
United States

  • #10
  • Posted: 04/14/2021 19:11
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kokkinos wrote:
show stealing vocals, as they are easily the best part of these albums, their chemistry is phenomenal, their harmonies form a smooth and safe passage that leads straight to pop heaven.


Best description of them I've ever heard. There's a decent amount of mediocre songs they recorded, but the few they hit a sweet spot of pop heaven, didn't they?

Also, you are right, they were a great pivot from Buddy Holly to Beatles. Simon and Garfunkel even do a live cover of Bye Bye Love. Worth checking out a "greatest hits" of theirs once every few years, for me at least. Albums... never been interesting.
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