Monday, August 26, 2024
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Kim Gordon/Ikue Mori/DJ Olive - SYR5: 7 (B+)
Not worth the prices being asked for 7 (B+) material. # [noise/experimental] anyway. Yes, we all love Kim, I know.
Clint Ruin/Lydia Lunch w/Thurston Moore - Stinkfist/The Crumb [EP]: 7.5 (high B+)
# [experimental] I would probably get this anyway, just because Thurston Moore is on it, and it's Lydia Lunch, and I like the cover, and I love EPs, but physicals are ridiculously expensive. I also listened thrice to both other songs on The Crumb EP or single or whatever it was ("Done Dun" and "Dead River"), and I would give that a 7 (B+) but # [experimental], and no desire to buy that one regardless.
Saturday, August 24, 2024
Friday, August 23, 2024
Black Uhuru - The Best of Black Uhuru: 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: 9.5 (high A)
Christgau is right that this is an exceptional collection. Short and sweet, hard-hitting. Surprisingly difficult to find for a reasonable price, but with a little patience I finally did. When it came out, I'm sure it retailed for $7 like these all did and was a steal.
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Rail Band with Mory Kante & Salif Keita - Rail Band [placeholder]
Only track not on other albums reviewed or to be reviewed is “Tiedioucouya,” which happens to be a pretty great track. Might be on something else spelled a little differently, as sometimes happens with African releases. Obviously, I would not get this for one track.
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Ghostface Killah - Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City: 7 (B+)
Didn’t get this when it came out, because I was finally able to stream before buying, and I pegged this as an r&b album rather than a hip-hop album and so # [r&b]. I'm sticking with that rationale after a fourth listen just now.
Sunday, August 18, 2024
Matthew Sweet - Earth [honorable mention]
:-) [Some good Lloyd guitar solos, atop super-cheesy 1980s keybs and behind Sweet singing in a strangely affected voice that, quite frankly, irritates. Quine has all of 2 solos as far as I can hear: one at the very end of track 6 -- “Vertigo” -- and one on track 11 -- “Having a Bad Dream.” Even as a huge fan of Quine, it doesn’t justify it for me. Also, Gary Lucas on a couple tracks. Lloyd is on about a third of the tracks.]
Angry Samoans - Return to Samoa (out-takes/lost tapes): 7.5 (high B+)
Upped from honorable mention after several additional listens and realizing that this isn't truly the # [odds/ends] it appears to be, so much as 10 studio tracks from 1982, around the time of Back From Samoa, followed by 15 live tracks recorded at "the 700 Club" in the East Village on June 14, 1981. The playing is much tighter (if you can call it that) than at the Live at Rhino Records show recorded a few years earlier, not surprisingly, and the audio is not that bad. I vaguely remember being outside the door of the club, tripping on acid, and not being able to get in, at 15 years old one night in the spring of 1981. Was it this show? Who knows? And they mean the A7 club, right? Another reason for buying this anyway. (My copy actually has two inserts, one with a black background instead of pink.)
AC/DC - first 8 U.S. albums - batch review
Christgau and Hull would have you know none of these.
Rolling Stone and Spin only Back in Black and Highway to Hell, and also, maybe, For Those About to Rock, but not really
AllMusic critics consider Back in Black and Highway to Hell and Dirty Deeds all perfect (which clearly they are not), and High Voltage and Let There Be Rock more or less essential.
AllMusic users like "the other 6" in this order (after BiB and HtH): Dirty Deeds, High Voltage, Let There Be Rock, Powerage, If You Want Blood, and For Those About to Rock, with only the later perhaps being non-essential.
So of the "other 6," if anything Dirty Deeds seems fairly universal, except not for Rolling Stone and Spin.
So it's basically one of those "BiB and HtH, everyone pick their 3rd favorite after that" jobs. I'm going with Let There Be Rock.
Richard Hell - Go Now [EP] [placeholder]
See review of Hell/Quine for more info. But the bottom line is that I would buy this if it were in a slim case or digipack or something like that, especially because it's on Tim/Kerr. Not in a standard jewel box though for only ~10 minutes of Quine noodling around in the background.
Richard Hell/Robert Quine - Hell/Quine [EP] [placeholder]
I wish I had known about this at the time it was released. I would have snagged a copy. It's basically 3 tracks on a one-sided LP and now sells for way too much money. Here are the 3 tracks:
(1) Hell singing "Time" with Ivan Julian on guitar at Quine's memorial.
(2) The guitar pieces composed and played by Quine as background music for Hell's 1995 essentially spoken-word release Go Now, while Hell reads from his novel of the same name. I've listened to that single-track EP basically 3 times (really twice and once fast-forwarding through the parts without the guitar "mood" tracks). The guitar parts are nice and I'd like to have them in their pure form as on this release.
(3) Hell reading from his journals at and around the time Quine ended his own life.
So, I don't need to hear the plain readings on track 3, and the version of "Time" that is track 1 on this is included on Destiny Street Complete, which I have, so that leaves track 2. The running time on that track is almost exactly the same as the snippets of guitar background on Go Now if you add them up (I actually timed them), so I assume I have heard track 2. Anyway, I would love to have a digital file of it. Maybe someone will send me a link one day.
Ghostface Killah - batch review
I would give these grades ranging from 7 (B+) to probably 8.5 (high A-):
Ironman
Supreme Clientele
Bulletproof Wallets
Fishscale
The Big Doe Rehab
More Fish
Saturday, August 17, 2024
Talking Heads - The Best of Talking Heads [placeholder]
Not much reason to own this. Listened once for the gestalt.
Talking Heads - Little Creatures: 7 (B+)
Upped a notch because every other person in the world seems to hear something in this that I don't.
Big Daddy Kane - The Very Best of Big Daddy Kane: 8 (A-)
Docked a notch for overstaying its welcome.
Louis Armstrong - At Town Hall: "The Complete Town Hall Concert" 17 May 1947: X stars
# [live; old jazz] Respect.
Sunday, August 11, 2024
Fleetwood Mac - Best of Fleetwood Mac 1969-1974: 9 (A)
Here's the breakdown, by my count:
2 singles
1 from Then Play On
3 from Kiln House
2 from Future Games
4 from Bare Trees
2 from Penguin
2 from Mystery to Me
3 from Heroes Are Hard to Find
Robert Forster/Grant McLennan - Intermission: The Best of the Solo Recordings 1990-1997: 8.5 (high A-)
Grade applies to each solo collection, as a bottom line for both only. I note that Hull likes them both equally at the 8 (A-) level, or maybe one or both at 8.5 (high A-), if he used the ideal grading system. Christgau gives Forster a 7 (B+), or, again, maybe 7.5 (high B+), and McLennan a 9 (A), which could also be 9.5 (high A-). Maybe one day I'll replay them back-to-back and give them each individual grades, which could be averaged to give a grade for the combo, which is how these had to be purchased, and, no one ever seems to mention, an absolutely beautiful way for this to be done. These were separate, single, heterosexual men, who were bound to each other in a way that seems more profound than many marriages.
Saturday, August 10, 2024
Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Blank Generation: 9 (A)
I also have the first gen CD transfer of this, with the pink frame from 1990, but I sprung for the 40th Anniversary "deluxe edition" remaster, even though (or maybe because) it has no extra disc or tracks. I wanted the better cover and sound. There is also a 2 CD 40th Anniversary deluxe edition that Rhino put out that is not findable anywhere for a good price. I listened to the disc of extras thrice, just to be sure I'm not missing anything. I’m not.
Charlie Parker - Bird on 52nd St.: X stars
Imagine that you are now sitting in your home, warm, safe, and sound on a random Tuesday evening in early summertime, with the windows open and a nice cool breeze blowing through. Suddenly, you are transported to a NYC alleyway three quarters of a century in the past, 18 years before you were even born, while a crashing rainstorm is coming down all around you with a warm, hissing sound. Even with the storm, a small window from the alley into what was called The Onyx club, a jazz bar, is open to the playing area. You hear the unmistakable sound of the Bird soloing You can't get into the room, through the crowd at the front door all standing there with umbrellas and raincoats waiting for someone to be forced to leave for some reason so they can go inside. So you just stay at the small window and listen, hunched outside in the rain with your coat up around your cheeks, because you know you have been given the rare privilege of hearing the Bird solo live. That's what listening to this album is like. You need to use alot of imagination, but it's worth the effort. It's not, however, worth buying a recorded relic of the experience when you can stream it online.
I listened to this only because the brilliant guitarist Robert Quine mentioned it as one of his favorite albums of all time. Obviously, I'm not in the market for things like this, but I'm immensely glad to have known it.
Friday, August 9, 2024
Richard Hell & The Voidoids - Destiny Street Complete: 9 (A)
This is one of the coolest "re-issues" or whatever you want to call it ever released. In the first place, the original album is an 8.5 (high A-) bordering on 9 (A). Here you have it remastered, also, the "repaired" version with Marc Ribot tacked on, then a "remix," and finally a very good set of demos. I actually resisted for years because it seemed like too much of the same thing for an album that wasn't one of the greatest of all time. That was a mistake. Turns out it's kind of genius in its own way, and even elevates the original album. Very beautiful object, and I'm very happy to have it.
Eno/Cale - Wrong Way Up: 9.5 (high A)
Reissued in 2020 with 2 bonus tracks, but apparently unremastered or anything. It was first issued in the CD era anyway (1990), so probably not much need for remastering. Although I note that the CD economy was still in its infancy at the time, and I bet they wanted to include those 2 tracks on the CD, but they wouldn't fit on the vinyl version, which is at its limit with the first 10 songs, and so the CD was kept the same as the vinyl.
I played this heavily when it came out. In fact, it defined that period of my life. You know how that happens -- sets the tone of things for you for a few months, bringing you joy. I played the whole album again, with bonus tracks this time, 3x, in connection with this post, which doesn't happen much. Ie, I really wanted to play it again, like I do every time I think about it. To me, that's the mark of a 9 (A) album or higher. Not biting on the reissue though.
The 2 bonus tracks are, variously (depending on the reissue), 2 of the following: "Grandfather's House," "Palanquin," and "You Don't Miss Your Water."
The Lounge Lizards - Big Heart: Live in Tokyo 8 (A-)
Ribot on guitar instead of Arto. But Ribot's no chump.
Evan Lurie - Selling Water by the Side of the River [placeholder]
Can't find more than a few tracks on the internet. I'd like to hear it someday, if I can ever find the files or someone I know has a copy. My suspicion is that this would be # [fake tango] though, so I'm not going to worry too much about it.
Monday, August 5, 2024
Matthew Sweet - Time Capsule [EP] [placeholder]
Title track is from Altered Beast. It appears here in a remix and demo form. No need for that, obviously. The other 2 tracks on this 4-track, 15 minute EP are "Speed of Light," with Robert Quine on guitar, and "Thing," with Ivan Julian on guitar. Quine does not thrown down on his track, so....
Matthew Sweet - Son of Altered Beast [EP]: 8 (A-)
Basically a live EP. 7 tracks total, 28+ minutes long (just stretching the boundaries of an EP). 5 of the 7 tracks are live with Richard Lloyd on guitar. One of those live tracks is a cover of the Neil Young song "Dont Cry No Tears" from the great album Zuma. The other 2 tracks include a remix of the song "Devil with the Green Eyes" from the Altered Beast album (with Robert Quine on guitar) and a studio outtake called "Ultrasuede" (with Richard Lloyd on guitar). Btw, if you're ever missing Robert Quine, don't play "Devil with the Green Eyes." Such a terrible loss.
Sunday, August 4, 2024
Friday, August 2, 2024
Deer Tick - Divine Providence: 7 (B+)
# [alt-country] Got this before I could stream before purchasing. I considered keeping it, but have ultimately decided against it. I think this grade is actually a notch above what I would naturally give it anyway. Giving it the benefit of the doubt.
Thursday, August 1, 2024
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