Sorry for the lack of updates: my wife and I were in Sweden visiting family. Luckily, Sweden isn’t as saccharine sweet as their primary musical export. But can anyone real hate ABBA? All the reasons to hate them—the melodramatic cheesiness of their delivery, the Swedish simplicity of their songcraft, the squareness of the whole thing—are the same reasons they are adored so widely. So whatever. Thanks, Sweden, for the discocheese.
Author: Nathaniel FitzGerald
Record #260: Glassjaw – Worship and Tribute (2002)
I’m not sure if there has ever been a record quite like Worship and Tribute. People talk a lot about bands trafficking in loudness and softness, but nobody ever did it quite like Glassjaw did here.
And while their heavy tracks are among the best in the biz (see: the first three tracks, “Pink Roses,” “Radio Cambodia”), the ballads on this album are absolutely unforgettable. “Ape Dos Mil” and “Must’ve Run All Day” pack just as much of a punch at a fraction of the tempo.
And at the end of the day, I’m not sure which is more impressive: that Daryl Palumbo’s keeping up with the band’s fury, or the band matching his mania. But I do know (from singing along in the car as a teenager: this album was essentially my Advanced Vocal Techniques class) that Palumbo’s performance is one of the most physically demanding around.
Record #255: Electric Light Orchestra – A New World Record (1976)
I’ll admit: in the several years I’ve owned and loved it, I never realized that Out of the Blue was not ELO’s most acclaimed record. Longest, most ambitious, and most impressive, undoubtedly. But best? This is a question I never knew I had to ask before, but A New World Record, their breakthrough, is bringing that to the forefront.
Record #254: Electric Light Orchestra – Face the Music (1975)
Strange that as long as I’ve loved ELO’s Out of the Blue, I’ve never considered looking into any of their other albums. What a fool I have been! While not as refined as the symphonic pop of Out of the Blue, Face the Music showcases a Jeff Lynne with an absolute mastery of pop songcraft in a variety of genres.
Record #253: Beck – Morning Phase (2014)
To say that Beck is one of the most celebrated artists of the last twenty years is a bit of a misnomer. Beck is in fact three or four separate artists fighting for power. You have the hip hop ironist (Mellow Gold, Odelay, The Information), the rock & roll archivist and experimentalist (the Record Club, the Song Book), pop classicist (Guero, Midnight Vultures), and space-bound, heart-rending singer-songwriter (Sea Change). Of all of Beck’s faces, his earnest face has always been my favorite. Sea Change is one of my favorite records of all time, its tender ballads paired with Nigel Godrich’s ambient production. And as much as I love The Information, and Guero and the like, I’ve long wished for a return to Sea Change’s earnestness. This year, Mr. Hansen delivered.
Record #252: Jefferson Airplane – Crown of Creation (1968)
I’ve never heard After Bathing at Baxter’s, the album between Jefferson Airplane’s Surrealistic Pillow and Crown of Creation, but I hear that it was a marked departure from the folksy noodling on Surrealistic Pillow in favor of for straightforward rock. But, one rock album must have been enough for them, because Crown of Creation is nowhere near the acid rock fest you might expect from Jefferson Airplane’s reputation (or the album cover–they’re inside of a nuclear blast! Come on!).
Record #251: Count Basie – …Plays his Hits of the 60s (1966)
In the fall of 2004, I was a guitarist in an emo band that somehow made it onto my school’s advanced Jazz Band. The first sheet of music handed to me was “Basie Straight Ahead” (which is not on this album), and I quickly realized how in over my head I was. And it wasn’t just me–it took the entire band five months to be able to play the entire song through.
Record #250: Burl Ives – My Gal Sal and Other Favorites (1965)
Even if you don’t know you do, you know who Burl Ives is. It may be only from his role as the sunglasses-wearing snowman in the claymation Christmas movies, but you know who he is. And even when he isn’t singing about the colors of reindeers’ noses, Mr. Ives brings the same timeless gentility to everything he does, as opposed to Bing Crosby, whose charm was lost as soon as he strayed from the fireplace-glow that made his Christmas songs so unforgettable. Burl Ives, on the other hand, is aware of the magic he conjures, and he casts his spell upon every song on this record.
Record #249: Bruce Springsteen – Greetings From Asbury Park N.J. (1973)
I’m a late comer to the Bruce Springsteen fandom. Just two years ago, I largely dismissed the Boss, until Born to Run (the single) caught my attention, followed by the album it led. Since, I’ve been getting into his catalog one album at a time, which usually followed me dismissing that album before conceding that it is, in fact great (see: Born in the USA). That trend has, to date, only moved forward. But I recently found his debut for four dollars, and took a gamble. And if there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that a bet on the Boss is a good bet.
Record 248: Blondie – Parallel Lines (1978)
The mid-to-late seventies were a great time for punk. An unvoiced rebellion finally found its eloquence wearing ripped denim and filling CBGB & OMFUG (Joey Ramone having convinced the owner to let punk bands play there instead of just country, bluegrass, and blues acts).
Punk was fresh, it was real, and most importantly, no one knew what punk was supposed to sound like yet. Whenever I hear Heart of Glass between Brothers and Allman on the oldies station (my town’s radio stations are weird), I shake my head incredulously muttering, “these guys used to play with the Ramones.” And Television too, but Television isn’t exactly what you think of when you think of punk either.