Friday, July 11, 2025
Monday, July 7, 2025
Etta James - The Sweetest Peaches: The Chess Years, Part One (1960-1966): placeholder
Apparently, all but two tracks are on The Essential Etta James. I have not independently verified this but am taking it on faith from AllMusic. I did verify that all but one track from The Sweetest Peaches: The Chess Years, Part Two (1967-1975) are on The Essential Etta James. I was concerned about this because The New Rolling Stone Album Guide gives the latter 5 stars.
Bo Diddley - The Definitive Collection: X (X)
As with Howlin' Wolf, this appears to be identical to The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection release entitled His Best. (This does not appear to be the case with Etta James, however. I don't grade things like this, but obviously, this would be 9 (A) or higher for most critics/people. I don't appreciate it at that level, probably because I'm an immature, unsophisticated dirtbag. So I weasel out by just not grading.
Various - Can You Dig It? The ‘70s Soul Experience [Rhino, 2001]: 7 (B+)
6-CD set, for which Rhino has created an official playlist on Spotify. There are 12 songs missing from this playlist as of this writing, Eleven of these songs I found on Spotify and made into a supplemental playlist. The final missing song from this 136-track collection is “Cool Aid” by Paul Humphrey & His Cool Aid Chemists, which is findable on YouTube presently. I listened to all of this four times in its entirety, once a week for four weeks, which is a huge undertaking (over 30 hours of listening time in total). Docked a notch for bloat. They could have made this a quadruple, and it would have been an 8.5 (high A-) or even 9 (A).
Saturday, July 5, 2025
Friday, July 4, 2025
Louis Armstrong: The Best of Louis Armstrong: The Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings: 10 (A+)
How could anyone resist this single-disc distillation of the legendary 4CD box set, selling for $8 with stellar remastering? A no-brainer. I'm going to go ahead and rate this, even though I am not anywhere near qualified to do so. At the very, very least, one should have this in the collection.
New York Dolls - Live at the Matrix, San Francisco, September 1973
I normally don't post about videos, particularly concert videos, even more so apparent bootleg concert videos. Anyway, this appears to be Bob Gruen's footage? Well worth watching, just to understand and appreciate the Dolls for what they were. The two studio albums don't really capture it. Thunders is particularly mesmerizing in this one. What a loss.
Thursday, July 3, 2025
Chuck Berry - The Definitive Collection: X (X)
I will not presume to grade this, but of course I have it and treasure it. Also of course I realize it probably deserves a 10 (A+), but I can't give it that in good conscience, because it's not the kind of thing I put on over and over just to hear it. I probably don't even really enjoy it at the 9 (A) level. So I am ducking a grade, probably a cowardly move. I also had The Great Twenty-Eight for many years as my only Chuck Berry, but I de-shelved that in favor of this. First of all, Twenty-Eight was a first-generation CD transfer of what was essentially a vinyl-era comp. Second, every song on that is on this, except for "Bye Bye Johnny." I also had The Anthology (aka Gold), which I de-shelved, which means I played it through at least 4 times (probably much more). It's just too much Chuck Berry. Same with The Chess Box, which I have obviously given three listens. With Chuck Berry, less is more.
Monday, June 30, 2025
Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky: The Best of Norman Greenbaum: 8.5 (high A-)
Upped a notch for sheer audacity and outsider integrity. [Varese Sarabande, 1995]
Sunday, June 29, 2025
Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsies 2: 7.5 (high B+)
Very tempted to get this, just for its rarity and oddity in the Hendrix catalog, but the prices are too high even if I bumped it up a notch on some pretext or other. Anyway, the "Ezy Rider" included here, from the first show at Berkeley, is I believe the only track that is not available elsewhere. # [live]
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Jimi Hendrix - Johnny B. Goode [EP]: 8 (A-)
Weird little live hodgepodge release, which is actually the soundtrack to a 1986 video. It's an EP marketed, as is often the case, as a "mini-album" and contains music appearing on other releases: an edited version of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" later appearing in full on Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival, "All Along the Watchtower" and a short rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" from the same release/show, "Machine Gun" later appearing on Live at Berkeley, and the title track taken from the first show on the same date at Berkeley, which is not on the former release, but had already been released on Hendrix in the West.
Breaking this all down, who needs a short rendition of the national anthem, when the classic, longer version is on the Woodstock albums, and presumably one already had Hendrix in the West (as I do) at the time. The truncated "Voodoo Child" from Atlanta seems to be a kind of sacrilege, and so that leaves you with the 11-minute "Machine Gun" from Berkeley and the 4-minute "Watchtower" cover from Atlanta. Given that the latter is a cover that has been done to death (and in my view is not that good here), is this worth it for the "Machine Gun"? While that track is clearly the centerpiece of the EP, I don't think it justifies the purchase. I did listen to the whole thing three times, after stitching together a temporary Spotify playlist, to see how it flowed and to be able to grade it with integrity, although I had to use the full version of "Voodoo Child" (really not sure how they cut it down to 4:30, without taking out parts in the middle of the song). In my view, it does not flow stupendously, which it would have to in order to make this a compelling addition. Still, I do like the live EP concept for Hendrix. Live at Berkeley is on my listen list, and so I also might end up getting this version of "Machine Gun" as part of that release, especially if the rest of the show is near that level. I tend to like live Hendrix more when he stretches out and isn't trying so hard to be incendiary.
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Sunday, June 22, 2025
Chairmen of the Board - Greatest Hits [HDH/Invictus, 1990]: 7.5 (high B+)
Christgau has this as 1991 for some reason. At least I think this is the right one. There is a later compilation from 2002 with 5 less tracks that I am going to try. Perhaps this is too much of a good thing. This is 51 minutes long with 15 tracks. The other one, The Best of Chairmen of the Board, is 10 tracks and 35 minutes and is on EMI-Capitol. All ten tracks are also on this. Maybe that'll bump it up to 8 (A-). # [r&b]
Lambrini Girls - You're Welcome [EP]: 8 (A-)
Vinyl-only. I would still buy it, because I like it and the cover, but it's selling for full-price for six tracks in sixteen-and-a-half minutes (we're talking $64 shipped off Bandcamp, for example), so I'll pass. I guess I could get it off Amazon for $24 shipped, but it's a 12-inch EP, and that's a little pricey even so, and 12-inch EPs annoy me. Basically import prices.
The Everly Brothers: 16 of Their Greatest Recordings [Music Club, 1997]: placeholder
I de-shelved this in 2022, just as a semi-appealing CD-era comp of oldies, perhaps thinking I would search out a better, older vinyl comp at some point. Christgau likes it because it contains only 16 of the Cadence tracks the brothers recorded, rather than all the other comps which have too many. He also noted that there were only a few, slightly later Warner tracks worth compiling, and that there was no similarly slight collection of those. However, just a year or two later, Rhino put out All-Time Original Hits, with similarly cleaned-up sound, and the same number of tracks as this. However, that Rhino comp shit-canned even more of the Cadence tracks, specifically, these six:
"I Wonder if I Care as Much"
"Claudette"
"Poor Jenny"
"Be Bop-A-Lula"
"Like Strangers"
"I'm Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail"
This makes room for the following six Warner tracks:
"Cathy's Clown"
"So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)"
"Ebony Eyes"
"Walk Right Back"
"That's Old Fashioned (That's the Way Love Should Be)"
"Crying in the Rain"
To me, this makes All-Time Original Hits even better than the Music Club comp, since those six songs were right in sequence with the Cadence tracks, so it's not like there are any jarring transitions. They are all around the same time period. I suppose someone could argue that there should be a couple more Cadence and a couple less Warners, etc., but I think Rhino did an amazing job of picking, and not overdoing it just because they had the space, so I went for it. I will post about that release separately.
Oneohtrix Point Never - Chuck Person's Eccojams Vol. 1: 7 (B+)
Digital-only remix mixtape. Upped a notch for mystery and meta-squared-identities.
[Orchestra] Baobab Guy-Gui - Mame Diarra Bousso [Studio 2000, 1986]: 7 (B+)
Cassette-only release, all information from Discogs only. Probably upped a notch just for sheer rarity and wanting to get the cover up there. I might even buy this on cassette, were copies remotely available.
Various - Only Soul 1970-1974: 9 (A)
I'm not sure how I stumbled on this midline collection, but I'm glad I did. I explored the tracklists on the four dozen or so other titles in the mid-1990's "Only" CD/cassette series, but the "Only Soul" subseries is the only one that really intrigues me. There were four of those, and I will probably make Spotify playlists for the other three over time and assess them, given how good this first one was. The others are 1975-1979, 1980-1984, and 1985-1989.
Saturday, June 21, 2025
Loretta Lynn - Greatest Hits: placeholder
Not as easy to dispose of as the second volume -- six out of 11 tracks are not on other necessary comps. I would say that those six are not as good as the three on the second volume, and the physical situation is otherwise exactly the same, so, same result, and same listening protocol. Here are the six:
"Before I'm Over You"
"If You're Not Gone Too Long"
"Dear Uncle Sam"
"The Other Woman"
"Success"
"The Home You're Tearin' Down"
The other consideration is that these six songs only represent 15 minutes of music, given the shortness of early country songs.
Loretta Lynn - Greatest Hits Vol. II: placeholder
Love the cover. However, eight of 11 tracks are on other comps which are probably necessary given the confusing state of her discography. There does appear to be an undated, un-remastered first generation CD-transfer out there, but I generally don't do those, and I'm not going to spring for original vinyl just for the great cover and these three songs: "I Wanna Be Free," "Ain't It Funny," and "What Sundown Does to You." Those songs are good, but not that good. I did listen to this twice to get the flow but won't be assigning a grade.
Various - Masters of Jazz, Vol. 2: Bebop’s Greatest Hits [Rhino, 1996]: X (X)
Recorded 1945-1954. # [jazz/multi-artist comp]
Friday, June 20, 2025
Miles Davis - Love Songs: X (X)
Alot of bitchy little reviews of this compilation out there for some reason. The songs are classics, they sound great, and they hang together well, and really set the mood. What's not to like?
The Temptations - Greatest Hits: X (X)
I stupidly de-shelved this a couple years ago, I think because I thought it was a terrible early CD-era compilation with a terrible cover and packaging, etc, and why keep it around when it is streamable easily? But I don't think I considered at the time that this was the original, terrible cover from 1966, and what I had was a faithful reproduction of that from Motown, with massively cleaned-up sound on a remastered, 1998 re-issue. So I rescued it. It's a learning process. I still feel unqualified to rate this, but I'm sure it deserves a 10 (A+). What else could one give it?
New York Dolls - A Hard Night's Day: 9 (A)
I'm with those who think that, other than the first album, obviously, this is probably the ideal way to hear the Dolls. And in some ways it's better than the first album. Absolutely essential.
Various - Totally Hits: 8 (A-)
I would say Christgau's grade for this is probably 8.5 (high A-). I'm not sure I can quite get there, but after 5 listens, as always, his mostly unerring ear for this kind of compilation is truly impressive. Of course, once the streaming era hit, there was no longer any need for this kind of thing, but at the time, they served a purpose: allowing you to hear at will, or when people came over to play, songs that would otherwise never be at your fingertips, in a highly pleasant and enjoyable configuration. So, a worthy late-1990's artifact, and I should probably up it a notch. And it went platinum.
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Bruce Springsteen: Land of Hope & Dreams [EP]: liked
Docked a notch for giving us plebes a lecture on politics. Always hate it when the most powerful people on earth complain about the power structure that they embody and benefit enormously from, as if it came from somewhere else and they are not complicit in keeping 99% of the country and world down. What a blind, pretentious jackass. Such a fake "everyman." Cries about his dad's plight and everything, as if he doesn't have everything he wants now and doesn't fly private jets. Music's decent though, thanks to his band.
Various - The Perfect Beats: New York Electro Hip Hop + Underground Dance Classics 1980-1985/Volume 2: 7 (B+)
# [multi-artist comp] I played this because it is one of the few compilations in the New Rolling Stone Album Guide to receive a 5-star rating. I’m not sure why it received that rating. I do love the cover though.
Kate Bush - The Dreaming: 7 (B+)
There appear to be only first-generation un-remastered CD transfers, and remastered editions on the artist's own label, selling for a small fortune new and/or used. In fact, all NM copies of this in any edition seem to be selling for a small fortune. Not sure why there isn't a $15 remaster easily available anywhere. Anyway, the album is very experimental and takes some getting used to. It grows on you though.
Saturday, June 14, 2025
X-Ray Spex - Germfree Adolescents: 8 (A-)
I have the version with the track order revised from the original album, plus 4 additional songs: "Age," "Highly Inflammable," "I Am a Cliche," and, of course, "Oh Bondage Up Yours!". I think some people got worked up about that, but I think it flows well, and I'm glad to have that last song on something of theirs.
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter VI: liked
Not nearly as bad as everyone seems to be saying. Docked a notch for bloat and for the relentless use of words I cannot say.
Monday, June 9, 2025
Les Abranis - Album No. 1 (Id Ed Was): 7.5 (high B+)
This is a vinyl-only re-issue. Could be an 8 (A-), but the original vinyl is ridiculously expensive, and I'm not going to play it again to make sure.
Sunday, June 8, 2025
.jpg)
Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll: 8.5 (high A-)
This is the 1987 release on vinyl by Demon. I once owned the same-titled 1992 release on CD by Rhino but sold it off. It has all the songs on this, plus more, which I think I thought was too much. It also has this regrettable cover:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)