Some people have called the cover photo for this album ironic. And of course it is, right? Indie artpop god David Longstreth teaching some old country dude how to play air guitar? Hilarious!
Although listening to this album, I’m not sure there’s anything ironic about it. Longstreth isn’t mocking the fellow. He’s teaching him. He wants him to get it. He wants us all to get it. And that’s what’s special about this record.
The same year Clapton was putting together a collection of mediocre excuses for guitar solos called Slowhand that (let’s be honest) probably sounded dated upon its release, something else was brewing in London.
That something else was a young man named Elvis Costello who called in sick to his day job to record his debut album, which has become an undisputed classic.
As a guitarist, I think it’s a little funny that the cover of this album depicts Eric Clapton, one of the most lauded guitarists of all time, playing a G chord, the first chord everyone learns.
But whatever.
I read that this live album was meant to serve as a promotion for the Hot Band, the group Emmylou had brought along to support her. It certainly does that. From the opening track through to the final applause, what you notice first isn’t how much more earnest Harris’s voice sounds after she wears it out a little bit but the rollicking, honky tonking, freewheeling band behind her.
I only bought this record because it has Wayfaring Stranger on it, but its bluegrass leanings mixed with Emmylou’s firm, gentle delivery and her selection of songs (including Simon & Garfunkle’s The Boxer!) make for a fine listen that proves Harris is not just a master of melancholy.
It’s almost strange hearing Emmylou Harris singing on her own. She’s sung duets with everyone, from Johnny Cash to Bob Dylan to Ryan Adams to Bright Eyes to Jack White to Gram Parsons, who first brought her into the public view.
If you can’t stand Pink, Katy Perry, Colbie Collette, modern rock, or CCM and want some decent music in my town, there are only two radio stations to turn to in my town: unsurprisingly, they are both classic rock/oldies stations. And as such, one thing is for sure: they play a LOT of Bob Seger. Just how much Bob Seger wasn’t revealed to me until a few months ago when I got Shazam and realized how many of the songs on their rotation were his.
This is one of four records in our collection that belongs more to my wife, but I bought it for her, and sometimes will give it a spin myself.
This is because I love trip hop (or at least trip hop-leaning pop).
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Even in the fifty-four years since this record’s release, there has been no one like Elvis Presley. And there is absolutely no mistaking that strong and warbling voice as it seems to permeate from every part of him. And Elvis’ Golden Records, a collection of his #1 singles up to that time, shows just how indelible The King’s mark on popular music is.
From the Jackson Pollock style cover to Costello’s crooning, Armed Forces is an album as cool as Costello himself, what with his thick rimmed glasses, pompadour, and suit-and-tie–a coolness that comes from practically eschewing the whole idea of coolness.