It is my understanding that super groups aren’t always as successful as CSN (and sometimes Y). Which is surprising, considering that the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Hollies don’t really traffic in the same sorts of rock.
folk rock
Record #213: Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog (2007)
For many people, the words “Iron & Wine” and “full band” do not compute. After all, doesn’t Iron & Wine work because of the stripped minimalism of Sam Beam’s hushed acoustic folk? Less is more, right?
Record #171: Fleetwood Mac – Rumours (1977)
Today, Rumours celebrates its thirty-sixth anniversary. And in those thirty-six years, it has been played and overplayed. Only in most cases, “overplayed” has a negative connotation.
Record #170: Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac, or, The White Album (1975)
It’s so strange to think that by the time the Lindsey Buckingham/Stevie Nicks era of Fleetwood Mac began, the group had already recorded nine albums. Fleetwood Mac had always been a sort of amorphous collective that placed little importance on the lead singer in question, which isn’t surprising, considering the group’s very name was derived from the members of the rhythm section.
But here, with the addition of Buckingham and Nicks, the power of the frontmen begin to match the chops of the musicians that had always played masterfully behind (or despite) them. Continue reading
Record #157: Emmylou Harris – Last Date (1982)
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.
Record #156: Emmylou Harris – Roses in the Snow (1980)
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.
Record #155: Emmylou Harris – Pieces of the Sky (1975)
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.
Record #127: The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love (2009)
If your least favorite parts of The Crane Wife were the high-concept, prog-friendly, organ blaring twelve minute suites, then you should probably leave The Hazards of Love alone. Continue reading
Record #126: The Decemberists – The Crane Wife (2006)
The tragic thing about the Decemberists is that their greatest asset is also their biggest liability.
They’re universally lauded or discounted as bookworm friendly, concept heavy, occasionally prog-leaning folk rock, and if you don’t have time for lyrics you need to look up in the dictionary or 12 minute three-part folk-prog suites (namely “The Island”), then don’t even bother.
But, as often as that description is used disparagingly, it’s used by fans to describe why they love the Decemberists–because some people love parsing lyrics and trilogies of songs based on Japanese folk tales that appear out of order on the album, and some of these people also love that the lead guitarist is also credited with playing hurdy-gurdy on the album (unsurprisingly, the Decemberists are from Portland).
Record #116: David Bowie – Space Oddity (1969)
Space Oddity is not David Bowie’s first album, but it is the first Bowie album anyone cares about.
Its title track, with its tragic astronaut and hand clap coda is still well known, and is still the first song anyone thinks of when they think of Bowie. This album would be notable even if just for its single, but the amazing thing is that the rest of the album doesn’t dwell in its shadow.