Sunday, March 31, 2019
Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson - Winter in America
:-( [With this artist, I would prefer to go with the two best-ofs, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, excerpting from his first three albums, and The Best of Gil Scott-Heron, which, other than the song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," excerpts from his Arista period. But I’m not getting the latter for reasons you can read in that review. The one undeniable song on this is “The Bottle,” which I have on The Funk Box. In sum, this has its moments, but is overall extremely bland and not going in the collection. I do own the entirety of Pieces of a Man, another of his early albums, on the comp The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, but only because the compilers ended up including the whole thing on the CD version of that. It’s also got better reviews from users on Allmusic than this one, with good reason, I think – this one gets over-rated because of the presence of “The Bottle.”]
The Suburbs - Credit in Heaven [honorable mention]
:-) [I hate to bring out the old criticism of a double album that it would be classic if boiled down to a single album, but if it applies it applies. This one is very spotty and can get cheesy and derivative at times, but it contains a single album as good as In Combo in my view.]
PJ Harvey & John Parish - A Woman a Man Walked By [honorable mention]
:-) [First few songs are great, and then they drop off.] [4 listens]
Dexter Gordon - Our Man in Paris - X stars
Penguin crown album, so I won't be grading it. Listen to them on jazz albums, not me.
Pete Townshend - Who Came First: 3.5 stars
Might even be an A minus, but too expensive to buy used, and only new option is a deluxe edition, so I'm not worrying about a physical in this instance.
Sir Victor Uwaifo - Guitar-Boy Superstar 1970-76 [honorable mention]
Various Artists - 24 Hour Party People: 4 stars
Not sure why I bought this so many years ago, but I like it, and would otherwise have no Happy Mondays in the collection (and certain others), so I'm keeping it. Plus, it goes down easy. I might be over-rating it a notch.
Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention - Uncle Meat
:-( [I find this mostly just irritating. I note that I have the double CD in a fatbox, and hearing the original issue using this release requires skipping the first three tracks on the second disc, which I happily did on my fourth and fifth listens.]
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Sunday, March 24, 2019
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Charlie Parker - The Legendary Dial Masters: X stars
I'm sure this is an A+, but I'm not qualified to come right out and say that, and I wouldn't take it to a deserted island, which is my criteria for an A+. But how could you ever argue with Charlie Parker? I was also tempted to get In a Soulful Mood, the Music Club comp of the Dial years, but all those songs are here (except maybe one or two). If I could get it for $5, I might go for it, but I'm not paying full price for that.
Friday, March 22, 2019
Fleetwood Mac - Mirage [honorable mention]
:-) [Intermittently B+/A-, but overall honorable mention, ie, a lot of filler. I like this marginally more than the five-years-later Tango, but Tusk is where I get off the bus. What’s really called for is a combination of the best of these two albums. In fact, these seven songs make a fantastic EP:
Big Love
Everywhere
Little Lies
Isn't It Midnight
Love In Store
Gypsy
Hold Me
I spent a fair amount of time seeing if there is a compilation that has these tracks without forcing me to re-acquire too many of the big songs from Rumors and Fleetwood Mac, but there isn't. Well, maybe the single CD version of 50 Years. I'll look into that one.]
Big Love
Everywhere
Little Lies
Isn't It Midnight
Love In Store
Gypsy
Hold Me
I spent a fair amount of time seeing if there is a compilation that has these tracks without forcing me to re-acquire too many of the big songs from Rumors and Fleetwood Mac, but there isn't. Well, maybe the single CD version of 50 Years. I'll look into that one.]
Various Artists - The Threepenny Opera: X stars
This is so classic that I'd feel like a fool for rating it, or collecting it really. Totally outside my sphere, but I'm glad to know it in this form. This is the Theater de Lys production that was originally on MGM.
Duke Ellington - The Blanton-Webster Band: X stars
This is a Penguin crown album, which I will not attempt to grade (or collect) because I am out of my depth. I will say that I like it more than the Basie and Gillespie crown albums also reviewed today. I think I even owned this once.
Count Basie - The Complete Decca Recordings: X stars
This is a Penguin crown album, which I will not attempt to grade (or collect) because I am out of my depth.
Dizzy Gillespie - The Complete RCA Victor Recordings: X stars
This is a Penguin crown album, which I will not attempt to grade (or collect) because I am out of my depth. I also tried once the collection that Tom Hull seems to recommend most, Night in Tunisia: The Very Best of Dizzy Gillespie. Definitely did not like the Complete RCA and wonder how it got a crown from Penguin. Night in Tunisia was definitely better but I'm not going to listen to it again.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: 4 stars
This actually comes in three different versions: (1) the original version with 11 tracks taken from the first three albums (3 or 4 from Small Talk, 3 or 4 from Pieces of a Man, and 4 from Free Will); (2) those eleven tracks supplemented with the remainder of Pieces of a Man (pictured above); and (3) those eleven tracks supplemented with 3 extra songs from Pieces of a Man, 3 from Free Will and 2 from Small Talk (plus another version of the title track). Version 3 (which has a ... Plus at the end of the title) has some very weak tracks. The original version is good, but it's probably marginally better to have all of Pieces of a Man on the added CD, especially since it seems to be a fan favorite (250+ five star reviews on Allmusic as of today).
Friday, March 15, 2019
Clinic - Internal Wrangler [honorable mention]
:-) [This seems like their overall best-regarded album. I think it's pretty okay. All their other albums seem to be viewed as about equivalent, and slightly below this, except the two that I have, which no one seems to like except Christgau. I bought them on his recommendation before you could stream albums before buying them. I will probably keep them since I have them, but doubt I would buy them today [update: both downgraded to honorable mention and de-shelved in 2020]. Anyway, I intend to stop here with them, and not agonize about them further. I've already spent way too much time worrying about how to assess Clinic.]
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Systema Solar - La Revancha del Burro: 4 stars
Doesn't appear to be available on CD. Might be some one-off Colombia version but prices are ridiculous. Would definitely buy it if it were available. Maybe they will reissue.
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Lou Reed/John Cale - Songs for Drella
:-( [I owned this once, and have listened way more than 3 times, trying to understand what people hear in it. Sounds like pretentious garbage to me. The only regular issue Reed I do not own, which I justify in that it's not "regular issue" but a Cale/Reed album.]
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Nick Mason - Fictitious Sports: 3.5 stars
Really a Carla Bley album (she wrote all the songs) with Robert Wyatt on vocals and Chris Spedding on guitar, not a Pink Floyd drummer's solo debut. Having said all that, it's deeply out of print, otherwise I might buy it.
Donna Summer - On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volume I & II: 9 (A)
I could upgrade to 1994's Endless Summer, but this is the original. The later one is missing 5 tracks from this, and adds 8 of its own though, so maybe I'll get the new one too one day. (They're both about 71 minutes, so the later one obviously has shorter songs overall.) On the other hand, the later one seems out of print now, so I'll pass for the moment. Hull and Christgau give each one the same grade (A minus and full A, respectively). [Found a streamable version of Endless Summer in 2024, so will evaluate that separately.]
Donna Summer - Bad Girls: 8 (A-)
Christgau says there's "overlap" with the On the Radio comp, but it's not that many tracks. This one stands on its own obviously. You don't need me to tell you that. Available on CD in the "deluxe" two-disc version -- which I would probably buy for the extra disc of dance mixes Tom Hull likes so much (see separate review of that), but it is prohibitively expensive. Otherwise the only way to own this is in used vinyl or first generation CD transfer. I have the latter. Matches my copy of On the Radio.
Friday, March 8, 2019
Lillian Allen - Revolutionary Tea Party: 3.5 stars
Could very well be an A minus, in fact, it probably is, but physicals are way too hard to find, so I'm docking it a notch for obscurity and won't be collecting it.
Fleetwood Mac - Kiln House [honorable mention]
:-) [A little too “pure bluesy” to make the collection. Also not a huge fan of the band.]
Fleetwood Mac - Tango in the Night [honorable mention]
:-) [Might be a B plus, but a bit too commercial and synthy for my tastes, especially since I'm not a huge fan of the band.]
Johnny Thunders - Que Sera Sera: 3.5 stars
Might even be an A minus, but I won’t be buying because there are no reasonably priced physicals.
Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson - It's Your World: 3.5 stars
Would get this, but not paying outrageous prices for an OOP live album.
Built to Spill - Ultimate Alternative Wavers
:-| [I'm basically a completist with this band, and so would buy this despite the neutral rating, but it's selling for ridiculous prices.]
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Willie Nelson - batch review of some early albums
From Willie's Stardust and before period, I've only got Phases and Stages and Red Headed Stranger (as well as Stardust of course). All of following, I give a B plus, although I think I like To Lefty from Willie best of them all, and might even rate it an A minus, but for the songs being overly familiar even to a non-country adept.
Yesterday's Wine
Shotgun Willie
To Lefty from Willie
After this, I've only happened to collect those Willie solo albums that Christgau has rated a full A, plus his collabs with Webb Pierce and Hank Snow. On collabs, I de-shelved his collaboration with Asleep at the Wheel, Willie and the Wheel, and his collaboration with his sister Bobbie, December Day.
Yesterday's Wine
Shotgun Willie
To Lefty from Willie
After this, I've only happened to collect those Willie solo albums that Christgau has rated a full A, plus his collabs with Webb Pierce and Hank Snow. On collabs, I de-shelved his collaboration with Asleep at the Wheel, Willie and the Wheel, and his collaboration with his sister Bobbie, December Day.
Willie Nelson - Spirit: 3.5 stars
Great album cover, but songs are a little insubstantial, and I don’t collect country at the B plus level.
Willie Nelson - Face of a Fighter [Lone Star, 1978]
:-| [Similar demos collection from the early 60s, I Let My Mind Wander [Kingfisher, 1997], was not listened to because not available, and listening to the current one showed me I don’t really care to hunt it down.]
Becky Warren - Undesirable: 3.5 stars
Not paying high self-released prices for something outside my collecting sphere.
Fever Ray - Fever Ray: 4 stars
Keeping this as the noteworthy debut, but not the follow-up. Also keeping the two big Knife releases, which are rated elsewhere.
Mandy Barnett - Strange Conversation [honorable mention]
:-) [de-shelved her I've Got a Right to Cry]
Gilberto Gil - Gilberto Gil [a/k/a Gilberto Gil (Frevo Rasgado)] [honorable mention]
[Originally released in 1968, looks like it was reissued in 1998 and 2008, and maybe more. As Christgau notes, sounds like show tunes via Brazil].
Dua Saleh - Nur: 2 stars
Breaking protocol, not only because it's so terrible, but also because "they" are annoying. (People are really bending to her will on this?)
Saturday, March 2, 2019
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)