Once You Go Green...
Al Green – Call Me (1973)
If the only things you’ve heard from Al Green are the hit singles, like “Let’s Stay Together”, this is a good place to start to appreciate “funky old soul” as sung by one of its masters. This album has great rhythm to it, and the country covers are definitive and timeless. This is Al Green’s third album, and the for my money, it has the best vocal efforts of his classic albums which came out between 1971 and 1977, before the bathtub scalding and Reverend title and all that.
4 1/2.
Pretenders – Pretenders II (1981)
This is my favorite Pretenders album, though that might not be true today if James Honeyman-Scott would have lived and continued to be the great guitarist for this band. There’s no denying Chrissy Hynde was the queen of female rock vocals in the early 80’s and that her association with Ray Davies led to a couple of awesome covers, one of which, I Go To Sleep, is one of the standout tracks on this album. For my money, they were the class of the early 80’s and had a great sound for a “2 guitar, bass, drum” band
5.
Sitcom Neighbor – Charm (2012)
This CD had me at “Amphetemine”…right away I knew they understood their Beatles and Kinks and that it would be all over this CD. Sometimes it’s a little too derivative (Buy Your Farm = Taxman) but that’s a small price to pay. They’re best when they’re in the poppy ballad mode, and fortunately, that’s a good portion of the time here. Their rockers have that “throwback” sound too…almost thought I was listening to the Flashcubes on a couple of tracks, and that’s a good thing. All in all, 35 minutes of pop bliss that I’ll add to the rotation for exercise walks. 4
Dinosaur Jr. – Farm (2009) (Saw it in Dropbox, and reviewed again...)
I always mix these guys upwith Wilco…not musically, just the back story…two guys start this band, one gets pissed off at the other, puts all his energy behind a side project, that spawns another band…etc…except in this case, Barlow and Mascis get back together and this smoothed out, first release on a new label is great. You guys can all debate whether you like Sebadoh or Dinosaur Jr better, but this CD is just fine for repeated listening for me. 4
Greatest Hits – Ella Fitzgerald
You can’t go wrong with Ella…but maybe instead of both studio and live versions of “Our Love is Here To Stay”, maybe add “Don’t Be That Way” or “When Your Lover Has Gone”, or “I Concentrate on You” or Mr. Paginini”. Her trademark scat singing is
well represented here among the live tracks and that’s always fun to hear. All in all, this is a nice mix of one of the great female jazz voices of the 20th century.
Topic:
1- List your five favorite 8 minute or longer song. Live versions do not count.
Roll Over Beethoven – Electric Light Orchestra
Soliloquy – Frank Sinatra.
We Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who
Hurricane – Bob Dylan
Jungleland – Bruce Springsteen
2- List the last 5 songs you deleted from your MP3 player.
I haven’t deleted ANYTHING from my i-pod since I set it up…it’s 160 gig capacity is more music than I have.
3- Give us, we are all family, 3 guilty pleasures that you are actually embarrassed about.
I love Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons.
Tracey Ullman – I can listen to “You Broke My Heart in 17 Places” repeatedly.
Leslie Gore’s Greatest Hits.
4- Name an album you love but the rest of the world hates (beyond the DYN crew).
Mondo Deco – The Quick
5- Can sound effects/vocal effects/spoke word be vital to a song or a detractor? If you think it can be vital please list 5 examples.
It can go either way, but here are 5 examples of songs that benefited from effects…
1. Strawberry Fields Forever
2. Space Oddity
3. Moonage Daydream
4. Money
5. Time
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home