34.1 Days of Music, So What?

Prologue: I listened to the Come to Daddy EP for many years, but I never understood how Aphex Twin’s most popular song fit in with the rest of the EP. I found out that Richard D. James wrote Come to Daddy out of a jingle mock of death metal. I find this hilarious. I also find that song so overwhelming to my senses that I can only react with laughter. That’s why I was so surprised by the rest of this EP. James often explores laid back and pleasant atmospheres. It seems that the industrial death jingle of “Come to Daddy” isn’t the rule with Aphex Twin, as many people believe. Nevertheless, sometimes the deluge of synthetic percussion and assaultive noises of Aphex clears the room, so to speak. 

Come to Daddy EP

In my updated experience, two things generally stuck out in these songs: dynamic, complex drum synths and rich ambience. The drums are so complicated that I have to pull my frame of reference pretty far back in order to get a meaningful impression. That’s not a bad thing. These drums don’t function the way drums normally do to most of us. In order to enjoy the complexity of tone, rhythm, and contrast of the drums on this album, you really need to let the sounds come to you while trying not to hold on to anything in particular. 

Beyond this complexity, I loved the use of simple cymbal beats throughout this EP. These beats add a sense of urgency, but they also ground the music whenever it needs a more coherent focus (“Flim”; see especially “Bucephalus Bouncing Ball”). 

When James uses wicked sounding synthesized voices in “Come to Daddy [Little Lord Faulteroy Mix]”, he hints that his sound has a life of its own. While the principle melodies and synthesized voices impart a feeling of creepiness, the ambience of the song implies a soothing reassurance. This mixture was extremely unsettling to me, but I was so impressed that James was able to create this juxtaposition that I enjoyed it much more as a result. 

On the chill side, “IZ-US” impressed me more than any other song in terms of coherent melody and harmony. You don’t have to back away to enjoy this one; the strangeness of the melodic starts, stops, and swoops come much more naturally to the ears. 

To sum it up, this is very interesting and thoughtful music, but it probably requires a backed off frame of reference for the enjoyment by the uninitiated (or so I assume). Even without mention of this frame of reference theory of enjoyment, this EP stands out from any electronic music I have ever heard. I’m no expert on whatever the Aphex Twin-listening public calls this music, but I can conclude that the Come to Daddy EP is a very stimulating piece of work. It invaded my feelings and unsettled me or excited me, basically whatever James wanted to do with me. 

3 out of 5 stars

Epilogue: I usually stray away from critique and towards appreciation when I write about music that most people don’t enjoy. I couch my own criticisms in the context of how I believe this kind of music could be enjoyed. My personal mode of music appreciation is stylistically neutral. I don’t hold any style to be inherently superior to another. Chuck Klosterman criticized this kind of musical taste as an inability to love any type of music. However, Klosterman’s view of devotion to music is more of a pop cultural view than musical. In all practicality, Klosterman lies at one extreme and I lie at another. I simply hope that my descriptions of music that you don’t enjoy or haven’t heard piques your interest enough to listen and to try and think about music differently in general.

I miss writing in this thing. I got stuck on Aphex Twin and I haven’t had time to fix it. I hope to still keep writing every once and a while, but I might be stuck in law school mode until December :(

I don’t have lots of time, but I want all of you to know about a great band from Atlanta, my neck of the woods.

If you like rock and roll and you haven’t listened to Dropsonic, weep. Weep horribly.

Check out their Facebook for decent live vids and some great new tracks

Check out their Myspace to hear more tracks and see if they are coming near you.

All of their albums are on Itunes. I highly recommend Low Life, Belle, and the Losing Streak/Light the Fires EP for starters. Watch out for a new album, VI, next week.

I hope I can make it to the D’s. 

I hope at least some of you have been enjoying my critiques. I would love it if you would recommend my blog!

Prologue: Classical music all sounds the same to pretty much everyone these days. That makes plenty of sense because we are simply too far removed from this genre to have it necessarily be parts of our lives. Classical music historically represents a major point in the solidification of creativity on a scale never before seen in the world. This is important enough to allow the argument that everyone should attempt to appreciate Classical music at some point in one’s life. The word “appreciate”, however, has two inseparable prongs of meaning. The most obvious part of the meaning is “enjoyment”. A more implicit part of the meaning is “understanding”. Sometimes people can find enjoyment from the act of learning to understand Classical music, but I think more often the idea of needing to work to understand a kind of music repels many listeners from this genre. I propose an opposite approach: one might enjoy learning to understand Classical music better by finding means of enjoying it first. Please join me as I undertake my first journey to describe Classical music in a way that helps people enjoy it first and foremost. I don’t know much background about Vivaldi worth mentioning, so I’m going to jump right into his music.

Antonio Vivaldi

“La Notte” mixes intrigue, mischief, and dreamlike landscapes to create Vivaldi’s portrait of the night. The piece moves on to vibrant activity that feels like life that springs up when the rest of the world sleeps. There is a tangible element of fantasy to this piece, which suggests a mythological beauty in the concept of nighttime itself.

In the “Concerto for Two Mandolins”, the titular instrument blends in and out of the orchestra’s sound. The first movement uses various key changes and other vibrant contrasts between sections to catch the listener’s attention. The mandolins really provide a different context for classical music than any other I have experienced. These instruments can sound innocent like a lullaby or exotic like the treasures of faraway lands. The middle of the second movement exploits an ethereal sound with slow, snaking melodies on top of simple harmonies. 

Vivaldi again showcases a somewhat unusual instrument with his “Bassoon Concerto RV472”. This instrument’s light and thoughtful tone adds a sense of sophistication to this pastorally themed piece.

The real ticket for Vivaldi is his “Four Seasons”, a quartet of violin concertos, one for each season. Vivaldi touches on some of the most basic musical imagery that has ever been exploited. You can hear the rain, sun, and life flowering in “Spring”. The final movement of “Spring” appears to portray a dance-like celebration of Spring’s significance in the cycle of life. The cycle matures into the stormy gravity of “Summer”, which becomes sticky like the hot, humid summer air and violent like summer storms. The tangible humidity of the “Summer” movements allows one to really taste the cool, refreshing crispness of the air in “Autumn”.  

I am impressed by how vividly the imagery of Vivaldi’s pieces develop considering how quickly his pieces tend to move forward. Listening to Vivaldi puts me in a place that feels very close to the heart of the creator compared to listening to Mozart or Beethoven, which sometimes makes me feel like I’m being dwarfed by something so big that I couldn’t conceive feeling close to it. This music feels more like an intimate relationship than a historical monument. 

3.5 out of 5 stars

Epilogue: I imagine that for most people (myself included) it takes a little bit of “fake it ‘till you make it” to enjoy classical music, or even jazz or any other music of substantial difference from the subjective norm. I think that classical music is a spectacle of sound, and that it doesn’t take as much effort to appreciate classical music as one might think. I would suggest starting with some research (read: wikipedia diving) to find out whose works might be more in line with your tastes. For example, if you are a fan of Muse, or something generally grandiose or bombastic, I would recommend something from the Romantic period like Wagner or Liszt. At any rate, I hope that you can take the time to listen to at least one or two of the links I have posted and contrast how you feel with what I have written. I haven’t included every single movement of every single piece, I’m just hoping to give anyone who listens a good taste of Vivaldi. If you find something compelling, please send me your thoughts. Challenging yourself to appreciate Classical music certainly has the potential to increase one’s musical potential, but it should also be enjoyed on its own merits.

Next week: Aphex Twin, the Come to Daddy EP. Yikes.

breatheeasily said:

“I understand everything you’ve written about ACDC. However, when I think of ACDC I don’t attempt to analize there songs as I take the time to in artists such as lets say… John frusciante, or Grieves. Mainly I think this is because when I think of ACDC I think of some badass mofo’s that really just wanted to ROCK. They wanted to motherfucking rock your fucking socks off all night and day. Listening to ACDC to me has always been with my dad in the truck on some amazing adventure, always with back in black. That album is good traveling music, good fucking music to listen to from the first to the last track.  The energy back in black creates in my opinion is uncomparable to any other album.

- but this is just my opinion:]”

Thanks for your input! I still don’t think they rocked all that well on that album, but on reflection I do think that I came to that conclusion after going into this analysis. On a more impressional note, I really don’t like Brian Johnson’s voice at all, he sounds like he’s trying so hard that he’s going to make my veins burst. 

One of my main goals is to find a way to analyze music without breaking it down too much, except when breaking it down might be an appropriate goal. Instead of tearing apart each element, I put my reactions and feelings associated with this music to good description. I agree that a broken down, structural analysis of AC/DC would be extremely improper. Instead, I endeavored to describe what my general impressions were without reducing the music to its bare parts. I hope I achieved this goal without becoming a reductionalist, but that in itself is a skill that I need to develop.

Law school is hell on my time, I’m trying to finish my next artist critique, however!

I would direct you to my first post, which was a somewhat harsh critique of AC/DC. I’m especially interested in knowing what you think about this if you happen to like this band, so I just want to make sure you all read it if you would! Criticism encouraged.

Prologue: Anti-Nowhere League is one of a few bands that Metallica introduced to me, specifically by covering one of the League’s songs: the epically obscene “So What?”. My reasons for liking this band are slightly less Metallica-controlled these days. I used to think that Metallica’s thrash metal formula made more sense than anything in the world: A) British Heavy Metal is Cool, but it could be faster and more raw, and B) Punk is pretty cool, but it could be more technically driven. My love for Metallica has toned down significantly over the years (I’m looking at you, St. Anger), but I still think this idea of thrash metal was great. The Anti-Nowhere League to me represents a step forward from punk rock and towards thrash.

I have two songs: “So What?” and “Skull and Bones”. I was going to cheat and listen to a full album, but instead I’m going to be truthful to what I have and I want to get as much writing done as I can, and while I can. 

It seems like you could say “this a really nasty sounding punk band with a singer that has a heavy English accent”. I almost want to end the review, because that’s pretty much good enough for me. However, the sickening guitar distortion and face melting vocals on “Skull and Bones” add a new context to the jaunty (compared to Slayer, anyways) aspect inherent in most coherent punk music. To put it simply, this band has a lot more balls in their sound than most of the punk bands I’ve heard. 

That being said, I’m no punk aficionado. I’ve listened to the Mistfits, the Sex Pistols, and other bands I don’t even remember, so I’m pretty much shooting from the hip here. Any punk enthusiasts that wish to correct me may, and are so encouraged.

“So What” seems to be an exercise in obscenity, but the driving beat established by the drums is a welcome addition to this sonic fray, especially the back beat during the chorus. 

All in all, this band is about being angry and pissed off. I absolutely love how they present that. Their sound could be called more mechanical than a lot of well known punk bands, but you could also claim that they concentrate a little more on their instruments, although certainly not much. 

     In conclusion, it is entirely appropriate that this dude looks like Wolverine.

4 out of 5 stars.

Epilogue: I have already listened to the album We Are… The League on grooveshark a couple of times and I just love it. They hint at a little bit of rockabilly, kind of like X, but they have this grittiness that I just can’t seem to find in other punk bands. Unless I come into some kind of punk phase, I doubt I’ll listen to many other punk bands besides this one, but I’ll definitely listen to The Anti-Nowhere League a lot more. At least, whenever I have time. Law school is crazy.

Up next: the challenge of describing classical music and making it interesting to more people at the same time (Antonio Vivaldi).

EDIT: The link for the song did not work, so here it is!

Well, I only have one song by Annie Lennox and it’s random as hell that it’s even here, so I’m just going to stick it out there. 

Apparently, this is from the Official Movie Soundtrack of Francis Ford Coppolla’sDracula, which was an awesome, though sometimes silly, movie. 

Annie’s voice on this track is very beautiful. The simple melody tugs at my heart strings, and the counter-harmonies laid over the melody in later verses build on that. She starts off tender, and her intensity is in such sync with the swelling of the music that she seems other-wordly. In the final verse, the complimentary harmonies raise the scope of this song into the audial heavens. Try and listen for the difference between the second verse and the final verse after the bridge. The tension set up by the second verse and bridge act as lattices upon which the final verse ascends. This is some pretty cheesy stuff, so I definitely understand it if this song doesn’t take you on that kind of journey. I guess I do have a soft spot in my heart for this songs, I just have no idea from where or when.

The synthetic flutes and strings in the introduction are the biggest down side of this song. Within the first repetition of the verse, you finally figure out that she’s intentionally using synths and not just suffering from a low budget, which helps a bit. 

A funny note: this song is actually called “Love Song for a Vampire”, and I guess I named it “Love Song” because jeez that’s stupid. Silly names notwithstanding, I would be very interested to hear more of Annie Lennox. I love her voice. I love her sense of musical architecture, at least as displayed in this song. I think her less cheesy, and even more more cheesy, stuff will be delightful. 

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Annie Lenox (only one song though)

Anti Nowhere League

Antonio Vivaldi

Aphex Twin

Arcade Fire

Art Blakey

Art of Noise

Arthur Lyman

I hope to get through all of these before November, when I’ll really have to go underground.

Sung Tongs

I was surprised at how stripped down this album actually is. While it lacks the filling presence of the electric guitars, piano, and drums of Feels, a healthy dose of imagination gets these guys through. Instead of any one instrument providing the atmosphere, everything works together in an unexpected manner to create very deep sensations. Odd vocal undulations, even less inhibited than on Feels, still pepper songs throughout the album. This is a very useful tool for painting musical portraits unlike anyone else in the business; it’s unfortunate that it sometimes goes too far to be taken seriously. 

I enjoyed the three lushest tracks the most: “Winters Love”, “Leaf House”, and “We Tigers”. I’m very impressed by the heavy layering of these three songs, despite sparse instrumentation. The layering comes from very stark development in each song. “Winter’s Love” works like a mini opera; you can hear the story of a heart growing from pittance to passion. “We Tigers” is about as far as the vocal undulations can be taken seriously, from my perspective. I sure as hell don’t want to describe this song as a bunch of cavemen dancing around a fire, but I just don’t think I can avoid it. Luckily, something deeper resonates in me as I hear this song; it feels like the discovery of fire and the theory of evolution rolled up into one giant transcendence. 

“The Softest Voice” perplexes me. This song improves on the free form rhythm that, in my opinion, plagued some songs on Feels. However, the vocal melodies of this song don’t pop out as beautifully as they could have. The thing is, the band makes me wonder if that was an intentional act, which makes me wonder why a musical group would intentionally act so, which ultimately impresses me because they really got into my head with such a small detail in a minimal song.

                                    Well played, Hypnotoad, well played.

“Who Could Win a Rabbit” explores some very progressively masked time signatures, and makes a very strong statement about the place of world music in Animal Collective’s sensibility (see my last post).

Now, on the negative side:

“Visiting Friends”, with it’s lack of discernible end, is probably the one reason I ever honestly thought this band was self indulgent. Also, some things sound too stupid for me to be able to remain objective. The wah-wah vocal effect of “Whaddit I Done” probably has some point, but I cannot fabricate enough interest in it for an analysis. I’ve been doing a pretty good job of viewing things objectively, so I’m going to put it off on the dumbass wah-wah effect and not my mental faculties.

All in all, this album confused me as much as it pleased me. I rarely disliked it outrightly. The confusion seems to have served a purpose. However, I think we have to accept that with Animal Collective, “serving a purpose” and “being able to describe or locate that purpose” may have nothing to do with each other whatsoever.

3 out of 5 stars.

Epilogue: I wish I could take away any implicit judgments made about this band as a whole, because reviewing these two albums has taught me that I want to explore this band’s repertoire further. It’s useful to know that I’m much more pleased by their electric/full band sounds than their organic works. This critical experience has done more to break down my past conceptions than to build new ones. Given my situation with this band, I think that’s the best I can hope for now. I intend to start anew, and to figure out which albums of theirs to listen to next. Given that I like Feels way more than Sung Tongs, what albums by Animal Collective would you suggest?

To any new readers, please check out my earlier posts to learn more about my style of musical critique. If that’s too much work, do not worry. I’m going to put it all together into a short treatise on my theory of musical appreciation, hopefully in a way that will entertain. Also, I think some of my stuff is at least entertaining, even if it is longer than anything you see on tumblr elsewhere.

Up next: Anti-Nowhere League. I only have two songs, so I think I’m going to cheat and listen to at least one album in its entirety. If you listen to the Anti-Nowhere League, give a good first album on which to start!

I’m beginning law school tomorrow. Sadly, this means I won’t be able to do any more than one of these entries a week. I should have my review of Animal Collective’s Sung Tongs out tomorrow. Until then, I urge all of you to read as many of my past reviews as you can bear. I really want as much feedback on my reviewing and writing style, as well as cosmetic suggestions, as possible. I hope you are enjoying my blog, and that you can take some of my suggestions about different ways to think about music as seriously as possible. As long as you are still having fun, that is. 

Prologue: I don’t remember exactly when it became more fun for me to make fun of Animal Collective than for me to listen to them. I remember that it wasn’t really a sad moment in my life. I actually enjoyed some of their songs, I just also really, *really* enjoyed making fun of them. For one bright and shining moment, I suspect it may have been Advanced, but it soon just became typical bellyaching. My complaints were typical back then: the music seemed more self indulgent than coherent, and what I heard as self indulgence negatively affected my listening experience the songs I did like. All of the sudden it all was a big joke. Honestly, I’m still not sure how seriously I should, or can, take this music after sitting out on it for so long, no matter how poor my reasons were. I guess I’ll stick by the old standby and pretend that I’m hearing it truly for the first time. It’s close to what’s actually happening after four years of putting this stuff down.

Feels

With “Did You See the Words”, this album starts off with the tinkling piano and nebulous guitar sounds that make people think “avant-garde” in our generation. This album is certainly unusual, although not all of it’s musical ideas are completely groundbreaking. The singer uses more sides of his voice than ninety nine percent of anything I have ever heard: Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife might be a contender in terms of versatility of tone, and Hungarian goat herders are the only people I can think of that push their voices further than the singer of Animal Collective. The guitars go miles beyond what we usually expect to create the atmosphere for which this band is known. Very well mixed echo and slap back effects push the guitar into every sonic hole, and it feels like just enough honey seeping into bread, making everything sweet but not too soggy. 

The weakest point of this album lies in the tracks with the loose-to-none rhythm: “Flesh Canoe” and “Bees”, specifically. Making music with little to no rhythmic backup often works very well. It is not the strong suit of this album. The best reason I can come up for this critique is the singer’s delivery. In “Bees”, an oriental sounding dulcimer (possibly a harpsichord) presents a stark texture that should have made this track work. The singer sounds as if he’s fighting the natural rhythm of the track, however. I imagine that he was simply more able to express himself when accompanied by a stronger rhythm at that time. “Banshee Beat” shows how well Animal Collective can do with a rhythmless structure in the beginning, but the song works better as a whole because stronger rhythm kicks in before the singer does. “Daffy Duck” works slightly better as a free form song, mostly because the singer is holding back compared to his singing in “Bees”. The minimalism of this song is much more appreciable without the singer fighting against it.

This album is a mostly pleasant but more often surprising experience to behold. Looking back to my own personal history, I think a lot of the buzz happened locally around me because Animal Collective happened to be the first good unordinary band a lot of people heard as they grew up. I do not hear the self indulgence I once accused this band of. I hear experimentation, some of which does not work very well , but most of which does work pretty well (“The Purple Bottle”; “Grass”). 

The last two tracks really stuck out in my ears. “Loch Raven” embraced some ringing bell tones unlike anything else on this album, which makes this song more pleasant to listen to. Finally, “Turn into Something” shows Animal Collective embracing world music more than anywhere else on Feels. Animal Collective sounds like it’s approaching this style, but very slowly, from several different directions throughout the album without actually achieving it. “Turn into Something” embraces some of the vocal chants and uplifting instrumental lines that make me think of world music; as a result, it sounds like a grand parade reaching a destination promised to everyone throughout a very serious and arduous journey. In my opinion, that’s the best part of this album, structurally. They didn’t go off and play a world music styled song. They built their own version of world music for eight tracks and put it all together for an impressive finish.

3 out of 5 stars. Would have given it 2.5 if not for these last two tracks, however. 

Music of Hair

This listening experience has validated my earlier opinion: Andrew Bird has a complex musical personality. Whereas many artists dabble in archaic instruments and styles, Bird seems to have mastered them and, much more importantly, torn them apart to recreate them in his image. Music of Hair paints a pretty desolate picture at first; the sparseness of this recording style evokes images of a horror drama at the Dust Bowl, or perhaps in a rural setting in Siberia (“Minor Beatrice”).  This album stays out of the cold/desert/gulag just long enough to remain vital, but the troubles Bird illustrates keeps the experience human. 

His violin pieces create mysteries for the ears. Although I would describe his sound as cryptic in these tracks, I don’t think these songs need to be unraveled or overly examined. “Rhodeaoh” breaks down the structure we expect and blurs the styles that we hear, but the mixed feelings of disorientation and functional beauty triumph over any analysis of form or structure. The mystery of his violin playing couples with an odd sort of doom and mischievousness in romps like “Two Sisters” and “Song of Foot”.

You can hear a diverse array of style on this album, from the country yarn called “Nuthinduan Waltz” to the devilish carnival burlesque called “Pathetique”.  All of these songs, however, are held together by yet another side of Bird. This time, he shows the most complex side that I’ve experience between these three albums. He is playful yet devilish, jaunty yet desolate, and stylistically hodgepodge yet utterly in control of what he is creating. This album was a colorful and haunting experience. The dry and menacing sound made it a challenge to enjoy, but listening to his other albums and understanding his personality helped me enjoy this album as a whole more than I would have by listening to the album by itself.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Epilogue: It’s not often that I learn this much about music from an artist. Andrew Bird has taught me about the meaning of an old saying I’ve heard over and over: “If you borrow an idea, it’s plagiarizing, but if you steal it, you’ve made it your own”. I always knew that applied to age old dilemma of using familiar musical devices while trying to create something transformative or original. Andrew Bird isn’t the first person to show me how a unique personality can make new sounds using old ideas. He made his mark on my musical experience with the unbelievably personal atmosphere that he creates with his music. Even The Swimming Hour had this effect, and out of the three albums I have of his music this one showed him at his most exuberant. The idea that an artist could be so complex and yet so personal is an exciting one. It feels like I’m on the verge of welcoming something really great: not only does Andrew Bird have plenty of material left for me to discover, but also his music that I do have is very likely to grow on me.

A friend told me that I need to experience him live before I can pass a judgement. This is an interesting concept that I have myself experienced, but I haven’t thought about applying it to this little project. Where does the live performance fit in an artist’s talent, or even his or her or their worth?  Certainly, no one true answer exists. I would love to apply this side of music to my project, but I must decline on the grounds that it would make for some pretty uneven opinion forming. I haven’t seen all of these artists live, and I can’t afford to do so. I could go on youtube or something, but even that is at best just experiencing a differently packaged album or at worst getting pissed off because of the poor quality of some dude’s camera phone. Furthermore, I don’t think I needed that side of Bird’s musical talent to understand and enjoy his music. I probably would need it if I wanted to become more fanatic about him, and I’m not saying that won’t happen. It is simply outside of the scope of my project, and has no practical consequences to my goals other than a possible shift away from my development of unbiased musical descriptive skills.

Sorry, I couldn’t find any links to the songs on this album.  Next time: Animal Collective.

Prologue: I’m skipping this segment when I’m between albums of the same artist for now, or at least I’m keeping it short. I’m toying with the idea of retaining a narrative throughout one artist despite splitting it up like this.

The Swimming Hour

First and foremost, I was stunned by the certainty of Bird’s songwriting and musical arrangement from the very first minute of this album. “Two Way Action” does a fantastic job opening up shop. Bird and his Bowl of Fire have pulled back on the up close and personal vulnerability of Armchair Apocrypha in favor of musical flair and confidence. The idea makes sense, with Armchair a solo album and The Swimming Hour a full band effort. This music is terribly exciting. I was definitely expecting that trance-like sound of Bird by himself, but it didn’t take me long to be more than satisfied by this sound. If anything, this album suggests a genuine complexity in Andrew Bird’s musical personality.

Bird’s voice glides very smoothly across melodies and harmonies. His singing effectively compliments the strings. Just as his rougher fiddle style tunes up “Too Long”, his and backup singer Nora O’Connor’s voices tackle messier harmonies. His balance between solo voice and harmonies with O’Connor shows that he is completely aware of what each moment of a song needs to be just right. His vocal style emphasizes the gorgeous and accurate qualities of O’Connor’s voice when they sing together. The guitar has moved up from a piece of atmosphere to an independent personality (you could say the same thing about almost any instrument in this album). It sounds like your smartest, funniest friend having the best conversation in memory around a campfire. He plays it so well on this album that it makes me feel like something I can rely on if I ever caught on fire or something. I specifically love the meaty sound he creates on “Way Out West”. 

I’m most impressed by Bird’s ability to present kitschy songwriting styles with a ferocious seriousness.  He achieves this through several means: superior musical arrangements, versatile stylings, impressive musical skill, and what has to be non-Western influence that allows him to play so far outside established lines. These ingredients are all vital to each other.  “How Indiscreet” would have sounded terrible without ferocious skill from every musician. The opening melody of “Two Way Action” sounds so interesting because of how far up and down it travels, which is emphasized by the violins over the guitar. “Waiting to Talk” uses an extremely common chord progression (at times), but Bird sings something so interesting on top of it that he sounds like he’s tearing up a concept and rebuilding it to better suit his needs.  

The album as a whole is Bird’s own unique landscape, like a complex imaginary town of which Bird is the mayor.  Compared to Armchair Apocrypha, this album may seem more like an exercise to show us of what Andrew Bird is capable. However, I see The Swimming Hour as a rich journey through a crazy little place. Rather than sounding too cohesive, Bird manages to keep us tethered amidst sharp changes in mood, timbre, and style. That problem of sameness that bothered me in Armchair Apocrypha now creates a trust in Bird as he takes so many crazy directions with his music. We know it’s him that’s communicating with us, not his instruments, not his teachers, and certainly not something as mundane as the historical and physical circumstances that brought him and his band together to make that music at that time. He transcends all of this to give us a part of himself just as honestly as he did in Armchair. This time, however, he brought more friends and he brought more magic.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Epilogue: I have to be honest, Armchair Apocrypha isn’t as much my cup of tea as this album is. I like musicianship more than sentimentality, or perhaps I’m more interested in the process of describing and critiquing the former than I am in the latter. I’ve yammered on enough about sentimentality in music. I’d rather wait until I heard someone else’s opinion about it before I further explore this topic, but that might never happen so I’ll just say I’m tired of hearing myself talk for now.

Prologue: I’m going to switch things up a bit by only doing one album per entry. This will be especially important with the next artist, Andrew Bird, because I haven’t really listened to the guy before. This decision should also help me focus the length of my entries, which has seemed a bit fickle as of late. I have a serious amount of expectations for Andrew Bird based on hearsay, and I need to do my best to suppress them in order to properly review his music. Not only does this strategy follow my general outline for music critique, but it also helps me avoid any anti-Andrew Bird prejudice. I have a history of judging bands more harshly when I’ve heard buzz about them than when I’m coming to them on my own, or at least without too much praise to arouse suspicion. 

Armchair Apocrypha

When I first sat down to listen to this album all the way through, I had to convince myself that I wasn’t hearing Pete Yorn for the first few tracks. I don’t know if that’s a knock on Yorn, Bird, or a knock at all, so I’m just going to leave it be. All in all, I got the impression that the first few tracks were really warm ups compared to “Heretics” and “Armchairs”. By the time “Dark Matter” enters my ears, I sense that Bird has grown from a quiet coffeeshop, to an arena, and finally into the sky. I’m really impressed by his journey at this point, and it’s something I really didn’t like about this album at first.

At the end of the day, my one complaint is that his sound is a bit too continuous.  I would not say that this album is repetitive. However, part of me has stayed in the exact same place for the entire ride despite the many places that Bird took me. I think the whistling has something to with it. You could argue that it’s featured just as often as any other instrument, but it certainly sticks out more than the strings or guitars. Again, I would not judge the whistling as overused so much as underdeveloped.  

Sometimes, Bird will hit an amazing moment of clarity and grace that really sticks with me. The beginning of “Heretics” has an unbelievably gorgeous vocal melody that seems to come out of nowhere. It disappears into the mist as the song grows into itself.  In “Cataracts”, Bird melts the song down into vocals, almost as if he’s torn down all of his defenses in front of everyone. Overall, I would say Andrew Bird has hit on a hugeness of sound that many bands mistakenly translate into arena cock rock.

                               Not actually a Whitesnake video, somehow.

Still, every bit of this album is hugely personal. I can hear him getting a lot of things right with what feels like intensely private feeling spilled into a speaker. The fact that he’s done that without any missteps is what impresses me.  The music itself is what will stay with me.  

4 out of 5 stars

Epilogue: Towards the end, I became hesitant to become any more vivid with my descriptions. Something about this music evokes really personal feelings inside of me, along the lines of what I was talking about at the end of my last review. I simply won’t sit here and say “this reminds me of a time when I…”. That belongs to myself and to whomever else is involved in that memory, as well as to anyone I may have decided to share said memory with. On the other hand, this decision makes my rating of this album a very hard decision itself. I wanted to go crazy and give it a 4.5 because I just knew that I would find some really personal connections to this music. I was going to resist and put a 3.5 because my first impression of it is pretty much equal to the last album I reviewed by …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. I’ve come to the conclusion that this music possesses a sound that enters my heart and speaks to it. That itself is an amazing quality for any music. The fact it can even come close to touching me so, despite the fact that I’ve never heard it before, really counts in its favor. That being said, I stick by my rating, even though I know that this album makes people flip out completely. I know it will grow on me and possibly become a five star album one day, but here’s where I stand after serious listenings and thoughts. I think that’s more important when it comes to music critique in and of itself.

Prologue: Last time, I continued my policy of little to no background research in writing my critiques. I will continue this again today. I picked up Worlds Apart by …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead (Trail of Dead from this point forward, kay?) on a complete whim and never followed it up with another purchase. I didn’t do this in distaste, but I certainly wasn’t hungry for more at the time. That being said, I’ve never listened to them as closely as I have now for this entry. I hope my work will not only clarify my opinion of this band but also spur me towards or away from further exploration.  

Worlds Apart

When I first listened to this album back in 2006, I really missed out on the variety that it has to offer. It doesn’t make a lot of sense at first. Beginning with “Ode to Isis”, the band gives me expectations of darker and more epic music than it delivers, at least to my tastes. That used to put me off, but by the end of this recent album listening I got the distinct feeling that their musical choices were all totally on purpose. Good choices, as well.

Form and function aside, “Will You Smile Again?” introduces this band’s weapons of mass construction. The instrumentalists excel at creating understated and yet energetic and inspiring musical arrangements. From this first full-band track, it is clear that these guys take time to put everything exactly where it belongs. The lower end of Trail of Dead’s musical spectrum impresses me particularly. Lower strings and maybe some synths support the bass guitar. It’s hard to tell exactly what’s all down there because the lower voices complement each other so very well. The bass guitar acts like a band leader, moving the lower voices along with flair and animation. Although it’s usually up front, the bass guitar leaves room for the strings and maybe-synths to flourish. This setup is a serious driving force of this band’s instrumental sections, and it adds color to the more repetitive drums and guitars. The singer’s voice has the slightest touch of what might be called whine if the guy’s voice didn’t work so well. He toes the line between annoying and stripped down, raw energy quite often. However, the latter always wins as each song develops.  

The recording style is dry but very full. It’s like the difference between dry and wet air in high temperatures. If the air gets to full (of water), the heat quickly becomes too much to bear. Dryer air makes a given higher temperature feel more enjoyable. Such is how Trail of Dead’s recording style works for our ears on Worlds Apart. Even with opulent instrumentation, the actual sounds are very natural. I didn’t encounter any extra sound effects to make this fullness unbearable, and I definitely get the feeling that any addition of auditory frills would make for a poor choice of humidity.

The songs fluctuate between sections and movements with a surprising amount of variety, especially for a rock band that seems to have more respect than adulation for itself.  

Warning: amount of Highlander in video is disproportional with musical coherence. 

By the time we get through the bulk of the album, the variety increases and produces a rather odd set of experiences. The constant flow of instrumentation and recording style evokes imagery of a penny theater, going from act to act with shabby set ups and not a great amount of grace but never losing its charm or intensity. “The Best” is my favorite example of how Trail of Dead makes this diversity work for them even when they overuse it a bit. The structural tidal waves of this song create a feeling of melodrama. However, even in the times of great turmoil these guys float seamlessly through the transitions.

I’m trying to describe one of the few qualities of music that almost always sparks my interest, no matter the genre: honesty. This CD has a lot of stuff that usually creates distaste for me: overt political/social commentary, a slightly whiny singer, and an obvious intent to shovel out anthems. These guys make it work, however, because they sound like they are transmitting their souls instead of an ideal. If I ever get to it, I’ll probably say the same thing about Ted Leo and the Pharmacists’ Living With the Living.  With Trail of Dead, it’s more than a game of “how much cheese it too much cheese?”. They exude themselves comfortably, so neither holding back nor pushing forward is even necessary. I still don’t love the intentionally inspiring sound of some of these songs, especially “Worlds Apart” and “Let it Drive”.  However, the honesty displayed by Trail of Dead in Worlds Apart makes this characteristic neither annoying nor vital to my listening experience.

By the way, listen to the chorus of “The Best”.  Anyone want to admit anything?

I just josh. 

“All White” really pulls at my heart strings because it’s my favorite song by far, but it only lasts a freakin’ minute and a half. Maybe I’m just impressed that such a young sounding band can pull off such an old school trick with the gospel singers.  “Cauterwaul”, perhaps the simplest song on Worlds Apart, turns the spotlight on Trail of Dead’s forceful wall of sound. “The Lost City of Refuge”, finally, stands as a fitting end to this album. The song begins with a calm mood that hints at the underlying tension of the album as a whole. This section of the song leads into the rawest, although not the best, sonic payoff of the album. This is a good example of how structure can really work for a song; the loud parts of “The Lost City of Refuge” would have been pretty lame without the serious tension built by the first section.

I am still surprised that I wrote so much about this album given my mediocre opinion of it before this entry. I’m always happier to listen to an album with some sense of cohesion. I have a decent picture of Worlds Apart, which I’ve tried to share with you, and it wasn’t all that hard to find. I’m still not in love with this album, but I’m happy as hell to understand it and my opinion about it a little better.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Epilogue: I suppose some albums can be very evocative of imagery and/or emotion but not necessarily be completely amazing. Or maybe I should say “but not necessarily become my favorite thing in the world”; I’m not sure how pompous I am allowed to be with only 9 entries as of this one. Maybe I should get through the A’s first. Anyways, this probably means that an artist’s ability to achieve a genuine response from a listener is only one of many possible ingredients for very good music. This review raises some interesting questions. I’ve always known that one can easily like music that one must explain is terrible, but I’ve never thought about it the other way around. Also, I really wonder how to explain music that I love, but that I also think is… kinda bad. I’m not going to shy away from that music, I’m just not sure how much detail I want to uncover about my reasons for enjoying it. Sometimes, it’s purely situational, but I doubt it’s ever not musical at all. “Middle School” probably won’t count as a good answer for why I can listen to Silverchair’s “Frogstomp” all day, and I may change my identity out of fear before talking about Nightwish. Before I go, I’m sorry if you love …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and hate that I shortened the name. Yes, I could have cut and pasted several times over, but it seemed disingenuous.

Next time: sit through Animal Collective or get some Andrew Bird albums, because I have only one song by him for some reason.  Probably the latter, I’m in a great mood lately.  

Prologue: Whew, after the beating I just took with Alice in Chains, I’m going to have to cheat a little bit and dip into my collection of… collections.  Although I intend to go through each artist alphabetically, sometimes I’ll come across an artist with only one song.  This is usually because that song is part of a greater collection.  I’ve already passed up the Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction soundtracks, but I’m going to start on this collection of essential southern music, put together by a magazine called Oxford American.  I have three of these CD’s, which come out once a year.  This post will cover the 2003 edition.  Again, my plan is to pull this kinda crap whenever I need some recovery time.  We can’t all be immortal roosters, you know?

Oxford American Southern Sampler 2003

So what makes all of this music Southern?  It’s not all country and bluegrass, although there is a strong blues element in each of these songs:

1. Why You Been Gone So Long - Johnny Darrell
2. Total Destruction to Your Mind - Swamp Dogg
3. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning - The Del McCoury Band
4. La Chanson d’une Fille de Quinze Ans (Song of a Fifteen Year Old Girl) - Ann Savoy & Linda Ronstadt
5. Swan Blues - King Pleasure
6. Run on for a Long Time - Five Blind Boys of Alabama
7. Evelyn Is Not Real - My Morning Jacket
8. Lake Charles Boogie - Nellie Lutcher
9. Hot Rod - The Collins Kids
10. No Headstone on My Grave - Esther Phillips
11. El Paso - The Gourds
12. Leaving Loachapoka - Marshall Chapman
13. Grits Ain’t Groceries - Little Milton
14. Killer Diller Blues - Memphis Minnie
15. Miss Maybelle - R.L. Burnside
16. God Moves On the Water - Blind Willie Johnson
17. Niki Hoeky - P.J. Proby
18. Leaning On You - The Yo-Yo’s
19. You and Your Sister - Chris Bell
20. Columbus Stockade Blues - Willie Nelson
21. Goodnight Moon - Will Kimbrough

The most obvious answer is that all of these artists came from the South. What does that mean for this CD as a collection, however?  I believe all of these songs share something despite the fact that they were all written separately.  I can’t disprove the alternative theory that I only think this because they came to me in the same package, I can only say what I feel.  

I want to start off just by going through the best of the songs on this collection. Johnny Darrell’s “Why You Been Gone So Long” kicks it off, riding the line between country and rock in a very deceptive manner.  The guitars are strong enough to state a musical purpose, while Darrell’s vocals explore sorrow with a melody that sinks and rises with sadness and just a small dash of hope.  With Swamp Dogg’s “Total Destruction to Your Mind”, we explore the soul music with amplified energy and deconstructed inhibition.  These kinds of songs are by far my favorite on this album.  All of the old timey and soul songs have this gritty honesty that blurs lines of genre as if they never mattered.  I can honestly say that this is something I look for in my favorite artists, albums, and songs.  You don’t have to explore several genres at once to be a good musician.  Also, sometimes mixing genres can be forced.  However, I think the best music shoots through preconceptions of style simply because the writer and performer(s) concentrated on what the song needs instead of how it’s supposed to sound.  Check out some other songs on this collection that blur genre lines as I’ve described: “Run On For a Long Time”, “Columbus Stockade Blues”, “Leaning on You”.

The traditional oldies, rock and soul tracks are simply a joy to listen to on their own.  ”Swan Blues” showcases a style of swing so laid back that it almost undermines the mournful lyrics of the song.  King Pleasure’s disjointed melodies and rhythms produce a mystery that mimics the ways our emotions ebb and flow in the sadness of leaving the girl you love.  In “No Headstone On My Grave” Esther Phillips exudes boldness amidst ghostly background vocals and booming horns that give the song structure and contrast.  She might be my favorite singer on this compilation; you absolutely have to hear her.  “Grits Ain’t Groceries” by Little Milton and “Niki Hoeky” by P.J. Proby are the greatest examples of that rock, rhythm and roll that are the only reasons that modern rock ever stood on its own two feet.  If you really listen closely to these tracks and let go of your preconceptions of music, you realize that the constant energy in the rhythm section (drums, guitar, bass) brings a completely transformative meaning to this kind of singing and horn playing. 

Every year this compilation comes out, some songs are oddities and some are stand alone masterpieces.  “Miss Maybelle” by R.L. Burnside shows cutting edge, and at some times silly, experimentation with the blues and electronic/scratch.  “God Moves On the Water” by Blind Willie Johnson jaunts and haunts like the two actions are one and the same. I could go on describing each track, but these are all of the terribly important ones. It should be up to you to check out the playlist and get onto grooveshark.com to discover this music.    

Although these songs were not technically made for each other, they were chosen to paint a picture of Southern culture.  Every year, Oxford American Magazine does this with an always positive response from the listening public.  That means we need to try and find the story that this organization is trying to tell about the South, and what it means to be Southern.  Trials and tribulations of love and life seems to be a running theme, both musically and lyrically.  If you listen to this collection as a whole, you hear a little bit of pride in that, too.  We can’t say it’s pride of heritage, this isn’t from a single family, area, class, or anything really other than south of the Mason Dixon.  It’s pride of having an intensely human experience. You can feel emotions that aren’t far from what people may have experienced in the Depression, even in some of the most modern songs.

The unavoidable disconnect between the eras and styles of these songs make the central story of this collection necessarily abstract.  Honestly, it probably wouldn’t take too much work to find Northern music to match each one of these songs.  I would hope that a collection like this would break down limited notions of Southern culture, but I know that few people know about Oxford Magazine.  That’s a damned shame, and I hope this blog takes off someday so that more people can know about this collection.  It’s an absolute pleasure and a worthwhile journey each year.

Four and a half out of five stars.  Maybe because I’m Southern, maybe because I’m proud of it.  Maybe this is some of the best music out there.

Epilogue: This entry turned out to be more difficult than I thought it would be.  It certainly was easier than Alice in Chains, but I was actually planning on keeping this music, so I thought it would be more like the others.  I was extremely hesitant to make any claims about the compilation as a whole in the end.  I know that these CD’s really just concentrate on the fact that all of this music features people that grew up in the South.  They certainly don’t make any claims about some central, significant force that connects the songs.  I imagine that they don’t do that because the songs speak for themselves.  They almost all kick ass, no matter the genre.  The diversity of the compilation makes it a good kick off point for various types of music, especially what good country and bluegrass music there is and was.  That pretty much has to be enough of a victory to count the project as a win, in my opinion.  

Next up: …And You Will Know Us By the Trails Of Dead’s World’s Apart.

Prologue:  Alice in Chains is supposedly a grunge band.  I always thought this was weird.  They tune their guitars; their singer cares about pitch; they produce a pretty lush sound.  It seems to me that the only thing grungy about this band (from the album, Dirt, anyways) is the dark mood instilled by depressing lyrical content and kooky horror soundtrack chord progressions through pretty awesome distortion.  Genre nomenclature aside, Alice in Chains professes in dark mood and imagery.  Can Dirt escape it’s cheesy metal trappings, however?  Only a really close listen will tell us. 

Dirt

This album starts off by hitting you in the face with its strongest assets: huge guitars and Layne Staley’s vocal harmonies.  I’m sure this is meant to be a dark mesh of grunge and heavy metal.  It actually works out somewhat nicely until the guitar solos kick in.  Alice in Chains usually puts a spin on the heavy guitars to make it sound just creepy enough to fit into a David Lynch version of a really good zombie.  In times like this (“Them Bones”), they achieve a mixture of dread and energy.  It really doesn’t make sense, but it kind of works.  Then, inevitably, comes the guitar solo.  

It’s as if Alice in Chains is a grand puppet master, but instead of a puppet, the band dangles 500 metric tones of heavy metal cheese just far enough from our faces to be threatening to our psyche without making us laugh.  Then Jerry Cantrell tightens his leather pants considerably and cuts those strings.  I’m sure he has a history deeply influenced by metal, so it should be understandable that he would kick into these things will full on badassery, but it really undercuts what I believe this band is trying to go for.  His guitar solos, while actually pretty good by themselves, push the cheesiness into overdrive.  If you are lucky, you can ignore it just enough to keep the creepy mood of a given song in your head.  They even have one song where they don’t seem to mess it up too badly: “Angry Chair”.  Cantrell really tries to go outside of his Van Halen shaped box.  He doesn’t succeed for more than two thirds of the solo, but hey, he tried.  ”Angry Chair” remains the best example of this kind of mood with as little meddling from hair metal as they can manage.

I’m really describing the best case scenario here.  While we’re talking about the band’s strong points, go check out “Would?” and maybe “Dirt”.  ”Sickman” is by far their most adventurous track.  Unfortunately, they don’t develop the two cool ideas that the song has, so it falls short.  Lack of development plagues all of the songs that could have been good, such as “God Smack” and “Hate to Feel”.  When Alice in Chains presents a well crafted horror, they hurt it by keeping it so static.  I get the feeling that this is a point of the mood they are trying to convey, which we know involves depression and drug abuse more than anything else.  Unfortunately, the result is just too much of not enough (thanks to Silverchair for that phrase, and the associated song).  Maybe that’s because I don’t relate to the kinds of things put forth by these guys.  Then again, maybe stuff like is better expressed when more people can understand it.  

I get it.  Heroin sucks.  This is some damn good evidence that you should never try it.  Also, I understand that the grunge era wasn’t all that much about musical development, movement, or what have you.  I will review some great music that doesn’t necessarily develop moods or themes the way that I have mentioned.  None of these artists suffer the fatal flaw of cheese to this degree.  That rocked out combination of vocal harmony and guitar takes itself way too seriously.  

Now let’s talk about “Rooster”.  This is the apex of Alice in Chain’s lack of self awareness.  I don’t even care what the Rooster is supposed to stand for.  It’s too funny for me to care.  Maybe that’s the internet’s fault.  Or maybe it’s just funny as hell to hear about a rooster’s attempted assassination met by a surprising amount of immortality.  Actually, it’s probably Les Claypool’s fault.  I can’t find footage of this anymore, but he once came onstage while Alice in Chains was performing “Rooster” wearing a chicken outfit and doing the Monty Python Silly Walk.  All in good fun, but terrifyingly poignant to anyone who may have spent time working on this song.

                                     Please, just don’t even look at me. 

Two out of five stars.

Epilogue: Oh my dear sweet Lord, this was painful to do.  I thought the hard part would be admitting that I liked this band once.  I was very wrong.  Trying to find something to say about this album is what hurt the most.  I just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could I?  I just couldn’t call it a bunch of depressing drug induced cock rock and move onto something else.  

I’ve run into some collections that I’ll need to review on the side.  I need a break after this venture, so I think I’ll do the first of three collections of really good Southern music next.  Ta ta, I have to go to therapy now.  Thanks to Nick Miller for the YTMND page.

Prologue: I don’t imagine that it will be easy for a guy like me to explain what’s good about the blues.  It’s pretty heavily based on repetition.  I no longer believe that it’s good enough to say “this guy’s just a good guitarist”.  Not that I would have any problem saying that about Albert King.  The guy exudes taste.  He snakes through a cornucopia of styles as if the he was basis for all them.  The aspect of King’s guitar playing that still stumps me is how he sounds so fresh and inventive while really sticking to those same seven or eight notes abused so horribly in Guitar Center every day.  He may be hold back on the variety of notes, but he plays what he does exactly as it should be, exactly when it should be, just right all around.  I hope to find a place for his guitar skill in an overall commentary about his music instead of concentrating too much on one or the other.  Luckily, the guy gave me a lot to discuss.

The Very Best of Albert King

Unlike the Al Green collection that I reviewed last time, this greatest hits collection goes across different time, genre, and recording styles of King’s long career.  The best thing about this singer/guitarist is his ability to master old timey jazz, electric blues, rumba/salsa, and modern rhythm and blues without having to change who he is or how he works.  Albert King is the master of the blues call-and-response style of his generation.  His modus operandi is a soulful vocal phrase punctuated by a forceful guitar lick.  King is best known for his contributions to electric blues guitar.  His guitar tone sticks out more than most other guitars you hear in any other music.  He is so bold with his tone that the guitar almost sticks out too much given his even bolder style of playing.  King’s soloing style is tasteful and acrobatic at the same time.  He often explores a contrast between simpler blues phrasings and screaming, sustained high notes.  King was known to play a flying V backwards, which allowed him to bend notes to a higher pitch than with a normal guitar style (see the intro of “Cadillac Assembly Blues”).  This nuance is ultimately what sets him apart from any other blues guitarist you will ever hear.

King also has his own vocal personality.  He can mourn, groove, joke, and jive with seemingly minimal effort.  When he lets his voice take the front of the song, he turns a jam session into a hit.  “Let’s Have a Natural Ball” has King as a bandleader, using his energy to propel the song forward.  “Crosscut Saw” shows the coy side of King as a vocalist; the lows vocals, nearly hidden in the mix, add mysteriousness to what could have been merely a cute set of innuendi.  More importantly, King is better than a great singer or a great guitarist alone.  He is a skilled craftsman of the interaction between these two musical voices.  And as if his talent isn’t enough, many of the songs on this collection are absolutely killer on their own: “Oh Pretty Woman (Can’t Make You Love Me)”, “Born Under a Bad Sign”, “That’s What the Blues is All About”.  Four out of Five Stars.  

Other Recommended Tracks: “Blues Power”, “Overall Junction”, “C.O.D.”, “Laundromat Blues”, “Cold Feet”.

Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughn: In Session

This live album features Albert King sitting in with his most famous protege: Stevie Ray Vaughn.  A big part of Vaughn’s style comes directly from Albert King.  When Stevie isn’t shredding, he’s holding those sweet, acrobatic high notes you heard in the songs from King’s Best Of album.  What we get in this album is a teacher and a student feeding off of each other, reaching heights you would normally never hear in either or these giants’ songs alone.  Vaughn challenges King to play with more of an urgent pulse than King’s usual laid back style (see “Blues at Sunrise”).  King challenges Vaughn to hold back and play his slow licks just the right way.  Surprisingly, to me anyways, King goads Vaughn into playing in his faster jazz style as well.  I have always heard stories of older electric blues players getting onto Vaughn for playing so quickly.  The best story has to be when B.B. King knocked down Stevie with a single note.  Vaughn was performing at some festival showing off his speedy guitar licks just to be flashy when B. B. King came on stage.  B. B. King proceeded to play only one note, but a note so perfectly placed that it made Vaughn’s styling seem utterly meaningless.   According to the legend, Vaughn threw down his guitar and left the stage.  

None of that here.  Albert King clearly appreciates Vaughn’s speed.  Check out some of the shorter tracks where King tells stories with and gives advice to Stevie Ray Vaughn, such as “Old Times”.  Although both of these men bring the best out of each other, the duet styling of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Pride and Joy” shows King to be the true master.  Most of this album is jam session styled, focusing on a bit of singing and a lot of soloing.  ”Pride and Joy” showcases King’s ability to add some meat to songs with great jazz chords and spicy blues hits.  I’m sure I’ve heard Stevie do this before, but I don’t hear him venturing out into this territory with the master present.  Listen to each of these songs and try and get a feel for the difference between these two guys, because it tells a great story.  You can hear Stevie Ray Vaughn still blazing trails, getting ready for his next attempt to revolutionize the electric blues with each solo that he plays.  You can hear Albert King giving Vaughn his support and his blessing, while still maintaining the dignity of his role as a King of the blues and his greatness as a musician in general.  Four out of Five Stars.  

Other Recommended Tracks: “Overall Junction”, “Call It Stormy Monday”, “Ask Me No Questions”.

Epilogue: At first, I felt like I had strayed from my original vision of how music should be critiqued with this entry.  I definitely concentrated more on the lead man, or men, than the totality of the music.  Compared to my Al Green entry, this one didn’t feel as true to my intentions after the first rough draft.  Upon further reflection, I realized that this was simply a case that called for a more concentrated style of critique.  Al Green uses a more solidified musical landscape to support his voice inside great songs.  With Albert King, the songs and bands that he used shifted with the times and his needs.  Unlike Al Green, Albert King’s guitar and vocals brought ultimate meaning to his songs, even when the songs were killers on their own.  I didn’t get the chance to explore things like the pictures and moods of this music as much as I would have liked, but I have said what I think needs to be said about Albert King.  I also think that I’ve taken a good stab at the blues for now.  Luckily, I’ll have plenty of chances to work on my own understanding of the blues.  I’ve been moving from Atlanta to Athens, and it’s negatively impacted my writing time.  Now that I’m done, I hope to blast through several more artists in the next month before law school, when I’ll have to slow down considerably. 

Prologue: I can’t think of a soul or rhythm and blues act that I love as much as Al Green. As a result, it’s going to be hard to even pretend that this will be a completely objective review.  I’m more likely to sit here and wonder why we don’t just dump our radio stations and refill them with his music.  Instead, I’m going to continue with my plan of describing his music based on its merits instead of the usual method of cross comparison between his music and that of his contemporaries.

Greatest Hits

Often, a “greatest hits” album will span the entire career of an artist.  This album, on the other hand, focuses exclusively on Green’s soul hits before his hots grits to the face collision and subsequent religious conversion.  Today, we call this album his “secular” era because of the religious nature of his music in the following years.  Although “secular” is technically an appropriate title for this music, something sacred resides within each of these songs.  I could go on and on about the positive, moral nature of his songs compared to other soul and rhythm and blues artists of his time, but I think that all of the proof we need is in the sonic experience.  

The drums are simultaneously larger than life and up close and personal.  The way this music was recorded allows the drum set to take a life of its own. It practically leads the groove of songs like “Call Me”, “I’m Still In Love With You”, and “Let’s Stay Together”. The guitarist takes on an understated and clean tone.  His guitar parts are always turned up just enough: they come to the front at exactly the right time and then give the band a thick backbone when hanging in the background.  The way that he emphasizes his lines and chords at just the right time makes his instrument sound like church bells with minds of their own.  The organ resonates with a vibrant rotary sound. The organ and guitar usually compliment each other almost as well as Green’s backup singers enhance his hooks and phrases.  

The best part is that everything locks in perfectly on these songs.  Sometimes, Green will take on one of his odd, seemingly rambling vocal lines that bring us into a new section of a song.  As Green breaks free of form, the band keeps things rolling.  This kind of vocal phrasing is usually what I hate about modern rhythm and blues.  Green is definitely a more talented singer than anyone I’ve heard in the modern R&B genre, but it’s also his band that allows him to explore this territory without the songs losing coherence.  

Al Green, of course, steals the show in the end.  He moves in and out of step with the band with ingenious skill.  He understates the tail ends of many of his phrases, creating tension until he breaks loose and explores his higher range.  “I Can’t Get Next to You” shows just how acrobatic the man can be.  When he hits his highest note at the end of the song, you are simply left to question reality itself.  What was that, anyways? Did he actually do that?  Did he just overpower the microphones?  It sound so natural, and yet so unnatural at the same time.  Hats off, Reverend.  Five out of five stars.

Recommended tracks: “I Can’t Get Next to You”, “Let’s Stay Together”, “Love and Happiness”, “Tired of Being Alone”, damn, just listen to the whole thing.

Unchained Melody

I used to dislike this album.  I thought that he wasn’t trying as hard as he was on his greatest hits.  After figuring out exactly what I like so much about his music, however, I have a different impression.  I’d like to think it’s as a result of this project, but it might just be a maturity thing.  Where I once thought he was easing back too much, I now understand just how much fun he is having with these covers.  The real jewels of this album are the songs that you wouldn’t really expect a soul artist to cover.  Mr. Green adds some soulful harmony to the bridge of Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman”.  “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” is simply given a beautiful rhythm and blues makeover.  This is one of those tracks that really brings out the actual rhythm and blues, and doesn’t just settle for “that R&B sound”.  To put it plainly: he’s singing the blues with soulful rhythm.  It makes me think that people have forgotten how literal R&B used to be.  “Light My Fire” is by far the most transformative and surprising track.  Somehow, Green manages to pack in more mystery and intrigue than the Doors usually did with their music.  Still, Green remains playful with spoken word verses.  It’s necessary to think about the originals of these songs to get the full enjoyment.  Standing alone, this album doesn’t quite reach the pinnacles of his greatest hits, but I can’t harsh the guy for putting out something that’s just barely lesser than his other perfections.  In my opinion, no one on this album has let down in terms of taste or talent; they are simply having a bit more fun.  Four out of five stars.

Recommended tracks: “Pretty Woman”, “Light My Fire”, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”, “Funny How Time Slips Away”.

Prologue: This review has deepened my respect for Al Green a great deal.  I didn’t know that was possible going into the first listen.  I’m especially excited to review his part in a southern music compilation I have stored away for a rainy day, or possibly to put off having to listen to Alice in Chains this much.  No one’s really reading this yet, but it’s comforting to know that I’ll be getting so much out of this project no matter how much or how little it catches on.  If anyone’s reading, don’t forget to give me some feedback.  

Coming up next: Albert King

Prologue: I don’t know very much about Al Di Meola, Paco De Lucia, or John McLaughlin.  I have only ever heard one of the guys play; John McLaughlin shreds some pretty happenin’ solos with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, a mixture of Jimi Hendrix acid rock and traditional jazz.  I decided to keep things that way before reviewing this trio guitar album.  I want to analyze this music on the basis of sonic input and my understating of music alone.  I can’t ignore what I already know about other bands, so I can’t exactly make this part of my mission statement across all of the music I will eventually review.  However, I intend to move closer towards a purely musical understanding of everything I own, so this should make for a good exercise.  Furthermore, I hope I can use this album to help people better understand music that seems more like a cliche than an attempt to create an exciting, original journey.  The trio creates a masterful synthesis of impressive technicality, Latin influenced rhythm, and deep, mysterious moods and harmonies.  Just make sure you don’t write it off as elevator music if you start listening.  I’ll try and keep you grounded in interest.

The Guitar Trio: Paco De Lucia, Al Di Meola, and John McLaughlin

The first thing that hits you on this album is the magnificently large presence of the three guitars.  At their best, the guitars sound like beautiful giant ships sailing through an ocean inside the largest church or opera house ever conceived.  Backing guitars provide the strongest rhythm backbone, even overshadowing drums and bass in this capacity.  Like any latin jazz I’m sure you’ve heard in an elevator, light and pretty chords support lead guitar melodies punctuated by flurries of speedily picked notes.  

This all sounds too much like a cliche if you don’t turn your thinking cap on.  Also, it doesn’t help that the main guitar lines are often emphasized by chorus and reverb effects that help trap your brain in the late eighties to early nineties.  Although I enjoyed this album, I have no defense for eighties-sploitation, save that hindsight is a complete bitch:

Pictured: Fear given physical form.

The most unfortunate part about these overused effects is that they mask the beautiful harmonies presented by the rhythm guitars.  This kind of latin jazz uses very complex chords compared to your everyday Katy Perry hit.  Most of the music that Americans hear every day use chords with two, three, or maybe four notes going at once.  These notes are pretty much always spaced apart the same distance.  It’s familiar and easy to listen to.  On this album, some chords contain many notes with very odd spacing, or intervals.  This allows the guitarists to control the level of tension at any given moment.  Dissonance, for example is used at various points in the middle of “Letter From India” to create a darker, more urgent mood.  Notice, on this track in particular, that the musicians shift the mood right back to the beginning of the song so flawlessly that you almost don’t catch it.  Seriously, even though I just told you, you will probably miss it on your first listen.  This is what I’m trying to say with all of this “control over the mood” nonsense I’ve been spewing for the past three posts.  

For most, it’s probably not possible to find this interesting without listening hard enough to break a sweat.  I left my first listening session with sharper ears, a more open mind, and a yet depleted ability to listen to anything else for a good hour.  This kind of Latin jazz fusion asks a lot of anyone without graduate training in the area of music.  I’ve worked on training my ears to appreciate jazz since 2001, and I still found this exhausting.  But, when I cut through my preconceived notions of Spanish guitars and the eighties, I found an album that took my mind and mood to more places, if not better ones, than almost anything I’ve heard to this day.

Still, it’s hard to hear something more than the general feel of Latin jazz guitar, which often makes us think of drab things like the beach, laying on a hammock, and… well, the beach I guess.  However, if you listen closely, you can hear some pretty interesting stories being told.  “Mahna de Carnaval” evokes the imagery of a sacred place of beauty.  The guitar’s mixture of slow, song-like phrasing and angular flurries of notes takes us from grace to conflict to intense passion and back again to grace.  “Espiritu” explores a mysterious sounding motif with shifting moods, creating a very interesting set of impressions that draws back to the same back-beat at various points throughout the song.  ”Cardeosa” explores my favorite jazz sounds of the whole album.  Also, the lead and backing guitars best support each other on this track.  The guitars actually sound like they are talking to each other when the song heats up in the middle.  The problematic reverb/chorus draws back significantly as the album progresses, and ”Cardeosa” ends the album on a very strong note with the minimal eighties/nineties horror.  

Epilogue: You will likely need to listen to these songs a few times to really appreciate what these guitarists are trying to communicate to you.  I would suggest listening until you have your own story or portrait in your head to describe what’s going on.  Some people of a more abstract musical inclination believe that tying music down to such mundane, and ultimately false, representations eliminates the beauty of the music altogether.  I, on the other hand, think that describing music with art, narrative, or even emotional analogies is a much better description than the way most people analyze music these days.  Why say that this band sounds like that band?  How is that a better way to analyze music?  This practice allows people to demean a band they don’t like without actually figuring out a good reason to do so.  I’m terribly guilty of this; I’ve done it constantly since I woke up and realized I hated The Killers.  I hope to change that about myself with this project.  I think you should change that about yourself if you find yourself doing it.  That being said, I challenge anyone reading this, if anyone ever does, to try and describe the songs that I mention with narrative, imagery, or any other descriptive device that has some meaning of its own.

Still… I don’t think I’m going to listen to The Killers unless you pay me for it.  That’s right, Internet, I’m talking to you.   

June 10th

Prologue: There is nothing absolutely wrong with Air.  The music is too unassuming to be as pretentious as the people who flaunt the fact that they listen to Air.  The music goes really well with things like movies, studying, and various other tasks not involved with actively listening to the music.  Unfortunately for me, I’ve never really been satisfied with music that doesn’t challenge me.  Honestly, the fact that Air can be summed up with the words “chillout music” always kind of disgusted me.  Therefore, I was daunted by the task of seriously listening to 3.8 hours of their music.  Still, I carried on, determined to come to a sensible conclusion about my opinion of Air.

Moon Safari

Moon Safari is the most critically acclaimed album by Air.  That might be why I stopped listening to them.  Years ago, I found a number of songs I really enjoyed.  However, I eventually let this album influence my opinion of Air because I knew it was supposed to be their best.  As a result, I actually stopped listening to them altogether.  I understand that this is sweet, hypnotic, and super chill music.  I think that many of the instrument lines are great ideas on this album.  The finished product, however, feels like a vacuum.  The laid back factor on this album causes stagnation in the ears of this loyal listener.

Tasteful bass and drums; innocuous synths, strings, and keyboard; an occasional pick me up with guest singer Beth Hirsch.  With the exception of a few absolute jewels on this album (“Kelly Watch the Stars!”;  “Remember”; “Sexy Boy”), this is what you get.  Over.  And over.  I get it; that’s the point.  I’m supposed to be chilling out to this music, not listening that hard.  Helped me through calculus, it did.  Not helping me appreciate this band.

The band does show its true face sometimes.  The result is a close to brilliant blend of retro instrumentation, campy pop, and synths that shoot for the stars (no pun intended, Kelly).  Unfortunately, elsewhere the album falls short.  The organic instruments rarely interact well with the synthesized sounds.  When one is featured over the other, it sounds like they just ran out of ideas and had to move on.  Singer Beth Hirsh and a few great songs pull this album out of the mud for me, but just barely.  Two and a half stars out of five.

Recommended: “Kelly Watch the Stars!”, “Remember”,  “Sexy Boy”, “All I Need”

Premiers Symptomes

Closer, but not that different for Moon Safari in my experience.  The electronica is better emphasized.  This creates a slightly more exciting feel and does a better job of holding my attention.  Also, this album has a much higher jewels-to-bores ratio.  The first three tracks suffer from the same problems as Moon Safari.  The final four, however, are much more enjoyable. “J’ai dormi sous l’eau” and “Le soleil est près de moi” actually have great hooks, but I can’t say anything else worth mentioning about them.  Honestly, though, I just love “Brakes On”, or whatever the hell it’s called.  The bass locks in perfectly with the drumbeat.  The lower synth hook is thrilling and provides a great center for the song.  “Brakes On” sounds much more sample based than most of Air’s songs, but it works totally in their favor.  Three of five stars.

Recommended:  “J’ai dormi sous l’eau”,  “Le soleil est près de moi”,  “Brakes On”, “Californie”.

Talkie Walkie

This might be my favorite experience; I can’t decide between this one and 10,000 Hz Legend just yet.  The elements of an actual band come the surface.  This makes Talkie Walkie more interesting than the other albums mentioned so far without losing that signature, hypnotic sound for which Air is known.  I’m not trying to say that I need a chorus, verse, and bridge in every song I hear.  What this band needs is more engagement.  Talkie Walkie provides it with the best mix of organic and electronic so far, as well as more engaged singing and song structure.  Not only do these elements retain the hypnotic feel, they even enhance it at times.  With more complex song structure, Air is able to take us on journeys into space (“Universal Traveller”), emotions (“Run”), and even friggin’ surfing (“Surfing on a Rocket”).  My jury is out on whether this is the best, but it is better than the first two I have reviewed.  Four out of five stars.

Recommended: “Universal Traveller”, “Run”, “Surfing on a Rocket”, “Venus”.

The Virgin Suicides Soundtrack

Since this is technically the score to a movie, there is one main motif used in several of the songs.  Keeping things surprisingly interesting, Air uses different instrumentations and moods throughout these tracks.  I think this movie score shows the members of Air as true maestros of mood and impression.  It reminds me of how Monet would paint the same scene in different lightings, or perhaps how Debussy arranged “Claire De Lune” both for orchestra and for piano.  Air continues with experimentation in form, as well.  The first two minutes of “The Word Hurricane”, which are great on their own, decompose into a lecture on hurricanes from the film, followed by an out of control dénouement.  Besides these musical exercises, a few wonderful tracks stand on their own feet (see my recommended section).  Finally, Air includes dialogue from the movie, which I highly recommend that you see, as a cherry on top of the creepy, hopeless mood required for The Virgin Suicides.  Three point five out of five stars.

Recommended: “Dead Bodies”,“The Word Hurricane”, “Dirty Trip”, “Playground Love”.

10,000 Hz Legend

This album starts out with more intensity than 99% of anything else I have on this band.  The electronic element on this album is jacked up higher than on most of Air’s other projects.  Again, they explore moods with a surprising mastery.  “How Does It Make You Feel?” is Radiohead’s “Fitter, Happier” with self contained musical substance instead of  mostly symbolic meaning.  “Don’t Be Light” is a hit to take home with you, and maybe even admit to your friends that you like it.  Air starts to stretch their songs a bit thin on this album, but most songs have a monumental payoff that actually makes you think.  Gasp!  For a few listens, I wasn’t sure whether or not the heightened electronic element was overdone.  It seems to slip in and out of tastefulness within each song.  Now, I believe that this is one of Air’s strengths.  When they are at their best, they have complete control over levels of camp, mood, and color.  How they use these powers determines the strength of their music.  On a final note of awesomeness, they named one of their EP’s Everybody Hertz. Hard to beat that.  Four out of five stars.

Recommended:  “How Does It Make You Feel?”, “Don’t Be Light”, “Electronic Performers”, “Radio Number 1”.

Epilogue: This part of my project made me feel like a bit of a failure at first.  Certainly, there are lessons to be learned.  This is the biggest amount of music I have tried to review at once; I might need to split it into two or three album reviews at once.  At the end of the day, however, I just don’t care for this band that much.  I will certainly listen to Talkie Walkie and 10,000 Hz Legends a little more, but not all that much.  I feel more certain in my judgment of this band, and that is exactly what makes this project worth it.

I’m still deciding on whether or not to erase any of this music.  At the end of the day, it’s good chill out music.  You may think that I should have judged it that way, but that’s not in my nature.  I’m probably going to keep listening to Air, just not nearly as much as I have in the past two days (Lord be praised).  I come to an odd conclusion. I’m glad that I have this music; I just don’t care for it on most days.   

June 7^th

Prologue: I’m still not sure if I understand the electronic music acts that I often enjoy.  In many cases, I find myself getting lost in the repetition so often exploited by this genre.  After listening to a few different electronica acts over the past three years (Adult., The Knife, M83, etc.) I have come to the conclusion that the best way to enjoy the repetition element is to treat it as a sort of exercise in minimalism and impressionism*. 

With this exercise, I sometimes aspire to describe musical quality with visual ideas.  I do this because I think it gives me a firmer grasp on what I like and respect about a given piece of music.  In my experience, it follows that the music that paints the most vivid landscape or portrait in my head is superior to the music that ascribes to some rock or pop formula (see my last entry on AC/DC…).

ADULT.

Adult. creates a very lush and expressive landscape in my head.  The portrait I receive from their sound waves is completely hopeless, beautiful, terrifying, and energizing all at the same time. Singer Nicola Kuperus is unabashedly expressive, shooting her voice into the limits of range and credulity.  She sings seemingly out of control melodies with impressive precision.  Adam Lee Miller uses drum machines, synths, guitar, and bass to create a bastard child of electro and punk.  The drum beats, bass lines, and hooks drive with an unforgiving repetition.  Far from being boring, the quirky music rides the line between camp and horror.  Synthetic noise effects support the primary musical lines with a dark, brooding mood.  These “noises” might be the best part of Adult.’s music.

I usually think this until I get to the track “You Don’t Worry Enough”.  Good God, that bass kicks your teeth right in. 

Unfortunately, when I listen to Adult. long enough in one sitting I begin to feel utterly lost.  I can’t tell if this is because their albums make less sense towards the end or because my mind starts to refuse the radical combination of sounds thrust into my ears.  

And at the end of the day, I can’t decide which of those prospects excites me more about this band.  These guys completely don’t give a shit, and it is amazing. 

Gimme Trouble

Gimme Trouble definitely pursues the punk aspect over the atmospherical moodiness of Why Bother?.  Bass lines, synths, drum beats, you name it, they go all over the place with a seriously ferocious attitude.  The drum machine sounds like the same loop the entire album, unfortunately.  This leads me to get lost between songs towards the end, and I fail to realize what I really am enjoying until a few listens in.  At the end of the day, however, Gimme Trouble is a joy to behold and a pretty decent introduction into this idea of electropunk.  Four out of five stars.

Recommendations: Gimme Trouble, Turn Into Fever, Scare Up the Birds, Bad Ideas.

Why Bother?

Why Bother? is a definite improvement over Gimme Trouble, especially in terms of sound quality.  The deeper bass immerses me further into the music, and therefore paints a more vivid picture.  The insanity of this band is much better channeled into a darker and more certain portrait of doom and gloom.  My favorite part about this album is that the good qualities introduced in Gimme Trouble combine into a generous level of energy and anger.  To illustrate, I would direct you to listen to “I Feel Worse When I’m With You” or “You Don’t Worry Enough”, and then to “Raining Blood” by Slayer.  Them shits go together.  I’m not kidding.  And it is beautiful.  It will make you lose hope and you will never feel safe again, but it is beautiful.  

This is one of the few albums where I am able to enjoy really abnormal music simply for what it is.  Songs like “Inclined to Vomit” and “Good Deeds” are constructed more like a horror space death soundtrack than your run of the mill songs with choruses, verses, hooks, and melodies.  “You Don’t Worry Enough” and “I Feel Worse When I’m With You” bring us back to the badass electronic punk that we really should love about Adult., but its those atmospheric songs that really bring out the flavor of the band.

Oh yeah, and bonus points for “Harvest” because it sounds like it belongs on the Blade Runner soundtrack.  Five damned stars out of five.

Recommendations: “I Feel Worse When I’m With You”, “Harvest”, “You Don’t Worry Enough”, “Red Herring”, “Inclined to Vomit”.

Epilogue: I started listening to Adult several years ago.  After a few weeks of serious listening, I let myself drift towards the more conventional songs and away from the beautiful abnormalities.  I don’t recall ever enjoying Why Bother? as much as I do after writing this critique.  I’ve already achieved this with Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (AC/DC).  Mark this as two successes in as many days.

Thanks to Justin Scharf for introducing me to this band.  And for the concept of fucking in the face.

 *To any art/music history majors, I apologize for probably misusing these terms.  Instead of the classical definitions, I am using the definitions of these terms that most suit my thoughts.  By minimalism, I mean the tiny changes throughout general repetition of choruses/verses/whatever that make a good electronic song worthwhile.  By impressionism, I’m talking about the portrait thing.  Whatever, it’s the damn internet.  

Prologue: Today, I arbitrarily decided that I needed to sit through every single thing in my library over the next however long.  My goals include the solidification of an original/individual opinion about music in general, the deletion of shit that I just can’t stand anymore, and guidance on where to go from here.  Music should be a journey, and I’ve always thought that dwelling on music I’ve already completed freaking out about was the wrong way to go.  However, I currently sit on 21.3 days of music.  Some of these songs, albums, and artists have been sitting, un-played, for as long as five years.  While these songs have been sitting there on my hard drive, I have changed immensely in my musical interests, talents, and understandings.  I’m going through these songs in an alphabetical order in order to try and come to a better understanding of myself, musically, free of as many of the limiting biases I have developed over the years as possible

Today’s project: AC/DC.  This is the kind of band I find so archetypical that I usually pass them over for someone who has added to the genre, like Dropsonic (check them out ASAP), The Who, or something else of the old school rock feel and groove.  I have long held the notion that Bon Scott era AC/DC is a more worthwhile listen than the Brian Johnson era AC/DC.  Johnson has always given me the impression that he was just here to fill in for Bon Scott, to give us as close to the Bon Scott joyride as possible until Jesus punches out Ivan Drago, the Rapture comes, and we all go to heaven in a hand basket.

Back in Black

Listening to Back in Black against the other Bon Scott albums I own (Dirty Deeds Done Dirth Cheap and Highway to Hell), I noticed a troubling trend that I first discovered in Mötorhead’s career.  As AC/DC progressed in its career, it lost the frenetic and carefree channeling of rock and roll that made AC/DC popular enough to ever have such a legendary following and an Iron Man 2 endorsement deal.  Don’t, however, get the impression that I’m just talking about the mere speed of the songs are on this album.  They also lost that marriage to the beat and the groove that made AC/DC (and Mötorhead, incidentally) so good in the early albums.  Sure, there are a few exceptions (“You Shook Me All Night Long”, “Shoot to Thrill”, I guess), but my overall opinion remains.

I also get the same feeling that I get listening to U2 these days: they don’t seem to care for anything but their own music anymore.  Or maybe a few other bands that sound exactly like them, like 97.1 The River.  That one might be a radio station; it’s hard to tell.  All in all, I started this whole project to see if my opinions about anything musical need a change.  AC/DC’s Back in Black failed to do so.  Three stars. 

Recommendations: Anything, really, my opinion holds for every song on this album equally.   

Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap

On the other hand, Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap surprised me in many, mostly good ways.  Some of the tracks speak to me of a band on the rise, but still trying to find its own niche in the history of blues/rock and roll (“Ain’t No Fun (Waiting Around to Be a Millionaire)”, and “There’s Gonna Be Some Rocking”).  Most of the tracks, however, somehow morphed from the previously mentioned into a vibrant combination of mean, damned superviolence distilled into rock and cheeky, sometimes hilarious innuendo and camaraderie.  “Big Balls” was by far the most surprising; this jocular track, filled with plays on words, sounded like something Louis XIV or Franz Ferdinan listened to in order figure out what they hell it would ultimately become.  Four Stars. 

Recommendations: “Big Balls”, “Dirty Deeds”, “Ride On”, “Rocker”, “Squealer”.

Highway to Hell

I recall being fond of Highway to Hell.  Listening today, I only hear a couple of tracks that really stand out and punch me in my facehole (“Highway to Hell”, “Beating Around the Bush”, “Girl’s Got Rhythm”).  Though the rest are deviating from a really groove influenced blues sound and moving towards that once revolutionary hard rock sound, there is a hell of a lot of personality in this album that agrees with me.  The album ends on a pleasing, and somewhat controversial, note: “Night Prowler”.  Something about AC/DC makes them just a tic below interesting to me when they are at their most comfortable.  “Night Prowler” shows how this band becomes interesting as hell when it deviates from that formula in the simplest of ways.  The slow jam style of Night Prowler really adds to the sinister feeling of the song, even though it’s those same three or four chords that AC/DC always uses.  Also, this song might be the best example of the power of Angus Young’s slower, sweeter, and tastier guitar playing.  See “Ride On” on Dirty Deeds for an even better example of how this works. 

All in all, I would judge this album as an overall bridge between the Dirty Deeds stuff and the “anthemic” Back in Black.  There is a loss of that really tight interlocking sound that, while obviously more blue influenced, comes across as a better musical product, if not piece of history. 

Recommendations: “Beating Around the Bush”, “Girl’s Got Rhythm”, “Highway to Hell”.

I have to mention Angus Young’s guitar playing.  Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and Highway to Hell both show me a guitarist worthy of the pedestal on which the man rides to this day.  He favors throwing the fuck down just as often as the slower, sweeter, more tension filled solos featured in songs like “You Shook Me” and the like.  However, by Back in Black, he seems to lose interest.  It’s not that I would describe his solos as less interesting, it’s that I would describe them as sounding as if he was losing interest in keeping them alive throughout this major album of AC/DC’s career. 

Epilogue:  I understand that my stance on Back in Black justifies further explanation.  If you think so, then this is for you.  I believe that the best argument for the five star quality of this album is that it is very anthemic.  How do we measure how much of an anthem something is?  Mostly by historical observation can we say this or that is a major influence, anthemic, or any other mostly historical term by which we judge classic music to be great.  I am striving to judge all of my music by its merits alone.  If Back in Black existed within such an epic moment in history that it influenced as much music as it did, then I’m really happy for AC/DC.  However, I think this lacks the raw honesty of Dirty Deeds and, to a lesser degree, Highway to Hell.  My personal tendencies towards music certainly account for this opinion a great deal.  I know that some argue that a good music critic should remove the self and the ego from the process.  I, on the other hand, find this process to be a great, contrived farce.  Also, no one is paying me.  That helps.  This is the kind of thing I would love to discuss, so I strongly encourage any comment on this matter.  Debate me, you beautiful babies.  Debate me haaaard.