The American Nightmare

Dorothy Ashby - Dorothy's Harp (1969)

2011-08-05T19:52:00.001-04:00

One of the grooviest Dorothy Ashby albums of the 60s – a set that has her already-great jazz work on harp backed by Chicago soul arrangements from Richard Evans – all in a blend that's somewhere in the territory of the Soulful Strings, but even groovier! And as an added bonus, Odell Brown even plays a bit of Fender Rhodes on the record – which sounds especially great! Both Ashby and Evans are at the height of their powers here – mixing together bits of jazz, soul, and trippier elements in a sublime late 60s Cadet Records blend – one that's carried off perfectly on the original tunes "Truth Spoken Here", "Tornado", "Cause I Need It", and "Just Had To Tell Somebody" – but which also sounds great on some of the album's cool covers too! Other titles include Brazilian numbers "Reza" and "Canto De Ossanha" – both of which are transformed in Dorothy's hands – plus "This Girl's In Love", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", and "Windmills of Your Mind"!

Dorothy Ashby - Dorothy's Harp (1969) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

Piero Umiliani as Moggi - Tra Scienza E Fantascienza (1976)

2011-06-18T13:41:00.001-04:00

A peculiar record, bridging bebop mannerism and electronic experimentation. Synthetizer arabesques rise over exquisite double-bass grooves and jazzy drumming. Their use is much varied: from soundtrack-like melodic themes, to minimal-tinged stagnations and proto-techno burbles. The compositions are elegant, lucid, but pleasantly devoid of the bombast of much prog-rock of those years. On the contrary, the tracks are absorbed in a gassy fluctuation, slighthly futuristic, a bit Satiesque, but most of all very light and unpretentious. (Il golpe e l'uva)

This reminded me slightly of Alain Goraguer's soundtrack to La Planete Sauvage, maybe slightly more in theory than in actuality. It does have the same sort of spacey, "futuristic" (in a '70s way) sound, though. Probably one of the better Umiliani records I've listened to, although all that I've heard have been pretty good.

Piero Umiliani as Moggi - Tra Scienza E Fantascienza (1976) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

Suzi Quatro - Suzi Quatro (1973)

2011-06-08T10:01:00.000-04:00

As glam rock debut albums go, you'll have to search a long way to find one that outclasses Suzi Quatro's opening shot. Though her fame and, of course, her hit singles-so-far were based around songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman's guileless ability to crank out the classics, away from the glare of TV and radio play the pair allowed Quatro and partner Len Tuckey full rein. The result was an album of several very distinct parts, inextricably linked by the sheer power of the Quatro personality. The heart of Suzi Quatro lies in the band's choice of covers. Harking back to Quatro's years in Detroit clubland, there's a Slade-meets-Stonesy grind through "I Wanna Be Your Man," a raucous blast through "All Shook Up," and, restating the song's claim to be the best rock & roller any Briton ever wrote, Johnny Kidd's "Shaking All Over," garageland sexuality oozing out from every pore. Chinnichap's "Primitive Love," one of the finest songs that the duo ever left unnoticed on an LP, then echoes that same intent, seething percussion and unearthly crowd sounds building around a jungle chant that reduces Quatro's characteristic cries to a breathy growl that is pure animal seduction. Of Quatro/Tuckey's own contributions, "Glycerine Queen" (already familiar from a B-side) and "Shine My Machine" are the most in character, straightforward rockers bolstered by the band's already trademark roiling rhythm. "Skin Tight Skin," on the other hand, is the most adventurous, bucking the formula in favor of a slow swing and a vocal that is straight out of West Side Story. Since cherry-picked as the basis for any number of Quatro compilations, Suzi Quatro itself is best experienced either in its original form or across the 1988 Rock Til Ya Drop CD collection, which allies the LP in its entirety with five more period singles and B-sides (plus, inexplicably, two tracks dating from 1977-1978). In either guise, Suzi Quatro remains one of the most nakedly sexual albums of the entire glam rock epoch -- and one of the hottest debuts of the decade. (All Rovi/AMG)

Suzi Quatro - Suzi Quatro (1973) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

The Donnas - Spend the Night (2002)

2011-05-27T18:21:00.001-04:00

Fuller and more thought-out than their previous releases, the Donnas' Spend the Night furthers the band's evolution from their "what if the Ramones were chicks" vibe into a really cohesive hard rock band. The straightforward lyrics still revolve around "Tonight we're gonna party," "Let's get high in the backseat of my car," and "I'm gonna steal you away from your girl," but using these tried-and-true rock & roll themes with the Donnas' equally simple song structures, their sound and message achieve a kind of rock purity that seems miles away from all of the Britneys and Christina Aguileras out there. Their allegiance to the sound of simplistic party rock bands that were around in the late '70s/early '80s (Kiss, Cheap Trick, Mötley Crüe) joins forces with the snarl of the tough girl groups of that same era (Blondie, the Pretenders, Joan Jett) in a way that hasn't been heard on a major label in at least a decade. Special recognition deserves to go to guitarist Donna R./Allison Robertson whose Ace Frehley fascination used to be cute and now sounds as though it has erupted into a full-blown obsession, but somehow she still manages to put a heavier Southern rock/Angus Young spin on the riffs, demonstrating a real attention to craft that wouldn't have even occurred to them on their 1998 debut. Despite all of this maturity, Spend the Night ain't no Mantovani; the perpetually teenaged foursome still have their raw edges and sharp teeth, it's just that the edges rip deeper and the teeth bite harder with this more efficient and well-crafted rock assault. (AMG)

The Donnas - Spend the Night (2002) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

Blondie - Parallel Lines (1978)

2011-05-25T20:02:00.001-04:00

Blondie turned to British pop producer Mike Chapman for their third album, on which they abandoned any pretensions to new wave legitimacy (just in time, given the decline of the new wave) and emerged as a pure pop band. But it wasn't just Chapman that made Parallel Lines Blondie's best album; it was the band's own songwriting, including Deborah Harry, Chris Stein, and James Destri's "Picture This," and Harry and Stein's "Heart of Glass," and Harry and new bass player Nigel Harrison's "One Way or Another," plus two contributions from nonbandmember Jack Lee, "Will Anything Happen?" and "Hanging on the Telephone." That was enough to give Blondie a number one on both sides of the Atlantic with "Heart of Glass" and three more U.K. hits, but what impresses is the album's depth and consistency -- album tracks like "Fade Away and Radiate" and "Just Go Away" are as impressive as the songs pulled for singles. The result is state-of-the-art pop/rock circa 1978, with Harry's tough-girl glamour setting the pattern that would be exploited over the next decade by a host of successors led by Madonna. (AMG/All Rovi)

Blondie - Parallel Lines (1978) {{link in comments}} [includes bonus tracks from the 2001 and 30th anniversary releases]

Preview here.

Alice Coltrane - A Monastic Trio (1968)

2011-05-24T11:16:00.001-04:00

The CD reissue of Alice Coltrane's watershed first album after the death of her husband John has been repackaged -- and wonderfully remastered -- with an unreleased solo piano tune and two tracks from Cosmic Music added to the original album. In some cases a compendium wouldn't work, but all of it falls into place -- except for the solo "Altruvista" from 1967 at the end -- because of the chronological sequencing from January through June of 1968. There are three different sessions and two different bands at work on A Monastic Trio; the first is actually a quartet with Pharoah Sanders playing tenor, flute, and bass clarinet respectively on "Lord, Help Me to Be," "The Sun," and "Phnedaruth," with Jimmy Garrison on bass and Ben Riley on drums. The other five pieces are by a trio with Garrison and the fiery drummer Rashied Ali. Musically, the works here move from the deep bluesy modal structures that Alice Coltrane so loved in John's repertoire. Here she composes on the first three tunes for herself and Sanders. All of these works, with their deep Eastern tinges in the intervals juxtaposed against Western blues phrasing, are wondrously droning and emotional exercises. Sanders moves the music outside its frame of reference, adding his harmonic invention -- which is truly singular -- to Coltrane's blues-making, creating music that feels, anyway, as if it is somehow eternal. The five tracks with Ali and Garrison are more rooted in traditional soul-jazz and gospel themes, and made somehow exotic by the use of bells and Ali's underhanded, fluidly rolling drumming. Garrison could punch up any blues line and make it sing, and he does, especially on "Gospel Trane" and "Oceanic Beloved." "Altruvista" is an odd piece of improvisation based on whole-tone scales. It's quite beautiful and flows without a hint of forced emotion or mechanical intrusion. Really, it's a long cadenza, teetering on the edge of an abyss that thankfully never swallows it, and the perfect closer for an already fine album. (AMG)

Alice Coltrane - A Monastic Trio (1968) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

Nancy Sinatra - Boots (1966)

2011-05-15T10:27:00.001-04:00

Nancy Sinatra was signed to Reprise Records mainly because her father owned the record label. After a whopping eleven flop singles, Nancy was given "one more chance", with the understanding that she would be dropped by the label if her next record didn't sell. Having nothing to lose, she hooked up with maverick producer/songwriter Lee Hazlewood at her next recording session. The resulting record, "So Long, Babe", wasn't a major hit, but it sold enough copies to save Nancy's job. Then the next record that Lee cooked up for Nancy, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'", was a major smash and turned her career around. What comes next after a Number One hit single? An album, of course! Nancy first album was centered around that hit (and the sexy cover didn't hurt sales, either). I guess Lee was a little short on material, because over half the album was covers of other people's hits. Artists covered include The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Knickerbockers and The Statler Brothers. You know, all the usual suspects. The covers are actually pretty fun, thanks to interesting arrangements by Hazlewood. The CD includes four bonus tracks. "The City Never Sleeps at Night" was the b-side of "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'". "In Our Time" was a relatively unsuccessful single, and "Leave My Dog Alone" was it's b-side. The mono single version of "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" closes out the album. Recommended to all of Nancy's fans. (amazon reviewer)

Nancy Sinatra - Boots (1966) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

The Sins of Satan - Thou Shalt Boogie Forever (1976)

2011-05-11T10:43:00.001-04:00

A masterpiece of early Detroit disco – the debut album by Sins of Satan, and a club classic all the way through! The group have a great sound that really belies their Motor City roots – one that's not afraid to use heavier guitars and funkier elements, but which also rolls along in a tight clubby groove that's equal part disco and equal parts ensemble funk. Jimmy Roach is the main main behind the production and arrangements on the set – and he's got a great little touch that brings in some moogy bits from time to time, and which knows just the right point to chill out. The album's actually got two totally great mellow cuts – the spacey "Sunshine Girl" and harmony soul "Autumn" – alongside the hard-rolling groovers "Dance & Free Your Mind", "Rope-a-Dope", "Heavy Traffic", and "Devil's Disco". (Dusty Groove)

The Sins of Satan - Thou Shalt Boogie Forever (1976) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

The Chemical Brothers - Hanna: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2011)

2011-05-10T17:19:00.002-04:00

Hanna opens with the bubbly, lightweight “Hanna’s Theme”, setting an iridescent, child-like tone. That fades into the danceable buzz of “Escape 700”, and here it becomes clear that unlike Daft Punk, the Chemical Brothers managed to maintain their own style and simply adapted it to fit the film. This is as much a Chemical Brothers album as it is a soundtrack, and it’s a good one at that.

Other quality moments arrive on “The Devil is in the Details”, which harkens back to the child-like feel of “Hanna’s Theme”, and the later “The Devil is in the Beats”, which features a similar tempo and theme, but bears a much darker synth imprint and an ominous voice-over. It’s truly amazing the amount of variation the Chemical Brothers can find in one basic idea.

“Marissa Flashback” and the vocal version of “Hanna’s Theme” are quieter and bring to mind the dreamy pieces on Further. “Bahnhof Rumble” and “Car Chase (Arp Worship)” feature the layered beats that the duo is so famous for, making the songs easily recognizable as their work. Even more traditional soundtrack pieces like “Interrogation/ Lonesome Subway/ Grimm’s House” bear the Chemical Brothers’ distinct sound. (CoS)

The Chemical Brothers - Hanna: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2011) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

Goblin - Suspiria (1977)

2011-05-07T10:46:00.001-04:00

This stunning soundtrack from 1977 is the favorite of many a Goblin fan because it represents their sound carried to its most powerful and intense extremes. Suspiria was another score for their cinematic alter ego, director Dario Argento, and backed up the story of a girl who enrolls in a German dance academy only to discover it is a cover for a powerful coven of witches. The music is just as scary as the film itself, blending wailing electric guitar, whooping synthesizers, and screaming wordless cries into a spooky, bombastic sound that manages to be terrifying even without the benefit of the film's gruesome images. Suspiria has long been popular with heavy metal fans because it sports a hard-rocking edge equal in intensity to the scariest works of Black Sabbath or King Diamond: the title theme slowly builds a spooky riff on bells, acoustic guitar, and synthesizer until it erupts into a hard-rocking mid-section where nimble synthesizer solos spar with ghostly cries of "Witch! Witch!," and "Sighs" mixes panting, wordless vocals with an array of furious power chords to create an unbearably high level of suspense. Even when the score downplays the gothic rock theatrics on subtler tracks like "Black Forest" and "Blind Concert," the group's members still manage to create an intensely creepy atmosphere. The end result is an album that is guaranteed to please Goblin fans and is highly likely to appeal to fans of gothic and heavy metal sounds. Collector's note: the 2007 Cinevox CD reissue of Suspiria sports four bonus tracks, consisting of three alternate version of "Suspiria" and a slightly different version of "Markos." (AMG)

Goblin - Suspiria (1977) {{link in comments}} [repost--updated link]

Preview here.

Le Tigre - Le Tigre (1999)

2011-03-20T10:34:00.001-04:00

The debut effort from Le Tigre sounds like the best new wave album not to come from the 1980s. Here, frontwoman Kathleen Hanna expands on the lo-fi sounds she tinkered with on her debut solo album, Julie Ruin. Le Tigre melds punk, new wave, and hip-hop into a seemingly cute package. Each song is hummable, and Hanna's "valley girl intelligentsia" voice is perfectly deceptive. In "Deceptacon," a song loaded with the kind of simple contradictions that made Kurt Cobain's lyrics so effective, Hanna sings, "Let me hear you depoliticize my rhyme." "What's Yr Take on Cassavetes" is the best song about an auteur since King Missile's "Martin Scorsese." "My My Metrocard" and "Les and Ray," two of the best songs on the album, display a welcome sort of contradiction: both songs seem to be about escape and exploration ("Think I'll go a little/but then I go far"), but the catchy hooks of these tunes are inescapable. With Bikini Kill, Hanna's politics were as subtle as the Empire State Building. But with Le Tigre, as with the great Tom Tom Club song "Genius of Love," the listener is left not only humming and dancing, but exploring the wealth of reference material hidden within its confines. (AMG)

Le Tigre - Le Tigre (1999) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

I wish I could post more, but all work and no play makes me a very dull girl. Maybe one day I'll be rich enough to listen to music and watch movies all day, all the time. Probably not...

Anyways, if you have any recommendations for any feminist-minded music that hasn't been posted or listened to (my last.fm is poturtle!) feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments.

Cherry Vanilla - Bad Girl (1978)

2011-03-10T11:06:00.000-05:00

Actress, author, poetess, and rock star, Cherry Vanilla arguably ranks high among the most influential figures on the Anglo-American rock scene. As a cast member of Andy Warhol's taboo-shattering Pork stageshow, she figured in the formulation of David Bowie's flamboyant breakthrough during 1971-1972. As a lasciviously uninhibited rocker at Max's Kansas City, her performances had an unquestionable impact upon waitress Debbie Harry. And as author of the libidinous artbook Pop Tarts, she published the blueprint for Madonna's later Sex. Add to that her time spent fronting a then little-known band called the Police and two albums at the end of the 1970s which are still regarded in hushed tones of reverence and Vanilla's role in recent rock history isn't simply secured, it is sacred.

Preceded by a single, "The Punk"/"Foxy Bitch," Bad Girl appeared in early 1978, a cross between punk, rock, and burlesque which should never have been as ignored, or abused, as it ultimately was. The music was primitive and the lyrics occasionally crass, but Vanilla had a genuinely seductive singing voice which made mincemeat of the more feted female vocalists of the period. (itunes)

Cherry Vanilla - Bad Girl (1978) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

Boney M. - Take the Heat Off Me (1976)

2011-03-01T10:52:00.001-05:00

Take the Heat Off Me marked the album debut of one of the world's most successful disco groups, Boney M. Although they never found much success in the United States, they were a phenomenon overseas during the late '70s and this album makes it easy to understand why. They were the right group at the right time — their unique combination of rocksteady disco rhythms and infectious bubblegum pop hooks created a sound that anyone in any country could easily grasp and find appealing. Some may find the Boney M. sound to be too sweet, but the group's soulful vocals subtly add a little grit into the mix to keep the music from drifting off into the ether. The big hits from this album were "Sunny," a pulsating, string-drenched update of Bobby Hebb's pop-soul classic, and "Daddy Cool," a relentless groove that combines staccato violin stabs, mariachi horns, and an aggressive drum attack to create an irresistibly catchy dance-pop ditty. The other tracks offer a similar mix of poppy originals and odd covers: "Got a Man on My Mind" combines reggae rhythms and choral vocals to great effect and Boney M.'s cover of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" may seem preposterous in concept but works thanks to its effective combination of soulful vocals and slick instrumentation. "Baby Do You Wanna Bump," the only song that strays from the pop song format, drags noticeably, but the high quality of the surrounding tunes makes up for this flaw. Take the Heat Off Me won't win any new fans to the disco cause, but it remains an effective and likable slice of Euro-disco at its most effervescent. (AMG)

Boney M. - Take the Heat Off Me (1976) {{link in comments}} [repost]

Preview here-.

The Cars - The Cars (1978)

2011-02-15T10:12:00.001-05:00

The Cars' 1978 self-titled debut, issued on the Elektra label, is a genuine rock masterpiece. The band jokingly referred to the album as their "true greatest-hits album," but it's no exaggeration -- all nine tracks are new wave/rock classics, still in rotation on rock radio. Whereas most bands of the late '70s embraced either punk/new wave or hard rock, the Cars were one of the first bands to do the unthinkable -- merge the two styles together. Add to it bandleader/songwriter Ric Ocasek's supreme pop sensibilities, and you had an album that appealed to new wavers, rockers, and Top 40 fans. One of the most popular new wave songs ever, "Just What I Needed," is an obvious highlight, as are such familiar hits as "Good Times Roll," "My Best Friend's Girl," and "You're All I've Got Tonight." But like most consummate rock albums, the lesser-known compositions are just as exhilarating: "Don't Cha Stop," "Bye Bye Love," "All Mixed Up," and "Moving in Stereo," the latter featured as an instrumental during a steamy scene in the popular movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. With flawless performances, songwriting, and production (courtesy of Queen alumni Roy Thomas Baker), the Cars' debut remains one of rock's all-time classics. (AMG)

The Cars - The Cars (1978) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

Bobby Williams - Funky Super Fly (1974)

2011-01-22T17:45:00.001-05:00

To JB or not to JB -- that is the question, and Bobby Williams answers in the affirmative with his 1974 debut LP Funky Superfly. There are worse ways to spend a career than imitating James Brown, and Williams does it with a style and energy second to none -- with its raw indie label production and amphetamine rhythms, the album even boasts a gutbucket grittiness missing from the Godfather's slick mid-'70s efforts. The band certainly lacks the virtuosity of the J.B.'s -- what backing combo doesn't? -- but the sheer edginess of the grooves and the raw exuberance of Williams' vocals are undeniably potent; if you dig James Brown, you will dig this. (AMG)

Bobby Williams - Funky Super Fly (1974) {{links in comments}}

Sample here.

I'm back!

2011-01-21T13:13:00.000-05:00

Obviously. Somewhere shortly after I posted Dolly Parton's Hello, I'm Dolly, my computer crashed. It was fixed, and then it crashed again. So I bought a new one! I've been attempting to re-cultivate my collection but in between working and being generally lazy, it's been going pretty slowly. I hope to start posting much more frequently ASAP, but no promises yet.

Other news: I'm happy to say that I've had just about 150,000 hits since the start of the blog. Maybe that's not much for close to two years of posts, but I never expected that many! Thanks to all of you who follow and read, and those who happen to stumble upon it whilst Googling.

In an attempt to help me post more, I started a Tumblr wherein you can sample a track from each album posted. You can find it here. If you're on Tumblr, please follow and reblog posts at your leisure. If you're not, bookmark it and visit it periodically. Or something. I don't know.

TTYL,
rabidgod

PS: Definitely a bit late, but happy new year nonetheless.

Wanda Robinson - The Soul-Jazz Poetry of Wanda Robinson (2000)

2011-01-21T12:54:00.002-05:00

The Castle/Sanctuary reissues of the Perception catalog from the early to mid-'70s have been a blessing in that they put the former soul-funk label's offerings -- many of which were hard to come by in their original editions despite the top-tier names who recorded them (Fatback Band, Dizzy Gillespie, James Moody, et al). Two of the more obscure offerings the label issued were by soul-jazz poet Wanda Robinson from Baltimore, who issued a pair of printed collections, as well, and has since disappeared from public life. The two albums, Black Ivory (named for her backing band) and Me & a Friend, were issued in 1971 and 1973, respectively, and offer a portrait of the artist as a (righteously) angry young woman about social mores, political injustices, and sexual politics and were produced by jazz composer and pianist Anthony Davis. The 11 cuts that make up Black Ivory are rooted by a chamber jazz group of piano, flute and saxes, bass, and a drum kit textured by strings, a horn section, and a bluesy electric guitar in places ("Parting Is Such," "Tragedy No. 456 6.04"). The poems are excerpted from a book entitled The Daze of Wine...Without Roses, and deal with the politics of relationships, both facile and profound, both spiritual and sexual. While the set has funky moments, Me & a Friend is a far harder album musically. With a band led by keyboard maestro Julius Brockington and the United Chair -- a local jazz-rock fusion group -- Me & a Friend is wooly, greasy, and tough, it's all vibe with big, fat funk lacing its grooves and adding another dimension to both the celebration and darkness in the poetry. Robinson's delivery is strident, but not overbearing, her language is direct and confrontational, without metaphorical allusions. This is the music of "the message" that was inspired by the Last Poets and carried on by Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson. It's dated sounding to be sure, but the grooves are magical and Robinson's original style is timeless. (AMG?)

Wanda Robinson - The Soul-Jazz Poetry of Wanda Robinson (2000) {{links in comments}}

Sample here.

Dolly Parton - Hello, I'm Dolly (1967)

2010-11-04T12:17:00.000-04:00

The charismatic Dolly Parton came on strong with these early session for Monument. At least half the songs are among her classics, while the rest of the material is hardly weak. The pedal steel playing is fantastic, and it would be worth the research to find out who the session men were, as they have gone uncredited on the original release, as well as subsequent repackagings. (In one two-fer release combining this album with As Long as I Love, the label squandered the inner gatefold on self-advertising rather than provide any information about these wonderful sessions.) The personality that Parton brought to her material is here in full force. "Dumb Blonde" and "Something Fishy" are the wisecracking, smart-cookie side of Parton, while "The Company You Keep"and "I've Lived My Life" show how adept she is at cramming country songs full of moralizing while providing the listener with plenty of enjoyment. (AMG)

Dolly Parton - Hello, I'm Dolly (1967) {{link in comments}}

Hot Blood - Disco Dracula (1977)

2010-10-25T12:22:00.000-04:00

Halloween is around the corner and in the process of returning my music library to its pre-crash state, I'm picking up new, awful (wonderful) things like this. If you like kitschy novelty music, disco, vaguely seasonal music, or a combination of all three, you will maybe like this. You can read a bit more from an old entry over at Disco Delivery. This summarizes it nicely, though: Overall though, "Disco Dracula" is your typically harmless, fun novelty record, firmly entrenched in the realm of kitsch and camp, yet not without its moments of inspired musicianship. Not something to break the bank for, yet nothing to pass on either..

Hot Blood - Disco Dracula (1977) {{link in comments}}

Willie Hutch - The Mack (1973)

2010-10-16T11:38:00.000-04:00

When an act called Sisters Love were offered a cameo in the blaxploitation film The Mack, their manager suggested that Willie Hutch do the soundtrack. It came to be one of the great '70s film scores, including a pair of classic funk tunes, "Brothers Gonna Work It Out" and the title cut. The results proved to be another soundtrack that far surpassed the quality of its film. (AMG)

The film certainly isn't bad, though.

Willie Hutch - The Mack (1973) {{link in comments}}

Women in Music Month: Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (1985)

2010-09-27T22:05:00.002-04:00

Kate Bush's strongest album to date also marked her breakthrough into the American charts, and yielded a set of dazzling videos as well as an enviable body of hits, spearheaded by "Running Up That Hill," her biggest single since "Wuthering Heights." Strangely enough, Hounds of Love was no less complicated in its structure, imagery, and extra-musical references (even lifting a line of dialogue from Jacques Tourneur's Curse of the Demon for the intro of the title song) than The Dreaming, which had been roundly criticized for being too ambitious and complex. But Hounds of Love was more carefully crafted as a pop record, and it abounded in memorable melodies and arrangements, the latter reflecting idioms ranging from orchestrated progressive pop to high-wattage traditional folk; and at the center of it all was Bush in the best album-length vocal performance of her career, extending her range and also drawing expressiveness from deep inside of herself, so much so that one almost feels as though he's eavesdropping at moments during "Running Up That Hill." Hounds of Love is actually a two-part album (the two sides of the original LP release being the now-lost natural dividing line), consisting of the suites "Hounds of Love" and "The Ninth Wave." The former is steeped in lyrical and sonic sensuality that tends to wash over the listener, while the latter is about the experiences of birth and rebirth. If this sounds like heady stuff, it could be, but Bush never lets the material get too far from its pop trappings and purpose. In some respects, this was also Bush's first fully realized album, done completely on her own terms, made entirely at her own 48-track home studio, to her schedule and preferences, and delivered whole to EMI as a finished work; that history is important, helping to explain the sheer presence of the album's most striking element — the spirit of experimentation at every turn, in the little details of the sound. That vastly divergent grasp, from the minutiae of each song to the broad sweeping arc of the two suites, all heavily ornamented with layered instrumentation, makes this record wonderfully overpowering as a piece of pop music. Indeed, this reviewer hadn't had so much fun and such a challenge listening to a new album from the U.K. since Abbey Road, and it's pretty plain that Bush listened to (and learned from) a lot of the Beatles' output in her youth.

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (1985) {{link in comments}} [repost]

Women in Music Month: Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)

2010-09-21T17:43:00.002-04:00

Though the Fugees had been wildly successful, and Lauryn Hill had been widely recognized as a key to their popularity, few were prepared for her stunning debut. The social heart of the group and its most talented performer, she tailored The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill not as a crossover record but as a collection of overtly personal and political statements; nevertheless, it rocketed to the top of the album charts and made her a superstar. Also, and most importantly, it introduced to the wider pop world an astonishingly broad talent. Hill's verses were intelligent and hardcore, with the talent to rank up there with Method Man. And for the choruses she could move from tough to smooth in a flash, with a vocal prowess that allowed her to be her own chanteuse (à la Mariah Carey). Hill, of Haitian heritage, rhymed in a tough Caribbean patois on the opener, "Lost Ones," wasting little time to excoriate her former bandmates and/or record-label executives for caving in to commercial success. She used a feature for Carlos Santana ("To Zion") to explain how her child comes before her career and found a hit single with "Doo Wop (That Thing)," an intelligent dissection of the sex game that saw it from both angles. "Superstar" took to task musicians with more emphasis on the bottom line than making great music (perhaps another Fugees nod), while her collaborations with a pair of sympathetic R&B superstars (D'Angelo and Mary J. Blige) also paid major dividends. And if her performing talents, vocal range, and songwriting smarts weren't enough, Hill also produced much of the record, ranging from stun-gun hip-hop to smoother R&B with little trouble. Though it certainly didn't sound like a crossover record, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill affected so many widely varying audiences that it's no surprise the record became a commercial hit as well as a musical epoch-maker. (AMG)

Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998) {{link in comments}} [repost]

Women In Music Month: Various Artists - Lady Disco (Fan Mix)

2010-09-18T20:55:00.003-04:00

Good evening/day, I am your guest contributor for tonight. ;)

For this occasion, I have compiled a mix of personal favorite female artists of the disco, italo, and Hi NRG genres from the 1970s-1980s. There's a little bit of everything in here. American disco, Swedes singing in Spanish, Estonian, Italian, and a few you may remember being sampled by French house artists Cassius and Daft Punk (can you guess which is which?)

Download, enjoy, and don't stop the dance. Disco does not and never will suck, and it never died. It was just very very sleepy for a while.

In alphabetical order, this zip contains:

ABBA - Dame! Dame! Dame!

Alisha - All Night Passion

Amanda Lear - Diamonds

Anna - Systems Breaking Down

Chaka Khan - Fate

Cheryl Lynn - Star Love

Dharma - Plastic Doll

Diana Est - Tenax

Donatella Rettore - Splendido Splendente

Donna Summer - If It Hurts Just A Little

Donna Summer - Autumn Changes

Heather Parisi - Cicale

Karen Young - Hot Shot

Klapto - Mister Game

Klein & MBO - Deja Vu

Mistral - Jamie

Silvia Vask - Kui Kunagi Veel Naeme

Sister Sledge - Il Macquillage Lady

Sylvia Striplin - Give Me Your Love

Vivien Vee - Higher

Yazoo - Don't Go

Various Artists - Lady Disco (Fan Mix) {{link in comments}}

Women in Music Month: Heart - Dreamboat Annie (1976)

2010-09-17T19:23:00.002-04:00

In the 1980s and '90s, numerous women recorded blistering rock, but things were quite different in 1976 — when female singers tended to be pigeonholed as soft rockers and singer/songwriters and were encouraged to take after Carly Simon, Melissa Manchester, or Joni Mitchell rather than Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. Greatly influenced by Zep, Heart did its part to help open doors for ladies of loudness with the excellent Dreamboat Annie (reissued on a gold audiophile CD by DCC Compact Classics in 1995). Aggressive yet melodic rockers like "Sing Child," "White Lightning & Wine," and the rock radio staples "Magic Man" and "Crazy on You" led to the tag "the female Led Zeppelin." And in fact, Robert Plant did have a strong influence on Ann Wilson. But those numbers and caressing, folk-ish ballads like "How Deep It Goes" and the title song also make it clear that the Nancy and Ann Wilson had their own identity and vision early on. (AMG)

Heart - Dreamboat Annie (1976) {{link in comments}} [repost]

Women in Music Month: Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand the Rain (1974)

2010-09-14T10:53:00.000-04:00

This wonderful album, originally released in 1974 on the Memphis-based Hi Records label, deserved a wider audience than it ended up getting at the time. It played to Ann Peebles' great strength, her poised and sultry voice, and surrounded by the sparse, easy funkiness of the trademark Hi rhythm section and producer Willie Mitchell's perfect use of horns and strings, she sings like a resilient but disappointed angel on this impressive set of songs about the darker side of love. Her best song is here, the eccentric but brilliant "I Can't Stand the Rain," along with a marvelous version of Joe Simon's "(You Keep Me) Hangin' On," and perfect readings of a pair of Earl Randle songs, "If We Can't Trust Each Other" and "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down." Peebles sings her heart out, and with those somehow bright-sounding Hi grooves behind her, it all comes together to make a classic album of dark, bouncy, and beautiful Southern soul. (AMG)

Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand the Rain (1974) {{link in comments}} [repost]

My hard drive on my regular computer failed and I don't have much music by women on this one, so posts might be a bit sparse until I get it fixed.

Women in Music Month: Judee Sill - Heart Food (1973)

2010-09-11T09:39:00.000-04:00

Sometimes myths become reality, or apocryphal tales bear enough weight to be documented as fact. Heart Food, Judee Sill's legendary -- and up until now very rare -- second and final album, was recorded and released in 1973 by Asylum Records when she was 29; she passed away six years later. Heart Food has been equated with Laura Nyro's classic New York Tendaberry, Essra Mohawk's Primordial Lovers, and Carole King's Tapestry as being a definitive moment in the work of female singer/songwriters. Part of this myth comes out of the reality that Heart Food has not been in print in more than 20 years. Rhino Handmade has issued the album on CD, along with its predecessor, Judee Sill [Expanded], for a limited time. The original (second) album is rounded out with nine extra tracks of live and demo material, is accompanied by a handsome package, a complete liner note essay by Michele Kort, and a slew of photographs. Now that it is available again, it is easy to see how that comparison by the critical pop establishment of the day was made: it's because it is accurate.

The beautifully rough edges on Sill's debut have all been smoothed out here by an engagement with subtle yet pervasive orchestration, stellar arrangements, tightly crafted songs that open up form the inside their musical frameworks, and draw on influences as varied as Tin Pan Alley to gospel and country to Mozart and Bach. The wildest thing is that Ms. Sill was responsible for all of it. She had complete artistic control and creative freedom in the studio -- those who know David Geffen's reputation will be surprised. And the cast of players bears out the confidence in Ms. Sill's abilities: Doug Dillard, Gloria Jones, Ray Kelly, Chris Ethridge, Spooner Oldham, Buddy Emmons, Jim Gordon, and many others. (the rest @ AMG)

Judee Sill - Heart Food (1973) [Expanded] {{link in comments}}

Women in Music Month: Dorothy Ashby - The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby (1970)

2010-09-09T10:44:00.000-04:00

Issued on Cadet in 1970, The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby is really a left-field offering for the jazz harpist. But being a jazz harpist was -- and remains -- an outside thing in the tradition. Her previous offerings on Prestige were pure, hard bop jazz with serious session players soloing all over them. She made recordings for Atlantic and Jazzland before landing at Chess in 1968 with Afro-Harping which began her partnership with arranger Richard Evans. Ashby became content as an iconoclast and was seemingly moving forward toward the deep well of spiritual jazz in the aftermath of John Coltrane's death and the recordings of Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane. On this set for Cadet, she again teams with Evans who wears the hats of producer, arranger, and conductor of a string section and the record goes in a somewhat different direction. Whereas Afro-Harping hit on a direction for Ashby and cemented her relationship with Evans, Rubaiyat realizes that partnership in total. With a band that included a host of percussion instruments -- Stu Katz played vibes and kalimba, and Fred Katz played a second kalimba, Cash McCall was enlisted as guitarist, Cliff Davis played alto saxophone, and Lenny Druss played flute, oboe, bass flute, and piccolo. There is also a bass player and a drummer but they are not credited. For her part, Ashby played her harp, but she also brought the Japanese koto into the mix as well as her voice. Rubaiyat is no ordinary jazz vocal album. It is exotic, mysterious, laid-back, and full of gentle grooves and soul. The opening cut, "Myself When Young," with its glissando harp and koto, is in an Eastern mode, and immediately lays out Ashby's vocal as this beautiful throaty, clear instrument hovering around the low end of the mix. Midway through it kicks into soul-jazz groove without losing the Eastern mode and goes, however gently, into an insistent funky soul-jazz groove. There is no kitsch value in this music, it's serious, poetic, and utterly ingenious musically. It sounds like nothing else out there. And it only gets better from here. The poem that commences "For Some We Loved" gives way to a percussion and koto workout that comes right from the modal blues. The oboe playing is reminiscent of Yusef's Eastern Sounds but with more driving, hypnotic rhythm. "Wax and Wane" begins with kalimbas playing counterpoint rhythms and Ashby singing in Japanese scale signature But soon hand percussion, strings, and a flute enter to make the thing groove and glide, ethereal, light, beautiful. "Drink" is a pure soul-jazz ballad with harp fills, a funky bassline, and shimmering flutes above a trap kit. The piano solo -- played by Evans, we can assume -- on "Wine," is a killer move bringing back the hard bop and giving way to a smoking vibes solo by Katz. It's as if each track, from "Joyful Grass and Grape," "Shadow Shapes," and "Heaven and Hell," enter from the world of exotica, from someplace so far outside jazz and western popular musics, and by virtue of Ashby's vocal and harp, are brought back inside, echoing the blues and jazz -- check out the koto solo on this cut, by way of the symbiotic communication between Evans and the musicians. You can literally hear that Ashby trusts Evans to deliver. Ashby transforms "Shadow Shapes" and "Heaven and Hell" from near show tunes in her contralto into swinging, shuffling jazz numbers. The lithe beauty on display in her voice and the in-the-pocket backup of the rhythm section is flawless and infectious. The set ends on its greatest cut, "The Moving Finger." Introduced by what seems like an Eastern Buddhist chant, it quickly slips into harp, koto, guitars, drums, and bass bump. Evans adds strings for drama playing repeating two-note vamps before Katz and his vibes take the thing into outer space. The slippery guitar groove and alto solo that cut right into the flesh of the blues turn it into a solid late-night groover with plenty, plenty soul. The fuzz guitar solo playing counterpoint with the kalimba rhythms is mindblowing, sending the record off to some different place in the listener's head. And this is a head record. Time and space are suspended and new dimensions open up for anyone willing to take this killer little set on and let it spill its magic into the mind canal through the ears. Depending on how much of a jazz purist you are will give you a side to debate the place of this set in Ashby's catalogue. For those who remain open, this may be her greatest moment on record. (AMG)

Dorothy Ashby - The Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby (1970) {{link in comments}}

Women in Music Month: The Supremes - I Hear a Symphony (1966)

2010-09-08T09:17:00.001-04:00

I Hear a Symphony has some great soul numbers on it, mostly by the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, including not only the title track but also "Any Girl in Love (Knows What I'm Going Through)," "My World Is Empty Without You," and "He's All I Got" -- the latter is one of the greatest album tracks the group ever recorded, with stunning vocals by Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard behind Diana Ross, showing the trio in just about its peak form. Other parts of I Hear a Symphony seem to take its title track almost literally, with the inclusion of the majestic "Unchained Melody" and the Bach-based "A Lover's Concerto"; the latter, in particular, is a Diana Ross tour de force, with very sweetly understated accompaniment by Wilson and Ballard. And elsewhere, Berry Gordy was pushing his vision of the Supremes as a mainstream pop trio, covering "A Stranger in Paradise," "With a Song in My Heart," "Without a Song," and "Wonderful, Wonderful." None of these are bad, but neither are they terribly distinguished -- the group even adds a certain fresh sparkle to "Wonderful, Wonderful," but realistically, people were paying their money for the Holland-Dozier-Holland and Eddie Holland-authored songs, any of which would have made about as fine singles as anything the trio ever put out, and all of which are still a chunk of the best part of the group's legacy. (AMG)

The Supremes - I Hear a Symphony (1966) {{link in comments}}

Women in Music Month: Etta James - At Last! (1961)

2010-09-06T20:21:00.002-04:00

After spending a few years in limbo after scoring her first R&B hits "Dance With Me, Henry" and "Good Rocking Daddy," Etta James returned to the spotlight in 1960 with her first Chess release, At Last. James made both the R&B and pop charts with the album's title cut, "All I Could Do Was Cry," and "Trust in Me." What makes At Last a great album is not only the solid hits it contains, but also the strong variety of material throughout. James expertly handles jazz standards like "Stormy Weather" and "A Sunday Kind of Love," as well as Willie Dixon's blues classic "I Just Want to Make Love to You." James demonstrates her keen facility on the title track in particular, as she easily moves from powerful blues shouting to more subtle, airy phrasing; her Ruth Brown-inspired, bad-girl growl only adds to the intensity. James would go on to even greater success with later hits like "Tell Mama," but on At Last one hears the singer at her peak in a swinging and varied program of blues, R&B, and jazz standards. (AMG)

Etta James - At Last! (1961) {{link in comments}}

Women in Music Month: Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes (1989)

2010-09-05T14:48:00.000-04:00

Elizabeth Cotten was born in January of 1895 in Chapel Hill, NC, where her father worked in the mines and her mother was a maid servant and laundress. She began playing guitar at the age of eight, secretly practicing on her older brother's instrument. At the age of 12, she began to work with her mother in helping the family to scrape by, though she continued to play music with her family, in particular her siblings. Sometime around 1912 she was married and joined the church, which occasioned her to give up playing music for the next 25 years. Through a series of strange accidents, she once found the daughter of Peggy and Pete Seeger in a department store and came to work for them, which led to her re-involvement with music. She played frequently during the '60s and '70s, often with Mike Seeger; the recordings collected here were made during 1957 and 1958 at her home in Washington. Cotten has a very distinctive picking style and a beautifully fragile and off-key voice; both make these recordings a pleasure. Included are a mix of originals and personal versions. Of note are "Vastopol," which sounds nothing like the John Fahey version, and "Sweet Bye and Bye," of which this version might be specific to North Carolina. Also enjoyable is "Honey Babe Your Papa Cares for You," whose melodically vague style is characteristic of Cotten's ear and unique way of suppressing melody. If this album intrigues you, you might want to check out her live album on Arhoolie, which some believe to be even better. (AMG)

Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes (1989; recorded 1957-1958) {{link in comments}}

Women in Music Month: Joni Mitchell - Blue (1971)

2010-09-04T10:01:00.001-04:00

Sad, spare, and beautiful, Blue is the quintessential confessional singer/songwriter album. Forthright and poetic, Joni Mitchell's songs are raw nerves, tales of love and loss (two words with relative meaning here) etched with stunning complexity; even tracks like "All I Want," "My Old Man," and "Carey" -- the brightest, most hopeful moments on the record -- are darkened by bittersweet moments of sorrow and loneliness. At the same time that songs like "Little Green" (about a child given up for adoption) and the title cut (a hymn to salvation supposedly penned for James Taylor) raise the stakes of confessional folk-pop to new levels of honesty and openness, Mitchell's music moves beyond the constraints of acoustic folk into more intricate and diverse territory, setting the stage for the experimentation of her later work. Unrivaled in its intensity and insight, Blue remains a watershed. (AMG)

Joni Mitchell - Blue (1971) {{link in comments}}

Women in Music Month: The 5.6.7.8's - Teenage Mojo Workout (2002)

2010-09-03T10:05:00.000-04:00

This album isn't for everyone, but it's still a great album.

If you're a fan of dirty punk music, e.g. the Dead Boys, Fear, the Ramones, the Dead Kennedys, or the Sex Pistols, you're probably a good candidate for appreciating this album. The vocals are unorthodox to say the least. Most of the lyrics are in Japanese, or English, and all of them are either spit or screamed.

Every chord, piano gliss, drum beat, and jubilant yell is absolutely bursting with lightning-energy. The 5, 6, 7, 8s remind me of a female, Japanese version of the Kingsmen (Louie, Louie). They play dirty, loud, fun garage rock with the occasional rip roaring surf tune.

If you have eclectic tastes, this is a good band to pick up. If you like sugary pop or strictly mainstream music, then you'll probably think this band is full of no-talent hacks. You'd be wrong, of course, but you'd still have felt like you wasted money. (amazon review)

The 5.6.7.8's - Teenage Mojo Workout (2002) {{link in comments}}

Women in Music Month: Dorothy Ashby - Afro-Harping (1968)

2010-09-02T09:49:00.000-04:00

One of the grooviest records ever – a sublime blend of African percussion, soulful orchestrations, and Dorothy Ashby's amazing electric harp! By the time of this landmark album, Dorothy had been knocking around the jazz world for a number of years, but it wasn't until she hooked up with Richard Evans at Cadet Records that her sound really began to cook – breaking down genres and expectations in the trademark style of the best late 60s sides from the Chicago underground. The record's got a bit of funk, a bit of jazz, and a heck of a lot of soul – and the setting works perfectly for Dorothy's harp, giving it a lot more room to work around than some of her smaller jazz combo albums. The album includes two great originals – "Soul Vibrations" and "Afro-Harping" – both of which have a nice funky edge, and a groovy soulful bounce – and other tunes include "Lonely Girl", "Life Has Its Trials", "Look Of Love", "Come Live With Me", and a great version of Freddie Hubbard's "Little Sunflower". (dusty groove)

Dorothy Ashby - Afro-Harping (1968) {{link in comments}}

I have more Dorothy Ashby to post, so keep an eye out!

Women in Music Month: Laura Lee - Women's Love Rights (1971)

2010-09-01T09:40:00.000-04:00

When Holland-Dozier-Holland broke up with Motown in 1968, two female vocalists proved crucial in putting the songwriters' newly established record labels on the map. First Freda Payne was signed to Invictus and scored a massive crossover hit with "Band of Gold" in 1970. Out of contract with Chess, Laura Lee was convinced to record for Invictus' sister label Hot Wax. The title track of 1972's Women's Love Rights made up for its average chart success with its perfectly timed manifesto and rallying cry for downtrodden women. Its outspokenness went as far as attracting the attention of one Jane Fonda who was touring the country advocating women's liberation. (AMG)

Laura Lee - Women's Love Rights (1971) {{link in comments}}

A week or so ago I decided that I would only be posting music by women during the month of September. I've been excited to start posting! I've added some good things to my cushion of lady artists recently, so there are good things in store for y'all. Laura Lee's Woman's Love Rights is an excellent start--"Love and Liberty" is probably my new feminist anthem.

Elvis Perkins - Ash Wednesday (2007)

2010-08-30T12:17:00.000-04:00

Son of actor Anthony Perkins, who died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1992, and photographer Berry Berenson, who was killed in the September 11 attacks, Elvis Perkins has plenty of material about which to write, and plenty, if he wanted, to make his debut, Ash Wednesday, a bleak affair. But while the album is certainly not uplifting, filling its 11 songs with their fair share of heartache and loneliness, Perkins avoids reveling in depression and instead follows the route that other singer/songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, and Bob Dylan have put down before him, telling detail-driven stories of people and life ("...your cameras caught me crying as I left your gates/...your maintenance men, they caught our last embrace") rather than painful confessions. With a voice that hesitates between David Gray's and Thom Yorke's, he sings songs of desperation and reflection and love and sadness over strummed acoustic guitar chords and slow drums; he's earnest and afflicted but not verklempt, only occasionally rising into an affecting yet controlled cry. Instead, Perkins shows emotion in nuance. He's a careful, studied songwriter, relying on subtlety to convey his meaning, meaning that is revealed better -- almost counterintuitively -- when he breaks free from the man-with-guitar mold (found in the unmemorable "It's a Sad World After All") and flirts with more complex arrangements, like in the Rufus Wainwright-esque "Sleep Sandwich," which brings vibraphone, trumpet, tympani, and violin to Perkins' steel strings, and swells gently, pushing past folk into lightly orchestral pop. "While You Were Sleeping," the strongest track on the album, slowly adds instruments until the end is only distantly related to the beginning of the piece, and it's lyrically excellent, the singer moving in the A-section to the B-section; from talking to the sleeper to talking about himself ("I'll never catch up to you who sleeps so sound/My yawns are useless, my heart beats too loud") dropping into minor chords to complement the change, to highlight the sadness. But there's a kind of redemption in the face of the sorrow found on Ash Wednesday. "Come lay here beside me/And I'll fear no death/I'll give you my body/And I'll breathe your breath," Perkins sighs on the closer, "Good Friday." It's not an assurance of happiness, but it is an offer of hope, so that despite all that's happened, there's possibility for reprieve. Coming from a man who experienced so much before he hit thirty, this is probably as much an encouragement as we'll get, and that's got to be enough. (AMG)

Elvis Perkins - Ash Wednesday (2007) {{link in comments}}

Queen - The Game (1980)

2010-08-29T15:47:00.001-04:00

Queen had long been one of the biggest bands in the world by 1980's The Game, but this album was the first time they made a glossy, unabashed pop album, one that was designed to sound exactly like its time. They might be posed in leather jackets on the cover, but they hardly sound tough or menacing — they rarely rock, at least not in the gonzo fashion that's long been their trademark. Gone are the bombastic orchestras of guitars and with them the charging, relentless rhythms that kept Queen grounded even at their grandest moments. Now, when they rock, they'll haul out a clever rockabilly pastiche, as they do on the tremendous "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," a sly revival of old-time rock & roll that never sounds moldy, thanks in large part to Freddie Mercury's panache. But even that is an exception to the rule on The Game. Usually, when they want to rock here, they wind up sounding like Boston, as they do on John Deacon's "Need Your Loving Tonight," or they sound a bit like a new wave-conscious rocker like Billy Squier, as they do on the propulsive "Coming Soon." But even those are exceptions to the overall rule on The Game, since most of the album is devoted to disco-rock blends — best heard on the globe-conquering "Another One Bites the Dust," but also present in the unintentionally kitschy positivity anthem "Don't Try Suicide" — and the majestic power ballads that became their calling card in the '80s, as they reworked the surging "Save Me" and the elegant "Play the Game" numerous times, often with lesser results. So, The Game winds up as a mixed bag, as many Queen albums often do, but again the striking difference with this album is that it finds Queen turning decidedly, decisively pop, and it's a grand, state-of-the-art circa 1980 pop album that still stands as one of the band's most enjoyable records. But the very fact that it does showcase a band that's turned away from rock and toward pop means that for some Queen fans, it marks the end of the road, and despite the album's charms, it's easy to see why. (AMG)

Queen - The Game (1980) {{link in comments}}

Big Country - The Crossing (1983)

2010-08-28T18:39:00.000-04:00

With producer Steve Lillywhite at the helm, Scotland's Big Country managed to deliver earnest, socially conscious arena anthems in a similar vein to U2 and the Alarm. The twist was their trademark bagpipe sound, achieved through the use of E-Bow. The unique sound of "In a Big Country" garnered the band considerable attention and a Top 20 single in the U.S. The Crossing, however, is an album whose richness goes beyond the single. The more subdued "Chance" is more sparse and its personal lyrics are every bit as heartfelt as the more populist-inclined anthems like the wonderful "The Storm" or the thundering "Fields of Fire." The lyrics are straightforward and, despite the grand themes of many of the tracks, manage to steer clear of being overly pretentious. While this album earned the band a gold record, Big Country's sound and image (reinforced by the members tartan, checked shirts) resulted in them being tagged a novelty and they never duplicated their initial success in America. (AMG)

Big Country - The Crossing (1983) {{link in comments}}

Millie Jackson - Feelin' Bitchy (1977)

2010-08-27T21:51:00.001-04:00

Soul fans who don't have a taste for off-color humor have often argued that Millie Jackson should stay away from the racy stuff. They insist that a soulstress as talented as Jackson doesn't need to be raunchy, claiming that her sexually explicit diatribes are an unnecessary distraction. But here's the thing: those diatribes are genuinely funny -- at times, she's downright hilarious. Jackson would still be a great singer even without the R-rated and X-rated monologues, but those monologues are a nice bonus. Not without its share of raunchy humor, this 1977 LP is unlikely to get Dr. Laura's stamp of approval any time soon. But those who don't mind off-color humor will find Feelin' Bitchy to be a first-rate soul album. Jackson provides some hilarious diatribes on "You Created a Monster" and the bluesy "All the Way Lover" (which lambastes women who prefer soap operas over their husbands), and she fares equally well on less explicit material like Hot's "Angel in Your Arms" and Merle Haggard's "If You're Not Back in Love by Monday" (which was a number two country hit for Haggard and a number five R&B hit for Jackson). While Hot's original version of "Angel in Your Arms" was slick R&B/pop and crossed over to adult contemporary audiences, Jackson's gritty remake is hardcore soul. From the explicit to the not so explicit, Feelin' Bitchy is among Jackson's finest albums. (AMG)

Millie Jackson - Feelin' Bitchy (1977) {{link in comments}}

This is something I picked up on vinyl about a year or so back. I'm just now listening to it, but it's a great listen. Jackson's sort of abrasive and vulgar, but it's enjoyable for me at least. The review is right, she's genuinely funny.

PS: Hope the new layout isn't too terrible on the eyes.

Various Artists - Thai Funk, ZudRangMa Vol. 2 (2010)

2010-08-25T11:02:00.000-04:00

The second volume of the Thai Funk series picks up where the first volume left this listener salivating over its strange east-meets-west funk pollinations. Artists from the first comp, like the soulful Chantana Kittiyapan and disco funkateers Royal Sprites, take a celebratory lap around some fascinating new discoveries, like The Impossible, who regularly gigged in Hawaii, and still occasionally play today. Volume 2 is weirder than the first, with more synthesized sounds working into the folds of effected experimentation, but the results are invigorating to say the least. (Sangthong Seesai s vocal inflections sound like Crazy Frog on Duang Duang Duang, but it s not as bad as you d imagine.) Like the first volume, the CD comes packaged in a hand-stitched cloth sleeve, is limited to 1300, and includes a large fold-out poster of the record covers to the music you re discovering for the first time. (amazon)

Various Artists - Thai Funk, ZudRangMa Vol. 2 (2010) {{link in comments}}

Various Artists - Thai Funk, ZudRangMa Vol. 1 (2010)

2010-08-23T15:10:00.000-04:00

Beautifully packaged in a hand-stitched soft cloth sleeve (patterns and colors may vary), and limited to 1300 copies worldwide, this first collection compiled by Maft Sai for Bangkok s Zudrangma Record label brings 18 forgotten seventies Thai pop, garage, and funk tracks by 16 artists into the spotlight. As with a lot of music culled from the bins of little shops and markets of Southeast Asia, where original master recordings are virtually impossible to track down, the recordings were transferred from their old vinyl source, giving each song a slight crackling quality, as though you just dropped the needle down on a record that no one in the western world has ever heard of before (and likely hasn t). From Meesak Makaratch s Luk Ron to the superbly funky Kun Rod Fai, Pai Rod Bus, Kee Chang, Kang Tent by The Hot Pepper, the album gets sprayed with horns, wah wah riffs, bass-y hip-swaggers, and pre-disco funk numbers like Royal Sprite s Yang Hai Mun Hong. There are no details about the artists themselves or when the song was recorded, which gives a sense of mystery to the whole CD. But there is some familiarity: Kana TNT s Kod Hang Kam borrows completely from Pink Floyd s Another Brick In the Wall Part 2, and Pranee Thanasri s Chown Thur Ten Rum (Ask You For a Dance) is the Funkytown you'd hear at some seedy Bangkok discotheque in 1979. Very diverse and weird. Impress your cultured friends with this, a no doubt about it ethnomusicologist's wet dream! (amazon)

Various Artists - Thai Funk, ZudRangMa Vol. 1 (2010) {{link in comments}}

I'll have the second (slightly better) volume up within a couple of days!

Betty Wright - Danger High Voltage (1975)

2010-08-22T19:00:00.000-04:00

Danger! Hi-Voltage is an apt title for Betty Wright’s finest hour. It contains three R&B hits — “Shoorah! Shoorah!,” “Where Is the Love,” and “Tonight Is the Night” — but also features an array of other tasty tracks, including the heart-tugging “That’s When I’ll Stop Loving You.” (AMG)

Betty Wright - Danger High Voltage (1975) {{link in comments}}

Ennio Morricone - Days of Heaven (1978)

2010-08-20T09:30:00.000-04:00

It makes sense that one of the most beautiful film scores I've ever heard is by Ennio Morricone, and it makes even more sense that it's to Terrence Malick's incredibly gorgeous Days of Heaven. The prolific Morricone has composed a wide slew of film scores, and while I've not listened to them all--I'm not sure how feasible an undertaking that would be--this is my favorite. I was even lucky enough to pick it up on vinyl for $1 recently. You can read a slightly better review here. But I cannot recommend this score enough, and I think it's worthy of being downloaded even if you've never seen the film. You really should do that, too, though.

Ennio Morricone - Days of Heaven (1978) {{link in comments}}

Tom Waits - Blue Valentine (1978)

2010-08-16T09:45:00.002-04:00

Two welcome changes in style made Blue Valentine a fresh listening experience for Tom Waits fans. First, Waits alters the instrumentation, bringing in electric guitar and keyboards and largely dispensing with the strings for a more blues-oriented, hard-edged sound. Second, though his world view remains fixed on the lowlifes of the late night, he expands beyond the musings of the barstool philosopher who previously had acted as the first-person character of most of his songs. When Waits does use the first-person, it's to write a "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis," not the figure most listeners had associated with the singer himself. The result is a broadening of subject matter, a narrative discipline that makes most of the tunes story songs, and a coherent framing for Waits' typically colorful and intriguing imagery. These are not radical reinventions, but Waits had followed such a rigidly stylized approach on his previous albums that for anyone who had followed him so far, the course correction was big news. (AMG)

Tom Waits - Blue Valentine (1978) {{link in comments}}

Heatwave - Too Hot to Handle (1976)

2010-08-14T09:57:00.000-04:00

Too Hot to Handle was the debut album from the soul/funk ensemble Heatwave, and it was well received by R&B and pop fans. Their initial release was the disco anthem "Boogie Nights." From the suspenseful, interlude-like intro to the adamant vocal delivery, the single had a lasting effect on the charts. It peaked at numbers five and two on the Billboard R&B and pop charts, respectively. The ballad "Always and Forever" was and continues to be an ageless piece. Johnnie Wilder's vocal exhibition throughout the vamp is breathtaking. It peaked at number two on the Billboard R&B charts. These two releases were respectively certified platinum and gold singles. Heatwave did not waste any recording time. This album employs nothing but quality tracks. The moderately paced "Ain't No Half Steppin'" was received warmly by radio, and it remains a staple. While Rod Temperton was writing excellent songs, Johnnie Wilder's supreme vocals gave the songs their identity. (AMG)

Heatwave - Too Hot to Handle (1976) {{link in comments}}

Karen Dalton - It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best (1969)

2010-08-12T09:50:00.002-04:00

Some find Karen Dalton's voice difficult to listen to, and despite the Billie Holiday comparisons, it is rougher going than Lady Day. But Dalton's vocals aren't that hard to take, and they are expressive; like Buffy Sainte-Marie, it just does take some getting used to because of their unconventional timbre. Her debut album has a muted folk-rock feel reminiscent of Fred Neil's arrangements in the mid-'60s, unsurprising since Neil's Capitol-era producer, Nick Venet, produced this disc too, and since Dalton, a friend of Neil, covered a couple of Neil songs here ("Little Bit of Rain," "Blues on the Ceiling"). Although clocking in at a mere ten songs, it covers a lot of ground, from Tim Hardin, Jelly Roll Morton, and Leadbelly to the traditional folk song "Ribbon Bow" and the Eddie Floyd/Booker T. Jones-penned soul tune "I Love You More Than Words Can Say." The record is interesting and well done, but would have been far more significant if it had come out five years or so earlier. By 1969 such singers were expected to write much of their own material (Dalton wrote none), and to embrace rock instrumentation less tentatively. (AMG)

Karen Dalton - It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best (1969) {{link in comments}}

Eddie Hazel - Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs (1977)

2010-08-11T10:25:00.000-04:00

A hidden gem among the many Parliament/Funkadelic-affiliated albums released during the mid- to late '70s, Eddie Hazel's only official solo album may not sport any perennial classics and may be a bit short on content, yet it became incredibly revered in subsequent years following its quiet release. Part of this album's magnetic allure to P-Funk fans no doubt arises from its rare status as a considerable collector's item capable of fetching substantial prices. There's more to the album than rarity, though. Hazel never really garnered the acclaim he deserved as a pioneering funk-metal guitarist during his time, and this album showcases just how stunning his guitar abilities really were. Each of the six full-length songs on the brief album feature Hazel laying down fiery guitar solos over loose song structures while the rest of his bandmates hold the song together and the Brides of Funkenstein handle a majority of the vocals. The two epic covers of "California Dreamin'" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" -- clocking in at six-and-a-half and nine-and-a-half minutes, respectively -- demonstrate this perhaps better than anything else on the album, as the band spends more time jamming than concerning itself with staying true to the originals. The other songs here are rather traditional late-'70s Parliament/Funkadelic songs written by George Clinton and Bootsy Collins that emphasize yet more of Hazel's manic lead guitar. Though this album doesn't exactly boast great songwriting or stand as a landmark album in the sense of Mothership Connection, it does feature some amazing guitar work on Hazel's part, clearly a vehicle for his soloing. And that in itself makes it great and worth hearing, particularly since the pioneering guitarist seemed to disappear into near oblivion after the Maggot Brain album, leaving fans with little recorded output to appreciate after his untimely demise. (AMG)

Eddie Hazel - Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs (1977) {{link in comments}}

Jean Grae - Attack of the Attacking Things (2002)

2010-08-10T18:48:00.003-04:00

On her incredible debut, the artist formerly known as What What finally gets her own set after appearing on records by the Herbaliser, the High & Mighty, and Masta Ace. With production from Mr. Len, da Beatminerz, and Evil Dee, Grae and her label Third Earth leave nothing to chance in widely exposing what may be the most innovative female voice in hip-hop since Missy Elliott or Mary J. Blige. Over soul-heavy samples and a diverse helping of beats, Jean Grae's lyrics are strong with empowerment, confidence, and even irony in pointing out her obviously overlooked career thus far -- blasting record companies, oozing creativity and lyrical sophistication, and exposing a feminist cunning and graceful New York swagger that's both hard hip-hop and funky R&B. As a woman still in her twenties with this level of lyrical gift and vocal depth, Attack of the Attacking Things should be the first of many breakthrough records in her career. (AMG)

Jean Grae - Attack of the Attacking Things (2002) {{link in comments}}

Preview here.

David Cronenberg's Wife - Hypnagogues (2009)

2010-07-31T22:42:00.002-04:00

Second album from Stockport's" Bright Sparks" DCW and one year on from their critically acclaimed debut (Bluebeard's Rooms). The single track "The Fight Song" released in May 2009 landed the band a well deserved Marc Riley live session on BBC 6 Music where some of the new album tracks were aired. Hypnagogues is a selection of eloquent "kitchen sink" dramas set to Tom Mayne's trademark sardonic humour and the band's bright surf-psych guitars but this time a distinct country and western spirit haunts the album. BBC London's Gary Crowly has hitherto discribed the sound as "a cross between Clinic and Suicide" but Hypnagogues demonstrates a deeper respect for Jonathan Richman and the Velvet Underground.

David Cronenberg's Wife - Hypnagogues (2009) {{link in comments}}

Jack Nitzsche - The Lonely Surfer (1963)

2010-07-22T20:12:00.001-04:00

Jack Nitzsche had one brush with greatness early in his career, apart from his job as Phil Spector's arranger -- "The Lonely Surfer," a classic of the surf music genre. This album attempted to extend his solo career beyond that of a one-hit wonder, with mixed success. The best cuts are songs that are in the same surfer mold: "Puerto Vallarta," "Baja," and "Beyond the Surf." Nitzsche had a gift for melodramatic, ascending arrangements that rose to dramatic crescendos, underpinned by rumbling basslines and clanging percussion. Less successful are a super-slow take on "Da Doo Ron Ron" and remakes of easy listening and soundtrack hits such as "Ebb Tide" and "More," which are given a precious sheen of strings. The one exception is a rather rocking version of Elmer Bernstein's "Magnificent Seven," which sounds like it was made for dancing. This is a pleasant, if not exceptional, set of music for fans of surf instrumentals. (AMG)

Jack Nitzsche - The Lonely Surfer (1963) {{link in comments}}

Ann Peebles - Tellin' It (1976)

2010-07-10T10:06:00.002-04:00

Ann Peebles was at the height of her fame in 1975 when she cut the album Tellin' It -- she had scored her biggest chart hit the year before with "I Can't Stand the Rain," and Tellin' It reflected the kind of hard-edged but soulful groove that had taken Peebles to the upper reaches of the charts (and was producer Willie Mitchell's stock in trade). The album's opening cut, "Come to Mama," even features the same sort of fractured rhythmic undercurrent that had hooked "I Can't Stand the Rain," but Peebles and Mitchell had the good sense not to deliver ten remakes of her hit; instead, Tellin' It merges polished production with tough, sinewy grooves (the strings on "Stand By Woman" and "It Was Jealousy" add a touch of class, but don't clutter up the funk of Howard Grimes' superb drumming and the punch of the Memphis Horns), and Peebles here reaffirms her status as one of the best female voices in R&B, cutting to the heart and soul of each lyric whether she's looking for a new man ("Doctor Love Power") or breaking up someone's previously happy home ("Stand By Woman"). And while the disco explosion would make soul sets like this obsolete in a few years, Tellin' It features plenty of cuts that can fill the dancefloor without robbing Peebles of her soulful passion and sassy spirit. Fine stuff. (AMG)

Ann Peebles - Tellin' It (1976) {{link in comments}}

Karen Dalton - In My Own Time (1971)

2010-07-08T19:45:00.001-04:00

In My Own Time is the second and last album the mercurial singer Karen Dalton ever cut. Following It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best, producers Michael Lang and Harvey Brooks (Dalton's longtime friend and the bassist on both her records) did something decidedly different on In My Own Time (titled after the slow process of getting the album done -- in Dalton's relaxed and idiosyncratic manner of recording), and the result is a more polished effort than her cozy, somewhat more raw debut. This time out, Dalton had no trouble doing multiple takes, though the one chosen wasn't always the most flawless, but the most honest in terms of the song and its feel. The album was recorded at Bearsville up in Woodstock, and the session players were a decidedly more professional bunch than her Tinker Street Cafe friends who had appeared on her first effort. Amos Garrett is here, as is Bill Keith on steel, pianist John Simon, guitarist John Hall, pianist Richard Bell, and others, including a star horn section that Brooks added later. If Lang was listed as producer, it was Brooks who acted as the session boss, which included a lot of caretaking when it came to Dalton -- who began recording in a more frail condition than usual since she was recovering from an illness.

In My Own Time is the better of her two offerings in so many ways, not the least of which is the depth she is willing to go inside a song to draw its meaning out, even if it means her own voice cracks in the process. The material is choice, beginning with Dino Valente's gorgeous "Something on Your Mind." Brooks' rumbling single-note bassline opens it with a throb, joined by a simple timekeeping snare, pedal steel, and electric guitars. When Dalton opens her mouth and sings "Yesterday/Anyway you made it was just fine/Saw you turn your days into nighttime/Didn't you know/You can't make it without ever even trying/And something's on your mind...," a fiddle enters and the world just stops. The Billie Holiday comparisons fall by the wayside and Dalton emerges as a singer as true and impure as Nina Simone (yet sounds nothing like her), an artist who changed the way we hear music. The band begins to close in around her, and Dalton just goes right into the middle and comes out above it all. She turns the song inside herself, which is to say she turns it inside all of us and its meaning is in the sound of her voice, as if revelation were something of an everyday occurrence if we could only grasp its small truth for what it weighs.

Karen Dalton - In My Own Time (1971) {{link in comments}}

When the album moves immediately into Lewis and Wright's "When a Man Loves a Woman," Dalton reveals the other side of Percy Sledge's version. This woman who was so uncaged and outside the world that she died homeless on the streets of New York in the 1990s was already declaring the value of loving someone even if that someone couldn't return the love as profoundly -- which doesn't mean it isn't appreciated in the depths of the Beloved's being. Dalton sings the song as if wishing that she herself could accept such a love. Her voice slips off the key register a couple of times, but she slides into her own, which is one of the hidden places in the tune that one didn't even know existed. The layered horns don't begin to affect her vocal; they just move it inside further. And the woman could sing the blues in a way that only Bob Dylan could, from the skeletal framework of the tune toward the truth that a blues song could convey -- just check her reading of Paul Butterfield's "In My Own Dream," with some gorgeous steel playing by Keith. Her version of Holland-Dozier-Holland's "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" has her singing completely outside the time and beat of the tune; floating through the tune's middle, she glides, slips, and slides like a jazz singer in and around its changes.

Another standout is Richard Manuel's "In a Station." As a piano, rolling tom-toms, and an organ introduce it, Dalton is at her most tender; she feels and communicates the understatement in the original, and lets her voice flow through even as the band plays on top of her. And when her voice cracks, it's as if the entire tune does, just enough to let in the light in its gorgeous lyric. Of course, it wouldn't be a Dalton album if there weren't traditional tunes here, and so there are three, including "Katie Cruel," with Dalton playing her banjo and finding the same voice that Dock Boggs did, the same warped cruelty and search for the brutality of love. "Same Old Man" is another banjo-based tune set in an Eastern modal drone. Only the stark loneliness and outsider presence of Dalton's voice shift and move through the large terrain provided by that drone and create the very substance of song from within it. It's spooky, otherworldly. George Jones' "Take Me" is transformed from a plea to a statement; it's a command to the Beloved to deliver her from her current place outside love to become its very substance. It's still a country song, but there's some strange transgender delivery that crosses the loneliness of Hank Williams with the certainty of Tammy Wynette, and is rawer than both.

If one can only possess one of Karen Dalton's albums, In My Own Time is the one. It creates a sound world that is simply unlike any other; it pushes the singer outside her comfort zone and therefore brings listeners to the place Dalton actually occupied as a singer. Without apology or concern for technique, she could make any song her own, creating a personal narrative that could reach outside the song itself, moving through her person and becoming the truth for the listener. The fine Light in the Attic label reissued this set -- originally on Paramount -- on compact disc in 2006. It's in a handsome package with remastered sound and a beautiful booklet that includes a slew of photos and essays by Lenny Kaye, Nick Cave, and Devendra Banhart. It's a handsome tribute to a nearly forgotten but oh so necessary talent.

Various Artists - Bad Seeds - Nick Cave: Roots & Collaborations (2009)

2010-07-07T22:18:00.000-04:00

"MUSIC HAS THE POTENTIAL OTHER ARTS DON'T HAVE, WHICH IS TO UTTERLY CHANGE YOU IN THREE MINUTES. YOUR WHOLE BODY CHEMISTRY CAN CHANGE, YOUR MOOD, YOUR PERSPECTIVE..."

So said Nick Cave in conversation with MOJO'S Phil Sutcliffe in 2005. This month, as the pair renew their dialogue for what is a truly titanic cover story, MOJO proudly presents this exclusive collection which is packed with mood-altering music commemorating the 25 years that have elapsed since Cave formed the Bad Seeds.
Included on this 15-track set are a number of key cuts by the likes of Johnny Cash, Peggy Seeger and Mississippi John Hurt, all of which have been covered by Cave. Equally significant are contributions by collaborators including tracks by Current 93 and Lydia Lunch, both of which feature Cave himself.
MOJO's Bad Seeds compilation is designed to shed light on the world of Nick Cave, providing the listener with an insight into the career of one of music's most singular artists who, over 30 years into his career, continues to kick against the pricks...

Various Artists - Bad Seeds - Nick Cave: Roots & Collaborations (2009) {{link in comments}}

Grace Jones - Portfolio (1977)

2010-07-07T21:29:00.002-04:00

Disco mix king Tom Moulton produced these tracks at Sigma Sound in Philadelphia using the same musicians Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff held hostage for their sessions. The results are quite different: though polished, these tracks don't jump out at you. It's really a producer's album. Moulton probably had these tracks completed long before he knew who was going to sing them. Give Grace Jones credit though, she gives credence to old fuddies like "Send in the Clowns," "La Vie en Rose" is lilting, and "I Need a Man," displays a vulnerable Jones. (AMG)

Grace Jones - Portfolio (1977) {{link in comments}}

H.W.A. - Livin' in a Hoe House (1990)

2010-06-28T11:15:00.000-04:00

In 1996, Lil' Kim's Hardcore demonstrated that a female rapper could be every bit as X-rated as 2 Live Crew or Too Short. But she wasn't the first. In the early '90s, female rap groups H.W.A. (Hoes Wit' Attitude) and B.W.P. (Bytches With Problems) went out of their way to be as offensive and sexually explicit as possible. Released in 1990, Livin' in a Hoe House is hardly the first example of women talking dirty. Vanity and other Prince disciples did it in the '80s, and Lucille Bogan's '30s blues classic "Shave 'Em Dry" is as X-rated as anything that H.W.A., B.W.P., or Lil' Kim ever recorded. But while this album isn't revolutionary, it's entertaining -- that is, if you have a taste for crude humor. If you find Rudy Ray Moore, 2 Live Crew, and Too Short entertaining and amusing, you should have no problem getting into "Tight," "Little Dick," "Eat This," and other sexually explicit rhymes. But if you are offended by X-rated humor, it's best to pass on this album. Musically, Livin' in a Hoe House is closer to Oakland native Too Short than Luther Campbell's Miami-based 2 Live Crew; the beats and production are very West Coast, although H.W.A. members Kim "Baby Girl" Kenner, Tanya "Jazzy" Kenner, and Dion "Diva" Devoux lived in Chicago before they moved to Los Angeles. This album doesn't have the sort of fast, hyper grooves that 2 Live Crew and other Southeastern bass artists are known for, but lyrically H.W.A. and 2 Live Crew have a lot in common, which explains why this album fared well in what hip-hoppers call the Dirty South. Livin' in a Hoe House didn't go down in history as one of rap's all-time masterpieces, but it's a guilty pleasure that is good for some cheap thrills. (AMG)

H.W.A. - Livin' in a Hoe House (1990) {{link in comments}}

riyl BWP or 2 live crew

Various Artists - Black & Proud: The Soul of the Black Panther Era, Vol. 2 (2002)

2010-06-16T12:13:00.000-04:00

Although not quite as uniformly strong as the first volume in the series (and there's still no Sly Stone in sight), the second volume in the Black & Proud series is another impressive entry -- equal parts time capsule and monster funk collection -- the disc further explores music's role as both a catalyst behind and product of the militant Black Power movement of the late 1960s. Outside of the Staple Singers' "Respect Yourself," there's little here that earned significant radio exposure, but even if their messages didn't reach quite as far, efforts like Marlena Shaw's "I Wish I Knew (How It Would Feel to Be Free)," and Gil Scott-Heron's "Who'll Pay Reparations on My Soul?" resonate with comparable conviction and righteous anger, not to mention deep, ferocious grooves. In a modern era where popular music is so often disposable and mindless, these 19 tracks recall an era when records were like reports from the frontlines -- the times may have changed, but the passion and power haven't diminished. (AMG)

Various Artists - Black & Proud: The Soul of the Black Panther Era, Vol. 2 (2002) {{link in comments}}

Various Artists - Black & Proud: The Soul of the Black Panther Era, Vol. 1 (2002)

2010-06-16T11:33:00.000-04:00

Equal parts time capsule and monster groove collection, Black & Proud: The Soul of the Black Panther Era, Vol. 1 documents the seismic shift of black popular music from the crowd-pleasing, apolitical Motown sound to the defiant, combative funk of the post-Summer of Love era. Highlights like Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," James Brown's "Ghetto Reality," and Curtis Mayfield's "Ghetto Child" still smolder with pride, anger, and genius -- rarely if ever has music freed so many minds and asses at the same time. The set's great failing is the absence of Sly and the Family Stone -- no one was more responsible for the politicizing of soul music than Sly Stone, and regardless of whatever rights issues are to blame, Black & Proud is severely compromised by this omission, offering, at best, an incomplete history of its subject matter. Still, in a modern era where popular music is so often disposable and mindless, these 18 tracks recall an era when records were like messages from the frontlines -- the times may have changed, but the passion and power haven't diminished. (AMG)

Various Artists - Black & Proud: The Soul of the Black Panther Era, Vol. 1 (2002) {{link in comments}}

Various Artists - Cumbias y Gaitas Famosas de Colombia (196?)

2010-06-14T00:03:00.000-04:00

A collection of Cumbias and Vallenato from Disco Fuentes, the premiere label of Latin music in Colombia during the 60s and 70s.

A1 - La Sonora Cienaguera - La Piojosa
A2 - Los Galleros - Soledad
A3 - La Sonora Del Caribe - Gaita Colombiana
A4 - Conjunto Lirico Vallenato - Cumbia Sampuesana
A5 - Los Corraleros De Majagual - La Morena Encarnacion
A6 - Lucho Bermudez - Gaita De Los Flores
B1 - Los Satelites - Cumbia Sabrosa
B2 - La Sonora Cordobesa - Cumbia Del Monte
B3 - Conjunto Lirico Vallenato - Cumbia Cienaguera
B4 - Los Teen Agers - Suena La Timba
B5 - Los Galleros - Tabaco Mascao
B6 - Los Guacharacos - Esperma Y Ron

Various Artists - Cumbias y Gaitas Famosas de Colombia (196?) {{link in comments}}

Various Artists - Fania All Stars En Colombia (1980)

2010-06-13T11:18:00.001-04:00

Fania All Stars were the ensemble created By New York Fania records of their Salsa artists. Celia Cruz and many other greats developed their careers while part of Fania All Stars. However this album is the production of Discos Fuentes from Fania All Stars visit to Colombia.

Salsa's roots lie in Cuba and Puerto Rico, but was formed and developed in New York. Fania All Stars were at the forefront of popularising and expanding Salsa to its current dominance of Latin music throughout Hispano-America.

Tracklist
A1 - Orquesta Novel - Salsa Boogie
A2 - Fania All Stars - Tres Lindas Cubanas
A3 - Cheo Feliciano - Los Entierros
A4 - Willie Colon & Ismael Miranda - Mayoral
B1 - Ricardo Ray & Bobby Cruz - Salvalo
B2 - Pete Rodriguez & Fania All Stars - Meneame La Cuna
B3 - Tipica 73 - Tunas
B4 - Cheo Feliciano - Tiempo Muerto

Various Artists - Fania All Stars En Colombia (1980) {{link in comments}}

Willie Colón - Cosa Nuestra (1969)

2010-06-11T10:10:00.000-04:00

Willie Colón's first masterpiece benefits from the inventive arrangements of Colón and "recording director" Johnny Pacheco, plus the most precise, intricate group playing heard from any second-generation salsero leader. And Hector Lavoe's vocals are probably his best on record, opening with the brisk, catchy, effusive "Che Che Cole" and "No Me Llores Mas," but extending through slower material like the magisterial "Ausencia." Highlights are literally all over this record, also including the playful, piano-driven "Te Conozco" and the deft "Sangrigorda," which features an amazing sneering trombone line. Featuring musicians as brutal as the hitman on the cover and some of the smoothest vocals of any New York salsa LP, Cosa Nuestra is not only Willie Colón's first masterpiece, it's his best. (AMG)

Willie Colón - Cosa Nuestra (1969) {{link in comments}}

Various Artists - Salsa & Cumbias (1980)

2010-06-09T21:19:00.000-04:00

Discos Fuentes is a record label based in Colombia, founded in 1934 in Cartagena de la Indias and was the first Colombian record label. Discos Fuentes popularised stars of African-based genres such as cumbia, fandango, and porro. The label has been described as "Colombia's version of Motown", peaking in the 1960s and early 1970s. Discos Fuentes achieved a series of firsts for Colombia: the first compilation LP (1960), the first to release music on Compact disc (1987), and the first Laser disc released by a Latin America record label (1995).

Cumbia was the percussion based style originating in Colombia that dominated popular latin music in Hispano-America until the explosion of Salsa. Salsa by contrast originated in New York using styles from Cuba and Puerto Rico, but spread throughout Spanish speaking America and now dominates the latin music scene.

Various Artists - Salsa & Cumbias (1980) {{link in comments}}

Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan (1962)

2010-06-09T10:29:00.000-04:00

Bob Dylan's first album is a lot like the debut albums by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones -- a sterling effort, outclassing most, if not all, of what came before it in the genre, but similarly eclipsed by the artist's own subsequent efforts. The difference was that not very many people heard Bob Dylan on its original release (originals on the early-'60s Columbia label are choice collectibles) because it was recorded with a much smaller audience and musical arena in mind. At the time of Bob Dylan's release, the folk revival was rolling, and interpretation was considered more important than original composition by most of that audience. A significant portion of the record is possessed by the style and spirit of Woody Guthrie, whose influence as a singer and guitarist hovers over "Man of Constant Sorrow" and "Pretty Peggy-O," as well as the two originals here, the savagely witty "Talkin' New York" and the poignant "Song to Woody"; and it's also hard to believe that he wasn't aware of Jimmie Rodgers and Roy Acuff when he cut "Freight Train Blues." But on other songs, one can also hear the influences of Bukka White, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, and Furry Lewis, in the playing and singing, and this is where Dylan departed significantly from most of his contemporaries. Other white folksingers of the era, including his older contemporaries Eric Von Schmidt and Dave Van Ronk, had incorporated blues in their work, but Dylan's presentation was more in your face, resembling in some respects (albeit in a more self-conscious way) the work of John Hammond, Jr., the son of the man who signed Dylan to Columbia Records and produced this album, who was just starting out in his own career at the time this record was made. There's a punk-like aggressiveness to the singing and playing here. His raspy-voiced delivery and guitar style were modeled largely on Guthrie's classic '40s and early-'50s recordings, but the assertiveness of the bluesmen he admires also comes out, making this one of the most powerful records to come out of the folk revival of which it was a part. Within a year of its release, Dylan, initially in tandem with young folk/protest singers like Peter, Paul & Mary and Phil Ochs, would alter the boundaries of that revival beyond recognition, but this album marked the pinnacle of that earlier phase, before it was overshadowed by this artist's more ambitious subsequent work. In that regard, the two original songs here serve as the bridge between Dylan's stylistic roots, as delineated on this album, and the more powerful and daringly original work that followed. One myth surrounding this album should also be dispelled here -- his version of "House of the Rising Sun" here is worthwhile, but the version that was the inspiration for the Animals' recording was the one by Josh White. (AMG)

Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan (1962) {{link in comments}}

Waldo de los Rios - Who Can Kill a Child? (1976), The House That Screamed (1969)

2010-06-06T22:25:00.002-04:00

Here at last!!!... The House That Screamed (AKA The Finishing School) and Who Can Kill A Child? (AKA Island of the Damned), two masterpieces by the argentinian composer Waldo de los Ríos for the two only films ever directed by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, absolute cult classics for all european fantastique lovers.

After many years trying to recover this score, long awaited by the film music collectors, finally located the masters of The House That Screamed in a 1/4 tape with the music recorder for the film in a suite form (or composer’s cut), it was recently discovered in the private archives of the composer, giving us the chance to enjoy the music for first time.

Who Can Kill A Child? was released in 1976 on Hispavox as an LP (and reissue on CD in 2002 and faster out-of-print), where there was a selection of tracks of the movie selected and edited by the composer to give the soundtrack a better chance in the general market. We have discovered and recovered the original tapes with the whole recording session, and checked that there where some fragments missing, and, most important, recorded material never used in the final cut.

Mastered from the original recording tapes, this is the best way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The House That Screamed and enjoy Who Can Kill A Child? as it was originally created.

Waldo de los Rios - ¿Quién puede matar a un niño? / Who Can Kill a Child? (1976)
Waldo de los Rios - La residencia / The House That Screamed (1969) {{links in comments}}

The Roots - Things Fall Apart (1999)

2010-06-06T13:58:00.000-04:00

One of the cornerstone albums of alternative rap's second wave, Things Fall Apart was the point where the Roots' tremendous potential finally coalesced into a structured album that maintained its focus from top to bottom. If the group sacrifices a little of the unpredictability of its jam sessions, the resulting consistency more than makes up for it, since the record flows from track to track so effortlessly. Taking its title from the Chinua Achebe novel credited with revitalizing African fiction, Things Fall Apart announces its ambition right upfront, and reinforces it in the opening sound collage. Dialogue sampled from Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues implies a comparison to abstract modern jazz that lost its audience, and there's another quote about hip-hop records being treated as disposable, that they aren't maximized as product or as art. That's the framework in which the album operates, and while there's a definite unity counteracting the second observation, the artistic ambition actually helped gain the Roots a whole new audience ("coffeehouse chicks and white dudes," as Common puts it in the liner notes). The backing tracks are jazzy and reflective, filled with subtly unpredictable instrumental lines, and the band also shows a strong affinity for the neo-soul movement, which they actually had a hand in kick-starting via their supporting work on Erykah Badu's Baduizm. Badu returns the favor by guesting on the album's breakthrough single, "You Got Me," an involved love story that also features a rap from Eve, co-writing from Jill Scott, and an unexpected drum'n'bass breakbeat in the outro. Other notables include Mos Def on the playful old-school rhymefest "Double Trouble," Slum Village superproducer Jay Dee on "Dynamite!," and Philly native DJ Jazzy Jeff on "The Next Movement." But the real stars are Black Thought and Malik B, who drop such consistently nimble rhymes throughout the record that picking highlights is extremely difficult. Along with works by Lauryn Hill, Common, and Black Star, Things Fall Apart is essential listening for anyone interested in the new breed of mainstream conscious rap. (AMG)

The Roots - Things Fall Apart (1999) {{link in comments}}

Goblin - Suspiria (1977)

2010-06-06T12:24:00.000-04:00

Various Artists - The Spirit of Vampyros Lesbos (1997)

2010-06-06T00:30:00.000-04:00

One of the more unique electronic compilations, Spirit of Vampyros Lesbos is an album of remixes from the original soundtrack to Jess Franco's 1968 slasher B-film Vampyros Lesbos. There's a diverse cast of electro-techno experimentalists -- Two Lone Swordsmen, Rockers Hifi, Doctor Rockit, DJ Wally, Alec Empire, Witchman and DJ Hell -- and each seems genuinely inspired by the psychedelic lounge music of the original.

Various Artists - The Spirit of Vampyros Lesbos (1997) {{link in comments}}

Manfred Hübler and Siegfried Schwab - Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party (1971)

2010-06-05T16:40:00.000-04:00

It's hard to know how to critique an album like this one. Do you judge it on its musical merits (of which there are none) or on its usefulness as a piece of period kitsch (which is considerable)? To be generous, if you're throwing a 1960s-themed Halloween party and need mood music, then this album has no peer. Consisting of rock-orchestral music composed by the German duo of Manfred Hübler and Siegfried Schwab, this album is the soundtrack to an obscure softcore horror/porn movie from 1969, and the music would probably give even Austin Powers nightmares. Tasteless fuzz guitar, big echoey horn parts, terribly played sitar, a strange, cheesy organ -- this is every '60s-era musical cliché come to life (or undeath). One track is built on a shameless ripoff of the "Satisfaction" guitar riff; another features yowling, yelping, wordless vocals to unintentionally hilarious effect. Basically, this entire album is excruciating. But again, that doesn't mean it doesn't have its uses. Apart from the party mentioned above, it might also be just the thing for driving cockroaches out of your building. [This edition of Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party has been remastered and includes bonus tracks.] (AMG)

Manfred Hübler and Siegfried Schwab - Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party (1971) {{link in comments}}

Various Artists - Colombia! The Golden Age of Discos Fuentes - The Powerhouse of Colombian Music 1960-76

2010-06-05T14:33:00.000-04:00

Since 1934, Disco Fuentes (Fuentes Records) has acted as the largest record label in Colombia, a country where it is impossible to escape music. This collection of tracks delves into the golden years of 1960-76 and is hand picked from the enormous Fuentes record catalogue comprising various tropical music styles. Cumbia, Gaita, Fandango, Salsa and Champeta all feature in the selection from one of the worlds best Latin music archives.

“Blistering tracks that draw you deep into the jungle with their percussive mayhem […] this is a scene to explore[…]"

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Wilson Pickett - The Exciting Wilson Pickett (1966)

2010-05-02T22:24:00.001-04:00

Less of a hodgepodge than his debut In The Midnight Hour album, Pickett's second album established -- if there had been any doubt -- his stature as a major '60s soul man. The 12 tracks include his monster hits "634-5789," "Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won't Do)," "In The Midnight Hour," and "Land Of 1000 Dances" (the last of which was his first Top Ten pop hit). Collectors will be more interested in the non-hit cuts, which are of nearly an equal level. These include covers of the R&B standards "Something You Got," "Mercy Mercy," and "Barefootin'"; several original tunes written in collaboration with Memphis soul greats Steve Cropper, Eddie Floyd, and David Porter; and Bobby Womack's "She's So Good To Me." It all adds up to one of the most consistent 1960s soul albums. The CD reissue of this 1966 record features detailed liner notes and session documentation. (AMG)

Wilson Pickett - The Exciting Wilson Pickett (1966) {{link in comments}}

Marvin Gaye - How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You (1963)

2010-04-24T15:14:00.002-04:00

This popular release is little more spotty and generic than THAT STUBBORN KINDA FELLOW, however HOW SWEET IT IS contains enough quality material to be a good listen. The title song hit #6 on the Pop chart (his best selling single at that date) and is one of the most infectious singles to ever hit the airwaves. The disc's other hits are the driving "You're A Wonderful One" (#15 Pop), the soothing "Try It Baby" (#15 Pop), and the rocking "Baby Don't You Do It" (#27 Pop), all of which are great releases. The superb "No Good Without You" makes excellent use of it's killer refrain, and Marvin's vocals on "Now That You've Won Me" and "Forever" are particularly lovely. The rest of the record's material is typical Motown filler: nothing special, but perfectly listenable. (amazon user review)

Marvin Gaye - How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You (1963)

Aretha Franklin - The Electrifying Aretha Franklin (1962)

2010-04-24T13:12:00.000-04:00

We have a young, fiery Aretha Franklin on the sides that made up the original release of TEAF: the title of the album was quite appropriate. Her voice was light, yet raw and powerful. There was a stronger Dinah Washington influence and you will hear it on many numbers. The arrangements are straightforward but Aretha works her young magic with all of them. There are no weak tracks here, but especially noteworthy is the elusive "Rough Lover," which many fans have been trying to track down for years.

TEAF was available for a limited time before, but only as a costly import. So many other tracks here may be new to fans only familiar with the countless compilations of the Columbia period which duplicate the same tracks over and over. Again, there is not a weak track in the bunch and Aretha consistently impresses with her energy and verve on every one of them, even the comparatively quieter ones (notably "Just For You"). (amazon user review)

Aretha Franklin - The Electrifying Aretha Franklin (1962) {{link in comments}}

Ann Peebles - Straight from the Heart (1972)

2010-04-20T15:06:00.000-04:00

A lean, tough set that was not only a triumph for Peebles, but illustrated how the Hi label had surpassed its crosstown Stax rival for quality Memphis soul in the early '70s. The guitars are spare, funky, and bluesy, the horn section punchy, and the material far earthier and down-home than the increasingly formulaic grooves at Stax. There were three modest R&B hits on the album ("Slipped, Tripped and Fell in Love," "I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home," "Somebody's on Your Case"), much of which was penned by Peebles or her husband Don Bryant. Peebles' vocals were convincingly biting, and she never, unlike many other singers of the era, tried too hard for her own good. The main flaw of the record is its length (26 minutes), which was short even by early-'70s standards. (AMG)

Ann Peebles - Straight from the Heart (1972) {{link in comments}}

The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2000)

2010-04-20T13:22:00.000-04:00

Taken from the band's critical beauty of the same name, "Since I Left You" leaves listeners spellbound and in a summer dreamscape of lushness and simplicity. The Avalanches mix carefree soul inside breezy electronic breaks for the savvy first single. The B-sides are equally charming. "Everyday" tinkers with Latin tinges molded over robotic vocals, but, again, the spiritual freedom of the music itself is what's so great. "Thank You Caroline" doesn't fall short of that either. Waltzing along with delicate music-box-like ambience, the Avalanches are chic and ahead of themselves by incorporating hip-hop synth beats. They're masterminds. Electronica is a bit garish, but classic cool thanks to their own wizardry. The Since I Left You single is a delectable piece of ear candy and is certainly shimmery and pretty enough to clue in on what's next from the band. (AMG)

The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2000) {{link in comments}}

Zechs Marquise - Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare (2009)

2010-04-05T13:12:00.000-04:00

"Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare is comprised of 15 tracks which are interesting, unique, winding, and occasionally a little dull.

The stronger tracks are dense sonic experiments, with an infectious, memorable underpinning of hazy funk-ified rhythms. Some songs get too “noodly” and esoteric for some ears, even those, like mine, attuned to the complex patterns of shifting time signatures and start/stop tempo changes. The songs don’t venture into prog-length journeys; the longest track clocks in at a reasonable 8:03. The music has a uniquely melodic feel at times, though comparisons to The Mars Volta are going to be inevitable.

All in all it’s a decent if not explosive release."

Zechs Marquise - Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare (2009) {{link in comments}}

Ann Peebles - This Is Ann Peebles (1969)

2010-04-02T19:15:00.000-04:00

Ann Peebles was all of 22 years old when she cut her debut album for the great Memphis R&B label Hi Records, but she sure didn't sound like a novice once she stepped into the studio. This Is Ann Peebles is the work of a strong and confident artist who sounds thoroughly assured even when she's covering Aretha Franklin, and though Peebles doesn't quite take "Chain of Fools" away from the Queen of Soul, she gives it a taut but weary reading that lends that tale of romantic betrayal a flavor unique to Peebles' rendition. That's not the only instantly recognizable cover Peebles was saddled with on her first LP, but she sounds even more assured on "It's Your Thing" and "Rescue Me," and on fresh material like "Crazy About You Baby," "Make Me Yours," and "Give Me Some Credit," her clear but resonant voice and emphatic readings establish her as a seasoned professional right out of the box. It doesn't hurt that Peebles was working with some of the best talent in Memphis on these sessions; the Hi Records rhythm section lays down a lean and indelible groove on every selection, the Memphis Horns punctuate the melodies with gale-force soul, and producer Willie Mitchell brings it all home with subtle but fiery results. It would be 1974 before Ann Peebles finally got the breakthrough hit she deserved with "I Can't Stand the Rain," but This Is Ann Peebles should convince anyone with a taste for classic rhythm & blues that she had the goods long before the rest of the world caught up with her. (AMG)

Ann Peebles - This Is Ann Peebles (1969) {{link in comments}}

Sly & the Family Stone - Stand! (1969)

2010-04-02T15:17:00.001-04:00

Stand! is the pinnacle of Sly & the Family Stone's early work, a record that represents a culmination of the group's musical vision and accomplishment. Life hinted at this record's boundless enthusiasm and blurred stylistic boundaries, yet everything simply gels here, resulting in no separation between the astounding funk, effervescent irresistible melodies, psychedelicized guitars, and deep rhythms. Add to this a sharpened sense of pop songcraft, elastic band interplay, and a flowering of Sly's social consciousness, and the result is utterly stunning. Yes, the jams ("Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey," "Sex Machine") wind up meandering ever so slightly, but they're surrounded by utter brilliance, from the rousing call to arms of "Stand!" to the unification anthem "Everyday People" to the unstoppable "I Want to Take You Higher." All of it sounds like the Family Stone, thanks not just to the communal lead vocals but to the brilliant interplay, but each track is distinct, emphasizing a different side of their musical personality. As a result, Stand! winds up infectious and informative, invigorating and thought-provoking — stimulating in every sense of the word. Few records of its time touched it, and Sly topped it only by offering its opposite the next time out. (AMG)

Sly & the Family Stone - Stand! (1969) {{link in comments}}

Bill Withers - Just As I Am (1971)

2010-04-01T00:54:00.000-04:00

In a career laden with highlights and hallmarks in the annals of soul history, Just as I Am gets rather overlooked as one of the best soul debuts ever issued. Remastered and repackaged as a part of Sony's DualDisc series, Just as I Am gets cleaned up and presented to a new generation of listeners who may have missed out the first time. And with this remastering comes an intimacy, warmth, and immediacy to the recordings that was only hinted at with previous versions; it's almost as if Withers is in a living room singing to a small group of people, rather than making a record. Of course, the instantly recognizable anthem "Ain't No Sunshine" gets all of the acclaim it so richly deserves, but tracks like "Harlem" and "Better Off Dead" also warrant kudos for the intensity and maturity of their performances. Even when he's doing covers, Withers treats them as if they are his own compositions and handles them with great delicacy. And while the audio performances are top-notch, the new documentary on the making of the record, as well as rare performances of "Ain't No Sunshine," "Ain't Her Daddy," and "Harlem" are the icing on the proverbial cake. Kudos to Sony for not only reissuing a long lost masterpiece, but for doing it in such a classy fashion. (AMG)

Bill Withers - Just As I Am (1971) {{link in comments}}

The Temptations - All Directions (1972)

2010-03-31T20:50:00.000-04:00

A monster album, the one that put them back in the spotlight and signaled that Norman Whitfield had saved the day. Damon Harris had replaced Eddie Kendricks, and there were many doubters convinced the band was finished. Instead, Whitfield revitalized them via the majestic single, "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone." Despite its length, Whitfield's decision to open with an extensive, multi-layered musical suite and tease listeners was a master stroke. By the time Dennis Edwards' voice came rushing in, no one would dare turn it off. The single, as well as "Law Of The Land" and others, ended the funeral arrangements that had been prepared for The Temptations. (AMG)

The Temptations - All Directions (1972) {{link in comments}}

The Undisputed Truth - The Undisputed Truth (1971)

2010-03-13T12:43:00.001-05:00

This sparkling debut, fueled by "Smiling Faces Sometimes," a number three pop hit, zoomed to #43 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart. Lead singer Joe Harris had recorded as a teenager with Little Joe & the Moroccos and later with the Fabulous Peps, and logged a brief, unsuccessful stint with the Ohio Players. Additionally, Brenda Joyce and Billie Rae Calvin had done background work and sung in the Delicates. Producer Norman Whitfield brought one original song to the session, "You Got the Love I Need"; every other cut was previously recorded by others (Holland-Dozier-Holland's "We Got a Way Out Love" was originally done by the Originals, and so on). Whitfield had the creative juices flowing on "Ball of Confusion," which bounces along for more than ten minutes and is true bliss; the arrangement is totally different from the Temptations blockbuster. The monster "Smiling Faces Sometimes" has a dead serious beat and some strong comments about people who show their teeth all the time. The tracks, with a couple of exceptions, follow a pattern: Harris sings lead, sounding Jerry Butler-ish, and Joyce and Calvin sweeten the tracks with their sugary, two-part harmonies. On Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," Whitfield experiments with the trio by testing the pop/psychedelic waters, an indication of a new direction for Undisputed Truth. (AMG)

The Undisputed Truth - The Undisputed Truth (1971) {{link in comments}}

Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)

2010-03-10T13:42:00.002-05:00

Four long years after their debut, Homework, Daft Punk returned with a second full-length, also packed with excellent productions and many of the obligatory nods to the duo's favorite stylistic speed bumps of the 1970s and '80s. Discovery is by no means the same record, though. Deserting the shrieking acid house hysteria of their early work, the album moves in the same smooth filtered disco circles as the European dance smashes ("Music Sounds Better With You" and "Gym Tonic") co-produced by DP's Thomas Bangalter during the group's long interim. If Homework was Daft Punk's Chicago house record, this is definitely the New York garage edition, with co-productions and vocals from Romanthony and Todd Edwards, two of the brightest figures based in New Jersey's fertile garage scene. Also in common with classic East Coast dance and '80s R&B, Discovery surprisingly focuses on songwriting and concise productions, though the pair's visions of bucolic pop on "Digital Love" and "Something About Us" are delivered by an androgynous, vocoderized frontman singing trite (though rather endearing) love lyrics. "One More Time," the irresistible album opener and first single, takes Bangalter's "Music Sounds Better With You" as a blueprint, blending sampled horns with some retro bass thump and the gorgeous, extroverted vocals of Romanthony going round and round with apparently endless tweakings. Though "Aerodynamic" and "Superheroes" have a bit of the driving acid minimalism associated with Homework, here Daft Punk is more taken with the glammier, poppier sound of Eurodisco and late R&B. Abusing their pitch-bend and vocoder effects as though they were going out of style (about 15 years too late, come to think of it), the duo loops nearly everything they can get their sequencers on — divas, vocoders, synth-guitars, electric piano — and conjures a sound worthy of bygone electro-pop technicians from Giorgio Moroder to Todd Rundgren to Steve Miller. Daft Punk are such stellar, meticulous producers that they make any sound work, even superficially dated ones like spastic early-'80s electro/R&B ("Short Circuit") or faux-orchestral synthesizer baroque ("Veridis Quo"). The only problems on Discovery arise when Daft Punk compensate for the album's lack of six-minute dance tracks by including a few too many half-developed productions like "High Life" and the ambient piece "Nightvision." One other crime is burying the highlight of the entire LP near the end. "Face to Face," a track with garage wunderkind Todd Edwards, twists his trademarked split-second samples and fully fragmented vision of garage into a dance-pop hit that could've easily stormed the charts in 1987. Daft Punk even manage a sense of humor about their own work, closing with a ten-minute track aptly titled "Too Long." (AMG)

Daft Punk - Discovery (2001) {{link in comments}}

The Lady of Rage - Necessary Roughness (1997)

2010-03-08T11:13:00.002-05:00

Though she had made more than a dozen appearances on soundtracks as well as albums from her Death Row Records cohorts, the Lady of Rage didn't release an album until 1997. A native of Farmville, VA, she was discovered by Death Row's Dr. Dre and cut several vocals for the L.A. Posse's 1991 album They Come in All Colors. Her 1994 single for Death Row "Afro Puffs" (from the Above the Rim soundtrack) placed on both R&B and the pop charts, featuring Dre on production and backing vocals by Snoop Dogg. She was also featured on several Death Row albums, including Snoop's Tha Doggfather. Her own album, Necessary Roughness, hit the Top 40 upon release in June 1997.

Lady of Rage was Death Row's attempt to reach the female market, but there isn't that much difference between her 1997 debut, Necessary Roughness, and the bulk of latter-day Death Row releases. Like many other later-period Death Row records, the form is more important than the content. Necessary Roughness is filled with minimally produced, bass-heavy productions that emphasize a fat, rolling groove. While there isn't anything particularly special about the rhythms, they are well-produced and occasionally catchy, and they often show more care than the lyrics, which tend be simple gangsta cliches. For hardcore gangsta fans, there's enough going on in the beats to make Necessary Roughness worth a listen or two, but for casual fans of the genre, it may seem a little too generic. (AMG)

The Lady of Rage - Necessary Roughness (1997) {{link in comments}}

The Black Keys - Thickfreakness (2003)

2010-03-04T15:12:00.000-05:00

While the vast majority of post-punk bands who have an obvious taste for the blues seem to enjoy taking the style apart and messing around with the bits and pieces, the Black Keys are the (relative) traditionalists within the subgenre. With their two-piece, no-bass format, there's no room for clutter or wank, and the raunchy fuzz of Dan Auerbach's guitar (and drummer Patrick Carney's production) owes more to the Gories/Blues Explosion/White Stripes school of aural grime than anything else, but look past all that and the Black Keys are a straight-up blues band who could probably cut an album for Alligator if they were willing to clean up their act and fill out the lineup. And Alligator would doubtless be glad to have 'em -- the Black Keys's wail is hot, primal, and heartfelt, and Auerback's lean but meaty guitar lines and room-filling vocals drag the blues into the 21st century through sheer force of will without sounding like these guys are in any way mocking their influences. In short, if you're looking for irony, you're out of luck; if you want to hear a rock band confront the blues with soul, muscle, and respect, then Thickfreakness is right up your alley. Points added for the fact that the Black Keys performed, recorded, and produced Thickfreakness all by their lonesome in a single day -- further proof these guys are not messing around. (AMG)

The Black Keys - Thickfreakness (2003) {{link in comments}}

Aretha Franklin - Aretha Arrives (1967)

2010-03-01T14:21:00.002-05:00

Recorded in 1967 after the first flush of back-to-back successes with "Respect" and "I Never Loved a Man," this captures Aretha Franklin in peak form. Lady Soul provides her own piano accompaniment on the majority of tracks here, and the core band is the same one that provided the fire on her previous album. The tunes are an eclectic batch, and while "Baby, I Love You" was the hit of the album, Franklin turns in strong versions of "Satisfaction," "You Are My Sunshine," "Night Life," "Ain't Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)," and a quirky cover of "96 Tears" for good measure. An essential addition to her discography. (AMG)

Aretha Franklin - Aretha Arrives (1967) {{link in comments}}

Violent Femmes - Why Do Birds Sing? (1991)

2010-02-17T16:31:00.000-05:00

Two years after the release of their stripped-down and mellowed-out album 3, the Violent Femmes return with a disjointed and choppy but enjoyable album, Why Do Birds Sing?. This record is probably most famous for its cover of Culture Club's "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?." The acoustic sound they pioneered (way back before MTV Unplugged was even thought of) is still here...for the most part. Many songs seem to be written as a foil to the depressing sound on 3, forsaking cohesiveness and lyrical depth for upbeat ditties. Track two, "Out the Window," is a strong suspect, with shallow lyrics and bouncy music, but does not make sense in the wake of 3. Still, other songs are fun. They revisit their infamous rancor from the first record on "Girl Trouble" and "More Money Tonight" -- this time from the perspective of musical celebrities rather than the nerds from high school. Worth mentioning is a short little two-minute track called "Life Is a Scream," which brings the entire disc to a standstill; it's more like a musical speed bump than any song they have ever recorded. Every Violent Femmes fan has their favorite record and these tend to vary wildly. ~~More than likely, this one will not be anyone's favorite~~, but still has some redeeming moments. The strong opener "American Music" is reminiscent of their classic songwriting style. (AMG)

IT'S MY FAVORITE, STUPID REVIEWER.

Violent Femmes - Why Do Birds Sing? (1991) {{link in comments}}

Al Green - Let's Stay Together (1972)

2010-02-14T16:25:00.002-05:00

Prior to this album, Al Green never had a number one song. The title track, "Let's Stay Together," achieved that status and held it for nine consecutive weeks. Green's ingenuity produced one of the all-time classics, which has the bounce of a dance cut and the passion of a ballad. The dynamic soul singer's whispers, animated cries, and riffing enhance his already stirring delivery. This album was sold on the strength of the title track as there were no other selections to grace the Billboard charts. However, this album includes the timeless gem "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" and lesser-known beauties like the exulting "Judy," the cookin' testimonial "I Never Found a Girl," and the soothing blues effort "It Ain't No Fun to Me." The Arkansas native and his creative partner Willie Mitchell season these selections with lucid rhythm arrangements complemented by the faint strums of a guitar and brawn, unchiding horns. (AMG)

Al Green - Let's Stay Together (1972) {{link in comments}}

Al Green - I'm Still in Love with You (1972)

2010-02-12T14:39:00.000-05:00

I'm Still in Love With You shares many surface similarities with its predecessor, Let's Stay Together; from Al Green and Willie Mitchell's distinctive, sexy style to the pacing and song selection. Despite those shared traits, I'm Still in Love With You distinguishes itself with its suave, romantic tone and its subtly ambitious choice of material. Green began exploring country music with this album by performing a startling version of Kris Kristofferson's "For the Good Times," as well as a wonderful, slow reinterpretation of Roy Orbison's "Oh Pretty Woman." And the soul numbers are more complex than they would appear -- listen to how the beat falls together at the beginning of "Love and Happiness," or the sly melody of the title track. There isn't a wasted track on I'm Still in Love With You, and in many ways it rivals its follow-up, Call Me, as Green's masterpiece. (AMG)

Al Green - I'm Still in Love with You (1972) {{link in comments}}

Dolly Parton - Jolene (1974)

2010-02-12T10:18:00.000-05:00

A sparkling production creates a rich backdrop for both "Jolene" and "When Someone Wants to Leave" (both Parton originals), mixing acoustic guitar, country instruments (steel guitar, dobro), and light percussion. This tasteful mix, nicely spread across the stereo spectrum with Parton front and center, is a joy to listen to. Lyrically, however, these songs are a long way from Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man." Parton's female protagonists are downright pitiful, adrift in a world where a more attractive woman might take their man, where a woman cannot let go of a man who no longer loves her, and where a man is the "highlight" of her life ("Highlight of My Life.") Jolene, originally released in 1974, feels like a shot across the bow of the feminist movement, a reaffirmation that many women still liked the men to wear the pants (women, presumably, who listened to old-fashioned country music). This seems somewhat peculiar now, in that no one — looking at her long, distinguished career and commanding stage presence — would accuse Parton of being a weak-kneed songbird. Still, the music and Parton's vocal prowess are in top form on Jolene, and "I Will Always Love You" is one of her best performances (which is saying a lot). Like it or loath it, Jolene offers a fascinating snapshot of an era in transition, and captures Parton at the top of her game. (AMG)

Dolly Parton - Jolene (1974) {{link in comments}}

Dolly Parton - Just Because I'm A Woman (1968)

2010-02-11T21:02:00.000-05:00

Just Because I'm a Woman was Dolly Parton's first album for RCA Victor after a few modest hits for Monument and (more importantly) becoming a regular on Porter Wagoner's television show and his frequent duet partner both on-stage and in the studio. One might have figured that, between Chet Atkins' trademark "countrypolitan" production style and Wagoner's influence, Parton's musical personality would be lost in the shuffle, but thankfully quite the opposite was true — Just Because I'm a Woman turned out to be one of Parton's best early albums, and a superb showcase for her gifts as both a singer and songwriter. Bob Ferguson, Atkins' second-in-command at RCA, took a subdued and natural approach to the production, with a refined but organic honky tonk sound dominating many of the arrangements, though he knew when to take a more ambitious approach on the dark tale of adultery and abandonment "The Bridge." And while Dolly only gets songwriting credit on four of the album's 12 songs, they're four of the real standouts, including "You're Gonna Be Sorry," "The Bridge," and the title tune, with the rest of the selections fitting Parton's trademark blend of fragility and strength just right, and her versatile soprano voice displaying the confidence, power, and emotional range that would make her a country superstar within a few years. While Parton was not always well-served by the Nashville music factories (ironically enough, this became an even bigger problem for her after she crossed over to mainstream stardom), Just Because I'm a Woman was one of those rare examples of the bigwigs getting it right the first time out, and the album still sounds like a winner decades after its initial release. (AMG)

Dolly Parton - Just Because I'm A Woman (1968) {{link in comments}}

Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers (1995)

2010-02-06T10:29:00.000-05:00

As a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, Ol' Dirty Bastard's bizarre, free-form rants added both comic relief and a dangerous unpredictability to the group's chemistry. ODB's RZA-produced solo debut Return to the 36 Chambers stretches his schtick over a full album, which if anything makes him sound even more unbalanced. Long before the album ends, it's clear that ODB has emptied his bag of tricks -- loose, off-the-beat raps that sometimes don't even rhyme, unbelievably graphic vulgarity, gonzo off-key warbling (which sounds a little like Biz Markie as a mental patient), and general goofing off. Yet within that role as hardcore rap's clown prince of psychosis, ODB is pretty damned entertaining. His leaps in association are often as disturbing as they are funny, whether they're couched in scatological detail or not; they certainly don't make his widely publicized erratic behavior seem at all surprising. And, despite the unstructured feel dominating most of the album, there are a fair share of hooks, and two absolutely killer singles in "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" and "Brooklyn Zoo." Certainly, there's no reason for the album to be as long as it is, considering the dull filler toward the end. But, even though Return to the 36 Chambers might not be the most earth-shattering piece of the Wu-Tang puzzle, it's an infectious party record which proves that, despite his limitations, Ol' Dirty Bastard has the charisma to carry an album on his own. (AMG)

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Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (1985)

2010-01-22T13:08:00.000-05:00

Billy Preston - The Kids & Me (1974)

2010-01-16T14:17:00.000-05:00

Billy Preston right in the middle of a classic 70s run -- hitting a trademark blend of soul, jazz, and other groovy influences -- all with a sound that's very much his own, and which puts him in the same company as Sly Stone or Stevie Wonder! Preston's market was a bit more mainstream than those two, but at this point in his career he's very much on top of his game -- really pulling together all the experience of woodshedding in the 60s, and bursting forth with a sense of pop power and pride that's totally great! Billy plays a fair bit of different keyboards on the set -- and rhythms run from the respected Preston romping modes, to others that are a bit more laidback and soulful. Titles include the hit "Nothing From Nothing", plus "St Elmo", "Sometimes I Love You", the famously sampled "You Are So Beautiful", "Creature Feature", "Tell Me You Need My Loving", "Sad Sad Song", and "Sister Sugar". (DustyGroove)

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Various Artists - Black Dynamite (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2009)

2010-01-13T13:46:00.002-05:00

Music supervisor David Hollander handpicked each track and cue from the vast reservoir of 1970s British library music, originally created for film and television. Maestros Alan Hawkshaw, Brian Bennett, and Johnny Pearson lay down exquisite and precise funk, but the bulk of the material comes from Alan Tew's celebrated ''Drama Suite'' series (as heard on ''The Hanged Man'' and ''The People's Court''). Wax Poetics Records presents an authentic package with original artwork by Maceo Leatherwood. (Amazon)

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Adrian Younge - Black Dynamite [Original Score] (2009)

2010-01-13T09:52:00.002-05:00

Adrian Younge: law professor by day, music scholar, film editor, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and probably a few other things by night. Tapped by director Scott Sanders, Younge not only edited the Blaxploitation homage Black Dynamite but scored it, all the while playing over a dozen instruments -- from monophonic synthesizer to electric sitar -- and directing a session band with several male and female vocalists. Younge and his associates recorded the material with the intent to have it sound exactly like a score from the '70s, and they achieved that. No piece of equipment used in the recording dated late than the late '70s, and Younge's obvious knowledge of '70s black music -- blaxploitation scores in particular, obviously -- is astonishing. He skillfully walks a creative tightrope, incorporating virtually all the trademarks of an early-'70s blaxploitation score without being overly referential. These songs are far too durable to be disregarded as kitsch, all are worthy of Black Dynamite -- a man who "put Nixon on the run," "killed them dirty crooks," and "beat the devil with a shovel three times a day." (AMG)

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Outkast - Stankonia (2000)

2010-01-07T16:14:00.002-05:00

Stankonia was OutKast's second straight masterstroke, an album just as ambitious, just as all-over-the-map, and even hookier than its predecessor. With producers Organized Noize playing a diminished role, Stankonia reclaims the duo's futuristic bent. Keyboardist/producer Earthtone III helms most of the backing tracks, and while the live-performance approach is still present, there's more reliance on programmed percussion, otherworldly synthesizers, and surreal sound effects. Yet the results are surprisingly warm and soulful, a trippy sort of techno-psychedelic funk. Every repeat listen seems to uncover some new element in the mix, but most of the songs have such memorable hooks that it's easy to stay diverted. The immediate dividends include two of 2000's best singles: "B.O.B." is the fastest of several tracks built on jittery drum'n'bass rhythms, but Andre and Big Boi keep up with awe-inspiring effortlessness. "Ms. Jackson," meanwhile, is an anguished plea directed at the mother of the mother of an out-of-wedlock child, tinged with regret, bitterness, and affection. Its sensitivity and social awareness are echoed in varying proportions elsewhere, from the Public Enemy-style rant "Gasoline Dreams" to the heartbreaking suicide tale "Toilet Tisha." But the group also returns to its roots for some of the most testosterone-drenched material since their debut. Then again, OutKast doesn't take its posturing too seriously, which is why they can portray women holding their own, or make bizarre boasts about being "So Fresh, So Clean." Given the variety of moods, it helps that the album is broken up by brief, usually humorous interludes, which serve as a sort of reset button. It takes a few listens to pull everything together, but given the immense scope, it's striking how few weak tracks there are. It's no wonder Stankonia consolidated OutKast's status as critics' darlings, and began attracting broad new audiences: its across-the-board appeal and ambition overshadowed nearly every other pop album released in 2000. (AMG)

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Boney M. - Take the Heat Off Me (1976)

2010-01-05T10:17:00.000-05:00

Haaay guys,

2010-01-03T11:01:00.000-05:00

I normally wouldn't do this, but all of my uploads are on the verge of dying forever! That'll really suck. I don't want that. If you have, like, ten seconds, I would looooove if you could join sendspace for me. It gives me moar points. I have 12 days to get 4600 more... So it would seriously be pretty helpful. Thanks, guise. And thanks for visitin', too. Y'all are da best.

The Sugarhill Gang - The Sugarhill Gang (1980)

2009-12-30T10:57:00.000-05:00

Try to picture the late '70s: disco is burning up the pop charts, Carter's in office, and in the clubs and streets of New York City a style of music is beginning thrive within the African American community. Dismissed by some as a passing trend, rap was overlooked by major labels. Sylvia Robinson, a small time record label owner, decided to take a chance on the sound with a novelty record. To put it together she assembled Big Bank Hank, Wonder Mike, and Master Gee. The trio cut the 14-minute single "Rappers Delight." The rest, so to speak, is history. While the actual lyrical style could be traced back to scat and jump blues, at the time it sounded incredibly fresh and, as a result, the single achieved world wide success. Twenty years later the "passing fad" has become one of the most influential musical genres in American history, taking its place along side jazz, blues, rock & roll, and countless other fusion styles. Now when people think back to the days of "the old school" it seems like a fond trip down memory lane. To help the nostalgia the Sugar Hill Gang released a 20th anniversary collection highlighting their music from this era. In addition to "Rappers Delight" the album contains some of their other, but not nearly as successful, singles including "Hot, Hot, Summer Day," "Apache," and "Sugar Hill Groove." In its musicological context the music sounds like an offshoot of disco and funk, so it's almost a wonder the genre broke out at all. Still, with the seemingly endless stream of commercialized nonsense that dominated the genre in the 1990s, these old songs still sound fresh and fun. As a result this album could still get the party going just as it did back in the day. (AMG)

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In the event that I don't make a post tomorrow: have a happy new year, folks. :)

Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)

2009-12-26T19:26:00.000-05:00

The Rolling Stones - Some Girls (1978)

2009-12-21T11:43:00.002-05:00

During the mid-'70s, the Rolling Stones remained massively popular, but their records suffered from Jagger's fascination with celebrity and Keith's worsening drug habit. By 1978, both punk and disco had swept the group off the front pages, and Some Girls was their fiery response to the younger generation. Opening with the disco-blues thump of "Miss You," Some Girls is a tough, focused, and exciting record, full of more hooks and energy than any Stones record since Exile on Main St. Even though the Stones make disco their own, they never quite take punk on their own ground. Instead, their rockers sound harder and nastier than they have in years. Using "Star Star" as a template, the Stones run through the seedy homosexual imagery of "When the Whip Comes Down," the bizarre, borderline-misogynistic vitriol of the title track, Keith's ultimate outlaw anthem, "Before They Make Me Run," and the decadent closer, "Shattered." In between, they deconstruct the Temptations' "(Just My) Imagination," unleash the devastatingly snide country parody "Far Away Eyes," and contribute "Beast of Burden," one of their very best ballads. Some Girls may not have the back-street aggression of their '60s records, or the majestic, drugged-out murk of their early-'70s work, but its brand of glitzy, decadent hard rock still makes it a definitive Stones album. (AMG)

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The Ohio Players - Honey (1975)

2009-12-20T20:44:00.002-05:00

Honey may have had the most controversial LP cover of 1975. Its erotic cover, which depicted a nude model covered in honey, was protested by feminists when it was alleged that the model had become stuck to the floor during the photo shoot. Some retailers, in fact, refused to carry it. All the controversy certainly didn't hurt the album commercially. In 1975, the Ohio Players were one of R&B's most successful acts, and were inescapable for anyone who listened to black radio at the time. The album kept the band's commercial momentum going thanks to such hard-driving funk as "Love Rollercoaster" (a song that was sampled to death by rappers in the 1980s and '90s and covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1996), "Fopp," and the playfully jazz-influenced hit "Sweet Sticky Thing." While the Players' outstanding contributions to funk would continue to have an enormous impact long after the band's popularity faded, it's important to stress that only about half of Honey falls into the funk category. In fact, lead singer Sugarfoot's moving performance on the remorseful "Alone" makes one wish that the Players' ballads were discussed more often. (AMG)

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Ann Peebles - If This Is Heaven (1978)

2009-12-16T09:14:00.000-05:00

By 1977, straight-ahead Southern soul had stopped selling in big numbers and disco had taken over the R&B market, and like many of her peers, soul diva Ann Peebles tried to make the best of matters by turning up the groove quotient on her album of that year, If This Is Heaven. Peebles, one of the best and most underrated soul songbirds of the 1970s, had already demonstrated she could work wonders with a dance-friendly track on her previous set, 1975's Tellin' It, and If This Is Heaven's first two cuts, "A Good Day for Lovin'" and the title number, find her and producer Willie Mitchell leaning toward disco while still leaving a taste of their classic-style Memphis groove in the mix, and if Howard Grimes' four-on-the-floor drumming dates these tracks a bit, Peebles still sings her tales of love both good and bad with the passion, force, and clarity that made her a legend. Still, Peebles sounds a bit more at home on "I'm So Thankful," a solid soul shot about a contented wife and mother (which she wrote herself and reflected her then-current status as a new mom), and the slow bluesy "You're Gonna Make Me Cry," and while this album is hardly a cookie-cutter disco throwaway, If This Is Heaven still has an air of compromise about it. While Peebles had no reason to be ashamed of her performances on this disc, it certainly doesn't capture her in her most comfortable surroundings. (AMG)

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