You can never be sure what’s going to happen when you put on a Chicago record for the first time. What’s coming first? Soft rock? Swing? Progressive rock? In the case of V, the answer is “the closest Chicago ever came to free jazz.”
Author: Nathaniel FitzGerald
Record #308: Bad Company – Bad Co. (1974)
I have never given Bad Company much thought. They have some good singles on the classic rock station (Bad Company chief among them), but I never would have guessed that they were a supergroup comprised of members from Mott the Hoople, Golden Earring, and Paul Rodgers–all bands I HAVE given much thought.
Record #307: Bruce Springsteen – Tunnel of Love (1987)
Record #306: Do Make Say Think – Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn (2003)
I have spoken before about the two major camps post rock. On the one hand, you have the cinematic climax chasers like Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Explosions in the Sky. These are the thrill seekers, the masters of bombast and heart wrenching emoting. On the other, you have a more measured, cerebral approach, utilized by bands like Tortoise, Collections of Colonies of Bees, and Do Make Say Think. These groups are closer to architects than artists, but that doesn’t mean their works are any leas awe inspiring. After all, the Sistine Chapel isn’t notable for the ceiling alone. These groups get most of their affect not from crescendo and decrescendo, but from construction and deconstruction.
Record #304: Don Henley – Building the Perfect Beast (1984)
I don’t really like the Eagles. That is to say, I love a lot of their earlier songs–Witchy Woman, One of These Nights–but by and large, the longer the Eagles wrote songs, the more I disliked them (the Hotel California album is pretty deplorable). However, back in 2003, I was a young punk kid with a new drivers license and a copy of the Ataris’ So Long Astoria stuck in my car’s CD player. One of my favorite songs on that album was the Henley penned Boys of Summer, and as I grew to adulthood, I have come to prefer the original version. And to be completely honest, if I needed to pay money for this album on the strength of that single, I wouldn’t have ponied it up. But when you raid your parents’ vinyl collections, you take chances.
Record #303: Crosby Stills & Nash – Daylight Again (1982)
I was entirely prepared for this album to be terrible. The 80s offered some pretty notoriously awful music from legendary 60s groups (I’m looking at you, Beach Boys), and the neon alien invasion scene on the cover does absolutely nothing to convince us that this isn’t the same sort of synthy-schlock that the sometimes Y in CSNY was releasing around the same time. And there’s also the talk about David Crosby only appearing on one song (due to a crippling drug addiction, I think. Elsewhere his parts were performed by an up and comer named Art Garfunkel), but his contributions are almost always my least favorite, so I can deal with that.
But despite its contemporaries and cover, this isn’t too far from their (excellent) debut.
Record #302: Buckingham Nicks – Buckingham Nicks (1973)
In 1973, two struggling, romantically entangled singer-songwriters, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks (who reportedly splurged on a new blouse for this photo shoot and was enraged that Lindsey wanted to use a nude photo for the cover) entered the studio to put together an album showcasing their talents.
In the larger context of pop music history, this album served as their application for Fleetwood Mac.
Record #301: Band of Horses – Everything All the Time (2006)
Every once in a while, I’ll go back to all those records I almost bought but opted for something else instead. Band of Horses’ debut has had a firm place in the indie rock canon since its release, but for whatever reason, I kept passing over it.
Record #300: The Beach Boys – Today! (1965)
Historically, I have ignored most of the Beach Boys’ pre-Pet Sounds output, regarding it as juvenile and cheap pop. However, the Endless Summer compilation I recently picked up has opened my eyes a little to the genius in potentia resting in the group (read: Brian Wilson).
Record #299: Johnny Cash – I Walk the Line (1964)
In the mid 1960s, Johnny Cash, who was already an established star, signed to Columbia Records. In an effort to make as much money out of their new star, Columbia released I Walk the Line, an album filled with rerecorded versions of his biggest hits released through his old label. Cash grab though it was, there’s no denying that these are great songs are great. Big River, Folsom Prison Blues, Hey Porter, I Walk the Line…half of these songs were on the career spanning “Legend of Johnny Cash” released after his death.